Home-Reno & Food Feed Tricon’s Factual Slate

Karthiga Ratnasabapathy, the VP of worldwide sales and acquisitions at Tricon Films & Television, talks to TV Real about the company’s factual catalogue and the international appeal of home-renovation and food titles.

Though Tricon Films & Television boasts a varied catalogue, factual titles have proved to be a boon. “In terms of factual, we have a lot of genres to offer,” says Karthiga Ratnasabapathy, the VP of worldwide sales and acquisitions at Tricon Films & Television. “Everyone knows that we’ve been representing factual and lifestyle well,” and home-renovation and food-focused titles are particularly popular genres. “We’ve been in that space for a very long time, so our buyers know that we specialize in those genres,” explains Ratnasabapathy.

Tricon entered international distribution in 2002, and according to Ratnasabapathy, “Internationally everybody always wants to watch reno shows. People want to [attempt] DIY projects and are always trying to look at home improvement and how they can do it on their own and how they can renovate their homes.” Thus, home-reno and food are “popular genres with the international specialty channels.”

Fulfilling the appetite for DIY home-improvement content is TheExpandables. The program is all about expanding a small space within a house, which Ratnasabapathy identifies as a universal desire. In fact, she reports that “The Expandables is doing very well; we’re into season two right now.”

Tricon has also been making buyers’ mouths water with food competition series such as Sugar Showdown because, as Ratnasabapathy points out, “everyone loves dessert.” In the vein of Donut Showdown, the program sees top bakers go head-to-head in a timed bake-off. She adds, “It’s incredible what the contestants are able to make with certain items—things that you would never think about.”

As true-crime programming continues to gain popularity in the factual world, it has become a key part of Tricon’s offering. “We have To Catch a Killer and I Didn’t Do It in our catalogue, which are in demand now more than ever,” Ratnasabapathy says. The series I Didn’t Do It, narrated by Chris Noth of Law & Order fame, spotlights the stories of innocent people suffering the fate of wrongful convictions. Each episode brings the stories to life through reenactments and interviews. The true-crime series To Catch a Killer, meanwhile, follows professor and detective Mike Arntfield and a group of civilians who investigate unsolved murders in the Toronto area. Working closely with the victims’ family and friends, they use technology to look for new leads and evidence that can help close the case.

In addition to true-crime titles, Ratnasabapathy says, “There seems to also be an appetite for documentaries, especially in the last few months.” To fill that need, Tricon produced a documentary called The Slippers, which tells the story of the famous ruby shoes from The Wizard of Oz after they were sold at the 1970 MGM auction.

Ratnasabapathy reports that Tricon is always looking to acquire new content, with home-renovation and food leading the list. “We’re looking at [acquiring] more travel shows and more factual crime shows as well.”

“We also produce in-house factual content,” Ratnasabapathy adds. When considering an acquisition, “We always look at the production quality. We know what our clients are looking for. Certain shows hit a sweet spot; we know exactly whom we can take it to and where the home would be for those shows, and we’re always open to looking at more content. We get back to all the producers who send content our way and we give them feedback on what our customers are looking for as well.”

Asked if the company has a preference in terms of when it joins a project, Ratnasabapathy explains, “We’re happy to come on board as early as possible and give notes and so forth, but that doesn’t mean we won’t be interested once a project is complete. It depends on the production company and producer [as to] what point they want us to get involved.”

Geography can also influence the stage during which Tricon comes on board. Ratnasabapathy says, “We’ve been acquiring some content from Asia and on those [titles], we’re not involved from the beginning because it is created for an Asian market, and we come in much later.”

Looking ahead, Tricon will “keep selling more of our content and acquiring great content,” Ratnasabapathy says. “We represent some 4K shows now, and we’re excited about where that takes us. We’re very excited to see what’s ahead out there. We’re also doing some digital production in-house, and we’re looking to expand those [projects] as well.”