(Continued on Page 20) The international TV industry is now witnessing the disappearance of the National Association of Television Program Executives (NATPE) as we know it. NATPE was born in New York City in 1963, and filed for bankruptcy in 2022, at age 59. The year 1963 also saw the births of MIP-TV in France, the Monte Carlo TV Festival, as well as MIFED in Italy. (The Italian market died in 2008.) NATPE’s demise has been attributed to the pandemic since it forced the cancellation of its markets in 2021 and 2022, but thus far, it is the only TV market to fall prey YouCan’tMake This Up: Living LuxOn andOff TV My 2¢: It’s best to hire those who don’t know anything Developments at Series Mania deal with development American-European interfaith dialogue about MIPTV Asia TV Forum has gone green, but no greenbacks yet Page 30 Page 16 Page 14 Page 10 The tale of a famous person’s demand to have M&M’s candies separated by color is well known, but there are other stories out there about entertainment talents and executives that concierges, travel planners, destination managers, tour guides, and PR agents like to retell with a mix of amusement and disgust. They call them “real-life White Lotus stories.” The White Lotus is a 2021 HBO comedy-drama series that aired its season two finale in December, and has already been renewed for a third season. It follows the guests and staff of the fictional White Lotus luxury resort chain. The first New Oscars Book Overlooks Int’l TV’s Role (Continued on Page 21) Trials and Tribulations Of the NATPE Market The new book, The Academy and the Award, is a valuable historical tome that documents the creation of Hollywood’s film Academy in 1927. The book’s subtitle is “The Coming of Age of Oscar and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.” While the book is surely a must-read for anyone interested (Continued on Page 24) to COVID. Other issues, yet to be revealed, must therefore be responsible for its untimely demise. But we should first analyze NATPE’s tormented past, which alternated between feast and famine. My first NATPE market was in 1979 in Las Vegas. It was also I N T E R N A T I O N A L www.V i deoAge.org THE BUSINESS JOURNAL OF FILM, BROADCASTING, STREAMING, PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION January 2023 - VOL. 43 NO. 1 - $9.75
Cover Stories To solve the streaming SVoD woes, companies should apply a journalistic trait when hiring executives: find those who don’t know anything. Page 30 News The trials and tribulations of the NATPE content markets The ultimate Oscars book oversees international TV’s contribution Industry people’s excesses recalled in “livid” colors 4. World: Canada vs. tech, legislature modeled after Australian law 6. Frank Biondi’s posthumous book receives rave reviews 14. American-European interfaith dialogue about MIPTV continues to flare up 8. Book Review: The BBC at 100. How the broadcaster shaped the world 10. ATF Review: Mart has gone green, but no greenbacks yet 16. Developments at Series Mania focus on development 18. Content Americas instead of NATPE Miami: What changed, what improved 26. Q&A with Rick Feldman, NATPE CEO 2003-2012 28. More disruptions in the air. Plus, calendar of industry events MAIN OFFICES 216 EAST 75TH STREET NEW YORK, NY 10021 TEL: (212) 288-3933 WWW.VIDEOAGEINTERNATIONAL.COM WWW.VIDEOAGE.ORG P.O. BOX 25282 LOS ANGELES, CA 90025 VIALE ABRUZZI 30 20131 MILAN, ITALY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DOM SERAFINI EDITORIAL TEAM SARA ALESSI (NY) BILL BRIOUX (CANADA) ENZO CHIARULLO (ITALY) LEAH HOCHBAUM ROSNER (NY) SUSAN HORNIK (L.A.) CAROLINE INTERTAGLIA (FRANCE) OMAR MENDEZ (ARGENTINA) LUIS POLANCO (NY) MIKE REYNOLDS (L.A.) MARIA ZUPPELLO (BRAZIL) PUBLISHER MONICA GORGHETTO BUSINESS OFFICE LEN FINKEL LEGAL OFFICE STEVE SCHIFFMAN WEB MANAGER BRUNO MARRACINO DESIGN/LAYOUT CLAUDIO MATTIONI, CARMINE RASPAOLO VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL (ISSN 0278-5013 USPS 601-230) IS PUBLISHED SEVEN TIMES A YEAR,. PLUS DAILIES, BY TV TRADE MEDIA, INC. © TV TRADE MEDIA INC. 2023. THE ENTIRE CONTENTS OF VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL ARE PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT IN THE U.S., U.K., AND ALL COUNTRIES SIGNATORY TO THE BERNE CONVENTIO AND THE PAN-AMERICAN CONVENTION. SEND ADDRESS CHANGES TO VIDEO AGE INTERNATIONAL, 216 EAST 75TH STREET, SUITE 1W, NEW YORK, NY 10021, U.S.A. PURSUANT TO THE U.S. COPYRIGHTS ACT OF 1976, THE RIGHTS OF ALL CONTENT DONE ON ASSIGNMENT FOR ALL VIDEOAGE PUBLICATIONS ARE HELD BY THE PUBLISHER OF VIDEOAGE, WHICH COMMISSIONED THEM Features
January 2023 it. So with this bill, we’re seeking to address this market imbalance.” The Canadian effort follows a similar French government act, as well as 2021 Australian legislation that demanded that platforms pay local news publishers. According to Rodriguez, Canada studied the Australian law extensively. That law resulted in amultiyear deal between Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. and Facebook, after the social media platform started restricting the sharing of news articles. U.S. lawmakers have introduced similar legislation, while news publishers have lobbied in Europe for something modeled on the Australian law. Canada’s new law would enable news businesses to bargain in groups on issues including the ways that platforms reproduce or facilitate access to news content. It would also require digital platforms that have a “significant bargaining imbalance” with news businesses to make fair commercial deals and will be enforced by mandatory bargaining and final offer arbitration. The proposed legislation — enforced by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission — is designed to help a Canadian media sector that saw 450 outlets close between 2008 and 2021, according to the government. Canada’s bill comes two months after Rodriguez’s proposal to amend the country’s Broadcasting Act to require that online streaming services like Netflix and Spotify pay into local funds to support Canadian artists. The Online Streaming Act is under review by Parliament. In February 2021, some 100 Canadian newspapers printed a blank front page as part of a national campaign to bring attention to the impact of global tech giants on the sustainability of journalism. Because of digital platforms and social media, ad revenues have shifted away from local news and journalists to these gatekeepers. In 2020, online advertising revenues inCanada reachedC$9.7 billion (U.S.$ 7.2 billion), with two companies taking in more than 80 percent of those revenues. The Canadian government is planning an Online News Act bill that would force tech companies to pay local news publishers for content. It’s the latest move by a government trying to help struggling media companies that have seen online advertising revenue drain away to Silicon Valley’s digital platform giants. Pablo Rodriguez, Heritage Minister, responsible for culture, media, sports, and the arts, said he will introduce the Online News Act bill to ensure that companies like Google and Facebook would compensate local news organizations for their content through privately-negotiated deals. “More andmore Canadians are turning to digital platforms as gateways to find their news content today, and this shift online has had an incredible impact on news businesses,” Rodriguez said at a press conference last month. “They continue to profit from the sharing and distribution of Canadian news content without really having to pay for Canada vs. Tech: Legislature Modeled After Australian Law World (Continued on Page 6) 4 Lise Romanoff: lise@vision lms.net Andres Santos: asantos@screenbright.net PLEASE VISIT OUR WEBSITE: WWW.VISIONFILMS.NET VISION FILMS A WORLDWIDE DISTRIBUTOR OF INDEPENDENT FILMS, MUSIC & DOCUMENTARIES We welcome you to Content Americas 2023 Jan 24-Jan 26 Hilton Miami Downtown
