{"id":5180,"date":"2016-10-17T10:00:45","date_gmt":"2016-10-17T14:00:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/team-spirit\/"},"modified":"2016-10-18T12:18:28","modified_gmt":"2016-10-18T16:18:28","slug":"team-spirit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldscreen.com\/tvformats\/team-spirit\/","title":{"rendered":"Team Spirit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Creative-Pacts\"Distributors, producers and broadcasters are aligning across borders to jointly develop concepts.<\/em><\/p>\n

It would appear that the formats business is taking a page out of the international drama playbook, at least when it comes to creative collaborations. Over the last few years, an increasing number of distributors have been entering into co-development partnerships with broadcasters as they look for new ways to come up with the next big global hit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no doubt that co-development is the future,\u201d states Alon Shtruzman, the CEO of Keshet International (KI). \u201cWe see more parties collaborating on projects. The economy, competition and obviously [market] saturation are all supporting the trend toward co-development. We think it\u2019s more than a trend; it\u2019s strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Avi Armoza, the founder and CEO of Armoza Formats, says that development alliances result in both financial and creative benefits. \u201cThe creative benefit is important in coming up with formats that travel, as it can help bring you to a new and innovative result through the combination of cultures and ways of thinking,\u201d Armoza explains. \u201cThis is particularly important in the current industry, where the widespread consolidation often leads to stagnation in creativity. The financial benefits can either come through decreasing your risks or through enabling you to come to an improved product with higher potential.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guillermo Borensztein, the VP of co-productions and new business development at Argentine broadcaster Telefe, lists three main reasons for entering co-development partnerships, as it has done with Sony Pictures Television, FremantleMedia, Warner Bros.\u2019 Eyeworks and KI.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first is [they enable us to] continue working with leading players that can provide us added value. Second, these agreements are important for us to strengthen our presence in the world as a producer that generates innovative content. Finally, in some cases, we also satisfy the needs of our own screens. That [success] allows the distributor to introduce a proven format.\u201d<\/p>\n

BEARING FRUIT
\n<\/strong>Borensztein says he and the team at Telefe\u2019s content and international business segment (led by Tomas Yankelevich) have been \u201cvery pleased\u201d with its alliances so far. This year Telefe aired Due\u00f1os de la Cocina<\/em> (Kitchen Owners<\/em>), which was co-developed with Warner Bros.-owned Eyeworks Argentina. Next year, Telefe is expected to air an entertainment format that was developed in collaboration with KI, Shtruzman says, having inked a partnership with the broadcaster in 2015.<\/p>\n

KI has been very active on the co-development front over the past year, particularly in Latin America, the U.S. and China. In the U.S., KI has a deal with Telemundo Studios \u201cto co-develop and produce new Spanish-language formats and series to air on the Telemundo network,\u201d Shtruzman says. \u201cIt\u2019s a big step for us. It\u2019s going to be the first Spanish-language original produced under the KI banner. We believe the intellectual and creative collaboration between Telemundo and KI can result in very exciting projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Across the border in Mexico, meanwhile, KI has a broader deal with Televisa, which has the right to remake some of its formats in the next three years. \u201cWe have shows like Loaded<\/em>\u2014which has also been commissioned by Channel 4 in the U.K.\u2014already in the works as a Spanish production. In the next two years we\u2019re hoping to have at least three or four more projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

SKILL SETS
\n<\/strong>KI\u2019s alliances over the last year demonstrate how bullish it is about opportunities in Latin America. \u201cWe find that the Latin market is dynamic and creative,\u201d Shtruzman says. \u201cThe networks are very opinionated, and they know what they want. Part of the essence of co-development is bringing to the market not only IP but also skills and expertise. Historically we only came to the markets with a bag of great IP. Now we also have a bag of skills, creativity and experience. It\u2019s so exciting when two parties from different cultures collaborate to develop one project, and we feel that the collaboration with Latin American and Hispanic networks is very creative and fruitful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shtruzman says that KI has also been \u201cvery active\u201d in China with deals like the one it has with Huace Group\/Croton Media to partner on the development of local versions of Traffic Light<\/em> and Loaded<\/em>. \u201cIt\u2019s a really exciting project for us since these series are two of a handful of scripted formats ever to be imported into China from outside of Asia. It\u2019s also the first time either format has been remade for the Asian market.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shtruzman adds, \u201cChina is like a theme park for TV creators. There are so many TV stations and the audience is so diverse and hungry for great television.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armoza Formats also has co-developed projects in China, aligning with Sohu.com for The Running Show<\/em>. In Europe, meanwhile, the distributor partnered with TF1 on the interactive studio-entertainment format The People\u2019s Choice<\/em> and with TV Barrandov on The Final Cut-Down<\/em>. The company is also working with TVA in Canada on several projects and is now collaborating on a new concept with the broadcaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Armoza Formats has grown, our mission has evolved and shifted from an Israel-centered focus to encompass a more global perspective,\u201d Armoza says. \u201cOur international partnerships and co-operations around the world enable us to realize this evolution by combining Israeli creativity with key industry players and open up strategic, creative and commercial possibilities that might have never otherwise emerged.\u201d<\/p>\n

