(Continued on Page 30) In May 2012, VideoAge tackled a topic that was then considered a unique U.S. prerogative. The article was titled “Development: The Necessary Evil of the U.S. TV Business.” Some 11 years later, the content development process has not really changed much in the U.S., but it has recently been introduced in certain areas of Europe, including Italy, which came as a surprise to the international entertainment industry. This is because Italy is still ruled by a myriad of mom-and-pop production houses, which seem to work by the old adage, “it’s who you know, not what you know.” To be fair, this is true of other E.U. countries, as well, and — in order to alleviReplacing Mass Media with OnDemand Media My 2¢: Sportswashing brings short-term gain, long-term loss Censorship rights. When censorship becomes distortion Going from studios to independent status is possible Awards shows: Good for talent, a losing proposition for TV Page 46 Page 40 Page 34 Page 28 Can streaming replace mass media? Do we even want to replace mass media? The latter depends on a large number of people reading, listening, or watching something on or around the same time, while the former means an initially small group of viewers that rises in number over a length of time. The so-called “ondemand” economy, which streaming is a part of, is large (over 86 million Americans use it), but it is not yet an efficient marketable “mass.” And, as yet, it cannot be accurately measured. Plus, streaming is subscriptionbased (i.e., costly), while linear TV is tune-in based (i.e., free-to-air). Buying Shows Is Hard ... Or Maybe Not? (Continued on Page 36) Content Development In Europe: A Case Study Not too long ago, The Wall Street Journal ran a story titled “Buying a Vehicle Has Gotten a Whole Lot Harder.” The changed business model for purchasing cars was attributed to the pandemic. The question now is: Has buying film and TV content become just as hard? And if so, why? Due to pandemic after- (Continued on Page 42) ate the problem of non-domestic entities not having the necessary connections — it has forced major production companies to buy up local production entities. This happens so often, in fact, that today, television production in Italy is dominated by non-Italian groups like Banijay, Cattleya, and Fremantle. INTERNATIONAL www.VideoAge.org THE BUSINESS JOURNAL OF FILM, BROADCASTING, STREAMING, PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION October 2023 - VOL. 43 NO. 5 - $9.75 © 2021 Disney Enterprises, Inc. All rights reserved.
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Cover Stories Sportswashing is a new word that the cancel culture advocates are skirting. It is something that brings short-term gains and long-term losses. Page 46 News Content development in Europe: Publispei, a case study Replacing mass media with on-demand media Buying TV programs is becoming harder... or maybe not! 6. World: House of Gucci syndrome hits Ferrari; Elon Musk’s unregretted genius 8. World: Hate speech is not free speech in Germany 10. World: Casting consultants want to be loved 20. Confronting distributors’ challenges before MIPCOM 40. Legal talks: The importance of censorship rights 12. Book Review: Exploring the metaverse 14. What to expect from AI: Present and future 18. AI Part 2: Money talks. Decoding how AI helps 22. Market Preview: Peekaboo LatAm, where are you? 24. A month of news in the entertainment capital 28. Awards shows: A winwin for talent, a losing proposition for TV 34. Transition from major studios to indie status can be done 44. Calendar & News: The E.U. comes to the defense of airlines’ high cost of flying MAIN OFFICES 216 EAST 75TH STREET NEW YORK, NY 10021 TEL: (212) 288-3933 WWW.VIDEOAGEINTERNATIONAL.COM WWW.VIDEOAGE.ORG P.O. BOX 25282 LOS ANGELES, CA 90025 VIALE ABRUZZI 30 20131 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/LAYOUT CLAUDIO MATTIONI, CARMINE RASPAOLO VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL (ISSN 0278-5013 USPS 601-230) IS PUBLISHED SEVEN TIMES A YEAR,. PLUS DAILIES, BY TV TRADE MEDIA, INC. © TV TRADE MEDIA INC. 2023. THE ENTIRE CONTENTS OF VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT IN THE U.S., U.K., AND ALL COUNTRIES SIGNATORY TO THE BERNE CONVENTIO AND THE PAN-AMERICAN CONVENTION. SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL, 216 EAST 75TH STREET, SUITE 1W, NEW YORK, NY 10021, U.S.A. PURSUANT TO THE U.S. COPYRIGHTS ACT OF 1976, THE RIGHTS OF ALL CONTENT DONE ON ASSIGNMENT FOR ALL VIDEOAGE PUBLICATIONS ARE HELD BY THE PUBLISHER OF VIDEOAGE, WHICH COMMISSIONED THEM Features
October 2023 6 another language. Cruz, for example speaks English with a Spanish accent and is trying to sound like she is from the Romagna region [where Ferrari was based]. She doesn’t sound good.” Some have advised watching the film dubbed in order not to be distracted by the stunted Italian accents. However, the feature film was praised by the governor of the Abruzzo Region, Marco Marsilio, who presided over a press conference at the Excelsior Hotel in Venice’s Lido to highlight a few sequences of the movie that were shot in the Abruzzo mountains in central Italy. The film is based on the 1991 biography, Enzo Ferrari: The Man and the Machine by Brock Yates. Cast members include Patrick Dempsey, Shailene Woodley, Gabriel Leone, Sarah Gordon, and Jack O’Connell. Musk’s Unregretted Minutes Elon Musk’s latest approach to his X/Twitter metrics for advertisers’ acceptance involves “Unregretted” user minutes. You’ve heard people say: “I spent two hours on TikTok, but I regret those two hours.” What Musk wants is to make sure people don’t regret their time spent on X/Twitter. How to measure something that means different things to different people remains a formula that has yet to be discovered. What is known is that X/Twitter has 450 million users (211 million active users) and attracts 130 million hours of people’s time each day. We also know that people engage on the average for just over three minutes at a time. Now the trick is to figure out how to find out how many, out of these three minutes, are “regretted,” and how to make more minutes “unregretted.” It is called the House of Gucci Syndrome, and it seemingly affects many movies in Hollywood. Named after the 2021 MGM film House of Gucci, directed by Ridley Scott, the syndrome causes any and all Italian characters in movies to speak among themselves in Italy in English with an