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January 2023 6 a “tribute” and that no one else thought of writing a book about him before. In the book, Jane Biondi reported that her father was fired fromevery top position he ever held in the entertainment industry, including HBO (19781984), Columbia Pictures (1985-1987), Viacom (19871996), and Universal Studios (1996-1998). Biondi had the privilege of shaping the development of the entertainment industry from a C-suite position, first with pay-TV, then satellite, then home video, and sawHollywood get shaken up when Coca Cola, a soft-drink company, entered into the business (with Columbia Pictures), followed by a hardware group (Matsushita) taking over Universal Pictures, Viacombuying both CBS and Paramount, and AOL (an online company) buying Warner Bros. When Biondi was asked to run Universal, the studio had just been taken over by liquor company (Seagram). The only developments that he missed from his vantage point in the C-suite are the ups and downs of streaming platforms. And he onlymissed those due tohis premature death. The book is a good look into Biondi’s career, but lacks the historical perspective that should have embellished each vignette. A segment about his ethnic background would have also been appreciated. One assumes that Biondi was of Italian ancestry, but readers learn nothing about him growing up as an Italian-American. Since the 1990s Biondi lived in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles. In 2017 Biondi’s Brentwood home was put on the market for $23.9 million. At the time his net worth was believed to have been $1.6 billion. The book also received rave reviews from celebrities like KenAuletta, NormanLear, and Michael Eisner, was reviewed in The Los Angeles Times, and was featured in a segment on MSNBC TV. Ultimately, the book is akin to an autobiography written by a non-professional author, similar to, for example, the book that Viacom’s founder, Ralph Baruch, wrote about himself (Television Tightrope). A book about Frank Biondi was sent to VideoAge with a personal note from its co-author, Jane Biondi Munna, Frank’s youngest daughter (pictured at right). Separately, VideoAge received notes of praise for the book from two of Biondi’s disciples: Brian McGrath (who worked under Biondi at Columbia Pictures and elsewhere) and Blair Westlake (who worked for him at Universal Pictures). The book, titled Let’s Be Frank, was published in 2022, three years after Biondi died at the age of 74. His daughter took notes fromher dad’s planned autobiography and added some of her own observations and recollections, and mixed themwith contributions from executives, including Jon Dolgen, Sherry Lansing, and Peter Chernin, with author Jeff Wilser providing some editorial guidance. The subtitle of the book, “A Daughter’s Tribute to Her Father. The Media Mogul You’ve Never Heard of,” summarizes the 199-page tome (published by River Grove Books in Austin, Texas), specifically the fact that it’s Frank Biondi Remembered in a Book World (Continued from Page 4)
8 The history of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), the world’s oldest national broadcaster, is the subject of Simon J. Potter’s This is the BBC: Entertaining the Nation, Speaking for Britain? 1922-2022 (320 pgs., Oxford University Press, 2022, $27.95). This is the BBC presents an unauthorized yet astute critical analysis that was released in time to celebrate the centenary of the national broadcaster in2022. Potter discusses the overall arc of the BBC, beginning with its origins and how it established itself as an institution for the public to turn to for news and entertainment. In following the corporation across 100 years, he also shows how the broadcaster and its programming responded to historical events of the time, from World War II to the Cold War to the present moment in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. As Potter moves closer to the present, he is also keen to discuss the current financial problems the BBC is facing. By presenting a long view of the national broadcaster, Potter can put these pressing issues in context for the reader and suggest how they might relate to the past. Potter is a professor of Modern History at the University of Bristol, with a research focus on British media. He has written a variety of books, scholarly articles, and reviews. His previous books include News and British World: The Emergence of an Imperial Press System, 1876-1922 and Broadcasting Empire: the BBC and the British World, 19221970, among others. His latest book continues to see him build on his work on the cultural history and impact of the BBC. The first iteration of the BBC began on October 18, 1922, when the British Broadcasting Company was formed, and the following month, on November 14, it broadcast its first radio program, during which Arthur Burrows, one of the earliest employees of the BBC, gave the news and a weather report. Britain has a unique radio broadcasting system in comparison to the development of U.S. radio broadcasters. In Britain, the BBC is regulated by the state, and from its first days, as Potter remarks, “was to be funded by royalties paid on sales of radio receiving sets, and by a 10-shilling annual listener license fee to be paid by all households possessing a receiver.” This was done, in part, to counter a large number of competing stations that were sure to crop up, as was the case in the U.S. The early days of the BBC differed also in that “politics and current affairs were largely absent from the Company’s broadcast schedules”, writes Potter. Many hurdles were passed just to get the company up and running, and it was thought that adding in controversial topics to programming might cause more headaches. By the end of 1926, however, the company was dissolved and its assets were re-established under the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Basically, it changed from “Company” to “Corporation.” Starting on January 1, 1927, the new iteration of the BBC began, operating under a royal charter and was helmed by director general John Reith, who would be the one to emphasize that the BBC’s role should be to “inform, educate, entertain.” Despite its close association with the government,theBBCacquiredareputationfor delivering the news honestly and truthfully, gainingthetrustof itslisteners intheprocess. This trust would be vital as World War II came around, when broadcasters in other European countries became more obviously biased to their respective governments’ interests. Nevertheless, Potter comments that “[t]he wartime news carried by BBC services for domestic and overseas listeners could not be regarded as objective. It carried implicit and