HOT SPOTS
\n<\/strong>For ITV Studios, its longest-running development alliance has been with Reshet, partnering with the broadcaster on a joint venture called The Lab almost three years ago to create ideas for the Israeli market, the U.K. and the U.S. that could then be formatted elsewhere.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have five or six formats that came out of that, produced and on air,\u201d says Mike Beale, the executive VP of global development and formats at ITV Studios. \u201cThe biggest one in the sense of ongoing [production] is Game of Chefs<\/em>. It\u2019s just been announced for its third season in Israel, we\u2019ve had seasons two and three commissioned in Romania and it\u2019s been made in Germany.\u201d<\/p>\n

More recently, ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE) aligned with Formata Production and Content, a start-up in Brazil run by Daniela Busoli. \u201cThat is a dual relationship: format production and also development. We\u2019ve got a couple of things coming from that, both going into Brazil and coming out of Brazil,\u201d Beale says.<\/p>\n

ITVS\u2008GE also entered into a deal with Korea\u2019s CJ E&M that Beale refers to as less of a development pact and more of a \u201cformat swap.\u201d<\/p>\n

CJ E&M has a much broader relationship with Endemol Shine Group. \u201cWe have invested our best creators and producers in creating a show that has the potential to become the next big thing,\u201d says Jin Woo Hwang, the head of global format development at the Korean media group. \u201cThe producers of Endemol Shine\u2019s Big Brother<\/em> and CJ E&M\u2019s The Genius Game<\/em> have been working together, and we have created a completely new format called The Society Game<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Endemol Shine, the pact allowed it to secure a foothold in Korea, which Lisa Perrin, CEO of Endemol Shine Creative Networks, refers to as an \u201cupcoming hot Asian market. [The partnership] really made sense for us and our team in Asia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Collaboration in practice included plenty of face-to-face meetings between the Endemol Shine and CJ E&M teams. \u201cWe\u2019ve had probably four or five big meetings either in Korea or Cannes,\u201d Perrin says. \u201cWe\u2019ve split it between Europe and Asia. We\u2019ve had the team from our Asian market [participating], but we\u2019ve also supported it with good creatives from around the group.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn practice, it\u2019s face to face as often as you can, but realistically that\u2019s two or three times a year,\u201d ITV Studios\u2019 Beale says of the collaboration process. \u201cAnd give it time. It\u2019s not a half-hour meeting in Cannes or any other market for that matter. Spend time with each other, at least a day if not a couple of days in those meetings. And then [you need] regular catch-ups. The worst thing about development is if stuff goes into a limbo and isn\u2019t moving forward. With Reshet we have Israel, London and L.A. It\u2019s early morning L.A., early evening Israel, and you block out a couple of hours and you have those regular calls, fortnightly or monthly, to make sure that stuff is moving. It\u2019s easy to get lost. Communication is very important.\u201d<\/p>\n

Borensztein at Telefe notes the importance of clearly defining your needs at the outset. \u201cFrom here, parties exchange ideas and pre-select concepts to develop. We coordinate meetings between the teams that in most cases include traveling. We send our suggestions, they send back theirs and we go back and forth until we all feel comfortable with the content and then introduce it to the decision-makers. Up to [this point] it\u2019s just an approved idea [for] development that includes a proposed structure of the show. If it\u2019s greenlit, we enter into preproduction, which includes developing a bible, budgeting, etc., with many more people involved on both sides.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of constant communication, KI\u2019s Shtruzman says that for the co-development process to work, it needs \u201cdesignated champions\u201d from each partner. \u201cCo-development is all about teamwork and integrating different processes and sensibilities. Each designated champion obviously has a team behind him\/her, and each champion brings the local sensibilities and the local knowledge.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATIONSHIP TIPS
\n<\/strong>It also helps for the two sides collaborating to respect each other and enjoy working together. \u201cThere should be a match,\u201d Shtruzman says. \u201cAs you know, in love and business, a match can come from different directions. If it\u2019s a good match with good chemistry and we share the same vision, it will work. I wouldn\u2019t say [you need the same] sensibilities. Actually, many times the vision is based on different sensibilities, especially if you want to develop a show that will work locally and also globally. So the sensibilities can be different\u2014in fact, it\u2019s pretty exciting to have different sensibilities in the same process. If we share the vision of creating a big, interesting, international show, and if there\u2019s good chemistry between the parties, that\u2019s the ground for co-development. When you\u2019re co-developing, one plus one equals more than two. That\u2019s the reason to co-develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

