(Continued on Page 16) There are books such as A Tale of Two Cities (by Charles Dickens), films such as A Tale of Two Wars and A Tale of Two Sisters, and many other titles that deal with two competing entities, but so far, there’s only one tale about two TV trade shows in Budapest, competing for a content showcase dedicated to the Central and Eastern European territories. These days, the international content sector has to deal with two TV trade shows taking place one after the other in the same city: Budapest. The industry will deal with it, just like any other challenge that comes its way. In order Spanish TV Faces Challenges and Rewards L.A. Screenings: Still believing in the linear stars Maria Schneider: A memoir about her troubled life Hulu: The complex struggle of a demanding service My 2¢: How to nd out if a company is nancially sound Page 18 Page 8 Page 4 Page 3 Recently, the Spanish televisoin scene has returned to the dynamism of the days before it basically left the international scene in the 1990s. “Spanish TV fiction is being discovered worldwide”, said an article in the October 2019 issue of Variety. This Spanish TV revival can be traced back to 2017, when Antena 3 first broadcast La Casa de Papel (Money Heist), a series that became a global hit on Netflix. Today, the country has fostered some 140 production and distribution companies, of which five are considered to be major: Atresmedia, Mediacrest, The Mediapro Studio, Movistar, and Secuoya Conecta Fiction Heralds Spain’s Content Revival (Continued on Page 14) CEE: NATPE, Content, A Tale of Two Markets Conecta Fiction & Entertainment was envisioned by Géraldine Gonard (pictured) as a tool to connect the two sides of the Atlantic: Spain and the Americas. Gonard, a former Content Sales executive, most recently with The Mediapro Studio, came up with the idea to connect producers from two continents some (Continued on Page 10) to gather enough information to present to VideoAge readers, this publication had to contact some of those companies that plan to exhibit at both events, and then speak with those who will only exhibit at NATPE Budapest, and also with those that will only exhibit at Content Budapest. INTERNATIONAL www.VideoAge.org THE BUSINESS JOURNAL OF FILM, BROADCASTING, STREAMING, PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION June/July 2023 - VOL. 43 NO. 4 - $9.75
3 June/July 2023 My 2¢ If a company is cash poor, the rst thing to go out the window is advertising. When it appeared on the international TV scene in 1994, Vice Media was considered almost a divine vision. Now, 29 years later, the company has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The bankruptcy will facilitate the sale of Vice Media to a group of its lenders, led by Fortress Investment Group and Soros Fund Management. The first peak of Vice’s appeal was reached in 2001 when it relocated to New York City from Montreal, Canada, but the company’s real apex was reached a few years later. While at international TV trade shows like MIPTV and MIPCOM in Cannes, Vice was like Mozart’s Figaro — everyone wanted to partner up with the firm or to have it as a brand association, or for endorsement. And Vice appeared to be everywhere all at once — apparently without investing any of its own marketing money. The consumer press might have idolized Vice, but I, for one, never clicked with what was considered a passing phenomenon by most of the trade media. Granted it took more than a quarter of a century to become a “passing phenomenon”, but, as they say in Hollywood, “it takes 15 years to become an overnight success.” (And in this case, it was actually an overnight fiasco!) The last one to turn Vice’s lights off was Greek broadcaster Antenna, which recently terminated a multi-million-dollar contract to buy Vice’s news content. To me, and I suppose a good part of the trade media, Vice was never a prospective advertiser, and we assumed that the reason was simple: No money. Vice’s innovative PR stunts were good at creating smoke and mirrors with the general press, whose cult-like attention brought the company investors and investments. First, it had investments for $4 million (1999), then a variety of investors poured $70 million into it (2013), followed by $250 million (2014), another $200 million the following year, and finally $450 million in 2017. By then Vice was valued at $5.7 billion, but was not profitable. After failed attempts to find a buyer, Vice had been valued at $225 million by its major lenders, which have agreed to the acquisition of the company. We in the trade business tend to follow the money more than the PR narrative. We know that if a company is cash poor, the first thing to go out the window is marketing and advertising, leaving just the less expensive PR to keep generating more smoke screens. “I cannot afford to advertise”, Norman Horowitz used to cry when he was running MGM/ UA in 1990. “I need the money to pay my secretary!” Vice and other similar cases (like Elon Musk reevaluating advertising for his Tesla cars) should be studied in MBA classes. Students should also learn the lesson of looking at a company’s marketing and advertising budgets to determine if they are solid. This concept isn’t anything new. It was widely employed in the 1980s, especially by content distribution companies that ultimately became very successful. Case in point was Telepictures’ strategy of plastering its ads in every possible TV trade publication during TV markets, but since, in the company’s early days, it had little TV content available for licensing, its ads consisted of illustrations of birthday cakes up until its third anniversary. The strategy paid off, and the company became widely successful, and is still active today. Dom Serafini To determine if a company is financially sound and solidly well run, the litmus test is simple: leaf through the trade press. If you see their ads, there’s money behind them. If you don’t see ads, there is only smoke and mirrors. MAIN OFFICES 216 EAST 75TH STREET NEW YORK, NY 10021 TEL: (212) 288-3933 DAILY@VIDEOAGEINTERNATIONAL.COM VIALE ABRUZZI 30 20123 MILAN, ITALY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DOM SERAFINI EDITORIAL TEAM SARA ALESSI (NY) BILL BRIOUX (CANADA) ENZO CHIARULLO (ITALY) LEAH HOCHBAUM ROSNER (NY) SUSAN HORNIK (L.A.) CAROLINE INTERTAGLIA (FRANCE) OMAR MENDEZ (ARGENTINA) LUIS POLANCO (NY) MIKE REYNOLDS (L.A.) MARIA ZUPPELLO (BRAZIL) PUBLISHER MONICA GORGHETTO BUSINESS OFFICE LEN FINKEL LEGAL OFFICE STEVE SCHIFFMAN WEB MANAGER BRUNO MARRACINO DESIGN/PREPRESS CLAUDIO MATTIONI, CARMINE RASPAOLO © TV TRADE MEDIA INC. 2023
