Videoage International November 2019

I N T E R N A T I O N A L www.V i deoAge.org THE BUSINESS JOURNAL OF FILM, BROADCASTING, BROADBAND, PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION November 2019 - VOL. 39 NO. 6 - $9.75 (Continued on Page 16) O nce the gatekeepers of the worldwide animation business, Canadian toon producers have, of late, been rather quiet on the international TV dis- tribution scene. It’s not that they are not producing, but rather that they are not distributing. “It’s part of the Netflix factor,” said Bill Brioux, VideoAg e’s Canadian contributor, when called upon to investigate. Take DHX Media, for example. After losing money for two con- secutive years, DHX, a Canadian animation powerhouse, changed its name to WildBrain last September, and sold a building it owned in NetflixKeeps ToonTitans Busy, Not TooProfitable AFM at 40: No time to celebrate, better times still to come MIPCOM was all about MIP-TV 2020: problems & solutions World: Romania’s generous cashback for productions My 2¢: The absurdity of the E.U.’s right to be forgotten law Page 20 Page 10 Page 4 Page 3 P arts of the world are clearly in a state of turmoil. Just look at what’s happening in the Middle East, North Africa, the U.K., Spain, and Hong Kong these days. But things in each of these regions aren’t as volatile as the situation in Latin America today. Just before the sixth annual MIP Cancun, the MIP Cancun Amid LATAM Turbulence (Continued on Page 14) The Common Ground of African, Caribbean TV-Film I t’s easy to see how the shared historical identities of both Af- rica and the Caribbean regions impact their film-TV industry, and hence why it is possible to have shared distribution. The lower production costs in Africa make it easier to penetrate the Caribbean market. Not very many Caribbean producers have been able to penetrate the U.S. market, but some talent from both Africa and the Caribbean have made it onto U.S. screens. These include Sidney Poitier from the Ba- hamas, Harry Belafonte from Ja- maica, Kenya’s Lupita Nyong’o, and Chiwetel Ejiofor and Winston Duke from Trinidad and Tobago, to name a few. This crossover of talent, skill, and blockbuster success has given a new generation of actors hope that they too can impact not only their regions, but also Hollywood. Caribbean TV outlets and opera- tors, because of their geographical location, size, and unique culture, often find themselves caught in a (Continued on Page 18)