ATF Buyer Profile: GMA’s Roxanne Barcelona

December 5, 2011 World Screen Top Stories

PREMIUM: GMA Worldwide’s Roxanne Barcelona will be seeking out animation, Korean drama, natural-history titles and movies at the ATF, as well as current-affairs docs.

 

What have been some of your most successful acquisitions recently?
For GMA-7, the main channel, we have acquired top-rating Korean dramas such as Baker King and Secret Garden that still prove to be successful in evening prime time. Other successful acquisitions for this channel include natural-history documentary series such as Life, Planet Earth, and Blue Planet, to name only a few, and renewals of long-running Japanese animation such as Dragon Ball Kai, One Piece and Detective Conan. For the second free-to-air channel, GMA News TV, we acquire timely documentaries that focus on current global issues and events. Some of these include William & Kate: Inside the Royal Wedding and 9/11: The Day That Changed the World.
 
How much do you buy annually?
We spend approximately US$5 million annually, down by 50 percent from what it was from 2006 to 2008 when we were still acquiring formats.
 
What are some of the slots you’re currently looking to fill?
For GMA-7, we fill the daytime block for animation [from] 8:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. daily, a late prime-time slot for Korean dramas, and the weekend prime-time slot for movies and natural history titles. For GMA News TV, we acquire select documentaries.
 
Are you interested in co-production opportunities?
We can consider co-production opportunities for dramas, and feature films.
 
Is there anything specific you’re looking for at ATF?
Nothing specific but ATF is the time to follow up or discuss titles we were interested in at MIPCOM. We may even close some deals in ATF.