June/July 2023 4 quisition of Fox assets with its own unsuccessful $65 billion bid. In 2019, Disney and Comcast agreed on a sale of Comcast’s stake in 2024, but there is a dispute as to whether the agreement also called for the service’s international launch. Disney claims that it did not agree to expand Hulu internationally, and in 2020 it used its Star brand, originally intended for Asia, as its international brand. Previously, in 2011, Hulu launched its service in Japan, but in 2014 Hulu Japan was acquired by Nippon TV, and in 2019 WarnerMedia (now Warner Bros. Discovery) sold its 9.5 percent interest back to Hulu. Hulu currently has 48.2 million U.S. subscribers, and it is valued at $27.5 billion, however, the real value is being disputed, and will eventually be resolved by an independent third party. Subscribers pay $7.99 a month for the adsupported service, and $14.99 a month for its no-ads plan. Comcast has now reportedly stopped funding Hulu and Disney has provided a loan to keep the operation going. Once the sale is completed, Disney is planning to fold Hulu’s content into Disney+, while maintaining the Hulu brand as stand-alone. But, this scenario is also disputed since Disney announced massive cuts to keep its streaming service going. Disney’s DTC division will remove little watched titles for an estimated $1.8 billion. It is also cutting $5 billion in operating expenses from all divisions ($3 billion this year). Plus, it is scrapping a $1 billion Florida project (blamed on an ongoing feud with Florida governor Ron DeSantis). Under this scenario, many wonder how Disney can be forking out a minimum of $9.16 billion to buy Comcast’s share of Hulu. Meanwhile, Hulu has elevated its boss, Joe Earley, to president of Disney’s directto-consumer unit for entertainment content, which oversees the Disney+ and Hulu streaming services, replacing Michael Paull, who played a major role in Disney’s entry into streaming. In October 2021, Hulu president Kelly Campbell resigned to become president of NBC’s Peacock streaming platform, and Earley took her place. A year later, NBC pulled its content from Hulu and moved it to Peacock. Streaming service Hulu has had a troubled existence that its current parent companies are trying to untangle, and epitomizes the complexities that all SVoD platforms are experiencing in different forms. The unresolved issues are: The value of the platform, if the service should have been launched internationally, and if it should be incorporated into another service. Hulu was announced in 2007 and launched a year later with the idea of providing a way for cable cord-cutters to watch network TV programs online. Its original ownership was shared between ABC, FOX, and NBC. The networks got paid for putting their content on Hulu, usually the day after they aired on TV. Content acquisition required unanimous approval from Hulu’s owners. In 2011, Comcast acquired NBC, and the cable operator became part owner of Hulu. In 2018, when Disney acquired some Fox studios assets for $71.3 billion, onethird of Hulu’s stake went to Disney. At that point, NBC (Comcast) could no longer block content acquisition decisions, partly because it had agreed to be Hulu’s silent, non-active partner in a bid to secure U.S. government approval of its NBC acquisition. In order to protect its investment in Hulu, Comcast contrasted the Disney acHulu: The Struggle of a Demanding Service World (Continued on Page 6) VideoAge’s International TV Distribution Hall of Fame Fascinating Stories Honoring Executives Who Built An Industry Volume 1 By Dom Serafini Available in Print and e-Book
The Weight Serving the international TV industry in good and in challenging times with print Issues, PDF editions, weekly online features, and daily e-newsletters. www.VideoAge.org www.VideoAgeDaily.com of VideoAge Reaches unusual HEIGHTS
June/July 2023 6 season of Imma Tataranni. The second season of this series was licensed to Finland, while France’s Canal+ licensed the third season with an option on the fourth. Spain’s RTVE licensed 220 episodes of The Ladies’ Paradise and The Ladies’ Paradise Daily.” He went on to say that “buyers are awaiting the fourth season of My Brilliant Friend, which is currently filming in Naples and distributed by Rai Com for its second window in the CIS and CEE territories, in collaboration with Fremantle. [The first window is for coproducer HBO]” RTVE’s Acquisitions executive Milagros Mayi gave her own assessment: “Since I joined RTVE in 2016 I have attended the Screenings each year. RTVE always buys RAI content. We share the culture of public broadcasters. The first two seasons of The Ladies’ Paradise, which aired on our national channel, performed very well. Therefore, The Ladies’ Paradise Daily was added to our daytime programming. We will license the following seasons for both shows. Plus, Imma Tataranni is a success in Spain, and we are planning to re-broadcast the episodes in the summer and looking into its third season, as well as the third season of The Bastards of Pizzofalcone.” Eva Kamin, director of Acquisitions and Co-productions for Germany’s ZDF Studios, added: “The event was wonderfully framed by the beautiful city of Naples, which was a marvelous backdrop and unforgettable with the celebration of the home team win of football’s [soccer] Serie A national tournament.” Concluded Morad Koufane, head of International Scripted Series at France Télévisions: “I don’t know how you will do next year since you raised the bar so high this year with Rai Com Screenings in Naples: a magical location, a crazy historical moment for the city and, as always, efficient operational screenings for us buyers from all around the world.” Last month, Rai Com, the commercial division of RAI, Italy’s public broadcaster, welcomed over 50 buyers to its 30th annual Screenings. Held in the historic center of Naples May 3-5, 2023, at the Grand Hotel Oriente, the event attracted buyers from 17 countries, including executives from Australia and the U.S. Alessandro Ravani, Rai Com’s commercial director, offered an overview of the showcase: “The crime genre maintained its popularity and consolidated the results obtained by other popular Italian series, first among them Detective Montalbano, which delivers high ratings in Italy and in the rest of the world. Rai Com has been at the forefront of this trend from the 1980s with La Piovra. In addition, Inspector Ricciardi, Lolita’s Investigations, Hearts, and The Good Apprentice are among the various titles licensed in the U.K., the U.S., and by the Australian networks aggregator GSN.” He continued: “Similarly, MHZ Networks, which is the distributor of Montalbano in the U.S., is now picking up RAI’s TV movies, including Once Upon a Time in Vigata, based on Andrea Camilleri’s novel, and Vincenzo Malinconico - Italian Lawyer; plus the fourth season of The Bastards of Pizzofalcone. In addition, MHZ licensed the third Rai Com Screenings Light Up Naples World (Continued from Page 4) Detective Montalbano VideoAge’s Int’l TV Distribution Hall of Fame Fascinating Stories Honoring 10 Additional Executives Who Built An Industry Volume 2 By Dom Serafini Available in Print and e-Book