Italian accent. The syndrome most recently struck the new Michael Mann film, Ferrari, which was produced by the Burbank, California-based STXfilms, and distributed in the U.S. by the New York City-based Neon. STXfilms is also the international distributor. The film, starring Adam Driver, who also starred in House of Gucci, received a standing ovation at its Venice Film Festival premiere on August 31, 2023, but was criticized in Italy because of the somewhat irritating practice of having the Italian characters (played by the aforementioned Driver as Enzo Ferrari, and Penelope Cruz as his wife, Laura) speak among themselves in English with inauthentic Italian accents. Commented actor/producer Luca Barbareschi, “They invented House of Gucci Syndrome Hits Ferrari Film World (Continued on Page 8) SEPTEMBER 2023 JUNIOR PAGE_ 7.284”x 9.055” VIDEO AGE JR. PAGE Genre: Documentary Duration: 1 x 90’ Genre: Docu-Series Duration: 16 x 60’ 4KHD Genre: Docu-Series Duration: 8 x 60’ www.grbmediaranch.com l info@ grbmediaranch.com The Sole of a Champion FROM EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: LEBRON JAMES & MAVERICK CARTER MIPCOM 2023 STAND R7.A16
October 2023 8 became blurred because hate speech, falsehoods, threats, harassment, and disinformation took different routes, and were/ are often untraceable. Enter a new German law that now punishes dangerous and/ or hate speech. Plus, there’s the fact that the U.S. is finally creating a precedent by taking legal measures against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who spread the false notion that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax, on the grounds that he caused emotional distress to the parents and relatives of the 20 students who were killed by a man using a semi-automatic rifle. The gun-maker, Remington, has already paid a $73 million settlement to the families. In Germany, hate speech, deliberate falsehoods, programed disinformation, and inflammatory statements are punishable by fines, and even arrests. The argument the authorities have put forward is that by punishing toxic behavior, they are protecting freedom of expression, and as a New York Times article put it, “providing a space where people can share opinions without fear of being attacked or abused.” There is also a notion that the right of free speech can only be trampled upon and censored by the government, not by individuals, which is indeed the case with the German law, as well as the aforementioned U.S. precedent. In 2017, Germany passed a law requiring Social Media outlets to take down hate speech, and now the authorities are going after the toxic people as well. And using the argument that a defendant did not know that a statement was false won’t hold up because the accused bears the risk of spreading a false quote without first checking to make sure it’s accurate/true. Famous Quotes “Unlike Disney’s direct-to- consumer business — which posted a $500 million loss in the third quarter — the traditional TV business is still profitable.” Los Angeles Times, September 22, 2023 “Netflix’s success on Wall Street and Main Street is not reflected on balance sheets.” VideoAge International, October 2017 There are people — not only in the U.S., but also in Canada, in Germany, and in many other countries — who use the free speech argument to spread false and dangerous notions with the goal of eliminating free speech. In 1919, the U.S. courts ruled that shouting “fire” in a movie theater with people inside was not protected by free speech. The ruling is still valid, but concerns only an “immediate danger,” and is therefore only applicable to threats made in person — not online. TV and radio stations in many parts of the world have mostly been careful and have avoided running dangerously false statements in order to protect their licenses. Similarly, print media has (mostly) avoided giving space to toxic behavior or inciting hatred in order to protect the reputation of print media (and its finances as those in power don’t wish to be sued for libel or risk losing advertising support). With the advent of Social Media, the line between creating an immediate danger by shouting “fire” and getting away with it In Germany, Hate Speech is Not Free Speech World (Continued on Page 10) C M Y CM MY CY CMY K
October 2023 10 who are now working directly with people who want to be on reality TV.” VideoAge then reached out to one of the consultants quoted in the WSJ article, Jodi Wincheski, who said: “I’m phasing out of the casting business. I am working in sales enablement training, mostly for the tech industry.” Nevertheless, she agreed to answer a few questions. (The second consultant quoted in the WSJ article, Adam Klein, contacted through his agent, did not reply.) “I help people make their best video, but do not connect them with casting or make any promises about them being cast,” said Wincheski. However, she said, “There is at least one organization that claimed they could get people cast and made claims about working with the casting organization. It was a scam and when I was in casting, we had never heard of them except from people who were scammed by them.” When asked about the reluctance of reality television show producers to accept casting consultants, Wincheski said: “I would say that casting probably doesn’t appreciate it [but] casting departments should appreciate it because they are getting better videos with information they actually need to make a decision.” She then concluded: “I don’t believe in changing people to fit what casting is looking for. We guide people to include the most relevant information that is applicable for the show. People don’t inherently know how to make casting videos, and with guidance, people who made terrible videos on their own have gotten cast on shows and have been great!” Famous Quotes “The E.U. passed a law that would require new handheld electronic devices to be equipped with USB-C ports by next year. They say the common charger is common sense and this one law will simplify our lives in a small but meaningful way.” The Wall Street Journal, September 8, 2023 “By the end of 2024, all mobile phones, tablets, and cameras will need to be equipped with a universal charger.” VideoAge International November 21, 2022 Earlier this year, The Wall Street Journal published a half-page article about hiring a consultant in order to be cast on a reality TV show. This trigged VideoAge’s curiosity, so we checked with several reality experts, but were unable to find any meaningful answers in order to expand on the topic. VideoAge then reached out to Phil Gurin of The Gurin Company, who has won four Prime Time Emmy Awards for his work as an executive producer for ABC’s Shark Tank. Gurin succinctly answered in an e-mail, “Sadly, I don’t really know any of these consultants, nor have I worked with any.” Gurin is also co-chairman of FRAPA, the international Format Recognition and Protection Association, which is based in Naarden, in the Netherlands. And yet, according to the WSJ, casting consultants are “part of a growing cottage industry of former casting agents and contestants Reality TV Casting Consultants Want to Be Loved World Francesca & Leah VN-MIPCOM23-VideoAge-Print.indd 1 2023-09-27 9:21 AM
