Stories from the East

April 25, 2011 World Screen

 

From Korean soaps to Japanese epics to Filipino telefantasies and more, Asian drama is in high demand.
 
We all know about the upbeat ad-industry forecasts that have content owners around the world anxious to sell their wares to Asian broadcasters. But there’s another reason that this region is so high up on programming exporters’ to-do lists; its appetite and openness to content from around the world is unparalleled. On major free-TV broadcasters across Asia, U.S. dramas and reality shows sit alongside Korean soaps, Filipino and Malaysian novelas, epic Japanese and Chinese dramas, and Indian serials. Indeed, Asian drama series have shown a surprising ability to travel across the continent, and their major exporters are now keen to widen their client base across the globe.
 
“Southeast Asia is still our strongest territory, but at the same time we are gaining more ground in Africa,” says Roxanne Barcelona, the VP of GMA Worldwide, the sales and acquisitions arm of the Filipino broadcaster GMA Network. “We are [also] opening up Europe and the Middle East,” Barcelona adds.
 
“KBS is paying attention to Latin America and the Middle East as potential markets,” reports Oh-Suk Kwon, the executive director and head of the content policy department at the Korean public broadcaster KBS. “Many Latin American countries have similar values to Asian [countries], in that we both appreciate the family together. And their telenovelas are similar to Korea’s soap-opera dramas with more than 100 episodes each. Spanish dubbing is one of the obstacles, but we plan to invest aggressively.”
 
Kwon continues, “Thanks to its tremendous population and similar Asian values, the Middle East market is also attractive. MBC is expected to air a Korean drama in the near future, and we expect that a ‘Korean wave’ will proliferate after that.”
 
A WAVE OF DEMAND
Korea has seen tremendous success in the export of its content since the late 1990s, when the so-called Korean wave began washing across the region, bringing the country’s soap operas to virtually every territory in East and Southeast Asia.
 
“Most Korean dramas are about romance or family, and these types of stories are easily [understood] by not only Asians, but by everyone around the world,” says Kwon, whose company produces a huge slate of content for its three free-to-air networks.
 
Another reason for the success of the country’s content exports, Kwon adds, is that “Korean actors have the looks that can appeal to Asian fans. Male actors are usually portrayed as gentle and warm characters in dramas and are especially popular among female fans in other countries.”
 
Kwon also stresses the diversity of KBS’s drama slate. Among the shows to have played particularly well at home recently are the romantic comedy Marry Me, Mary! the teen-focused Dream High, the historical epic The King of Legend, the political drama The President and the crime-themed Detectives in Trouble. For its exports, however, romantic dramas dominate in most markets across the region, Kwon says.
 
“Also, there are hard-core fans for historical dramas, especially in Japan,” he continues. “For action, detectives or medical dramas, we are not doing very well since we have to compete against Hollywood series that have experience and capital. However, dramas such as Iris and The Slave Hunter have shown the bright future of Korean-style action drama.”
 
The average budget for a Korean drama is between $25 million and $30 million, rising to as much as $35 million for action shows and even more for historical epics, according to Kwon. “Owing to the rise of actors’ and actresses’ paychecks, special-effects costs and frequent global shooting, production costs have increased recently.”
 
KBS’s ability to invest in high-quality productions sets its productions apart from those of its commercial rivals, Kwon says. “High-cost epic dramas with 60 to 80 episodes, and experimental one/four/eight-episode dramas which were abandoned by other networks due to [revenue constraints], are what only KBS can [do].”
 
KBS’s biggest buyers have been Japan, Taiwan and China, with rapid gains seen in its sales to Hong Kong, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore.
 
NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBOR
Now among the world’s top ten exporters of content, Korea has been a traditionally insular market when it comes to the importing of television entertainment. The country has, however, shown a fondness for dramas from its next-door neighbor Japan, an equally prolific distributor of programming across the region.
 
More so than its commercial rivals, the public broadcaster NHK focuses on historical dramas that can play to a broad family audience. “Dramas by commercial broadcasters seem to target and be successful among the young generation in their 20s to 30s,” says Kazumasa Iida, the head of international program development at NHK. “NHK dramas, especially the historical costume dramas and the daily morning-slot dramas, are viewed by a wider generation.”
 
