Nadine Nohr

This interview originally appeared in the MIPCOM 2014 issue of TV Europe.

Expanding Shine International’s drama portfolio has been one of CEO Nadine Nohr’s top priorities since taking the helm of the company last year. And her efforts have certainly borne fruit, with the entity now boasting a catalogue that includes numerous British dramas from Shine-owned companies and indies, among them last year’s megahit Broadchurch; two American series in The Bridge on FX and Gracepoint on FOX; and more. She tells TV Europe about the highlights of the slate and discusses key trends in the business, from scripted format adaptations to complex windowing strategies.

TV EUROPE: What have been the major developments in Shine International’s drama strategy over the last year?
NOHR: We are on a continued growth trajectory when it comes to drama. That probably reflects the huge drama resurgence in the market generally. Over the last 12 months, one of the headlines for us would be the continued success of some of our big adaptations. We’ve got three series of The Bridge (we’re responsible for distributing The Bridge U.S. and The Tunnel internationally). The interesting thing about The Bridge/Bron/The Tunnel is that by [season] two they diverge significantly from each other, so they each start to take on much more of an identity in their own right. It’s one of the challenges of adaptations: when they start, there’s going to be a lot of comparison, and then as they evolve the choice editorially is either to stay quite close to the original or perhaps take a different direction. As the first seasons develop you see new plotlines coming in and they could go in very different directions.

We’ve got Gracepoint, another big drama adaptation for us [based on Broadchurch]. Gracepoint, which is produced by Shine America and Kudos, is due to premiere in the U.S. in October on FOX and will also feature largely at MIPCOM.

From a co-production perspective, there is The Tunnel, which is a co-production between Shine France, Kudos, CANAL+ and Sky. Real Humans is another significant and very exciting project from Kudos, which is currently in development with Xbox and Channel 4. Earlier this year, we announced the [first-look] deal with Ecosse, which was huge for us as it’s another very significant scripted producer with a fantastic and proven track record. We’ll be working with them for the next few years. We’re currently working with the BBC on Our Girl—the 90-minute pilot has been picked up as a full series and stars Lacey Turner. And we also have the second series of the terrific BAFTA-winning series In the Flesh, also with the BBC. From Shine Group companies, we’ve got The Third Eye from Rubicon (producers of Lilyhammer) and Shine Australia’s new miniseries Catching Milat, which is based on the true story of the police investigation into serial killer Ivan Milat, perpetrator of the infamous Backpacker Murders. We are also working on a number of other projects with a continued focus on quality and differentiated drama.

TV EUROPE: How do you approach the mix in your portfolio, so that you make sure you have properties that can cut across the needs of your entire drama client base?
NOHR: It’s all about the company you keep; we want the shows and the producers to feel comfortable alongside the other content in our catalogue. And we can’t be prescriptive and say, “We’ve got something about X, now we need something about Y.” Each show stands on its own merit. We look for certain characteristics to do with strength of storytelling, the uniqueness, the returnability, the production quality.

But this isn’t about Shine International: we very much take a back seat. We continually demonstrate in the way we work that there’s no hierarchy. Whether it’s a Shine title or a third-party title, if we commit to something, we back it 100 percent and apply all of our resources to rolling it out as effectively as possible.

TV EUROPE: As you’re rolling out Gracepoint, are you finding it’s the same broadcasters who bought Broadchurch, or is it competing networks who saw how well the British version did and now want the American edition?
NOHR: It’s still in the early days and you have to be respectful of the commitment a broadcaster might have made to the original series. You need to respect the brand, the broadcaster, and effectively execute a strategy that takes all of those things into consideration, which makes for quite a complex life! But you can hardly complain. Having brands like this to work with is a luxury problem to have.

TV EUROPE: Are there any particular trends you’re seeing in drama at present?
NOHR: One of the obvious [trends] is the increased number of platforms buying drama. There are twice as many now as there were seven years ago. Particularly in the States, there’s a lot of demand, a lot of competition, and a need to stand out. Heavily serialized shorter-run drama has come into its own because of viewing habits around stacking and binge viewing. Social media has enabled broadcasters to harness live audiences in a way that previously wasn’t the case. There’s the rise of on-demand services and yet at the same time a lot of drama has become so event-led that it’s consumed live. On some titles we might see much more consolidated viewing, and then on other dramas it’s much more appointment to view. We’re always looking for resonance and relevance. There’s an appetite for good ideas and strong storytelling, and that can come from any number of markets, which is really refreshing to see.

The increasingly complex management of rights windows is transforming how drama is distributed and consumed. There is an evolving business model which is about very carefully choreographing the rollout of a drama across multiple markets, across multiple versions, across holdbacks and rights windows. The way we sell and the way we maximize value has changed and is continuing to do so. We work very hard to offer as much commercial flexibility as possible and also get involved at a very early stage, so we can broker partnerships, we can deficit finance ourselves and we can help fund development. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, both in terms of the way in which we work with our partners and the content itself.