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12 When technology cynics hear the words, “The Metaverse”, they tend to roll their eyes. They might think the phrase comes with its own set of scare quotes to indicate how unrealistic, how college-dormroom-esque it is, or how much of a joke the concept seems to be. The technology cynics might then point out how, among the entrepreneurs and businessmen who employ the term, there is no one consistent definition of it. The phrase means different things to different executives, and it often seems to suit their own business ventures. To Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, the Metaverse will transform the “entire world into an app canvas”, and to Meta CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, the real-life application will be seen in immersive virtual reality. Meanwhile, out of the mouths of other aspirant tech executives and arrivistes, the phrase sounds like hollow buzzwords. As writer and tech analyst Matthew Ball points out, the concept of the Metaverse has its own rich history. With his book The Metaverse: And How It Will Revolutionize Everything (352 pgs, Liveright, 2022, $30), Ball offers a definitive account of what the Metaverse is and what will be required to realize the concept into the future. Ball serves as the CEO of Epyllion, a holding company that focuses on angel investments, advisory services, and the production of television, film, and video games. He also serves as a venture partner at Makers Fund, senior advisor to investment management company KKR, senior advisor to management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, and sits on the boards of several start-ups. Divided into three parts, his recent book builds on a series of his online essays on the Metaverse, which he started back in 2018, and introduces a brief history of the concept, sketches out the various structural and logistical components required, and considers the implications of how this new online landscape might impact society and the world we live in. The origins of the Metaverse begin in science fiction literature. The term itself, as Ball points out, was attributed to sci-fi writer Neal Stephenson, whose 1992 novel Snow Crash described the Metaverse as a virtual world alongside the real one. The concept arises in different forms even earlier in other gems from the sci-fi and speculative literature genres, including Stanley G. Weinbaum’s 1935 short story “Pygmalion’s Spectacle”, Ray Bradbury’s 1950 short story “The Veldt”, and Philip K. Dick’s 1953 story “The Trouble with Bubbles”, among others. Outside of the imagination of writers, there have been other attempts at building limited versions of the Metaverse, from text-based virtual worlds from the 1970s to more contemporary virtual world platforms such as Minecraft and Roblox, both of which have been successful popular entertainment outlets. With all of these various ideas around the subject, Ball acknowledges that much of the public discourse around the Metaverse is hazy and divergent. That’s why he proposes a definition: “A massively scaled and interoperable network of real-time rendered 3D virtual worlds that can be experienced synchronously and persistently by an effectively unlimited number of users with an individual sense of presence, and with continuity of data, such as identity, history, entitlements, objects, communications, and payments.” The italicized terms become key points in his definition of the Metaverse, and he builds on these terms as his criteria for the Metaverse as a set of specific technologies and features that create the experience. One of the most interesting parts of the book looks at the organizational and technological requirements to construct and maintain the Metaverse on a large scale. Such a project would require complex networking and computing capabilities, as well as intensive game engines and platforms for users to operate in the virtual worlds that would make up the Metaverse. In the chapters devoted to these ideas, Ball looks at real-world examples from the video game and software industries, wherein these more recent case studies suggest possibilities and solutions for the Metaverse. After reading The Metaverse, one has the sense that Ball is not such a starry-eyed idealist that he can’t see problems with the Metaverse.“Whatmakestechnologicaltransformation difficult to predict is the reality that it is caused not by any one invention, innovation, or individual, but instead requires many changes to come together.” In addition to the scope of constructing the Metaverse, Ball has acknowledged how it might raise new questions around data rights and usage, regulation, misinformation, and how private corporations and governments access personal data. Ball has written a comprehensive primer that outlines the history of the concept of the Metaverse. In some ways, The Metaverse is also his call to a shared vision of the future and asks not only tech aficionados but also leaders in various industries to join in. “The only way to prepare for what is coming is to focus on the specific technologies and features that together comprise it”, he writes. “Put another way, we have to define the Metaverse.” Tech entrepreneur and adviser Matthew Ball presents a clear-eyed proposal for the future of the Metaverse and explains what it actually is. Exploring the Metaverse: The Next Evolutionary Step of the Internet October 2023 Book Review By Luis Polanco What makes technological transformation dif cult to predict is the reality that it is caused not by any one invention ... but instead requires many changes to come together.