Iida says that one of NHK’s biggest hits recently was Princess Atsu, which aired in a Sunday night slot. “It triggered more sales of NHK’s costume dramas, which are now selling quite well,” Iida says, citing as an example last year’s hit Ryomaden: The Legend, which has notched up deals in Korea, Thailand and China. Another NHK specialty, Iida says, are mini-series featuring social themes, plus romantic stories.
 
“Whether it is a samurai costume drama or a modern love story, if the underlying message is appealing and the story resonates with viewers, the drama can go beyond its borders,” Iida says on what’s driving the export of Japanese fiction. “Princess Atsu, which has been bought in seven territories so far, is a story [set] in 19th-century Japan with many historical incidents and samurai names that are not known to people outside Japan; but it is also a Cinderella story of a girl rising to become the shogun’s wife and eventually making an impact on Japanese history.”
 
Taiwan, Korea, Hong Kong, Thailand and Vietnam are NHK’s traditional customers, but the broadcaster did break new ground last year, with a European deal on Goldfish. “Although it was a small-budget, small-cast drama made by one of NHK’s regional stations, its simple, universally appealing story and its expression of Japanese aesthetic sensibilities have received worldwide acclaim,” Iida says, noting that the show was licensed to SVT in Sweden. “NHK dramas are well received in Asia, but selling to Europe doesn’t happen that often.”
 
Iida is hopeful that other NHK dramas will be able to find similar success, and he is looking to further drive sales in Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei and Myanmar.
 
SOUTHEASTERN FLAIR
In recent years, Japanese and Korean series have gained tremendous ground in Southeast Asia, a market that historically has been more prone to importing its dramas from Latin America. In the Philippines, for example, GMA Network has picked up numerous titles from Japanese and Korean broadcasters. But the channel has also been ramping up its own production efforts, delivering a mix of contemporary dramas and developing its own brand of “telefantasies”—soaps with a fantasy or science-fiction twist.
 
Shows that have performed well domestically include Alakdana, Dwarfina and Machete on the fantasy front, plus Little Star, Bantatay and Beauty Queen. “When we put them together in drama blocks, we are able to offer a variety of entertainment/drama genres which cater to a wide audience,” says Barcelona. “Lilybeth Rasonable, our VP for drama, says that this is what sets GMA dramas apart from the dramas of the other networks. The unique story lines and themes and our mix of directors make for good variety and affords our audience a wider choice of programs.”
 
The shows, Barcelona says, have found homes elsewhere in Southeast Asia, and have been picking up steam in the Middle East and Africa. Top sellers worldwide have included Marimar, Dyesebel, The Impostor and Full House. “These titles were sold to Africa, China, Cambodia, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Hawaii and Italy,” Barcelona says.
 
Malaysia is another Southeast Asian market that is setting itself up as a key exporter. One of the companies that have put a heavy effort behind developing local content is the DTH system Astro, which is producing drama for its huge slate of networks, targeting Malay- and Chinese-language viewers. For the former, the highest-rating shows recently include Awan Dania on Astro Ria, with three seasons produced, focusing on a flight attendant. The show, says John Leahy, the COO at Astro Entertainment, “has captivated audiences for the past three years and continues to do so currently with a movie spin-off. The current season has stretched Dania’s wings to a private airline and stretched our per-episode budgets significantly with exotic and interesting international locations adding to the drama and color of the series.”
 
Leahy is also particularly proud of Geng Surau, which airs during Ramadan on Astro Oasis. “Based on the success of this project we can say that we have managed to successfully thread the fine line that combines comedy and religion. Our approach was to [combine] a very moderate view on the integration of religious issues with a modern approach to the topics of Islam and the Muslim society, in a light and positive yet comedic tone.”
 
Leahy adds, “We have had most success with dramas that provide light relief or allow our audience to live vicariously through the lives of our characters. So it is fair to say that our comedy, action comedy and romantic comedies have performed well. In addition, we have had good success of late with the horror genre.”
 