8 Aquick online search for the French actress Maria Schneider comes up with the following results: How old was Maria Schneider when she died? What was her controversial scene in Last Tango in Paris? Whatever happened to Maria Schneider? These questions suggest the life of an artist who died too soon, who courted risk and danger, and perhaps whose story has been omitted and discounted in the public record. The portrait these questions convey is exactly the narrative that Vanessa Schneider would like to complicate in My Cousin Maria Schneider: A Memoir (160 pgs., Scribner, 2023, $26). Based in Paris, France, Vanessa Schneider is a novelist and journalist who writes for the daily Le Monde. Schneider’s eighth book, My Cousin Maria Schneider was published in 2018 under the original title Tu t’appelais Maria Schneider. The memoir is the first of Schneider’s books to be translated into English, and it has been done so by Molly Ringwald, the writer and actress perhaps best known for movies such as The Breakfast Club (1985) and Pretty in Pink (1986), and who previously published her first translation, Lie With Me, in 2019. In Ringwald’s graceful translation, Vanessa Schneider’s spare prose renders the jagged contours of her cousin’s life with sympathy and honesty. Vanessa Schneider is the younger cousin to her more famous relative, Maria Schneider. As a child, Vanessa was enthralled with her older cousin — her image and that she made celebrities seem that much closer. Maria Schneider began working in the film industry as a teenager. Her most recognized role was in Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1972 erotic thriller Last Tango in Paris, the impact of which Vanessa Schneider considers on her cousin’s life in the book. Because of that movie, Maria Schneider would be typecast as a sexy ingenue — a role that would trap her and that she would rebel against later in her life. Throughout the rest of the 1970s, Schneider starred in several other films, including Michelangelo Antonioni’s drama The Passenger, René Clément’s thriller Wanted: Babysitter, and Nouchka van Brakel’s Dutch drama A Woman Like Eve, among others. As the decades went on, her work decreased. It wasn’t until the new millennium that Maria Schneider’s story and achievements were reconsidered, and in July 2010, she received the medal of Chevalier, Ordre des Artes et des Lettres. Vanessa Schneider’s slim memoir opens with a deathbed scene: a tired Maria Schneider drinking champagne and toasting her “beautiful life.” On February 3, 2011, at the age of 58, she would die of cancer. The media’s response to Schneider’s death would commemorate the tragic end to a tragic actress. “The articles all tell the same story, more or less”, Schneider writes. “There’s the hedonism of the seventies, the cruelty of the film business and, of course, the sex and drugs.” Part of the story that Vanessa Schneider wants to tell about her cousin is the neglect she experienced both in childhood and in her career. Maria was born out of an affair between the famous actor Daniel Gélin, who wouldn’t recognize her as his daughter until after her career success, and Marie Christine Schneider, who kicked her 15-year-old daughter out of the house after an argument. From there, the troubled child went to live briefly with her uncle and aunt. Her uncle and aunt would house Maria until they gave birth to their first child, Vanessa Schneider. This fact would disturb the author, and in a sense makes her feel guilty. She writes, “I have the unpleasant sensation of having chased you away — that had you stayed with Papa and Maman, perhaps your life would have unfolded differently.” It was while living with her uncle and aunt that Maria Schneider rekindled a relationship with her father, who would take her away from school and bring her to film sets and nightclubs, where parent and child stayed out until morning. Through her father, Maria met a coterie of industry professionals, including talent like Alain Delon. At Schneider’s funeral, Delon would read a letter from the household name Brigitte Bardot, a family friend who would invite the teenage Schneider to live in her apartment after the author’s parents could no longer house her. Maria Schneider’s entry into the film industry became a slippery slope. She had only a handful of credits to her name before the Italian director Bernardo Bertolucci cast her in a lead role across from a middle-aged Marlon Brando in Last Tango in Paris. The film tells the story of a sexual entanglement between a man mourning his wife and a young woman. The film sparked controversy over the violent scene in which Brando’s character sodomizes Schneider’s. As Vanessa Schneider recounts her cousin’s experience, this scene was not planned and would mark her cousin’s career for the rest of her life, for both the trauma it incurred and the public attention it brought her. “For decades you refused to speak about Tango”, writes Schneider. “Anytime the movie was mentioned, you froze. In an interview in 1983, more than ten years after the film was released, you implored the journalist, your hands clasped in prayer, ‘No, please. I don’t want to talk about that film.’ ” One of the more heartbreaking threads in the memoir deals with Schneider’s drug use. Schneider wonders how early her cousin began using heroin and recalls scenes from her own childhood when Maria would visit. Once she even found Maria with the needle in her arm. “It’s because of you that I have such a finely attuned radar for drug addicts”, Schneider writes. With My Cousin Maria Schneider, Vanessa Schneider has written a tender portrait of her beloved cousin — a portrait that does as much to empathize with the circumstances Maria Schneider lived with and to reckon with the vulnerabilities and shortcomings of her character. The memoir is poignant in its assessment of Maria Schneider as an artist and broadens the scope to examine the darker sides of the film industry. Writer and journalist Vanessa Schneider delves into her cousin’s complex history with fame, drugs, and family life. Maria Schneider: Memoir Explores the Actress’ Troubled Relationship with the Industry June/July 2023 Book Review By Luis Polanco Part of the story that Vanessa Schneider wants to tell about her cousin is the neglect she experienced both in childhood and in her career.
