Pulse Films’ Thomas Benski

With series such as Gangs of London and movies like the Nicolas Cage-led Pig, Pulse Films has positioned itself as an edgy, talent-led company. Thomas Benski, its CEO and co-founder, shares with TV Drama his view on the drama landscape, discussing new financing models, talent relationships and what’s trending.

TV DRAMA: What’s your view on the current drama landscape?
BENSKI: We’ve all gone through what was a transformational period. One of the things that has been most inspiring is how the industry reacted to the challenges put in front of us; we are one of the best-placed industries to think on its feet around how to navigate the protocols, the new realities, the restrictions. I feel a lot of pride about how we, as an industry, fared given the huge challenges. Obviously, it wasn’t easy.

***Image***There has been an impact on how things are made and developed. We are such a relationship-driven industry that, after the survival of the last two years, people are ready to get back together and create a more communal sense of making television and making drama that requires a lot of people following the same North Star. I’m optimistic that we are coming out of the big challenges and can now look at the positives of the market, which are: huge demand for content, a high bar in terms of quality and very international and global demand. Audiences have shown us that we can be ambitious in thinking about engaging stories in drama no matter what the language, location or genre is. There is a great foundation, and I believe that we are going to continue to see an enormous amount of demand.

There’s been an evolution, which Pulse Films is benefiting from, in what kind of producers and talent are given opportunities to take big swings. I look at something like Gangs of London. This was a very ambitious series with people who didn’t necessarily come from the pure drama market, but we are extremely rigorous producers. That is being celebrated; rather than in the past, when I felt it was difficult to take those swings.

TV DRAMA: In terms of drama trends, what are you hearing is most in-demand nowadays—from broadcasters and audiences?
BENSKI: First of all, there is a genuine interest and focus on engaging international stories, regardless of language or where they originate. Pulse Films was built with that principle. I’m a globalist by nature: I grew up in Italy with a French father and Brazilian mother who lived in London. So we really look at the world as our oyster, funnily enough, looking away from Hollywood and the more conventional centers. We’re trying to unearth extremely exciting stories and voices and doing those at scale. Before, international content was seen as a sub-genre in itself, whereas right now, it feels like it’s not a genre that has a small place. It could be a brilliant thriller like Lupin or Money Heist or Squid Game, and this has given confidence and opportunities to an underutilized community of creators and storytellers. For Pulse, having offices in Milan, Los Angeles, New York and Berlin, and hopefully building on that footprint, it continues to be an exciting opportunity.

Secondly, we are seeing an opportunity for distinctive, authored voices more than before because of the demand. The idea of cutting through can happen if things stand out. That doesn’t mean that they need to be niche; they need to be distinctive. The idea of distinctive storytelling is where we see a lot of opportunities and demand.

Also, the lines between film and TV are blurred, whether that’s directors, writers, cast members—which Pulse has contributed to. We are seeing extremely ambitious projects with phenomenal talent that maybe ten years ago would not have participated in television.

All of those things are giving the industry a real confidence to plow forward.

TV DRAMA: How have financing models for drama shifted in the last couple of years?
BENSKI: What’s happened is that there are different economies. We at Pulse are extremely strong believers in the need for a mixed ecology. Yes, we can have big, global, expensive shows going to streamers and embracing the amazing opportunities given in that space. But also, look at how competitive terrestrial broadcasters, local broadcasters, cable channels are being in having to stand out, perhaps offering different opportunities from a rights-ownership perspective that benefit an independent company like ours. There are multiple layers of budgets and structures that a drama producer needs to embrace right now.

For us, I wouldn’t necessarily want to put all of our focus on one, but instead, it’s about being able to be a little bit more commercial and strategic about what the best version of a [show] is. It’s not always the big-budget version; sometimes, something that feels more like a discovery and is born out of small co-production structures can give a show a much bigger life. Sometimes, you want to go to a place that can give you access to a very large audience very quickly and give you the means to do so. It’s about embracing the mixed ecology and being more sophisticated in understanding the right path finance-wise for the project and the participants.

TV DRAMA: What types of drama would you like Pulse to be known for?
BENSKI: We position ourselves as a quality, edgy, talent-led type of company, where you clearly see what a Pulse show is, given our fairly obsessive approach to development and collaborators. For us, there are three development paths. One is those big, global shows with extremely high-profile talent that have a chance to play on the big stage. Then, there is the non-English-language yet ambitious and original storytelling, where we are leaning in more and more toward our international offices and international relationships. The third one is continuing to be known for bringing out and nurturing new voices that have a chance to make an impact. Those are the three levels that are being pursued. We’re very excited about projects that we have across those different avenues.

TV DRAMA: What upcoming productions would you like to highlight?
BENSKI: I’m really proud of the development slate that we have. We have announced a project called Underbelly, which is [based on] a best-selling book about the complexity of motherhood but with a twist. The need to entertain is essential. Given the very hard few years we’ve all faced, audiences are looking to be entertained. That doesn’t just mean broad entertainment; it could be something that leans into genre, but it has to be an experience as opposed to just highly commoditized content. That’s one of the filters we look at. Underbelly is very much in that.

Another book we’ve optioned is An Olive Grove in Ends. Again, a great piece of IP, a fantastic author, one of the best debut novels, in my opinion.

We are collaborating with Anna Friel on this really cool subversion of the thriller genre where we are adapting a book called The Perfect Girlfriend into a series. We are excited to give the Pulse Films version of that story; it will have an edge and still have the ability to attract a broad audience who will come for Anna and the subject matter.

TV DRAMA: As you look out at the TV drama landscape, where do you see the greatest opportunities ahead?
BENSKI: We are at a scaling moment where we want to bring more great content to the screen. Executing the projects that we have in development and production to the highest level is always our focus. We’re such an execution-driven company, across the board, not just in drama, but also in movies like Pigor Mogul Mowgli, movies that we’re trying to bring to an audience with a very elevated version. We want to continue to have an ultra-focus on that. It’s about tapping into the development avenues we discussed, doing that well, and broadening our talent and buyer relationships to start making multiple shows at the same time across the industry. We have a strong focus on key talent relationships, whether we are bringing those from films or other areas of the business, as well as becoming the destination for some more established drama talent and looking at the international landscape as a playing field we can really participate in and are instinctively akin to.