Ron Alexander

World Screen Weekly, March 15, 2007

Director of International Sales

TPI

Ron Alexander may be celebrating his 12th year at TeleProductions International (TPI) as the director of international sales, but he has been selling programming to worldwide buyers for 20 years. “It seems like my first walk into the bunker of the Palais was just yesterday,” jokes Alexander, referring to his first MIPTV conference in Cannes 20 years ago. While attending college, Alexander worked in the marketing and promotion department at the NBC affiliate station in Dayton, Ohio. However, his interest in the international side of the television business was sparked when he began reading industry trade magazines. He decided to spend a semester abroad in Europe, where he focused on the study of media in Italy, France and the U.K, which led to an internship with ABC’s London office. In 1987, after some freelance work, including working for the press department at MIPTV, he was hired by International Broadcast Systems (IBS) as a sales executive for the Middle East and Eastern Europe.

In 1995, he made his way over to TPI as the director of international sales, a role he has held ever since. “I’ve enjoyed international distribution and can’t think of anything else I would rather do,” says Alexander. While TPI is a U.S. television production and distribution company headquartered in Virginia, it strives to have a global reach—the majority of the company’s co-productions are with partners in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere. The company, says Alexander, prides itself on maintaining constant contact with its customers “from the largest territories to the smallest,” and realizes the importance of keeping abreast of new developments in the business, including the arrival of new players that include new TV channels or “new media.” In fact, Alexander finds that many new media companies have approached TPI with requests for programming for start-up services. The company is currently developing a series for mobile media titled Politica-Toons, which are 30-second shorts featuring animated cartoons of issues of the day or human nature. “While the percentage of new media buyers is a small part of our overall business, we do expect it to grow significantly in the near future,” says Alexander. “Media is changing and we need to be constantly on top of the changing media landscape.”

TPI’s documentaries also aim for broad appeal in the international market as well, ranging from global warming to vanishing cultures to the future of space travel. The company will be bringing a number of new one-hour documentaries to Cannes this year, including the adventure documentary Swept Away, which features two daring individuals who risk their lives to cross the Bering Straight from Alaska to Siberia. This year, TPI has also entered the new realm of feature film and will be offering up The Long Road to Heaven at MIPTV, an emotional film based on the Bali terrorist bombings of 2002. In addition to documentaries and feature films, the company also offers a variety of lifestyle series and “infotainment programs,” and has expanded its catalog to include more of its own original production and co-productions. Alexander is especially proud of its just-completed original series, These Amazing People, an “upbeat all-family infotainment” show that will also be offered to buyers at MIPTV.

— By Irene Lew