Eccho Rights: inspired by real stories

Last June, Eccho Rights announced a new business structure after CJ EMN (Korea) sold its part to the German media company Night Train Media, creating group that also includes the UK producer Bossa Nova. 2022 is also a key year for the company, as it has turned into its 10th anniversary. That's why it has organized in Istanbul, Turkey, a Screening for 100 international buyers from 40 countries, including leading players from Western Europe (Mediaset and RTVE Spain, Catalan TV3, Monaco's Red Head Global), CEE (Ukraine' 1+1, Serbia's PRAVA TV, Bosnia and Hersegovina' Hayat, Hungary's TV2, Lithuania's TV3, Bulgaria's BTV and Romania' ProTV), MENA (MBC), Asia (Korea) and Latin America (ViX, NBCUniversal, Disney, HBO Max, Paramount, TVN Chile).

Fredrik af Malmborg, managing director, Eccho Rights, with Edina Balogh, acquisitions manager, and Andrea Zaras, head of content management, TV2 (Hungary)

Barbora Suster, head of LatAm, Eccho Rights, with Hispanic buyers: Leonor Sotillo and Jorge Balleste, ViX; Mercedes Figueroa and Angel Lopez Armendariz, Mediaset España, Milagros Mayi, acquisitions, RTVE, and Carlos Blanches, head of acquisitions, TV3 Catalunya

The delegation watched sixteen projects, including Turkish new dramas and returning seasons, along with short form, drama and comedy British and Nordic series, as well as a Greek and a Romanian adaptations. ‘From successful dramas Ezel (2011), Kurt Seyit and Sura and Elif (1200 eps) to Golden Boy (#1 on Star TV’s Friday nights), Honour S3 (2017, Nordics: best-selling of all times), Chrysalis S3 (OGM for Kanal D), and the new London project Desperate Measures, we’ve evolved into new genres and, most importantly, new business models’, initiated Fredrik af Malmborg, managing partner.

But there is more: Eccho Rights launched an important volume of new projects, some set for premier in Late 2022, and some in development for the next years. ‘Business has changed and we are adapting to the new trends and needs from our clients. We are happy not only for selling our top-rated ready-made series, but also promoting coproductions and finance new projects in different territories’, continued af Malmborg. He underlined Servant of the People, the comedy series starred by the present Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, who has been the very first acquisition of Netflix in CIS and got 40 licenses when the war started in February 2022. Moreover, the format has been sold to Poland, and there are other 3-4 more coming, added the executive.  

Carlie Goode, acquisitions, manager, Aya Medhat Moustafa, head of content acquisitions, Shahid, Lina Matta, Director Shahid AVOD, MBC 2, MBC 4, MBC Max, MBC Variety, and Melis Hamamcioglu, Content Acquisition & Sales Director, Eccho Rights 

Scripted formats are a key part of the new business models applied by Eccho Rights: ‘We’ve sold Ezel (Vlad) and Insider (The Clan) for Romania, My Sweet Lie to Slovakia, The Clinic and The red Room in Greece (Sky), and Nurses in Sweden, France, Slovakia, Czech Republic. Direct-to-Consumer is another important focus, offering optimization to YouTube, Facebook and Dailymotion platforms:  The Promise channel reached 3.7 million view, followed by Elif (3.2 million), Legacy (2 million) and K-Drama (1.2 million). 

The four new Turkish dramas presented were Hear Me (95x’45), from Surec Films for Star TV, which has been a social media success for target audiences; Golden Boy (125x45), from OGM Pictures for Star TV, which has been the best series of the year in Turkey passing from 3.7 rating points to 8.60 and from 10.24% share to 23.23% (Star TV average share is 9.08%). 

Fredrik af Malmborg with Onur Güvenatam, CEO of OGM Pictures Handan Ozkubat, head of Eccho Rights Istanbul

Fredrik af Malmborg and Antonii Mangov, programming director, ProTV (Romania) presented The Clan, second Romanian adaptation from a Turkish script

Onur Güvenatam, CEO of OGM Pictures, was invited on stage and asked about the company drama concept: ‘We are heading the new stuff: what market has not made yet. Our north is a different kind of storytelling. Dramas based on real facts like Golden Boy. We want people to be impressed by our stories’. 

Handan Ozkubat, head of Eccho Rights Istanbul office, added: ‘We see there is a strong evolution on Turkish drama since pandemic: more humanistic, less revenge. Adaptations from international dramas? Yes, definitely. The key is in the localization. Male character is shifted (men are more gentlemen), but in turkey, the gender roles are clear and if that change, audience don’t like’. Classic Turkish drama to short form: ‘Audience is merging: TV needs more digital options, and there, short format works better. Expectation from them is getting higher year to year. The challenge is high quality series in all aspects. TV is still a dominant player in Turkey’, she concluded. 

Lastly, new seasons from Karamel series for Kanal 7: Legacy – S3 (819x’45), sold to +40 countries around the world, The Promise (820x’45), and the new Redemption (255x’45) set for premier on November 2022. Also, OGM Pictures series for Kanal D Chrysalis S3, with 19.84 share #1 ABC (Thursday nights), and The Red Room from the same producer for TV8, which is #1 in two seasons on Friday nights with almost 30% on AB Share. 

Natalia Panchenko, acquisitions executive, 1+1 (Ukraine), Gosia Linelt – Zielonacka, senior content & programming executive, TVP (Poland), Angela Richardson, founder/CEO, Redhead Global (Monaco) and Daiva Andrade, senior acquisitions maanger, TV3 (Lithuania)

Outside Turkey, Eccho Rights exhibited eight new series from UK, Nordics, Romania, Greece. From London office, headed by Adam Barth and Lucy Roberts, presented the local projects, starting with Desperate Measures (4x’60), from Clapperboard for Channel 5 and set to premier in Late 2022, available internationally as format & ready made; Granite Harbour (3x’60), a coproduction between LA Productions, Dopamine, BBC 1 and Eccho Rights also for Late 2022 on BBC1’s 8pm Saturday’s slot. 

Other projects from the office are Compulsion, from LA Production for Channel 5, the first British show from Eccho Rights talking about addiction (gambling) and family, and the Irish drama The Vanishing Triangle, from Park Films, Paper Plane, 87/Films for Virgin Media (Ireland) and Sundance Now (USA), also inspired in real events and the women right, which has been pre-sold to a number of territories. 

Suzana Nisevic, acquisitions, Prava TV (Serbia), Sasha Martic, acquisitions, Stanic Media (Bosnia Hersegovina) and Sanela Junuzovic, program acquisitions, Hayat (Bosnia Hersegovina)

Regarding Nordic titles, Everyone but us (20x’22) is a short Swedish comedy series from Warner Bros Discovery for Discovery+, while the sexy relationship drama As long as we leave… (6x’60) from Glassriver (Island), TV2 (Norway) and C More (UK) is set to premier on Late 2022. Also, Honour from Bigster for Viaplay and Monday’s Crypto Kings.

To conclude, from Romania ProTV’s adaptation from Insider called The Clan (13x‘110), presented by af Malmborg and Antonii Mangov, programming director, of the network, who explained: ‘It combines crime and action with a strong cast. It fitted perfectly to our audience, as Turkish drama is not being broadcast on national television, except for Kanal D (#3 broadcaster of the market). We are betting on adapting them’. 

Antonii Mangov, programming director, ProTV (Romania), with Desislava Zheleva, junior acquisitions specialist, and Nelly Stoynova, Head of Scheduling and Acquisitions, NOVA (Bulgaria), and Anzhela Georgieva, acquisitions, and Hristo Hadzhitanev, programming director, BTV (Bulgaria)