here<\/a>.<\/p>\nAt Global Screen, the primary model is \u201cco-financing, co-developing, trying to close any remaining gaps depending on the project via an MG,\u201d Schr\u00f6der said. \u201cWe do co-productions for selected projects via co-development, also investing into the development budget against the emerging rights for world sales and, depending on the project, for the German-speaking territories.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe work in the co-production space, so we broker deals between ourselves and broadcasters in the U.S. and outside the home territory,\u201d said Swetman at All3Media International. \u201cWe work with a lot of European broadcasters, obviously with global SVOD platforms as well on co-productions. Budgets for dramas are increasing quite dramatically. We\u2019re looking at lots of shows that have multiple partners on board. It\u2019s not just the case that we\u2019re attaching one co-producer, but there may be two or even three on a single project, which comes with a lot of complexity. As a distributor, though, we also look at doing presales. And then we provide distribution advances or MGs towards pretty much all of the dramas that we work on. In many ways, they\u2019re familiar models, but where they are changing is the amounts of money involved are getting higher and also the number of these deals needed on any single project has gone up as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
At A+E Media Group, \u201cthe most common financing model we\u2019ve used has tended to be a more traditional structure: one or two primary commissioning broadcasters or partners, enlisting tax breaks or incentives from relevant territories, supplying a distribution MG and then one or two other presales that will help to close the financing,\u201d Finlay said.<\/p>\n
A+E Media Group, like many in the scripted space today, can come in at any stage in a project\u2019s life cycle. \u201cIncreasingly, we\u2019re looking to invest in earlier development,\u201d Finlay said. \u201cIt enables us to be very bespoke and curated in terms of sourcing those projects we want to take on. And we can have the earlier creative discussions\u2026so we\u2019re helping to tailor the project for the global space.\u201d<\/p>\n
The conversation then moved to what\u2019s changing in financing models. In Europe, they\u2019ve largely stayed the same, Sch\u00f6der said. \u201cYou have the same ingredients every time: the money from the commissioning entity, soft money, tax incentives and an MG from a distributor. It\u2019s not so common but there is also private equity. We can adapt to those models.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swetman agreed that the basic structures are still in place, but conversations are happening earlier in the process. \u201cIt might have been in the past you would have a commissioning broadcaster and anchor broadcaster on board and then you would be going out and having these conversations. The nature of co-production is that people want to be involved early in the process. We\u2019re actually having those conversations at the development stage. We\u2019re consulting on things like casting, directors and other key creatives to almost package your show. Rather than it being one broadcaster\u2019s vision that then gets sold into the market, it\u2019s a little bit more about bringing those other broadcasters or platforms in early so that you create a shared vision together. To raise the funding now, you need to have people who are aligned and going on the same journey.\u201d<\/p>\n
Finlay is of the same opinion and noted there is a desire to \u201cforge new frontiers in relation to funding and financing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The session then moved to the biggest challenges in the funding landscape. Swetman reiterated the concern of rising budgets, leading to situations where \u201ceither you need your partners to be putting in more money, which is obviously not always the easiest thing to achieve, or you need to have more partners. That\u2019s what we\u2019re finding. Particularly high-end premium dramas, we\u2019re not necessarily looking at two partners now, we\u2019re looking at three or maybe more. Keeping people creatively aligned is hard to do with two partners. If you\u2019ve got three or four, then it becomes even more complex. Those early conversations, making sure that everybody\u2019s on the same page, are really important.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCommissioners have been evaluating the scopes of their slates and the level of their expenditure,\u201d Finlay added. \u201cIt\u2019s becoming more challenging to get those greenlights. Co-pros themselves are inherently more precarious. You have a range of different partners coming together. The key thing is really figuring out how you can find that jigsaw, bring it together and have that hold so that you can get to the point of greenlight and bringing the show to fruition.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brzoznowski asked the panelists to weigh in on the soft-money landscape as more markets open up to tax incentives for production. \u201cThe main consideration is always how authentic and accurate the location is to the story,\u201d Swetman said. \u201cSoft money is really important, but we don\u2019t want to locate projects somewhere that\u2019s completely alien just because there\u2019s better soft money there. When we have a project set in a specific location, how can we maximize the soft money that we get from that location? In the U.K., for example, there are various regional funds that are available that might contribute to funding. In Australia, there\u2019s a tax credit at the federal level, but there are also individual states and agencies that can contribute money to funding as well. We want it to feel authentic, but we also want to maximize what we\u2019re getting from soft money. One of the important factors is the threshold where tax credits kick in. Usually there\u2019s a minimum spend that\u2019s required and that varies from territory to territory. We\u2019ve filmed a lot of projects in Ireland where the threshold is a little bit lower than in the U.K. That has allowed us to get tax credits, soft money, on projects that otherwise wouldn\u2019t have qualified in the U.K. So it makes drama production at a slightly lower budget level more viable. Those are the kinds of considerations that we\u2019re weighing up. But it\u2019s all about having the right fit for the project.\u201d<\/p>\n
Soft money is always key to any financing plan, Finlay added. \u201cThe key thing is figuring out how you can match those relevant incentives and what the criteria are with the creative and the logistics of your project to ensure that you\u2019re maximizing the monies that you can get out of that while not having to necessarily unduly shift the creative integrity of the story that you\u2019re looking to tell. We\u2019re always on the lookout for new incentives that may be coming from different territories, but it\u2019s one step to recognize them and another to find where they can deliver meaningful value.\u201d<\/p>\n
On working with streamers today, Schr\u00f6der said she\u2019s seen \u201ca shift in models of cooperation. For example, Netflix and Amazon are sometimes quite volatile in their needs and how they express what they\u2019re looking for. People change. You have to rebuild the relationships. And they are opening their content for licensing, for giving it to third parties to make a second, third or fourth cycle of exploitation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Swetman highlighted a newfound \u201copenness to working not only on a global basis. There are more opportunities to do deals in specific regions or perhaps in individual territories. As a distributor, that gives us a bit more of a role in some of the projects that they\u2019re working on.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOn the international side, because of the distribution imperative, we haven\u2019t done as many deals with global streamers simply by virtue of the fact that if it is a global deal, there won\u2019t be any distribution rights, at least not immediately, that we can exploit,\u201d Finlay said. \u201cNow, streamers are looking to perhaps go more market-specific in terms of how they commission, that offers up opportunities for the likes of A+E.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A+E Media Group\u2019s Alexandra Finlay, All3Media International\u2019s David Swetman and Global Screen\u2019s Ulrike Schr\u00f6der shared their thoughts on how windowing and financing strategies are evolving in the age after peak TV in the opening session at the TV Drama Festival today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":290,"featured_media":19314,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[70],"tags":[7626,7479,314,6301,235,7672,7480],"class_list":["post-19313","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-top-stories","tag-ae-media-group","tag-alexandra-finlay","tag-all3media-international","tag-david-swetman","tag-global-screen","tag-tv-drama-festival-2023","tag-ulrike-schroder","pmpro-has-access"],"yoast_head":"\n
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