explicit persuasive messages and was ultimately understood, certainly by British civil servants and BBC officers, as a form of propaganda.” Throughout the book, Potter reminds the reader of the BBC’s intimate relationship with the government and how it’s been used as a tool to exert its soft power around the world. Potter spends time outlining the transformations and shifts in the BBC’s focus in the post-war years. “Perhaps the most important theme running through the BBC’s century is its in-built institutional drive to expand and survive”, he notes. As Potter shows, the BBC’s several reinventions consisted of expansions to its programming, from children’s programming to political commentary, as well as its increased scope in national and global markets. With This is the BBC, Potter lays out a far-reaching and detailed account of the world’s oldest national broadcaster. He offers a nuanced approach to tracking the transformations and challenges the BBC has undergone. He concludes by suggesting that what is at stake is its future. Potter points out the BBC’s current financial problems and its position in a changing media environment, and he recommends: “Anyone who cares about what we read, watch, and listen to, on television, radio, or online, should think about what life would be like without the BBC, and about how the Corporation might, in the future, find new and better ways to serve all our needs.” Historian Simon J. Potter provides a comprehensive record of how the BBC has changed over the last 100 years. The BBC at 100: How the Broadcaster Reported the News and Shaped the World January 2023 Book Review By Luis Polanco “Despite its close association with the government, the BBC acquired a reputation for delivering the news honestly and truthfully, gaining the trust of its listeners.”
10 Back to an in-person market after a two-year COVID-related hiatus, the ATF went “green”, and in the process, for some participants at least, themarket became“grim”due to some eco-friendly “innovations.” Plus, participants VideoAge spoke with had not yet seen any “greenbacks” (a nickname for money due to the color of U.S. dollars). Still, many attendees were hopeful that sales would happen when they followed up with buyers they’d met with at the market. “Very few Asian buyers respond to my repeated e-mails”, said one American distributor walking the ATF floor since he didn’t have a stand. “That’s understandable, though. They get hundreds of requests for meetings like mine, and at certainpoints, they click the delete button, without reading any of them.” “The market is good”, reported a studio executive who wished to remain anonymous, “however we will not know until we begin follow-ups.” Echoed Electric’s Nolan Pielak: “It’s true that we do not yet know what the results will be. But we already know who the good potentials are.” Then there were comments like those from Global Agency’s Isil Turksen: “I’m so happy to be back at ATF andmeeting old and new clients. Virtual meetings kept us going, but it’s never like sitting down face-to-face with clients.” For the aforementioned “green” part of ATF, out went the plastic that used to cover the badges (so now the front part that shows names and photos tends to turn inward). And out went the printed guide that used to list the exhibiting companies — there wasn’t even a flyer anywhere with this much-needed info. These days, in order to find a participating company’s stand, visitors had to scan a QR code, scroll down a list on their phones, and while avoiding bumping into people, make sure to enlarge it fast enough that the screen didn’t go dark in that short amount of time. To say that it was time-consuming and/or annoying would be an understatement. Naturally, the in-house printed daily didn’t list the exhibitors’ stands either since it focused mainly on the seminar portion of the event. Similarly, the list of exhibitors was not posted on any wall panels, like the conference program was. (At MIP Cancun, which was organized by the same group, RX, there wasn’t a guide, but company tables were posted on a large self-standing panel). But being resourceful, ATF organizers had human billboards (a.k.a. people wearing sandwich boards) serving as walking “help desks” that dispensed useful information to attendees in need of data regarding the 400 exhibitor stands (a number found by painstakingly counting all companies indicated in the above-mentioned QR code). However, the ATF press office could not confirm the exact number of stands, and reported only that the “total number of sales companies was 637”, leading us to assume that the additional 237 were companies without stands. In any case, the ATF staff in Singapore was out in full force promoting the yearly TV event, and this time they were reinforced by an outside PR agency (Finn Partners) that helped with promotional efforts. However, very little info was dispensed about the market portion of ATF as most of the fireworks were reserved for the numerous conferences and seminars. Nonetheless, after two years with virtualonly ATF markets, the organizers, the supporting staff, and the local participants seemed to be very excited to finally be able to meet in person again, especially considering that Singapore is so far away from so many. Even the galleria at the Convention Center was more festive and better Christmasdecorated than the pre-pandemic era, and the sparse consumer crowd that walked the corridors during previous ATF events wasn’t so sparse anymore. In fact, this time, the number of people seemed to multiply each day. The market started on Wednesday, December 7, 2022, with a busy flow of people. Participants without stands were asked to show up five minute before meetings to find tables at the Buyer Lounge. Parts of the conference portion started on Tuesday, and the event ended on December 9, after four days at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Center. The market’s second day started slow, and some exhibitors went home early, skipping day three, in effect making it a two-day market for them. On the other hand, other exhibitors stayed longer, taking the opportunity to walk around the market floor, something that they couldn’t do during the back-to-back meetings of the first two days. Back-in-Business ATF Has Gone Green, But No Greenbacks Yet January 2023 ATF 2022 Report Mustafa Ilbeyli and Gokce Aydogdu of Turkey’s TRT posed at their stand. Mehmet Burcin Gonenli, the Turkish Ambassador to Singapore (third from right), visited all Turkish companies and stopped at the ATV stand with his entourage for a group photo (ATV’s Müge Akar is pictured on his right). One of the human billboards serving as walking “help desks” that dispensed useful information to attendees looking for the exhibitors’ stands The Inter Medya team included Neset Ersoy, Hasret Ozcan, Pelin Koray. (Continued on Page 12)