Astro has been able to sell its Malay dramas into Singapore and Brunei, “and we are planning to widen our presence in the Southeast Asian region,” Leahy says.
 
Seeing the potential of the Malaysian drama-production sector, José Escalante, the CEO of Latin Media Corporation (LMC), has partnered with Malaysia’s Worldwide Rights Corporation (WRC) on two local productions: Bola Cinta, which has performed well for RTM’s TV2, with a second season in the works, and, new for this year, Pesona Kasih (The Temptation of Love).
 
Escalante is targeting the worldwide market with these shows, with LMC and WRC already clinching deals in Asia, the Middle East and Africa for the teen-targeted, football-themed Bola Cinta. “Every territory that has a TV station, that has an audience following them, [translates] to room for growth,” says Escalante.
 
LEARNING MANDARIN
In building its content-export sector, Malaysia is undoubtedly looking to achieve the kind of trajectory, and longevity, experienced by Chinese-language content. “Before there was a Korean wave, there was a Chinese wave,” quips Gigi Ko, the director of nontheatrical distribution at the Hong Kong–based Celestial Pictures. “People around the world grew up watching martial-arts dramas from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and so there is still great affection all across Asia (and the world) for the stars from those countries. The recent trend is the rise of high-quality TV productions from China. These productions have the budget to hire the best cast and crew from around the region and thus appeal to a greater audience around the world.”
 
Celestial, best known for being home to the legendary Shaw Brothers catalogue of martial-arts classics, has produced a number of successful drama series, notably the period piece Empress Feng and the fantasy Chinese Paladin III.
 
Mentioning Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand as Celestial’s biggest buyers, Ko notes, “Martial-arts epics do well across the board. Period dramas do well across Asia, and contemporary dramas such our latest series, Fall in Love with Anchor Beauty, do well in Greater China and Southeast Asia.”
 
Speaking about her expansion strategy, Ko sees potential to boost Celestial’s business “in the Middle East and Eastern Europe—they show immense interest in acquiring Chinese dramas, particularly those of the martial-arts genre. With the rapid growth of the Indian TV market, we hope to see more demand coming from that country as well.”
 
Celestial’s latest effort is Journey to the West, which Ko refers to as “one of the highest-budgeted TV dramas ever from China. This latest adaptation of the legendary novel costs around RMB2 million ($305,000) per episode.”
 
Mandarin-language dramas have also been strong sellers for Singapore’s MediaCorp, which lists Breakout as one of its best-performing properties.
 
“China and other Southeast Asian territories are the biggest consumers of our Chinese dramas currently,” says Tang Yun Leung, the VP of content distribution at MediaCorp. “We are actively pursuing the American and Australian markets, both of which have a sizeable Chinese community. We see a potential for demand of Chinese dramas in these two territories.”
 
Asked about the appeal of MediaCorp productions, Tang says, “[Our] strength lies in producing contemporary dramas. With Singapore’s cosmopolitan city as a backdrop and our strong multicultural heritage, we are able to produce dramas that are contemporary and yet steeped with tradition and culture that our Asian buyers can relate to.”
 
With the sheer number of Mandarin-language speakers across the Asian continent, it’s no surprise that Chinese dramas have traveled well regionally. A tougher sell has been content from the subcontinent, with Hindi-language serials from India’s big channel brands rarely straying into East Asia. They have, however, found slots in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa, and with growing Indian populations in Europe and North America, will likely be able to crack open new markets in the years ahead.
 
Indeed, geographic expansion is the top priority for Asian content owners, keen to show that their dramas can travel as well as those from the U.S. and the U.K. GMA will be on site in Cannes with new series like Beauty Queen and Jenna. NHK Enterprises has a large drama slate for MIPTV, from mini-series to one-offs to longer-running productions. KBS Media has high hopes for its new Korean series Dream High, Detectives in Trouble, Thorn Birds and The Great Conqueror. And Celestial has two new period dramas, The Legend of Yang Guifei and The Tale of the Royal Seamstress. Celestial is also offering Fall in Love with Anchor Beauty, a Chinese remake of a popular Korean drama, reflecting the emergence of what could be a new growth area for Asian content sellers: scripted formats.