14 Albert Einstein once said: “We cannot claim to fully understand a concept unless we are able to explain it.” The AI technology can be used not only to create new content, but also to help review and edit existing text. For example, a person composing an email can use AI to automatically rewrite the message in a more professional style. The type of text that can be analyzed and generated is not limited to human language as it can also include other types of languages, such as computer codes. This is all thanks to a specific type of AI, “Generative AI”, so called for its ability to generate clear and well organized responses by making probabilistic guesses based on billions of examples from digital sources. Not only can it write sentences, but it can write essays on any topic, compose poems, summarize scientific papers, share jokes, and even debate ethical dilemmas. It can also answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests. As this new technology can be easily deployed using widely used platforms such as PCs and smartphones, it will likely be highly disruptive. The business community has already identified countless opportunities to deploy Generative AI in support of business processes such as customer support, search tools, document creation and analysis, copywriting, media production, and coding. Images and videos can also be generated by editing existing images and videos based on the user’s requests. The AI software model is trained by submitting millions of digital images with captions that describe them, with the goal of mapping links between the images and the words. It then generates images based on the directions provided by the user. Similar to what graphic designers can do with tools such as Photoshop, the tool can instantly create new content based on photos, videos, illustrations, artwork, etc. This technology can also be used to create videos of virtual people that are absolutely realistic. Such videos can be created ad-hoc for presentations, advertisements, movies, and TV shows, with countless customization options to better serve a specific audience. For example, a promotional video for a product can be produced in seconds with highly realistic AI-generated human-like presenters and deployed across the world with automatic and real-time customizations based on the audience’s preferences, such as skin color, clothing, language, etc. Sounds such as music and even human voices can be created by AI models as well. AI can easily compose and play original music pieces with new melodies, styles, and instrument sounds never heard before. Highly realistic human voices can be generated by AI reproducing the voice of a specific person or creating new timbres with the option to customize gender, accent, etc. They can then be used in applications such as multilingual advertisements, real-time automated speech dubbing, etc. The artistic value of the content generated by AI models is often so high, that many have started wondering about the meaning and nature of creativity itself. If AI can produce something new and with significant artistic value, how can it not be considered a form of creativity? More in general, it is clear that tasks intrinsically tied to human culture, such as the ability to write a story or paint a picture, will no longer be an exclusive prerogative of humans. Will AI end up generating not just content, but also culture? Despite its impressive features, Generative AI still lacks the ability to think, to understand how the world works, or any of the meaning of the material being generated. While the work products of Generative AI models are often indistinguishable from human-generated content, Generative AI lacks any kind of common sense or humanlike agency. AI is all syntax (arranging the words in the right order) and no semantics (understanding of the meaning). While the AI model is incredibly good at predicting the correct sequence of words in a sentence, it has zero knowledge of what the words and the sentences mean. It is just a guessing machine. There is a voice but not a brain able to comprehend the meaning of what is being said. Any textgenerating AI needs to be treated more like a powerful game than as a dependable source of information, so human critical thinking abilities will be needed more than ever to fact check and correct all the false or misleading information generated by AI. Similar types of reliability issues exist for AI-generated images, as well. It is not uncommon, for example, for AI-generated portraits to have evident errors, especially for details such as the shape of people’s hands. The model does not have any understanding of what human hands actually are and it is not able to identify mistakes. The automation of quality control activities to identify and correct idiotic or absurd content is not possible with current technology and it will likely take a major advancement in AI technology to get us there. With the delegation of a large component of the creative process to AI, there will be a significant impact on those whose primary job is to write articles, draft legal documents, create visuals, compose music, perform on screen (film, television, etc.), and even develop computer code. For example, the time needed to research, compose, and illustrate a news piece can now be easily scaled down from days to just seconds. Even if the quality of the work product is too low to be published and it requires time to make sure it is ready, the time advantage is still very attractive. Content generating technologies make it easier for bad actors to create and widely distribute offensive or inflammatory content, misinformation, spam, cyber threats, clickbait campaigns, scams, and deep fakes. Generative AI is excellent at generating images, including offensive ones. For example, Generative AI allows you to instantly edit phoWhat to Expect from ArtificiaI Intelligence: Present and Future October 2023 Tech Talks The artistic value of the content generated by AI models is often so high, that many have started wondering about the meaning and nature of creativity. (Continued on Page 16) By Matteo Di Michele *
