Elizabeth Guider Reports from NAB: Indies On New Financing Models

LAS VEGAS: John Morayniss from eOne, Caroline Kusser from SevenOne International, John Pollak at Electus and Jim Packer from Lionsgate weighed in on new financing models at an NAB panel on innovation in international TV production and distribution.

New models aren’t just limited to the thousands of techno toys in the vast exhibition halls at this week’s NAB; there are also new models of financing being evolved by scores of independent content creators.

On display in Vegas a quartet of such indie producer-distribbers talked about a number of ways that TV series, both fiction and non fiction, are being cobbled together successfully thanks to new players and new ways of thinking. More often than not, these new strategies mirror the ways indie films are packaged and financed.

John Morayniss, the CEO of Entertainment One (eOne) Television, put the accent on securing license fees and tapping subsidies in Canada before locking in funds in the U.S.—a strategy used in getting the Stephen King series Haven produced.

"We’ve found that putting the package together first, before going after a U.S. deal, often works for us. Especially since there’s now the opening up of a global mindset," Morayniss told attendees.

Caroline Kusser, the director for North America at SevenOne International, described how having new players like Netflix in the mix enables unlikely projects like Lilyhammer—originally a Norwegian idea that attracted Steven van Zandt as the star—to come together. The online film service is now offering the mob satire series in its 8-episode entirety on its website.

Somewhat differently John Pollak, the president of international at Ben Silverman’s Electus, singled out the reality contest Fashion Star as an example of how commerce and entertainment can work together.

"Viewers can essentially buy what they watch then and there," he said of the series airing now on NBC, adding that the show has been sold almost everywhere and now the format is being licensed abroad as well.

Finally, Jim Packer, the president of worldwide television and digital distribution at Lionsgate, described the novel approach taken with the upcoming series Anger Management, whose first ten episodes have been picked up by FX. If the U.S. cabler renews, foreign clients have agreed to pick up 100 episodes all told and those will be delivered over two or three years, not five or seven. "It’s more like the syndication model Lionsgate has used with Tyler Perry projects," he explained.

As for the Charlie Sheen factor, there is, Packer said, no international fallout from the actor’s highly publicized antics Stateside. His comedies have traveled well abroad and that’s all there is to it, Packer said.