NATPE Europe, a challenging start

There are in Prague more than 250 buyers, with newcomers from Slovakia, Spain and Chile, as well as 139 exhibiting companies from 27 countries —33 attend for the first time. NATPE has established 30 sponsorships and partnerships.

Prensario has noticed a better atmosphere for business, with meetings taking place yesterday both during the morning and the afternoon, though Warner Bros screening was held during the morning. There are not only participants from CEE, but also from Western Europe (France, UK, Germany) looking for win-win alliances, that include IP development, co-productions and distribution deals.

Rod Perth, CEO, NATPE: ‘We are very confident about this edition, in which we have invested in many areas about the organization, especially on the panels. But we are also aware about the complex political and economical situation of the region (Russia, Ukraine), which is an external factor that we have to deal with’.

The executive says there are two major challenges: first, to make NATPE a well-known brand outside USA, and second, to understand better the different realities of each CEE country, and response on time with concrete strategies. ‘We listen our clients and have changed some things (US screenings schedules, Wi-Fi, etc.), But we need to generate a marketplace good for everybody, which is not always easy’, he adds.

On the first panel Global TV Formats, Keri Lewis Brown (K7 Media & FRAPA) highlighted the hot global titles from UK (Prized Apart, Sony-BBC1), USA (500 Questions, Warner Bros.-ABC), The Netherland (Super Kids, Talpa-RTL4) and Korea (Love Village, SBS). ‘The main characteristics of a successful format are authenticity and first person immediacy. There are more physical game shows, too’, she said.

Formats Futures, with participants from Small World IFT, Endemol Shine Group, ITV Studios, Zodiak Media and French TV, who agreed that the CEE region is developing a lot of new formats, but still demanding new international ones. ‘There are other opportunities to explore: pitching for distribution or co-developments. We see a huge potential in Poland, Romania and Ukraine’, it was said.

Co-production is a key word, again. In the last panel yesterday, the top producers and distributors from UK, Channel 4, Sky and BBC, remarked that this is a great time for international co-productions: Humans, Channel 4 + AMC (3.2 million of viewers during the premier), Penny Dreadful, Sky + Showtime; and The Refugees, BBC + La Sexta (Spain). Eric Welbers, international producer: ‘The German market is different, as we have Netflix, HBO and TNT on one side, and the 90% of national broadcasters on the other, depending on the US series. Public TV is very active, as well. Even that, the projects for international co-productions continue strong’.

The last event of the day was Telemundo International’s Screening & Cocktail, organized in Prague for the first time, with more than 70 CEE buyers. Telemundo showed the evolution of its Latin American product, which now makes focus on Super Series, with about 90 episodes each, more action plots and Hollywood alike, high-end production levels, but keeping traditional telenovela heart. New productions are Under the same sky, La querida de Centauro and Lord of the Sky, a hit already in its four season.

Marcos Santana, president: ‘From the nineties, 10 million CEE people learned Spanish language, due to the success of our telenovelas. Now we are a step ahead, with our Super Series. They have very good potential in CEE, concerning the affinity of our audiences. We are now much more than telenovelas’.

Fabricio Ferrara, from Prague

Full Story  June 22