Rio Content Market 2015, land of opportunities

Marco Altberg, president, ABPITV, explained: ‘Once again we have 3,200 registered people, but the main difference with other editions is the percentage of international companies who have attended. We have much more international players looking for contents or partners to coproduce in Brazil, and that helps to consolidate Rio Content Market as one of the main events in Latin America, showing us as a global reference’.

Most of the producers consulted by Prensario agreed that the new conditions of the Brazilian market after the SeAC Law give more opportunities to independent companies, but also believe that, in many cases, the demands of the Pay TV channels and some broadcasts exceed their possibilities.

Adilson Xavier, CEO, Zola Producciones, ensured: ‘The Entertainment market in Brazil used to be big but stable. Now we are in a moment of “healthy instability” because we need to produce a lot more that we used to’.

Meanwhile, foreign companies like Makever (France) see this need as an opportunity to gain new markets. ‘There aren’t much co-productions between Brazil and Europe but audience want to know more about the South American culture and consume new content, besides European or North American formats’, said Matthieu Viala, CEO, and Noor Sadar, producer.

For others, this is not as easier as it looks like. ‘It’s difficult to coproduce certain formats such as documentaries with Brazil, because they think very locally and Portuguese is not a language that travels well. But despite that, I am confident that these obstacles can be overcome thanks to the talent they possess’, remarked Caroline Behar, head of acquisitions and international coproductions, France Telévisions. ‘Language is one of our main problems’, agreed Daniela Busoli, CEO FremantelMedia Brasil, and added: ‘There are just few countries that speak Portuguese, and that’s why we must begin to develop ourselves as format producers if we want to grow in the international market'.

‘RCM is the ideal place to get approached to future negotiations and serves to institutionalize products. We notice more international presence than last year and that is very favorable to our local industry’, said Delmar Andrade, international sales director, Record.

Regarding to the conferences at Rio Content Market, the first day began with the full house presentation The Art of Directing, where mainstream directors Cary Fukunaga (True Detective) and M. Night Shyamalan presented the difficulties and facilities of producing a TV series instead of a movie.

Other top sessions were Format Creation and Adaptation - TV Globo: HBO: Ten Years of Original Production in Latin America, with Roberto Rios, Corporate VP for Original Productions, and Maria Angela de Jesus, Head Original Productions, HBO Latin America; and the participations of Yves Bigot, CEO TV5Monde (France) and Rich Evans, Commissioning Editor, Factual Entartainment, Channel 4 (UK).

Rodrigo Cantisano, from Rio de Janeiro