TV Drama<\/em>\u2019s Anna Carugati. It began with a discussion about the streaming landscape. \u201cThis is the first time the streamers have a serious bump in the road,\u201d Blomgren observed. \u201cEven if the end game is to win new subscribers, I don\u2019t see a volume war.\u201d<\/p>\nAs subs growth slows amid intensified competition, Blomgren predicts platforms will invest in \u201cfewer bigger projects,\u201d all with top-name talent attached. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be more mainstream and [serve] wider audience groups. And I had a funny conversation with Doug Wood, who is a famous research guru in London. He used the term \u2018Silver Surfers\u2019 the other day\u2014people of my age and even older, who are now becoming more and more important. They prefer more linear-like, broader commissions. We\u2019ll also see genre growing rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n
With a likely recession looming and the ongoing impacts of the war in Ukraine, Blomgren says storytelling may move more toward escapism. \u201cThe best talent create the trends; they don\u2019t follow them. If that\u2019s the big picture, it\u2019s kind of challenging to be a fortune teller.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carugati then asked the panelists about the needs of traditional broadcast channels today. \u201cEvery buyer at the moment is looking for premium scripted projects,\u201d said Wilson. \u201cWe have a lot more buyers, therefore a lot more opportunity, but we also have a lot more competition. It\u2019s interesting for linear. It\u2019s still an incredibly important place for us to be. The BBC, for example, is adapting to the streaming market. They want to be a place that speaks to its local audience, that serves that public-service broadcaster mentality, but that also is surprising. They want to be in the market for a big-budget show, and they are forming really good partnerships with co-producers in the U.S. in order to allow them to have those windows in the U.K. It doesn\u2019t feel to us anymore that you go to linear for the lower-budget shows and streamers for the higher-budget ones. I think it is more of a taste question.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Kudos\u2019 successful approach, Wilson noted, \u201cWe don\u2019t develop to brief. We expand where we find our ideas. IP is obviously incredibly important these days where it wasn\u2019t so much. We used to do general meetings with writers and now, in order to get a meeting with the writer, we have to have a piece of IP to get in through the door in the first place. We try to be a great place to work so that once those writers are through the door, we can keep them there. It\u2019s about finding the projects and the writers that we love and the stories that we want to tell and being in a fortunate position in that we can sometimes go straight to scripts if we want to. We are constantly evolving how we pitch our shows. Does it need a script? Does it need a series document? Does it need just a conversation? The broadcasters and the platforms are much more open to risk. If there\u2019s an idea they\u2019re willing to invest in or a writer or story, it doesn\u2019t necessarily need all the trappings of the way that we used to invest money in pitching projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carugati then asked Blomgren about the lessons learned from creating and producing drama across the Banijay footprint. \u201cIt\u2019s almost 55 production companies now. The most important [lesson is] that we have to respect the local culture.\u201d Each territory has its own comfort zone, Blomgren added.<\/p>\n
Local successes can of course become global hits, Blomgren noted. \u201cFor a series to work outside the originating country, it needs to have a story and characters that relate to the wider audience. And it has to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conversation then moved to diversity initiatives at Banijay. \u201cWe are all making big steps forward, but I think we still have a huge amount to learn and there\u2019s a lot more to improve,\u201d said Wilson. Kudos has its own diversity, equity and inclusion targets on its productions and is looking at its recruitment processes. \u201cUltimately, it comes back to breadth of voice, and that comes through in the stories that you want to tell and then the people you hire to make them. Unfortunately, there are limitations to who is available at the moment. So what we also need to be doing is giving opportunities to people to come in and learn and step up. We have got to tell more stories, authentically, by the people who thus far have not had their stories told.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blomgren added, \u201cIf we open up the business for the unrepresented parts of society, the hardships and challenges they\u2019ve endured create stories that in many ways are much more interesting than my story anyway, it\u2019s a win-win for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n