ones. China’s pavilion mostly housed their Singapore representatives. According to Yeow Hui Leng, ATF’s Group Project Director, “Some Chinese executives arrived from China and will go through a quarantine upon returning to China in order to participate at ATF.” The quarantine consists of three days at hotels, and five days at home. As for the number of companies that each pavilion housed, Korea had the largest number with 28 companies in one, and 22 in another (for a total of 50). France came second with 28 companies in its pavilion, followed by Japan with 24. In terms of buyers, many reported that there were “zero from China”, but plenty from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and India. The official number given was 1,000 total buyers. ATF’s Yeow disputed reports that no Chinese buyers participated in the event. “Perhaps, they didn’t have a chance to meet”, she opined. Indeed, Hong Kong-based Joe Wan, an acquisition executive from Multichannels Asia, visited VideoAge’s stand and also reported that for him the quarantine consisted only of three days at home. (Continued from Page 10) January 2023 ATF Report Back-in-Business ATF Has Gone Green As usual, the Turkish presence was impressive, with 11 exhibition companies under the Turkish pavilion, and eight with individual stands. It didn’t have the largest number of companies (that distinction belonged to Korea, which had their companies using five different pavilions), but it was surely the most active and best promoted. To stress the importance of international content sales to Turkey, Mehmet Burcin Gonenli, the Turkish Ambassador to Singapore, visited all Turkish companies. In the view of MISTCO’s Aysegul Tuzun, “The Istanbul Chamber of Commerce [the pavilion organizers] did a great job. It cost me little [to have a stand in the pavilion] and they did everything, including preparing the posters.” And speaking of pavilions, ATF’s distinction is of being a TV market with the largest number of them. There were a total of 15, from Japan, France, India, Singapore, Taiwan, and Spain, in addition to Turkey and Korea — some with multiple 12 Paramount Global Content Distribution’s Paul Gilbert Kanal D’s Selim Türkmen and Furkan Han Multichannels Asia’s Joe Wan VideoAge WILL GUIDE YOU AT MIPTV
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14 There’s still a while to go before MIPTV 2023, the second in-person edition since the pandemic put a stop to such things. But Lucy Smith, RX France Entertainment Division’s director, as well as the director of MIPTV, noted that “going into its 60thanniversary,MIPTV2023 feels rejuvenated and more relevant than ever.” There are new additions to the MIPTV itinerary that she has already announced — a screening summit for more than 500 buyers in the Debussy Theatres on Sunday, April 16; a new Canneseries documentary series selection; the build-out of a MIPDoc & MIP Formats Producers Hub and Lounge in the Riviera; the return of the MIPDoc Screening Library; and Canneseries (April 14-19), which will be introducing its first documentary selection, the International Documentary Series Competition, all encompassed under the MIPDoc, MIPFormats, MIPDrama and Future of Kids TV Summit umbrella’s. Of course, it remains to be seen (and experienced) if all of these promising opportunities will translate into exhibitors’ participation and buying activities. But in conversations with some regular attendees from the U.S. and Europe, there does appear to be good support for Smith’s “rejuvenated” comments. Reiner Moritz, a producer, director, and distributor with Munich-based Poorhouse International, who has attended every MIPTV and MIPCOM from day one (yes, even when the markets were in Lyon!) believes that “MIP is quite important, as it happens early in the year when buyers might still have some budget. It also facilitates co-productions, which might be ready by the end of the same year.” That said, he noted that MIPTV “attendance has been declining and MIPCOM seems to be gaining.” Not a fan of online markets, Moritz welcomes the return of “a very important feature. MIPDoc is back!”While thatmay be good, Moritz wishes there was “a better synchronization of panels and keynotes.” Hervé Michel, vice president of Paris-based Unifrance, revealed that while “the number of our companies ready to attend is unknown at this point, Unifrance will, as usual, go to MIP with its umbrella (of entities) for our TV and cinema members. Will they come as numerous as before? We believe so.” Michel acknowledged that before COVID, “MIPTV andMIPCOMwere our biggestmarkets, since all genres are covered — documentaries, animation, fiction, drama and cinema catalogs — and the venue is easily accessible for members of our organization.” Michel wonders about attendance by people and companies from outside of France. “The number of foreign companies making the trip to Cannes (due to budgetary travel restrictions, the situation between Ukraine and Russia, environmental issues, etc.) might have some influence on their final decision to attend or not”, and he admits that the effect will not be knownuntil April 17,whenthe60thanniversary event officially kicks off. Overall, Michel remained “confident that MIPTV will be as successful as before. It’s an efficient market, well organized, plus the importance of meeting personally vs. digitally has proven to be a key factor for our business development.” But some people and companies are looking elsewhere. “We are not exhibiting at MIPTV in 2023”, said Rachel Glaister, senior VP, Press & Marketing, for the London-based All3Media International. “We now prioritize our Upfront, which forms part of the London TV Screenings Week in spring.” However, she added, “We are looking at the specialist areas of MIPDoc and MIPFormats as a potential platform for speakers.” Steve Saltman, head of Domestic Sales at the Los Angeles-based Electric Entertainment, is still a MIPTV advocate, though. Like many others across the industry, he has felt that it has “been on its ‘last legs’ for a number of years”, and recognizes that “there have been a lot of companies that have walked away from it. I believe that with NATPE going the way it’s gone, that this MIPTV could be very exciting. I think it’s going to have the biggest attendance it’s had in recent years. There’s certainly a lot more energy than there’s been, so I’m very hopeful about MIPTV.” Electric has been ramping up its presence in Cannes over the years, “and certainly at the last MIPTV and at the recent MIPCOM— where our stand doubled in size from our MIPTV stand”, Saltman commented. “We’re trying to find a bigger stand and a better location, which is the nature for all these shows”, he said. “We’ll definitely be bringing a larger contingent of people than we have, certainly pre-pandemic. We’re very bullish right now and with NATPE going away that makes MIP much more important!” Added Lise Romanoff, managing director/ CEO of Worldwide Distribution for Vision Films: “A year ago at MIPTV, there was hardly anyone in attendance. But by MIPCOM 2022, I thought that it was very good for buyers and sellers in Europe and the U.S. It was a shame that some regions couldn’t attend because of the pandemic travel restrictions, such as Australia and the Far East. So I do hope that in 2023, all of the territories of the world can finally travel.” Emilia Nuccio, VP of International Sales for the New York City-based FilmRise, said: “We are aware that more companies and buyers attend MIPCOM, but for us MIPTV is equally important. While MIPTV may have fewer people in attendance, we feel that the quality of the meetings and opportunities for new business abound. Since FilmRise is committed to expanding its international presence, we are