16 but will also be less inclined to trust any type of news (even legitimate ones). This trend will likely result in an even more polarized society and serious risks to the foundations of our democracy. As the generation of content is always based on existing text, sounds, or images, there are serious concerns about the potential copyright infringement of the material generated by the AI model either because it is based on content owned by others, or because it is duplicative of other AIgenerated content. As most models are unable to cite the sources used for the creation of the content, it is highly unlikely to have situations in which copyright owners can be identified as such. But assuming that we can, what are the legal implications of generating content based on copyrighted inputs? Will the model’s outputs be granted copyright protection as well? If so, who exactly will own those rights? The lack of citation is an issue not only from a copyright perspective; it is also concerning because it puts users in a position in which it is impossible to analyze the source of the information being generated. If users see only a customized summary, they do not have the option to form their own interpretation of what is being manipulated by the model. * Matteo Di Michele is a global technology and operations executive with 20 years of international experience across a variety of functions such as law, supply chain management, environmental sustainability, and artificial intelligence. He is also the author of Artificial Intelligence: Ethics, Risks, and Opportunities, currently number two on Amazon’s Hot New Releases Chart. tographs of unsuspecting social media users and depict them in embarrassing situations by just typing a description of the intended outcome via a chatbot. What is particularly alarming about AI-generated images is not just the fact that images can be so easily edited, which is not different from what people can do today with tools such as Photoshop, but the fact that it can be done instantaneously and on a large scale. The danger also includes AI-generated sounds. For example, AI can be used to generate a human voice to mimic a specific individual for fraudulent purposes. In a widely reported case, criminals were able to use AI to impersonate a CEO’s voice to obtain a fraudulent transfer of a large sum of money. Generative AI tools can also be used to increase the effectiveness and speed of misinformation campaigns. Millions of bots that appear like humans can be instantly deployed to push specific agendas with customized messages tailored to users’ profiles via tweets, posts, online conversations, emails, etc., in a sort of machine gun of deception and propaganda. Even greater damage can be done using the technology to influence elections and cause political instability via tools such as AI-generated social media posts or deepfake campaigns. In a world where fake texts, photos, sounds, and videos can be mass-produced so easily, quickly, and cheaply, not only will people be more frequently exposed to highly realistic fake information, (Continued from Page 14) October 2023 Tech Talks CONTENT Americas The top rated event in TV is back! Hilton Miami Downtown, 23-25 January 2024 The top rated event in TV is back! Hilton Miami Downtown, 23-25 January 2024
18 Can the science and technology behind space exploration improve the PA system in the New York City subway system? Not just yet, unfortunately, but what might actually be able to fix the garbled, scratchy, echoing sound is a technology called AI-driven synthetic neural voice services, which was developed, among other companies, by Speech Morphing, an 11-year-old firm based in San José, California. Over the past six years, Speech Morphing has developed, among other services, a technology that enables the recreation of audio voices that have been either damaged or lost. VideoAge had a lot of questions for the firm: Can AI systems enable automatic speech translation for dubbing, going beyond mere accuracy to achieve real expressiveness? Can damaged or lost voice tracks be seamlessly patched or recreated from scratch? Can AI voices spare human talent the drudgery of looping during post-processing? Can they help visually challenged audiences follow the on-screen action? And can any of this tantalizing potential be realized while protecting talent rights? The answers coming from Speech Morphing were complex, written in a Silicon Valley lingo that required four drafts, a series of e-mail clarifications and the involvement of Nadya Patrick, Speech Morphing’s CEO, the company’s chief linguist Mark Seligman, and the patience of Ettore Botta, president of the Burbank, California-based SpaceWow, and a media consultant for Speech Morphing who was tasked with translating hardware lingo into software-comprehensible language. The first challenge concerned the term “neural”, as in “synthetic neural voice.” The term “neural” was described by Seligman. “Most people in technical circles have heard of neural networks, even if they don’t know what they are or how they work.” He then explained that it “refers to networks that are utilized for machine-learning, the technology that allows computers to learn from examples.” After that there was a need to understand what exactly “speech synthesis” is, and Seligman said that it “is basically artificial voices, also known as text-to-speech (TTS). The process consists of giving a text segment to the computer and receiving an artificial speech segment in return.” With these notions we were now able to proceed to explore what Speech Morphing Inc. (SMI) actually does, and for that we turned to Patrick: “Using an actor’s voice”, she began, “SMI can dub a movie, and in the actor’s voice, enable them to speak another language. This includes removing the delays and maintaining sync with the actor’s lips”, she said, adding: “When you play a movie or a television show performed in the language originally used, you have the options of playing it in your native language and/or adding subtitles. However, as many, I suspect, have experienced, their lips are moving, and a delay occurs, or their lips don’t quite match the words we are hearing from our television set. This is no longer true. Artificial intelligence has changed the way we now entertain ourselves.” We were told that SMI has developed software for text-to-speech applications, dubbing, and voice synthesis with the ability to master emotion and voice modeling. The company crosses between entertainment and educational television, to speech restoration and reconstruction, to audio descriptions for the blind and partially blind, and finally, to voice cloning for the speech impaired or disabled. An inspiring case for speech synthesis involves the requirement for audio descriptions for sight-impaired audiences. Since these participants can’t see the onscreen actions, they can benefit from audio descriptions of them. These spoken descriptions, mandated by law in some countries, can be automatically generated. SMI can reconstruct damaged audio. Iconic speeches, movies, and interviews can be restored back to their original-sounding presentations without the scratchy sound in the background. Seligman then introduced the human element: “An especially pressing concern about simulation tech relates to labor and compensation issues”, he said, “Till now, all of the voice needs have been met by human talents. If speech synthesis is used instead, much cost saving, flexibility, and convenience can be gained. However, all the related talent must be fully compensated. For example, when actors’ voices are used for dubbing in any language, fair compensation should be in the contracts.” Seligman also explained, “Overall, as progress in artificial intelligence charges ahead, traditional practices will need to adjust, and artificial voice development will be no exception.” Meanwhile he added, “talent rights can be protected in two ways: contractual and technical. For the former, talents should insist on including compensation for use of their voices for artificial voice production. For the latter, technology exists to determine whether a voice segment is artificial or not, and, if it is artificial, to determine facts about its production, including information about the original voice.” As far as the costs and timeframes for SMI services, Patrick reported that completing a 60-minute narration involving a single voice can be done in a couple of days. When it comes to pricing for a documentary, one voiceover and two voices for interviews (one female and one male), the total cost would be U.S.