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June/July 2023 10 CEE Markets consists of a participation fee, stand expenses, flight, and accommodation costs. When we add them all together, the budgets are close to each other.” In terms of buyers, Pinto divided them equally, like Solomon: “Some of the buyers will attend NATPE and some of them Content”, he said. “If both markets prove to be good, we would be back at both of them.” Facing reality, one Content Budapest organizer commented: “They [meaning Brunico] can keep Budapest, but Miami [meaning Content Americas] is ours.” Put in a comprehensive context, the Content Budapest executive was referring to the analysis that VideoAge offered in its May 2023 issue, in an article in which potential exhibitors were interviewed about the January 2024 edition of the NATPE Miami and Content Americas markets, currently scheduled by Brunico and C21 in two consecutive weeks. According to many respondents, C21 did a good job of organizing the Content Americas market in Miami in 2023, and therefore can offer proven results, while Brunico is yet to establish a Miami footprint. Going back to Budapest, in terms of expected attendance, both events have registered about 500 regional buyers. And at both events, participants will be entertained at boat parties on the Danube river. In terms of conferences, Content has announced an agenda which includes keynotes from Warner Bros. Discovery’s Jamie Cooke, Global Agency’s Izzet Pinto, FILM.UA Group’s Victoria Yarmoshchuk and Paprika Studios’ Ákos Erd s, plus a series of commissioning sessions with executives from commercial channels and local platforms. Also on the Content agenda is a FRAPA session that will explore how to best protect and monetize formats, and a panel of drama producers who will discuss drama co-production between CEE and global markets. At NATPE Budapest, keynote speaker Pavel Stantchev, CEO of TV2 Media Group, will headline the conference agenda and share his perspective on the CEE market; while panel Outside In will feature ITV’s Pascal Dalton, Fremantle’s Nick Pawsey and Banijay’s Veronique Verges discussing their experiences in doing distribution business in the region. NATPE Budapest will see the return of studios such as Entertainment One, FOX Entertainment Global, Fremantle, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal Global Distribution, Paramount Global Content Distribution, and Sony Pictures Television as exhibitors, with Paramount and Sony also hosting screenings. The outcome of these two trade events will provide a better picture of the actual state of the region’s TV industry, which varies greatly from country to country. For instance, viewers in the Czech Republic can still enjoy a large number of terrestrial TV channels they can watch for free, penalizing pay-TV penetration; while in Slovakia and Romania, cable TV dominates, while IPTV is a relative player. According to Maria Rua Aguete of Londonbased market researcher Omdia, “traditional linear TV and social video have typically driven video advertising revenues in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and have generated $5.6 billion and $1.1 billion respectively. Pay-TV is still growing in this market alongside a strong traditional free-to-air viewing model. This region’s online advertising market is a lot less developed compared to its Western Europe counterparts and there is currently no ecosystem or marketplace that can provide premium adsupported advertising video on demand (AVoD) and FAST services. A combination of these factors has resulted in reduced consumer interest in FAST.” Meanwhile, a new report from Londonbased Digital TV Research paints something of a mixed picture for the prospects of CEE pay-TV services. The report stated that the number of subscribers is expected to fall to 73 million in 2028 (eight million fewer than in 2018) because of the disappearance of analog cable, while the number of digital pay-TV subscribers will increase by eight million over the same period. (Continued from Cover) In case someone needs a reminder, NATPE Budapest is organized by Canadian publishing company Brunico, and will take place June 1922, 2023, at the InterContinental hotel. Content Budapest is organized by British publisher C21 and will take place five days later, June 27-29, at the Kempinski Hotel. Brunico acquired the NATPE brand from the U.S. bankruptcy court after NATPE filed for Chapter 11. With the NATPE acquisition, Brunico pledged to credit companies that had paid to exhibit at NATPE Miami 2022, a market that was ultimately canceled. In effect, credited companies that are exhibiting at NATPE Budapest will do so at minimal cost. A different prospect will be faced by those that were not scheduled to attend NATPE Miami 2022, and have to decide which Budapest event to attend based on different market evaluations. Roxanne J. Barcelona, vice president of the Philippines-based GMA Network, said: “We had opted to attend Content Budapest [since the market] is less expensive in terms of registration fees, etc., [and] we were hoping that we would be able to meet more buyers from Eastern Europe.” She later specified that she had to cancel the trip to Budapest at the last minute. Brazil’s Globo announced that it too will only attend Content Budapest with several original series and two sales executives: Gabriel Doria and Guilherme Jordao. Doria will also participate in a panel showcase. The session will take place on Tuesday, June 27, and will feature presentations by Claudia Sahab of TelevisaUnivision, Gabriel Doria of Globo, and Paloma García of Colombia’s Caracol TV. Mexico’s TelevisaUnivision will attend both Budapest events with the same two Sales executives. They’ll be at NATPE with a suite, and at Content with a table, returning to Budapest after the first market. And what of the powerful Turkish distribution companies, whose marketing strength has been known to make or break a market? They held a joint meeting where they collectively decided to fully support NATPE Budapest, therefore only a handful of Turkish companies will still participate at Content Budapest. For example, Izzet Pinto, founder and CEO of Turkey’s Global Agency, said: “We will support both of these events. We will be attending both of them in different ways. At NATPE Budapest we will be an exhibitor, while at Content Budapest I will be a speaker. The costs are similar”, reported Pinto, adding: “The whole budget Global Agency’s Izzet Pinto The number of CEE pay-TV subscribers is expected to fall to 73 million in 2028 ... while the number of digital pay-TV subscribers will increase by eight million over the same period.