excited to attend MIPTV in April.” Despite the global economic picture predicting continued inflation and rising prices, Nuccio said the company still thinks “presence at keymarkets is fundamental, even if there is a reduced presence in terms of people attending. Everybody looks at ROI, and especially for small independent companies, choices will have to be made.” ChevonneO’Shaughnessy of the Los Angelesbased American Cinema International (ACI) is still not surewhether shewill begoing toMIPTV, as the company has so much in production right now in South Africa (seven TV movies and two Christmas movies). She believes that, these days, “most MIPTV buyers are streaming services, and European [broadcast] TV outlets are not buying!” According to Tom Devlin, president of International TV Sales & Marketing at Allen Media Group/Entertainment Studios, “MIPTV 2023 will be better than 2022! My sense is buyers and exhibitors want the live events. Our industry continues to go through amazing times, and face-to-face meetings are invaluable!” Some other EuropeanandU.S. companies that VideoAge contacted didn’t want to comment yet, since they weren’t sure yet if they would be attending, however, Hud Woodle of Los Angeles-based GRB Studios, said that his firm would “definitely be attending both MIPTV and MIPCOM.” (By Mike Reynolds) American-European Interfaith Dialogue About MIPTV Continues to Flare Up January 2023 Road to MIPTV
Time to go East: Go see the Romanians! In Berlin Marriott Ballroom, Booth 127 Common Ground | ICIProduction | Idea Film | Libra Films Palafilm | Profesional Film Partners | Transilvania Film
16 Series Mania Forum, the portion of the Festival that focuses on developing drama programs for TV, takes place during the critical time period between March 21 and 23, 2023 in Lille, which is located in northeastern France. The period is critical because it falls during the most hectic time for development executives around the world, many of whomare busy preparing for the 2023-2024 TV seasons. Series Mania’s organizers are aware of this challenge, especially considering that they’re dealing with it directly. This year’s festivalcum-conference (which started in Paris in 2010, before moving to Lille in 2018) begins on March 17, and ends on March 24, 2023. To talk about all this, VideoAge had a video call with Francesco Capurro, head of Series Mania Forum, from the organization’s Paris headquarters. VideoAge: Series Mania falls right through the development season in the U.S. and in other parts of the world. How do you manage to get those executives away from their studios to fly to Lille? Francesco Capurro: Series Mania has become a not-to-be-missed event for development executives and buyers all around the world. Our goal is to provide a very useful event to develop their business over a very short period. In three days they have the chance to discover highprofile projects in development, and meet with talents and screenwriters. Since all major studios are looking for new voices and stories, Series Mania offers them the best from the European and international scene. Of course it’s a long term approach. The projects that they will meet in Series Mania will hopefully become shows in the coming years, but in a very competitive market it’s important to jump on good projects at an early stage. VA: Do you have a line-up of development executives already in place? FC: We are working on it. It’s still a bit early for us to share names for 2023, but the event is getting more and more attention every year and we are working with the best companies and streamers around the world to secure a high-profile line-up. [The program will be announced on February 8, 2023.] VA: Is Series Mania anticipating any trends for the 2023-2024 TV season? FC: Fromabusinessperspective, fromwhatwe are observing in Europe, one trend is definitely looking for new ways to collaborate between streamers and traditional TV broadcasters. Both can co-finance the programs and share the broadcasting windows in complementary ways in order to reach the largest audience. This is a win-win combination. Streamers are no longer competitors of linear TV, but they are becoming, in a way, partners. They are integrating an ecosystem, and must also adapt to the European rules (even if some negotiations are still ongoing). Streamers are also looking for new financing models and they include advertising. So, after a disruptive breakthrough in the market, it seems that the situation is now “normalizing”, and some traditional business schemes, like windowing and advertising, are coming back. From an editorial perspective it’s still a bit early to observe some new trends, but we will definitely talk about that at the Forum. VA: Most development executives already have TV outlets where their new shows will land. But will there be ways to facilitate contacts between development executives and international content buyers at Series Mania? FC: Yes, of course. We organize pitching and matchmaking sessions between buyers and producers. Our goal is to provide a place where creatives can connect with financiers in a friendly yet very professional way. We believe that it is the key to our success, and we would like to continue on this path while adding more and more exclusive content from around the world. Of course in each country there are shows that are fully commissioned by their domestic broadcasters, but in many countries around the world, there is a big number of highprofile shows in development that need to find several international partners to secure their financing. Those are the kind of programs that executives can discover at Series Mania Forum. VA: In your opinion, are development executives receptive to modifying their shows to include suggestions from international content buyers? FC: Yes, theprojects presented at SeriesMania are still quite early stage so producers are open to feedback from international buyers. They can still change their stories, their characters, or include foreign actors, writers, etc. Their goal is to sell their project internationally, so that feedback is very useful for them. VA: Development usually involves studio executives, network commissioners, writers, showrunners, talent agents, and the talents themselves. How are you planning to set up the seminars? Will you mix various components? Focus on one component at a time? FC: Our philosophy is tomix people andmake them talk together so that they can better understand each other’s needs. We want to break down the walls between the players. VA: After 13 years of Series Mania, topics of discussion have surely been covered several times over (after all, the issues are always the same), do you have to leverage the strength of the panelists? FC: It’s always a challenge to have relevant topics as there are more and more TV trade events around. We try to stay ahead and differentiate ourselves. We have five thematic strands at Series Mania Forum: 1. Sourcing Ideas and Talents: Emerging and established talents take center stage as they share their pitches and creative ideas behind various projects. This includes the co-production pitching session, the writers’ campus pitching session, the co-writing residency between France and Israel, as well as project pitches from Taiwan and Africa. 