$1,800. For feature films with sync voice dubbing, that would be $7,000 and up. And for voice modeling, the base price is $5,000 and up. Finally, VideoAge asked if SMI would be willing to dub a program on spec (to be used as a sales pitch) with the understanding that if the show is sold, they would be dubbing the whole series for a pre-set fee. “Yes, we would”, answered Patrick. “The requirement to do on spec should not be a showstopper.” She then proceeded to illustrate the model that they used for an Australia-based video distributor, where the video’s English narration was replaced with a synchronized Spanish narration with the original voice. “Spanish phrases were inserted into the Spanish voice track so that they matched the time spans of the original English phrases, with adjustments for differences of length”, she concluded. Decoding How AI Helps Dubbing And Protects Talent October 2023 Money Talks Iconic speeches. movies, and interviews can be restored ... without the scratchy sound in the background. Nadya Patrick, Speech Morphing’s CEO
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20 If the size of a magazine issue published by trade media and distributed at a market can determine the success of that trade show, MIPCOM is going to be a good event as there are more advertising pages than usual on display in this magazine and others. But let’s leave the predictions to those executives who will ultimately reap the rewards... and the invoices. Izzet Pinto, CEO and founder of Turkey’s Global Agency, expects this year’s MIPCOM to “return to its old days. Even though there are many markets held throughout the year, MIPCOM has always been the biggest market and will definitely continue like this.” Similarly, France-based Emmanuèle Pétry Sirvin, producer and head of International at Dandelooo, said, “Sometimes it feels that the pandemic era never happened, and business is back to normal. The only reason why there might be fewer people attending would be for ecological reasons — for example, flying to Cannes from the other side of the world when one can hold VC calls doesn’t make sustainable sense.” Also from Turkey, Can Okan, founder and CEO of Inter Medya, believes “that the value of face-to-face communication has been recognized. Therefore, MIPCOM will return to the levels of intensity seen in the prepandemic years. Even the participation in the previous MIPCOM exceeded our expectations, to be honest, and we are looking forward to another surprise this year.” Pinto further added, “There was a return to the market world after the pandemic. Everyone has observed that face-to-face communication and networking are more efficient in our industry than online markets. Before the pandemic, we were attending 12-14 markets per year. We have reached 18 for 2023. Perhaps we will reach 20 in the coming years.” One subject VideoAge was keen to explore with the executives interviewed for this piece was the topics presented at this year’s MIPCOM conferences. We asked what topics they’d like to see covered. “Ha!” began Pétry Sirvin. “I have to admit that I never have or can make the time to attend the conferences during the market, which is a huge pity. The topic I am most interested in is the emergence and business model for FAST channels.” “Unfortunately”, began Okan, “due to the busy market days filled with meetings, I don’t have much chance to attend these conferences, but I definitely review the summaries of these conferences after the market. Our research and business development team participates in these conferences and provides me with all the details upon our return from the market. When we discussed this year’s program with this team, they also mentioned that the conference program for this year touches on current trends and topics of interest.” For Pinto, “MIPCOM has always organized good conferences. The private screenings are also good for the buyers. In particular, the Fresh TV conference continues to hold up remarkably well for format and drama buyers.” Okan also spoke to whether MIPCOM’s results will determine his involvement at other fall markets. “MIPCOM”, he said, “being the largest market, can be considered our season kick-off, [but] the results of MIPCOM or any other market do not affect our participation in other markets. We view each market as a separate experience with its own unique focus. Of course, the outcomes of MIPCOM may lead to additional trips or ongoing topics for other fall markets.” Finally, asked about the impact of the Hollywood strikes, Pinto pointed out that “there are 150 projects in our catalog, half of which are Turkish TV series and the other half are formats. We especially think that our formats will enter the U.S. market. Channels in the U.S. will include more formats in their time slots once they run out of stock. We anticipate that at least two of our formats will be aired.” For Nicola Merola, president of Pixcom, an independent production company based in Montreal, Canada, “The big question remains, will the platforms keep buying as much content as they have for years, or will they slow down?” As for MIPCOM returning to the success of its pre-pandemic years, Merola simply said, “We have high hopes for the market.” A spokesperson for London-based All3Media wouldn’t say if this MIPCOM is going to be better than last year for them, but did say, “We are looking forward to this year’s MIPCOM: now the only really truly global gathering of our peers.” As for new sales prospects, it is believed “that the general mix of our clientele will attend — linear with VoD, pure platforms, and all the variations of AVoD and FAST — plus a range of producers.” And as for new territories, “we believe that India is a key growth region for our scripted format catalog as well as other APAC regions”, she said. All the major U.S. studio will be exhibiting at MIPCOM 2023, and three of them — NBCUniversal, Disney, and Sony Pictures TV — are having their stands organized by their U.K. offices. Two U.S. studios will garner extra attention, what with Warner Bros. Discovery’s Gerhard Zeiler delivering the opening keynote address on Monday, and Paramount Global Content Distribution’s Bob Bakish getting the Personality of the Year Award on Tuesday. However, this time around there won’t be a dinner celebration, only a small cocktail that will be very limited in scope and guests. Another keynote speech will be delivered on Tuesday by Laura Fernández Espeso, CEO of the Barcelona, Spain-based The MediaPro Studio, which is controlled by Chinese equity firm Orient