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14 eight years ago, and the first edition took place in 2017 in Santiago de Compostela, where it remained for two years. Conecta then moved to Pamplona for three consecutive events, including the two pandemic years (2020-2021). Last year it went to Toledo, where it will be held again this year, for its seventh incarnation, June 26-29, 2023. The timing of Conecta Fiction reflects the reemergence of Spain as a major content producer and exporter. After a few years of somnolence, the country has arisen as a powerhouse — at par with the U.K. and Turkey — leaving behind countries like France, Italy, and Germany. Even Latin America, which at one time eclipsed Spain, is now bowing to Spain, having been left with only a handful of meaningful production and sales outlets in Brazil (Globo and Record) and Mexico (Televisa). Via a videoconference call from her Madrid base, Eva Zalve, Conecta’s Communications and Press manager, explained to VideoAge that even during the pandemic, Conecta held in-person events, but in September instead of its traditional June, while the June event took place online. “Naturally, the in-person events, dubbed ‘Conecta Fiction Reboot’ were smaller, but still well received”, she said. This year, the event will add a screenings showcase in the mold of February’s London Screenings in February, March’s Series Mania (in Lille, France), and October’s MIA Market (in Rome, Italy), with Conecta organizers inviting a select number of buyers to come for free. From 3,500 participants (pre-pandemic), last year’s Conecta attracted some 8,000 professionals from the ranks of showrunners, directors, screenwriters, producers, distributors, and content buyers. “The core of Conecta is its pitching sessions”, reported Zalve, “and now we’re adding the screenings.” The business model of Conecta is based on public funding, especially from the local entities that house the itinerary event, and, Zalve explained, “from sponsorship, exhibitors, and registration.” The event was conceived so that it will change venues every three years or so. Conecta Fiction is organized by Inside Content, a company founded by Gonard in 2016, involved in consulting, events organization (Conecta Fiction in Spain and ONSeries Lisboa in Portugal), and film distribution. French-born Gonard graduated from the IAE University in Bordeaux France with a Master’s the Ibero-American market), [and] the Sitges Film Festival.” Berta Orozco, head of International Sales and Co-Production at Mediacrest, contributed with this comment: “We are very committed to Conecta because it is our home market and we have always done very well there. This year, we will be doing sponsorship and advertising, although in other years we have also had events on a specific product with great success.” For the first Conecta Fiction edition, Alfonso Blanco, Portocabo’s executive producer and general director, was an advisor to the event. Now it is the company’s main national market, together with Iberseries and Platino Industria. “In addition”, commented Alfonso López, Portocabo’s producer and head of Business Development, “we always try to attend the rest of the international markets.” To Carles Blanch Bachs, head of Program Acquisition for Spain’s TV3, part of Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals (CCMA), Conecta is the only domestic TV event, at least “it’s the only one I go to”, he said. Blanch Bachs attributes the renewed success of Spanish TV content to the fact that it “travels quite well in many territories worldwide. There is also very good talent and freedom to explore the stories. We produce in house very good content with local and international partners. Our local production is distributed by us or sometimes if agreed, by one of the co-producers if they have an international distribution arm.” Blanch Bachs also explained, “We dub to Catalan [language] all content we acquire abroad. We are based in Barcelona and owned by the government of Catalunya. We own many radio stations, linear free TV channels, and at the beginning of 2024, we will launch our new AVoD OTT service all in Catalan.” As far as his acquisitions are concerned, Blanch Bachs reported that “around 75 percent comes from Europe and the U.K., and 25 percent from the U.S., mainly features. We are also part of FORTA, the Federation of Autonomous Public TV Stations in Spain, and at times we buy together.” Concurrent with Conecta, Spanish pubcaster RTVE’s international Content Sales division will be hosting its own annual Showcase for some 300 buyers June 27-28 at Toledo’s Hotel Beatriz, a short drive from Conecta’s Palacio de Congresos. Degree in International Management, before starting to work in Spain in 1997 for Sogepaq (part of Sogecable Group). In 2001, she joined Grupo PI, an international content distributor created by four of the major independent Spanish producers, as Sales director. She was appointed managing director of Grupo PI in 2004. From 2007 to 2015, she managed the international distributor of Imagina International Sales (part of MediaPro Group). In an email exchange with VideoAge about her background, she made a point of explaining, “I am fond of Spain forever, and for the audiovisual sector.” For the second year in a row, the venue for Conecta is located in the heart of Toledo, in the Palacio de Congresos El Greco that was designed by Spanish architect Rafael Moneo as a meeting point for business, social, cultural, academic, and exhibition events. The city of Toledo is a 30-minute train ride to the south of Madrid. Miguel García, Sales director, Atresmedia TV, gave an outlook at Spain’s trade events scene: “Atresmedia TV attends different events in Spain around the year. Apart from Conecta Fiction, as an exhibitor, we will be at Iberseries [in Madrid, October 3-6, 2023]. Additionally, we will participate in activities around other festivals such as the San Sebastián International Film Festival, Málaga Film Festival, or Alicante Film Festival, among others.” The presence of Iberseries means that Secuoya Studios will not be participating at Conecta since the Madrid-based production and distribution company also organizes the competing Iberseries through its Fundacion Secuoya. Iberseries’ dates are also challenging for some potential participants, as they are close to MIPCOM (October 16-19), however Secuoya executives and market partners from Platino Industria did not want to stage Iberseries too close to San Sebastián (September 22-30). Laura Oliva, head of Content for Federation España, a subsidiary of Federation Studios (France), said: “We attended several editions [of Conecta] as producers, seeking new projects and talent, engaging in networking, and positioning ourselves in the national and international industry. In this new edition of Conecta we have submitted a proposal for the ‘Pitch HighEnd Series’ call with a television series project titled The Drop (Huellas), co-produced with the [Spanish] production company Pausoka. Other national markets [in Spain] that cannot be overlooked are the San Sebastian Film Festival, the Malaga Film Festival (for its connections to Conecta Fiction (Continued from Cover) June/July 2023 TV3 Catalunya’s Carles Blanch Bachs