2. Content Showcases: A diverse selection of new series coming to the international scene. 3. Creative Business Inspiration: A series of panels, showcases, and masterclasses that decipher the trends, the challenges, and the opportunities in the industry. 4. Marketing of Series and Innovation: This is new this year. Regardless of a series’ quality, one of the biggest challenges any series faces is standing out in an overcrowded market. Marketing professionals share their views. 5. Lille Dialogues: Key industry executives and policymakers come together to discuss strategy, government regulation, and how to overcome the challenges facing the European audiovisual industry. VA: Finally, is there a section in the seminar program where remakes and reboots can be discussed with some excitement? FC: Yes, reboots and remakeswill bediscussed during our conferences. We will also have some IP pitching sessions (books and podcasts to be adapted to series). It’s a gold mine for new ideas and shows how to bring new content to the market while limiting the risks. Developments at Series Mania Have To Do with Development January 2023 Fest ival Preview Series Mania head Francesco Capurro with PR specialist Sheila Morris
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18 There’s a new television trade mart in town: Content Americas. It’s the new kid on the block — the downtown Miami block, that is. Content Americas hopes to replace the dearly departed NATPE Miami, a market that was traditionally held in January, and the new event will focus on the LatAm, domestic U.S., and international television content business. Now, we can’t quite call Content Americas a phoenix, even though it is rising from the ashes of NATPE Miami. The jury is still out, but it’s possible that the verdict will be delivered after the current first edition of the three-day event closes down on Thursday, January 26. Just like NATPE Miami always was, Content Americas will be the first TV market of the year, but it isn’t just trying to replicate NATPE Miami. Content Americas is also trying to be like MIP Cancun (the most recent edition of which was held in November 2022). In recent years, MIP Cancun had become NATPE’s main competitor for the LatAm contingent, and Content Americas is looking to lure in that same audience. The name “Americas” implies that most international companies in attendance will hail from North, Central, and South America. Some participants have reportedly said that they hope that U.S. domestic TV stations will forge some sort of presence, even though the chances are slim. Looming in the distance is the ghost of NATPE Miami, which could haunt Content Americas, especially since Canadian publisher Brunico announced the acquisition (upon the approval of U.S. courts) of NATPE’s assets, which are under the protection of Chapter 11. These assets include brands such as NATPE Global and NATPE Budapest, two of NATPE’s signature TV trade shows. However, while Brunico has confirmed the dates for NATPE Budapest (June 26-28, 2023), it has not yet revealed those of NATPE Global, or its location. Miguel Garcia Sánchez, the Miami-based Sales director of Spain’s Atresmedia Television, is “excited to participate and check out how [the organizer, U.K. publisher] C21 Media will organize a big event like this.”He acknowledges that this is a daunting task “due to the fame of NATPE Miami and all the difficulties of planning a market in a big city [like] Miami”, adding, “the [organizers] made a great strategy with two key decisions. One was the decision to hire many people with experience organizing events in the U.S. (some of them from NATPE) and the other was the invitation tomany buyers and key commissioners that pull sellers like us to participate in Content Americas instead of DISCOP. It was the game changer decision ‘to win the battle.’ ” “This will be the first edition of Content Americas and we’re happy to be a part of such an event, which gathers relevant players in the area”, said Isadora Filpi, Sales manager for Brazil’s Globo International Distribution. “Each event has its own particularities, but it’s always a positive experience to meet with our partners and friends in the market, building relationships and presenting our content.” Filpi believes that as the first event of 2023, Content Americas will “measure the trends of the industry.” Globo plans to highlight the telenovela genre, which she notes has “huge potential for engagement.” That’s not all. The company has a diverse docket that also includes series, documentaries, and children’s titles. “We want to catch the market’s interest with our productions and take our stories to more screens every day. For this reason, we’re countingon the event tobe the first opportunity of 2023 to meet the market in person and work on our proposals.” On Wednesday, January 25, during Content Americas, Telemundo Global Studios will present its content offerings for 2023 with its first in-person screening (accompanied by a cocktail party) since NATPE Miami 2020. At the event, which will be led by EVP of Production and Development Karen Barroeta, Telemundo Global Studios will screen the newest season of El Señor de los Cielos, in addition to upcoming titles for Telemundo U.S. Atresmedia’s Garcia Sánchez added: “I hope that [C21] will organize parties and cocktails. Those events create [an incentive] to join Content Americas next year. Content Americas 2023 should be an unforgettable event if they want to occupy the space that NATPE left and avoid Brunico [becoming] a new important competitor for the 2024 edition.” (By Sara Alessi) Content Americas Instead of NATPE Miami: What Has Changed January 2023 Market Preview Isadora Filpi, Sales manager at Brazil’s Globo Miguel Garcia Sánchez, Sales director at Madrid-based Atresmedia Television Expectations and Aspirations As per January 14, 2023, the number of exhibitors registered to attend the first edition of Content Americas is orbiting at around 80, although, by opening time 10 days later, the number of participants is expected to reach 500 (plus the usual ones who will be parked around the badgeless spaces). All in all, this first Content Americas in downtown Miami might be not too far off from the last in-person NATPE Miami event (in Miami Beach) in 2020, which recorded an estimated 1,500 participants. During its three days of activities, the event will also feature 22 conferences, and at least one major screenings and evening cocktail from Telemundo Global Studios. The conference program will kick off on Tuesday, January 24, at 9 a.m. with a session on 2023 Content Trends, followed by a 10 a.m. keynote from Pierluigi Gazzolo, president of TelevisaUnivision. That morning will also see a special welcome fromBruce Orosz, chairman of the board of the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau. Market organizers (the U.K.-based trade publisher C21 Media) did not reply to a request for comments about their expectations, however they have managed to get — after an initial hesitation — the endorsement of all trade publications. One of the executives who was reached by VideoAge for comments mentioned that the Hilton Downtown Miami is located in an area full of construction that is difficult to travel to; therefore, it’s not an optimal location for an event such as Content Americas.