Hontai Capital. China is also this year’s MIPCOM Country of Honor. On the U.S. studio side, Tony Vassiliadis, executive vice president of Fox Entertainment Global and COO of MarVista Entertainment, commented, “As we approach MIPCOM 2023, we have further solidified our position in the global marketplace with a growing portfolio of content and are expanding our team to better support clients. [At] this MIPCOM, we are proud to represent all of FOX’s unscripted content, including tape and format sales of programs. [We] also continue to feature a high volume of original movies across various genres — holiday, thriller, romance, comedy, young adult, family, horror and action. Additionally, we are now representing a slate of original and third-party movies, series, specials, documentaries, and other genres that stream on our sister AVoD platform, Tubi. [With] the well-attended opening night party we had last year, we are repeating the fun with an invitation-only reception at our stand Monday evening.” Vassiliadis is also satisfied with MIPCOM’s conference slate: “RX Global always does a great job hosting highly topical and meaningful panels that address the current state of the business and where it’s heading.” Missing among the more than 300 MIPCOM 2023 exhibitors will be most of the LATAM companies that have attended in years past. This year, the region will be represented by just a few companies from Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico. But, as reported on page 22 of this issue by VideoAge’s Omar Mendez, LATAM will come alive next month during MIPCOM’s sister market, MIP Cancun, in November. Confronting Distributors’ Challenges Before the MIPCOM Mart October 2023 Market Preview
Enjoy The Drama @P-1.M51
22 The level of participation from Latin American companies at this year’s MIPCOM CANNES is once again marginal. Of course, that has historically been the case, but each new year sees fewer and fewer LatAm-based participants at the market. Before the start of the largest international content sales event in the world, which is to be held in Cannes October 16-19, and is now in its 39th year, LatAm was to be officially represented by no more than two exhibitors from Argentina (the only country in Latin America with a national pavilion), three from Brazil, one from Colombia, and three from Mexico. Among the registered buyers are eight companies from Argentina, 10 companies from Brazil, five companies from Chile, four companies from Colombia, one company from Honduras, four companies from Mexico, two companies from Peru, and one from Puerto Rico. While this may seem grim for LatAm, in reality, the reason for such low participation from folks from the LatAm region at MIPCOM is simple. And that reason is MIP Cancun. The organizer of MIP Cancun, RX France, launched this event a decade ago in that Mexican resort city to attract players the hail from south of the Rio Grande who were reluctant to cross the Atlantic for the larger MIPCOM. And it did just that with great success until it ultimately became the main meeting venue for international distribution and production aimed at Latin countries. Other causes of the low LatAm participation at MIPCOM include two competing events taking place in Miami just a couple of months later: NATPE Global and Content Americas. Based on the opinions that this reporter gathered from LatAm buyers and sellers, it seems that the content sales market program begins for them in Cancun and ends in Miami. But there are yet other reasons that Latin American companies don’t have a big presence in Cannes. Chief among them are lower budgets to invest in content and the competition from streaming. FTA television stations, local pay channels, and pan-regional networks have fewer resources to acquire foreign content or undertake international co-productions. Plus, many countries that used to be very active in the audiovisual industry now have economies that are in complete disarray. Argentina, for example, which used to have scores of companies actively participating at fairs in the pre-pandemic years, is now on the verge of bankruptcy, with its national currency completely devalued. In fact, the Argentine peso is so degraded that it is not even accepted in neighboring countries. These days, not a single one of the main markets in Latin America has a robust and storm-free media sector, and even though financial reports strive to show “significant” advertising growth (compared to previous years), the limitations of the media, with very few exceptions, are evident. Hence, the relevance that MIP Cancun has for Latin Americans. MIP Cancun has effectively become their first event of the year. The second is in Miami. And there the market year ends for them. “In Cancun we see what is there, we start a deal, and if it is not defined, then we look to close it in Miami”, said one Mexican broadcaster who is a frequent visitor to international expoconferences. He added: “We do not have the resources we had before, nor is there any hope of having them again, and the reason is not just the pandemic.” It looks like MIP Cancun has turned the traditional industry calendar upside down. Some sellers who traditionally attend Cancun just do things differently. Titles that could have had an international premiere a month before at MIPCOM are instead delayed and exhibited for the first time at the Mexican meeting. The 800 attendees registered for last year’s edition of what has become the industry’s number one international distribution and co-production market for Latin America and U.S. Hispanic TV can easily scale up to the 1,000 registered participants from 40 countries projected this year by the organizer, RX. Due to the increased demand to participate at MIP Cancun, this year, the more than 100 tables reserved for its 2022 market will surely be expanded to a larger number when the event celebrates its 10th anniversary this November 14-17. And what about the expectations for Miami in January 2024? Despite the overlap and the five days between NATPE Global and Content Americas, for the most part, the executives consulted for this report assure that they will participate in both in order to evaluate and then make decisions for 2025. After coming out strong with its stellar debut on the North American continent, C21’s Content Americas is hoping to replicate that between January 23 and 25, 2024. The big question lies in the challenge faced by the Canadian Brunico Communications to restore a NATPE Global that had gained mystique and acceptance among Latin Americans in the industry. To do so, it has taken some risks. Although there are still uncertainties, deciding to be the first market of the year (January 16 to 18 at the InterContinental Miami) is considered a strong move. (By Omar Mendez) Peekaboo LatAm, Where Are You? Getting Ready for Cancun October 2023 Territories Omar Mendez is the editor-in-chief of the Spanish-language newsletter, The Daily Television. These days, not a single one of the main markets in Latin America has a robust and storm-free media sector ... the limitations are evident.
