Q&A: Sony Pictures Television’s Kees Abrahams

PREMIUM: Daytime television formats, branded entertainment and digital extensions are some of the key growth areas in the format business, Kees Abrahams, the president of international production at Sony Pictures Television, tells World Screen.

The first Hollywood studio to embrace the model of producing content outside of the U.S., Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has built up a broad network of wholly owned and joint-venture production partners across the globe. Historically a leader in scripted formats based on its deep catalogue of dramas and comedies, SPT extended its library and its production expertise with its 2008 acquisition of the Dutch-based 2waytraffic. That deal brought a host of hit formats to the SPT catalogue, as well as the format experience of 2waytraffic’s CEO, Kees Abrahams, today the president of international production at SPT.

TV FORMATS: What are the greatest challenges you see going forward, and what are the greatest opportunities, in the format business?
ABRAHAMS: I feel that at this point there is more opportunity than there was a year ago, with the economic recovery slowly kicking in. You see an additional demand for daytime television rather than just the demand for prime-time signature shows. The budgets are slightly opening up again, which is good for game shows, good for shows like Dr. Oz and other talk magazine formats. You see more and more brands wanting to directly invest in television production, like P&G [Procter & Gamble] or Google. And then last but certainly not least, if you look at the digital world, there’s a raft of opportunity there.

Last year we had a lot of success with Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and Dragons’ Den in digital formats—iPhone apps, iPad apps, gaming, social networking. Off the air, there’s a lot you can do with your content that we’re only scratching the surface of at this minute.

Where the challenges are is we have increased competition, there’s a consolidation taking place in Europe of TV production companies, the usual suspects are continuing to hunt talent, like we do. As well as, we’re all competing for the same time slots. But I’m quite confident that, as we have a very good creative slate in both scripted and non-scripted and we have a nice balanced catalogue, and digital opportunities, we’re well positioned. I’m quite confident about the marketplace.

TV FORMATS: Your most recent partnership was in Brazil. Do you see opportunities in other territories for acquiring a company or setting up a joint venture?
ABRAHAMS: With Elisabetta Zenatti [we set up] SPT’s Floresta. We’re constantly on the lookout for additions to the international network of production companies. We’re also constantly looking out for people we can hire as employees, who can help us extend the catalogue and produce more shows. So, the answers is yes, yes, yes. All top-notch talent is most welcome in our business.

TV FORMATS: What criteria do you look for in a production company if you’re thinking about buying or partnering with them?
ABRAHAMS: There are three criteria that are absolutely key to us. We’re looking for local partners who can sell our shows to the local clients, the broadcast networks and the cable stations. Someone that has a good track record and has been in the business for a long period of time and has consistently sold original TV shows to local clients is someone we would eye. We would also eye that person or that company or joint-venture partner if they have a proven track record of creating new intellectual property rights. And then obviously, if we find that the creative slate of such an individual or such a company has the opportunity to travel to somewhere else, then we are even more keen. The third criterion is that we’re looking for people who produce high-quality shows. If we find those three elements together—and by the way, if we also see an opportunity to make some money!—then yes, we’d be looking for that person or company.

TV FORMATS: Do you use flying producers, or rely on the partners you have already on the ground?
ABRAHAMS: We do use flying producers quite a bit, for two reasons. The first reason is we want to provide maximum service to our local partners in each place. The traveling producers have so much knowledge of the format—they are there to help, to explain what it says in the production bible, to implement the materials in terms of graphics, music, software, set design, a certain way of directing a show. We also do it to make sure we have good quality control. Our entertainment brands are very valuable to us. We want to use our traveling producers to make sure the shows have the right quality and they add to the brand values. But sometimes, it leads to new adaptations as well. For example, we have a traveling producer named Rod Taylor who when working with Nine Network in Australia invented a new spin-off of Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Hot Seat is a new, different version that has been traveling to various territories. There’s a lot of creativity in that process.

TV FORMATS: How much can you adapt a local version without straying from the original format?
ABRAHAMS: That is a very complex question, because one format is different than the other and we have a library of 300 light-entertainment formats and another 200 scripted formats. But I’ll give you an idea. We produce Everybody Loves Raymond in Russia. The way the set looks is completely different from the original American version, so the living room and the kitchen are Russian rather than American. We make sure that the characters culturally fit the Russian society. There are some jokes in the original that we have to adapt to the Russian marketplace and the script has to be adjusted accordingly. But the fundamentals of the show are the same. It’s a great show because of the way it was composed, because of the way the episodes work, the way the jokes are done and how the confrontations between the different characters work. There is a certain level [of changes] you can make, but once you start touching the fundamentals of the show, you have to say stop.

In the scripted world the scripts are the essence and they are written in a certain way for a very good reason. They’ve been tried out in multiple territories, so you can’t just change it completely and believe that you still have the same quality of show.

In light entertainment, sometimes a weekly show becomes a daily show or the other way around. An access prime-time show can sometimes be used as a prime-time show. And then the casting of the show is very individual. There is a bit more flexibility in light entertainment, but the same principle applies: a good show is a good show for a reason. There is a structure, there is a certain look and feel, there are entertainment brand values you have to respect so as not to kill the original idea.

TV FORMATS: It’s all much more complicated than selling completed programming!
ABRAHAMS: This business is like a bakery, we make fresh shows everyday! It’s good and it’s bad. It’s bad because it’s complicated but it’s good because the community that we have, between the creators and the producers and the local sales people, they are all people that are so passionate about making television and they are all so creative in the whole process. Until the very last minute they try to make it better, more beautiful, more compelling.