16 June/July 2023 Spanish TV Revival (Continued from Cover) Studios, in addition to RTVE, the state broadcaster. The country has also attracted international companies that have set up local offices or local divisions, like Banijay (U.K.), Fremantle (Germany), Federation (France), Mediaset and Mondo TV (both from Italy). With this renewed dynamism came some challenges, like a series of executive musical chairs, with people moving from company to company, as well as increased competition that spilled over into the equally revived trade show and festival sector (see separate story). “We are not going to present anything at Conecta Fiction this year”, said Belén Frías, head of Communications at The Mediapro Studio, adding: “So this time we prefer not to participate in [this] article.” Recently, Frías took the job that had previously been held by Lorena Molloy, who became Marketing manager at Telefonica’s Movistar. Frías was speaking on behalf of Marta Ezpeleta, who joined Mediapro a few years ago as head of Distribution after a career at Disney España. Mediapro is currently controlled by Chinese equity firm Orient Hontai Capital. Similarly, Berta Orozco recently joined Spain’s Mediacrest as head of International Sales and Co-Productions. She previously worked at Paramount España. Earlier, Miguel Garcia Sánchez had moved from Mediapro to Atresmedia as Sales director. And from outside Spain, Secuoya hired former Fox Studios executive Jose Luis Gascue as EVP, Sales, Worldwide Distribution. In terms of market presence, RTVE doesn’t participate at Conecta Fiction because it runs a competing Showcase that is held at the same time. Secuoya Studios doesn’t either because it runs its own Iberseries market together with Platino Industria, described as an organization of the Ibero-American audiovisual, tourism, and education sectors that brings together more than 300 producers and 700 professionals in search of common business projects. Laura Oliva, producer and Content director for Federation España, a subsidiary of France’s Federation Studios, explained the success of Spanish content: “It can be attributed to several factors”, she said. “On one hand, the rise of streaming platforms has allowed stories to reach a larger audience. Content now travels simultaneously across countries with fewer restrictions. Subscribers to a platform have access to content from around the world. On the other hand, the content is local and identifiable with a specific culture or geography. Despite this, it shares universality in themes and messages, making the product recognizable anywhere on the map.” She continued: “Language is another essential factor to the [success] of Spanish content. The Spanish language is the second most spoken [in the world]. According to the latest data, Spanish speakers total 580 million people. It is an advantage that other countries do not have. Viewers are increasingly choosing to watch content in their native language rather than in another language. Additionally, production values have also changed. Investment in this industry has significantly increased over the years, generating more consumer interest in Spanish content.” Mediacrest’s Berta Orozco explained, “The creatives have been able to give local content a global dimension that is very easily acceptable not only in countries with the same language, but also in areas that are apparently far from our language and culture.” Added Miguel García, Atresmedia TV’s Sales Director: “At Atresmedia we are committed to high-quality productions with international themes and original current stories. Moreover, Spanish professionals such as directors, producers, and actors are well-known and highly valued internationally.” Portocabo’s CEO Alfonso Blanco said: “We at Portocabo have always promoted a global approach to our productions, with a clear focus on international co-production to ensure that the content we create from here is present in many territories.” An indication of the newfound strength of Spanish TV production is the attitude towards the use of Castilian (Spain’s local dialect) for licensing content in LatAm, the largest and most natural market that, up until recently, would only accept neutral Spanish. “We do not dub our content for LatAm. All our productions in Latin America are broadcast in the original language”, said Portocabo’s Blanco. Atresmedia TV’s García further explained: “We usually leave our content in Castilian. Our series are well known in LatAm, and the Spanish actors and actresses are so famous in that region. It is our experience that Latin American audience prefers to hear the original voices.” Similarly, Mediacrest’s Orozco said: “Our projects with a Latin American focus or that we are developing in conjunction with production companies on the other side of the Atlantic try above all to respect the character, and we believe that it is also increasingly common to see characters with accents from Madrid, with others from Mexico, or Colombia, without any major problem for the viewer. The stories are now very ‘multi-accented’ if we can call it that, and it’s much more natural.” Federation’s Oliva was more accommodating: “Right now, we haven’t produced nor do we have any projects in which this situation has arisen”, she said. “If such a scenario were to occur, it would depend on the needs of the project and the agreement set with the networks