Mipcom 2016: big dramas at their hottest hour

Yet, to many major companies at the market the driver this week is Big Drama. The Europeans are gaining share at the American market, the large U.S. studios take part of the pie in Turkey, everybody seeks to extend its frontier… the linear business is growing but On Demand is soaring. 

Fox Networks Group hosted a big party announcing a strong focus on Turkish series, a country that has gained a huge international fiction market share during the past five years. The studio jumped from 4 to 20 series now, aired at Fox TV, its owned free TV channel in Turkey. ‘That’s my life’, for instance, is very successful and has had already four seasons. Actors of this series and ‘Wings of Love’ were present at the cocktail. Current sales range from CEE to Latin America and Africa. ‘We are Turkish drama’, it was said at the party.

The major move to take on Turkey product is challenging the traditional big Turkish distributors, which mainly work on TV series from national producers. They have big booths and host today the biggest parties, as ITV Inter Medya did just yesterday on the beach. Will they get into production? Most of them say no, they bet on keeping the best product in their hands.  

UK, German, French titans are supplying big drama to the U.S. market more than ever. Everybody is co-producing or distributing fiction, even the entertainment icon companies. Mike Beale, head of production at ITV Studios (UK): ‘Our top highlights today are that we produce formats together with Talpa and two new dramas especially for the U.S. market. We are closing a deal with TNT there’.

Chris Ottinger, president, worldwide TV distribution & acquisitions at U.S. studio MGM: ‘Many European companies sell drama to America. Now, the origin of the product no longer matters. People consume series as they read books. If they like the series, they watch episodes as much as they can. When they have to stop, they re-start a new sequence later. VOD is a great thing for fiction’. 

No coincidence: Lionsgate and Vimeo (USA) announced yesterday ‘Global TV Storefront’, an online platform that offers users  a choice of series to purchase, both full or per episode individually. Starz takes part in with “Ash vs. Evil Dead”, “Black Sails”, and “The Girlfriend Experience” as initial titles available. 
The drama endeavor crosses all regions: Mediaset (Italy) and its distributor Comarex (Mexico) announced the production of the Malaysian version of Tuscan Passion, adapted by producer Global Station for Astro Ceria (Malaysia: 100 episodes. Three regions are involved in the same drama project. Italian Mediaset scripted format sales have grown significantly in the past few years, especially in Europe. 

Other market news: Ukraine enacted a new audiovisual law that introduces, among others, a system of cash rebate of up to 25% for local and foreign producers. In Denmark and Sweden, the TV and film industries are requesting a tax incentive scheme, while in Spain, the states of Navarra and Islas Canarias (Mondo TV launched Mondo TV Producciones Canarias recently) are promoting their locations and offering tax rebates. The Argentine province of Cordoba enacted a new law, which offers incentives for productions done there, or using local talent.

Malaysian producers Primeworks Studios, Animasia, Scubazoo and Global Station, supported by FINAS in Cannes, announced multiple deals worth over USD 4 millions. This year, Malaysia has over 40 companies in Cannes. 

New laws are not always in favor of the industry. Vivian Yin, Fremantlemedia Asia: ‘We have a big challenge today in China, a new law makes almost impossible to produce imported formats. So, we have to be very creative to generate own good entertainment on a regular basis’.

Latin America: at the MIPCancun press conference, Ted Baracos from Reed Midem, confirmed the participation of 140 buyers from 24 countries –-with Cuban companies for first time--, and 289 companies, in the edition that will be held between November 16 and18 this year. In 2015, there were about 80 buyers. 

Nicolás Smirnoff, Fabricio Ferrara and Rodrigo Cantisano