The discussion then touched on the co-production model, one that Banijay and its various outlets are extremely proficient in. \u201cThe ARDs and the BBCs, they all want to do it. Especially on the non-English side, it\u2019s an enormous challenge with the top financing. They all end up on 80, 90 percent of the budget. The final part is really hard to get. That\u2019s the big challenge for everyone. But again, the linear broadcasters are taking the challenge. They really want to compete with the streamers. And this is almost the only way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blomgren and Wilson then discussed how best practices are shared across the company. \u201cWe also do a lot of matchmaking across the group,\u201d Blomgren added. For example, the writing team behind Caliphate<\/em> on Netflix is now working with one of Banijay\u2019s French companies. \u201cIf we can move talent and grow talent together, that\u2019s a great opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\nThe panel wrapped with Blomgren and Wilson discussing their outlooks for the year to two ahead. \u201cIt\u2019s about widening the talent pool we can all draw from,\u201d Wilson said. \u201cIt\u2019s talent that we all need. There isn\u2019t quite enough of it yet with all the opportunities coming our way.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe situation now with the streamers and their growth actually plays to our advantage because we have a lot of high-end companies and trusted partners with proper track records,\u201d added Blomgren. \u201cIn challenging times, you want to have reliable partners. I\u2019m optimistic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In a joint keynote, Lars Blomgren, head of scripted at Banijay, and Karen Wilson, managing director of Kudos, took TV Drama Festival delegates inside the drama development and production process at the company.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":17119,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[4066,5071,1123,154],"class_list":["post-17118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-banijay","tag-karen-wilson","tag-kudos","tag-lars-blomgren","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n
Lars Blomgren, Karen Wilson Spotlight Banijay\u2019s Scripted Strengths - TVDRAMA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lars Blomgren, Karen Wilson Spotlight Banijay\u2019s Scripted Strengths - TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a joint keynote, Lars Blomgren, head of scripted at Banijay, and Karen Wilson, managing director of Kudos, took TV Drama Festival delegates inside the drama development and production process at the company.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TVDRAMA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-06-29T12:33:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-06-29T12:43:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2017\/07\/2022-06-28-Banijay.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"319\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mansha Daswani\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/\",\"name\":\"Lars Blomgren, Karen Wilson Spotlight Banijay\u2019s Scripted Strengths - TVDRAMA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-06-29T12:33:28+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-06-29T12:43:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lars Blomgren, Karen Wilson Spotlight Banijay\u2019s Scripted Strengths\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/\",\"name\":\"TVDRAMA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad\",\"name\":\"Mansha Daswani\",\"description\":\"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. She can be reached on mdaswani@worldscreen.com.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/author\/mdaswaniworldscreen-com\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lars Blomgren, Karen Wilson Spotlight Banijay\u2019s Scripted Strengths - TVDRAMA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lars Blomgren, Karen Wilson Spotlight Banijay\u2019s Scripted Strengths - TVDRAMA","og_description":"In a joint keynote, Lars Blomgren, head of scripted at Banijay, and Karen Wilson, managing director of Kudos, took TV Drama Festival delegates inside the drama development and production process at the company.","og_url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/","og_site_name":"TVDRAMA","article_published_time":"2022-06-29T12:33:28+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-06-29T12:43:55+00:00","og_image":[{"width":600,"height":319,"url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2017\/07\/2022-06-28-Banijay.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Mansha Daswani","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Mansha Daswani","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/","name":"Lars Blomgren, Karen Wilson Spotlight Banijay\u2019s Scripted Strengths - TVDRAMA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-06-29T12:33:28+00:00","dateModified":"2022-06-29T12:43:55+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/lars-blomgren-karen-wilson-spotlight-banijays-scripted-strengths\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lars Blomgren, Karen Wilson Spotlight Banijay\u2019s Scripted Strengths"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#website","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/","name":"TVDRAMA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/#\/schema\/person\/83da304c8bad8bfdb3edd7eb47cfe5ad","name":"Mansha Daswani","description":"Mansha Daswani is the editor-in-chief and associate publisher of World Screen. She can be reached on mdaswani@worldscreen.com.","url":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/author\/mdaswaniworldscreen-com\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/290"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17118"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17118\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17119"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvdrama\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}