24 The below topics are what those in the know in Hollywood were talking about during the weeks leading to the MIPCOM CANNES market. - People affected by the Hollywood strikes, but who aren’t in any of the unions and are never mentioned: cleaners, caterers, musicians, composers, drivers, etc. - This new COVID variant is a cause for concern. Vaccines given are no good against it and the one that allegedly will be effective will only be available in two-to-three weeks. Meanwhile hospital admissions are going up around the globe. Could this affect upcoming markets? - Golden Globes have announced Tim Grey of Variety (who has spent 42 years at the paper) as a new board member. There are talks about the new members of the Globes’ Hollywood Foreign Press joining as well. How can there be HFP members if they disbanded the organization? - The requirements about union members not being allowed to promote their projects is being circumvented courtesy of some interesting loopholes. Adam Driver was at the Venice Film Fest, for instance. - Major traditional linear channels are not only losing viewers to streaming, but to FAST channels which are airing old content. And now, after the roundup, here are the details: As of September 1 we were 123 days into an entertainment industry strike, which began with writers, and has led to an acrossthe-board walkout. There had been an agreement (by the Directors’ Guild) on issues but no one else has come near to a fully complete deal that would bring everyone back to work. While there have been talks, they appeared to be taking place on “a day here” and “a day there” basis, as opposed to “sit down until we reach a conclusion” talks. Yes, everyone wanted a deal that betters the existing one but at what cost? Wages have been lost and health plans are disappearing for strikers — in some instances totally gone by now — and pension funds are being hit hard. There are other hardships, financially, including mortgage and rent problems. There are also other industry personnel who have been hit but are never mentioned, like those who work on clearances for productions, caterers, transportation services, drivers, musicians, composers, etc. The list goes on and on. Those that are not part of the industry — stores, hotels, and across-the-board services (locally and nationally) — that were heavily used by industry personnel are not getting the usual business, and are suffering badly. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in its just released report, noted that some 17,000 jobs in the entertainment industry were lost in August. Not so fun facts: The longest strike in the entertainment industry thus far has been the 843-day musicians’ union strike in the 1940s. Other, not so long but still notable strikes include a 231-day strike by set decorators in 1945; a 183-day commercial actors’ strike in 2000, and a 154-day writers’ strike in 1998. The shortest industry strike was in 1987, when directors struck for three hours and five minutes. While on the subject of strikes, the requirement about union members not being allowed to promote their projects was being circumvented, courtesy of some interesting loopholes. Several directors and actors have been appearing at events. Adam Driver and Michael Mann, pictured above, were seen promoting their film Ferrari at the Venice Film Festival, for instance. The duo received waivers (interim agreements) allowing them to attend not only Venice but also the Telluride and Toronto festivals. If contracts don’t get resolved, with the small screen audiences getting used to foreign content, unscripted shows, and sports, it may be difficult to turn them around when the industry gets back to work. But there is another by-product of the strikes: A force majeure clause in contracts allowed studios to cancel long-term deals with creatives when the strike passed the 90day milestone. Warner Bros. has used the FM card and said goodbye (at least temporarily) to J.J. Abrams, Greg Berlanti, Mindy Kaling, and Bill Lawrence. They are not the only ones to suffer; Chuck Lorre, Justin Simien, and John Wells have also had their deals suspended. And Amazon, CBS Studios, Disney, HBO, NBCUniversal, and Warner Bros. TV have suspended several other similar deals. Deals for high-profile writers and producers are expected to pick back up once the strikes are over (on September 25 a tentative deal was reached), but it remains to be seen whether they will have to renegotiate details of the deals or return on the original terms. In early September, the Disney family of channels went dark on Charter Communications’ Spectrum cable systems. According to Charter CEO Chris Winfrey, “This is not a typical carriage dispute. It’s significant for Charter, and we think it’s even more significant for programmers and the broader video ecosystem.” Additionally, Winfrey pointed out that Disney was increasing prices for sports A Month of News in The Entertainment Capital of the World October 2023 Hollywood Talks Isn’t it interesting that traditional linear U.S. TV networks are not only losing viewers to streaming but to FAST channels that are airing old content? (Continued on Page 26)
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