Armoza keeps three criteria in mind when determining who to partner with. \u201cThe first is whether or not it will bring about a new result, something that will stand out from the competition in the market or that will provide for an untapped need,\u201d he says. In the case of The Running Show<\/em> with Sohu, for example, \u201cPartnering with the largest streaming platform in China, in particular on an original non-scripted show, was far from the norm. Yet we saw the potential to bring about fresh and cost-effective content and to utilize the as-yet untapped potential in China.\u201d<\/p>\n

A view towards \u201clong-term collaboration\u201d is also essential: \u201cIdeally, the impact of the initial partnership will lead to other joint commercial prospects,\u201d Armoza says.<\/p>\n

Lastly, and most important, Armoza notes, is the need for \u201cshared goals and values. While this may often seem to be the case at a superficial glance, an in-depth understanding of the true goals and values of a potential partner can highlight differences that can challenge a collaboration, despite the best intentions. It is only when your aims truly align that you find a prosperous and long-term partnership.\u201d<\/p>\n

Telefe\u2019s Borensztein looks for \u201cproducers with great track records and strong distribution arms\u201d that have complementary approaches to creating, financing, producing and revenue-sharing.<\/p>\n

MATCH-MAKING
\n<\/strong>CJ E&M\u2019s Hwang, when asked what he looks for in potential partners, lists \u201ccreativity, experience [and a] commercial and collaborative mindset\u2026. Everyone is looking for something new, and co-development ideas can provide something new. However, making a show that travels well is not something everyone can manage. We call this the \u2018global competency,\u2019 and this is the greatest benefit that CJ E&M can obtain. Korea has so many talented people. We can make fast, effective, original, fresh shows, and we are looking for more opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n

What benefited the CJ E&M and Endemol Shine partnership was the fact that the companies had worked together on the Korean adaptation of MasterChef<\/em>. \u201cWe already had a relationship with them and were talking to them every day and it wasn\u2019t us forcing them to the altar, so to speak!\u201d Perrin quips.<\/p>\n

Speaking more broadly on what she looks for in partnerships, Perrin notes, \u201cDevelopment never works unless both sides respect each other and both sides think they are creatively akin and talking the same language. Those fundamentals are where you start from. And then it\u2019s thinking hard about the personalities that are in the room [during development meetings].\u201d<\/p>\n

NEW ALLIANCES
\n<\/strong>Following the Korean experience, Perrin is exploring other co-development opportunities. \u201cI\u2019m looking at Scandinavia. We\u2019ve got lots of good producers in Scandinavia. I feel like it\u2019s a territory that can launch international formats and I\u2019d like to explore a co-development deal with a broadcaster there. It\u2019s something I\u2019ve started taking baby steps toward.\u201d<\/p>\n

ITV Studios\u2019 Beale is also looking at potential partnerships with European broadcasters. \u201cIt\u2019s a key trend we\u2019re seeing where the broadcasters want to find a new format, they can\u2019t find the one they\u2019re looking for, so are keen to develop their own. We\u2019re looking for new windows.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Beale says, these deals are as much about relationship building as they are about creating new format ideas. \u201cIt\u2019s a relationship thing,\u201d he says. \u201cDevelopment and creation of IP and ownership of IP are very emotive things, especially for the creators. You want to be in partnership with somebody you know you can trust, you know you can have open conversations with, otherwise the development process is not going to work. Going back to Reshet, that is one of the great things we have with them\u2014a very open dialogue. If we think an idea is bad or they think an idea is bad, then we tell each other. You can\u2019t waste time pottering along developing stuff that isn\u2019t going to work for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pictured: Armoza Formats’\u00a0<\/em>The Final Cut-Down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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