20 January 2023 Lifestyles of the Obnoxious (Continued from Cover) The cast of 1981 drama series Dynasty season was set in Hawaii, the second season in Sicily. And guests of the fancy resort are shown in all their dysfunctional glory. But it is not the only TV show that is leveraging the peculiar behavior of rich and powerful people. On NBCUni’s channel Bravo, a realityshowcalled BelowDeck followsboat crews dealing with the antics of finicky passengers. And between 2019 and 2021 Netflix came out with a trio of reality shows of the outrageous kind, including Selling Sunset, featuring Los Angeles real estate agents; My Unorthodox Life, based on the story of a former ultra-orthodox Jewish family; and Bling Empire, described as a real-life Crazy Rich Asians (the 2018 movie about a native New Yorker who travels to Singapore to meet her rich boyfriend’s family). This subject matter has even been recently rewarded at film festivals. The film Triangle of Sadness (originally released as Sans Filtre in France) won the Palm d’Or at the 2022 Cannes Film Festival. The feature tells the tale of a cruise for the super-rich that sinks, but leaves survivors trapped on an island. Shocking behaviors like the ones mentioned above have always been well represented in movies and television shows, starting with Seinfeld, the 1989 NBC sitcom that exploited the idiosyncrasies of everyday New Yorkers. Arrested Development, a 2003 FOX sitcom, went a step further, turning rich people into buffoons that the average American could feel free to mock. One prime example of this is the famous scene in which one of the main characters said to his son, “I mean, it’s one banana, Michael. What could it cost? Ten dollars?” Rich people as sources of amusement continued with the 2017 remake of Dynasty on The CW TV network. But while the original 1981 Dynasty, which aired on ABC, focused on the dramas of a wealthy Colorado family, the remake moved the location to Atlanta and became a dramedy. The topic of being amused by eccentric people exploded with the popularization of reality shows. Reality television became more mainstreaminthe1990s.First, theyweremostly focused on competitions, but that soon gave way to depictions of actual human interactions. Later, the focus turned to the peculiarities of everyday people. And then — as the nature of television made the powers that be gradually push the envelope further — this turned to depictions of the eccentricities of rich people with shows such as Celebrity Plastic Surgeons of Beverly Hills, the various Real Housewives, and, for good measure, the multiple incarnations of the Kardashians. The most real-life outrageous stories, however, have to be the ones that have been attributed to British nobility and Russian oligarchs. Many won’t talk to “servants”, a broad term that can include airline crewmembers, waiters, drivers, or clerks, leaving those interactions to lowly assistants. And, apparently, the most annoying people are found among reality TV personalities and influencers, especially those who demand (and get) free hotel accommodations, meals at trendy restaurants, and freebies. But, there are (or in this case were) executives, like the late Ralph Baruch, Viacom’s founder, who flew economy even for long flights, and expected his staff to do the same even if they had already received free upgrades (causing staffers who found themselves on the same flights as the penny-pinching exec to have to scramble to get downgraded before take-off). Veterans also recall the story of when U.S. distribution company Worldvision took David Lynch to the Monte Carlo TV Market in 1990 to promote his Twin Peaks television series. Lynch would inexplicably only go as far as Milan, Italy on his own, so Worldvision had to rent a private airplane for him to hop from Milan to Nice, then spring for a car ride to Monte Carlo (as the weather wasn’t good enough for a direct helicopter flight). An airline manager with Air France recalled when, years ago, an entertainment executive flew from New York City to Paris without a coat and one had to be flown out to him that same day on a Concorde. Returning to the M&M’s separated by colors, the famous stories — of which there are two — are worth retelling. In 1976, Mars, the company that makes M&M’s, eliminated the red version of the candies from its mix. This decision came as a result of public controversy surrounding a synthetic dye called FD&C Red No. 2, also known as amaranth, which was thought to be carcinogenic. Mars reintroduced red M&M’s in 1987 once the panic surrounding the red dye had passed, but in the process the colors of M&M candies apparently became an obsession of some superstars. In the first story, a rock band, during a 1982 tour, is said to have demanded a particular bowl of candies. They specifically wrote “M&Ms: Absolutely no brown ones”, and threatened to cancel the showwithout reimbursement if their rider wasn’t respected. In the second, undated story, a drag queen is said to have demanded red M&M’s and champagne. There are endless stories about outrageous demands that pop stars make for their green rooms (dressing rooms), but since they’re mostly unverified, VideoAge cannot attribute them to specific names. An American rapper on an Australian tour demanded that his driver wear a 100 percent cotton suit and avoid “man-made fibers.” He also requested Versace towels to wipe his sweat while performing. Finally, a queen of pop is said to have required 20 international phone lines in her dressing room, and have that room filled withher own furniture, whichhad to be shipped to each and every city where she performed. Truth is often stranger than the fictional depictions in TV shows and movies. A scene from the HBO Max series The White Lotus. Its second season concluded last month. Years ago, an entertainment executive ew from New York City to Paris without a coat and one had to be own out to him in the same day on the Concorde.