or platforms.” (By Dom Serafini) Spanish Audiovisual Industry at its Best By Omar Méndez People in the audiovisual industry are paying attention to what is happening in Spain. The latest statistics from the European Audiovisual Observatory have it sixth in the ranking of European Union countries in terms of the number of titles produced, behind Germany, France, the U.K., Holland, and Italy. Still, the statistics may not fully convey the intensity of that market. Judging by its activity and initiatives, Spain is acting as a driving force for the European audiovisual industry. In May, Spain was the star of the Cannes Film Festival, as its Country of Honor. It was present with several of its official organizations, a pavilion with more than 48 audiovisual companies (under the umbrella of Audiovisual from Spain), and a total of 22 projects selected for different sections of the festival. The opportunity was ideal to show the newfound relevance of the Iberian nation, as well as the resources and talents it has to offer. In March 2021, the Spanish government launched the “Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe” Plan with the aim of turning the country into a leader in audiovisual production, a pole of attraction for international investment, and with an ecosystem suitable for exporting and competing in international markets. Over 1.6 billion euro was raised for the execution of the plan within the time frame 2021-2025, with a central objective: to increase audiovisual production in Spain by 30 percent by the end of the period. These public resources came from the General State Budget and funds from the European Union and the Creative Europe Program. Those 1.6 billion euro were allocated to the four central axes of the plan: 240 million euro were used to digitalize and internationalize the audiovisual sector and create a centralized information and contact point (the “Spain Audiovisual Hub Bureau” to provide information and assistance to potential investors, both foreign and domestic); 1.3 billion euro were allocated to facilitate access to financing on the one hand, and to provide tax incentives for audiovisual production in Spain on the other; 15 million euro were assigned to support the training that the companies themselves offer to their workers; and 18 million euro are being used to improve regulation and eliminate administrative barriers (such as visas and immigration issues) for those arriving with audiovisual projects. The plan has proven to be effective. The industry has emerged stronger. The new resources have enabled players to carry out their strategies, such as the promotional plans of the Spain Film Commission in order to position the country as one of the best and most varied filming destinations in the world. The Commission coordinates the efforts of a wide network of local film offices distributed throughout Spain. Tax incentives and the variety of locations have significantly increased foreign filming in the country in the last two years. Berta Orozco, head of International Sales and Co-Productions at Mediacrest
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18 Unusual, and yet familiar; strange but still conventional; somewhat changed, nevertheless still exciting. These words can be used to summarize the 60th annual L.A. Screenings. They were unusual due to the writers’ strike, which was clear to all present due to the visible picket lines at both the Upfronts in New York City and at the Hollywood studios during the L.A. Screenings. And yet, it was déja vu all over again from 2008 when the WGA union’s strike extended throughout the L.A. Screenings. This time around, union members took the weekend off from picketing and hired some extras to hold protest signs. These 2023 screenings also saw the return of Fox Studios (following a three-year absence), which held a presentation and a party on its lot. Independent distributors also came back to exhibit at the Fairmont Century Plaza hotel, this time with 71 companies (compared to 59 last year). Carles Blanch Bachs, head of Program Acquisition for Spain’s TV3, offered this summary: “I really enjoyed them, especially the presentation by Amazon Studios/MGM. I think it was a historic moment and to be at the presentation was memorable. Plus, they were low-key. While the other studios say how important it is to always be number one in everything, they had a much simpler approach. Maybe because they come from a different culture. Otherwise, these L.A. Screenings were much more creative and of higher quality.” Recalled Dermot Horan, director of Acquisition & Co-productions at Ireland’s RTE, “After a tentative return in 2022 with COVID tests required before evening events and masks being handed out before you entered theaters, [the 2023] Screenings were back in full force, with all the studios, including Disney and Fox, hosting a full complement of buyers from every continent. And every studio not only presented their shows. Each and every one had a drinks party or an evening event.” David Kines, president and co-founder of Canada’s Hollywood Suite, simply added: “The 2023 L.A. Screenings did not get the memo that peak TV is over. There were more great new series than ever!” Pedro Lascurain, Content Acquisition director for Mexico’s TV Azteca, concurred, “My impression of the Screenings was very good. Many of the major studios had a number of new series and we were happy to hear that most of that product will be available for free TV, meaning us. Streaming platforms have been hurting in our Latin America markets, and this has been an opportunity for us to once again get good, new content from the studios.” To Jimmy Arteaga Grustein, president of Programming, Promotion & Production at Puerto Rico’s WAPA-TV, “The most important thing to highlight is that the major studios made a great effort to present products for all platforms and not products exclusively for OTTs. The time has changed. There were enough offers for all platforms. Something else that impressed me was seeing movie actors, Oscar winners, in procedural series, such as Kathy Bates, which breaks an old myth about never seeing movie actors in television series not produced for OTTs. In summary, this has been a good screening event after the pandemic, especially as compared to last year, which was