Rio Content Market 2015, forging relationships

‘Despite its growth, the convention did not lose the warmth of the people, who remained open to new business, and the interesting panels. This year, there were more meetings in the official rounds, not only with international delegations but also with gaming, music and licensing companies’, resumed Rachel do Valle, Executive Manager, ABPTIV.

‘We had meetings with the French producers in order to extend the existing agreements for film production, but not for television. With UK and Canada there was an approach to close deals’, she added.

One of the latest news was the signing of an agreement between the Cámara Argentina de Productoras Pymes Audiovisuales (CAPPA) and ABPTIV for coproduction, content sharing and mutual support. Sebastián Mignogna, president at CAPPA, explained: ‘These binational bridges, besides being very intuitive, will be reinforced with joint policies and programs. Here, there are many screens and producers available to share adventures with Argentina and we need to seize the moment to prevent dilution’.

‘Brazil is an independent market with very different rules than other neighboring markets and if you want to participate is necessary to understand the different conditions that it has', said Fernando Gaitán, VP International Production, RCN TV (Colombia).

'A very important professionalization by the Brazilian audiovisual industry is noted but there is still much to do regarding the international commercialization. Conventions like Rio Content Market are fundamental in terms of showing the world how the Brazilian markets work, and it helps international executives to approach independent producers that cannot assist to trade shows like Mipcom’, added Marcello Coltro, EVP Content Distribution, Cisneros (USA).

‘Here, the ideas take shape. We signed an agreement to coproduce the second season of Mujeres de Overol with 7 producers from different countries including Colombia, Brazil, Ecuador and Uruguay’, remarked Alejandra Marano, executive director of Contruir TV (Argentina).

Bilaal Hoosein, Head of Acquisitions Programs, Al Jazeera Network (Qatar): ‘Even when it seems to be many differences between the Arabic the Brazilian regions, we share the same interest and passion in learning about the new ways of seeing the world. There are many interesting proposals here, especially in documentaries and cultural formats'.

How to keep growing? ‘We need to have even more presence from Latin America. This year, there were many US representatives but we just had one official participant from Argentina. We want more assistance of more neighboring countries such as Colombia, Uruguay and Chile’, concluded Rachel do Valle.

Rodrigo Cantisano