21 in all things Oscar-related, it doesn’t cover the important contribution made by international TV broadcasts to the success of the Oscars: a subject that VideoAge documented extensively in its May 2014 edition. On this particular subject, the book’s author, Bruce Davis (pictured above), a former executive director of the Academy, commented: “I am not exaggerating when I say that the analysis of Latin American Academy Awards coverage in your 2014 article is far and away the most thorough that I have ever encountered. As is mentioned [in my book], record keeping of that sort of information was often casual or nonexistent.” Davis joined the Academy’s general staff in 1981. He became the organization’s executive director in 1989, and retired in 2011. The 500page bookwas published by Brandeis University Press, and costs $40. The book takes 31 pages to describe the creation of the “statuette”, as the prize given out since the first ceremony in 1929, is called. But it took an additional 113 pages to finally touch on how the name “Oscar” came about, and 19 additional pages to figure out who Oscar actually resembled. According to Davis, “there have been three claimants to [the name Oscar].” The first one was Bette Davis, who said that the statue got its name from her husband, whose middle name was Oscar. However, Bruce Davis explained, people called her husband “Harmon” — not Oscar. Plus, the name Oscar “was used in print at least two years prior to the night when she [won the Award].” The second “claimant” was Margaret Herrick, then the Academy’s librarian, whose story became the Academy’s official account in 1948. The story goes that when Herrick saw the statuette in 1931, she noted that it reminded her of her uncle Oscar, a statement that was overheard by a journalist who promptly reported the tale. But Davis pokes holes in the story by stating that Herrick did not see the statuette in 1931, and that she did not have an uncle named Oscar. (Indeed Oscar was her second cousin.) The third claimant was gossip columnist Sidney Skolsky, who, in 1934, came up with the name Oscar because he couldn’t spell “statuette.” But Davis notes that when the Skolsky story came out “the industry was already calling [the statuette Oscar].” Davis notes that Skolsky was not even the first to call the In the book’s epilogue, the author touches on the declining number of viewers that flock to the Oscars on TV, explaining that the reason has to be the fact that “the Academy Awards has been hurting itself by doing its job: honoring the best movies each year... If box office is the criterion, we don’t need the Academy to do the selecting; we’ll just count dollars, not ballots.” Another missing element in Davis’ otherwise detailed and fascinating book, is, as indicated earlier, the role that international broadcasting has played in the success of the Oscars. Recalling the history of the Oscars’ international telecasts is not easy because, like much historical data concerning international distribution, the records were either never kept or have simply been lost over the years. What is known by VideoAge is that, from that first broadcast, it took 13 years (until 1966), before the show was telecast in color, and three more years before it was broadcast in a few more countries outside Canada and Mexico. As Davis points out, in 1953, the 25th annual Academy Awards ceremony was broadcast live in the U.S. and Canada on NBC. However, Davis did not report that in Mexico it was telecast the following night on Mexico City’s XHGCTV (now part of Televisa’s TV networks) via kinescope: film from a movie camera mounted in front of a TV monitor, that NBC uniquely called “kine-photo.” At that time this extra coverage was called “extending the network” by the Academy. VideoAge also reported that, according to an unnamed presenter at the 26th annual Awards, the show was also broadcast via kinescope in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, possibly on the station owned by Brazilian publisher and TV pioneer Assis Chateaubriand, who was a friend of David Sarnoff, president of RCA, parent company of NBC. Chateaubriand had purchased the transmitting equipment fromRCA. But it wasn’t until 1970 that Mexico and Brazil could air the live broadcast of the 42nd Awards. award an Oscar in print since it was used in a Los Angeles Post-Record “column from December 5, 1933, six weeks ahead of Skolsky’s [article].” Instead, Davis introduces the person that he considers to be the real creator of the Oscar nickname, Eleanore Lilleberg, a NorwegianAmerican who was the Academy’s secretary, and was responsible for the care of the statuettes. Oscar could have been a reference to the Norwegian king (very popular among Norwegians) or could have been, as Davis suggests, a friend of Eleanore’s, a Norwegian army veteran living in Chicago named Oscar. It takes until page 368 for Davis to mention the awards reaching a wide American audience. First, he had to cover other important Academy issues like the Foreign Language category, the Blacklist, and the Academy’s recurrent financial woes. The first national radiocast of the Awards was in 1939, but it didnot return tonational radio until 1942. The first filmed coverage (for the official historical record) was in 1949. Following the introduction of commercial television, also in 1949, the first sponsored telecast occurred in 1953 (on NBC) and was viewed on 20 million TV sets in the U.S. In its 2014 article, VideoAge reported that prior to 1953 the Awards were broadcast only on local Los Angeles TV stations, an element that was missing in Davis’ book, for a good reason. “I can answer your question about pre1953 local televising of the Oscars” he wrote to VideoAge. “The three shows just prior to the national broadcasts were filmed, and exist in the Academy’s archives, but they were never televised — even on local outlets. (There were local radio broadcasts on a local station.)” In his book, Davis noted that by 1957 one of the hosts of theOscars, DavidNiven, announced that the show was being watched by 100million people in the U.S. and Canada (where it was telecast). In 1960, the Oscars were assigned to the ABC TV network. It returned to NBC in 1971, but in 1976 the Oscars went back to ABC with a contract that lasted up to 2020 (but was eventually extended to 2028). (Continued from Cover) (Continued on Page 21) Bruce Davis next to the Oscar statue in 2016 Recalling the history of the Oscars’ international telecasts is not easy because the records were either never kept or have simply been lost. The Academy and Oscar January 2023
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