the first after COVID.” Still, Maurizio Colombo, head of Programming and Acquisition Planning for Italy’s Mediaset, sounded a warning: “It has become clear that in the latest years the Hollywood giants have shifted their investments from networks and cable to streaming platforms. If in 2019 the five majors had showed 27 pilots for [broadcast] networks, this year the same majors would have shown fewer than 10 in total. The way it’s going, it’ll be very difficult for broadcasters from all over the world to find new U.S. series suitable for their own channels. We will be gradually forced to buy shows from other countries and to wear out the library titles, whose ratings are more affected by this intensive practice.” By opening day for the independent content distributors (May 17), 431 attendees had already registered for the L.A. Screenings Independent with indie organizer Isabella Marquez. Of those, 210 were content buyers. In addition, Marquez welcomed 31 members of the press. The number of total content buyers was estimated at 800, which represented half the amount that used to attend prior to the pandemic. Nonetheless, all traditional networks and territories were represented. Unfortunately, Cannes decided to challenge Hollywood with its Film Festival running parallel to the L.A. Screenings, so some participants had to divide their time between the two events. These 2023 L.A. Screenings marked a new beginning for the event since, in addition to the return of Fox and many of the independents, there was the return to “business as usual” for the licensing of content to third parties, which in recent years was curbed as most of the new series were often reserved for the studios’ own streaming services. (Sony Pictures’ Keith Le Goy was quick to point out that SPT never stopped licensing to third parties.) This “return” was also loud and clear with parties, as well as glitzy presentations. However, no stars of the new shows worked the tables with buyers during the studio screenings’ lunch breaks due to their commitment not to cross the striking WGA’s picket lines. Many still made appearances at the studios’ evening receptions, though. The L.A. Screenings ended on Saturday, May 20, for the indies with a presentation/cocktail party hosted by Argentina’s Telefilms at the Century Plaza. Saturday marked the beginning of the major studios’ screenings, with NBCUniversal, which also hosted a Fast X reception. The studio activities continued on Sunday, and included a party thrown by Fox on its stuUnder the Sign of Streaming, But Still Believing in the Linear Stars June/July 2023 L.A. Screenings Review (Continued on Page 20) Record TV’s Delmar Andrade and Edson Pfutzenreiter Mendes in their Century Plaza suite ATV’s Mustafa Keyvan, Merve Dogan, Emre Gorentas Paramount Global Content Distribution screened over four days, just like Disney, Sony and NBCUniversal RTE’s Dermot Horan at the Century Plaza hotel
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June/July 2023 L.A. Screenings Review (Continued From Page 18) dio lot, as well as a Sony party at the Sony studio. On Monday, MGM and Warner Bros. Discovery separately invited buyers for drinks. To recap the indies event, the first day, Wednesday, started slow, but things picked up on Thursday, and became even busier on Friday, with some aggravation caused by the slow hotel elevators (especially annoying as participants weren’t able to use the stairs since the fire doors did not allow for re-entry). Thursday and Friday were also when the Content LA conference took place at the Century Plaza. The event attracted many production and development executives. Experts on the podium decried a drastic drop in U.S. drama production, although in March the film agency for the city of Los Angeles, Film LA, reported a shortage of sound stages due to increased production. Also on Thursday, on the floor above Content LA, another conference, called Focus on Latin America, took place. In terms of recreational activities, there were cocktails hosted by Parrot Analytics at a nearby mall, and Content LA’s own opening day cocktail party at the Century Plaza, in addition to the aforementioned Telefilms reception. This year the L.A. Screenings also saw the return of the Italian distributors, with Publispei exhibiting with a table, while South Africa made a first appearance as a participant (without exhibiting) with MultiChoice Studios in attendance. Meanwhile, the Spaniards were present as exhibitors with several companies, including public broadcaster RTVE. The six-day Hollywood studios event included one day for Fox, two days for Warner Bros. Discovery, and four overlapping days for Disney, NBCUniversal, Paramount, and Sony, with Disney (whose Disney LatAm team is pictured at left) splitting the buyers between their lot in Burbank and El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, and Sony Pictures sounding the closing bell for the 2023 L.A. Screenings on May 25. These shorter-than-usual screening windows for each studio meant some overlapping events, so buyers from the same companies at times had to split venues. As usual, the Canadian buyers landed in Los Angeles earlier than other groups, since their Upfront presentations to advertisers were staged quickly on June 7 (Corus/Global), and June 8 (Bell Media/CTV). In terms of new content, these Screenings saw the adaptation of shows from countries other than the traditional U.K. FOX-TV network had Doc, adapted from the Italian medical drama (and distributed by Sony Pictures TV), ABCTV had High Potential, based on the French series Haut Potentiel (distributed by Disney), Paramount+ had The Turkish Detective (filmed in Istanbul and distributed by Paramount Global), and since a British adaptation can’t be missed, Amazon proposed Dinner With The Parents (distributed by Paramount Global), a comedy based on the Channel 4 series Friday Night Dinner. The major U.S. studios will take the new series on the road starting in June with presentations in Amsterdam, Budapest, London, Madrid, Munich, Rome, Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires, which is another reason for the reduced number of buyers at this year’s Screenings. 20 VideoAge A Bridge between Budapest and Toledo One Issue Covers It All!
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