Water Cooler

By Leah Hochbaum

Held not too long after the AFM in Santa Monica, CA, and, before that, MIPCOM in Cannes, France, the Asia TV Forum (ATF), which takes place November 29 to December 1 at Singapore’s Shangri-La Hotel, does for Asia TV what other markets do for the rest of the world — seals deals.

“Asia TV Forum is a much smaller market than MIPCOM,” said Michelle Wasserman, head of Argentina-based Telefe’s Sales team. “ATF is mainly focused on Asian demand, while MIPCOM’s focus is on Europe, with the participation of Latin American, African, Middle Eastern and even Asian buyers.”

Wasserman acknowledged that an Asian market probably isn’t the most appropriate place for a telenovela distributor like Telefe, but stressed that she and the rest of her Telefe team flew out to Singapore with the goal of strengthening contacts, adding new ones and “increasing our presence in the Asian territory — which is exactly the focus of the market,” she said, before adding that “new sales have opened roads for our productions.” Wasserman also feels that video-on-demand, home video and mobile content are important areas to be exploited in the burgeoning Asian market.

Xavier Aristimuno, Tepuy’s exclusive agent for Asia, feels differently, and cited his firm’s “pan-regionally produced television content that has proven to be quite successful worldwide, especially in Asia.” Aristimuno hopes ATF will help Tepuy “continue to feel the pulse of the Asian market” by assisting the firm in understanding its customers’ needs, evaluating the latest trends and ideas, sharing its views on the industry at large and “developing and consolidating more and better business between our media group and leading regional broadcasters.”

In fact, Tepuy sees the market as a key event to attend each year, having had a presence at ATF even years ago when it was called Television Asia.

“Singapore is a wonderful and practical place to meet customers in between MIPCOM and NATPE and it is convenient for many regional broadcasters to travel to,” said Aristimuno.

Granada International’s James Ross concurred. “Asia is a key part of our international activity,” said Ross, who runs the company’s new Hong Kong office, which recently opened to better serve Granada’s clients in the region. “We have regular contact with our buyers throughout the year, but attending a regional market gives us all the opportunity to be together at one time and screen promos and programs together.”

Like Telefe’s Wasserman, Ross opined that new media opportunities are ultimately what will bring buyers and distributors out in droves to ATF.

“We have some exceptional new programming which we believe will be of interest to the Asian market. However, we are also attending Asia TV Forum to grow and cement relationships with partners in Asia across all media sectors, and are particularly excited about the opportunities within new media, including VoD, mobile and IPTV in the region.”

In addition to attending the market, Ross will speak as part of the Asia Television Forum Super Pitch Panel, which aims to give producers in Asia “a straightforward and frank assessment of their programming ideas with additional feedback on how they might work internationally,” said Ross.

A full report on the Asia TV Forum will be published in VideoAge International’s January 2007 issue.

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By Leah Hochbaum

British television was the big winner at the 34th International Emmy Awards, held at the New York Hilton on Monday, November 20. The Best Performance by an Actor Award went to the U.K.’s Ray Winstone for his performance in Vincent. British programs also took home statues in the Children & Young People, Comedy, Documentary, Drama Series and Non-Scripted Entertainment categories.

Hosted once again by British comedian and talk show host Graham Norton, the star-studded ceremony, which was put on by the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, featured Rosie Perez, Roger Bart, Katie Couric and Christiane Amanpour as presenters.

The International Emmy Founders Award was presented to director Steven Spielberg for his outstanding television career. The International Emmy Directorate Award was presented to Central European Media Enterprises and its founder and chairman, Ronald S. Lauder, for pioneering the development of independent television broadcasting in Central and Eastern Europe. The International Children’s Day of Broadcasting Award was presented to Moldova’s Teleradio Moldova, for its program Let’s Play by UNICEF ambassador Susan Sarandon.

Read below for a full list of winners:

2006 International Emmy Award Winners

ARTS PROGRAMMING
Knowledge is the Beginning
A production of EuroArts Music International in co-production with ZDF/ARTE Germany
Nominees: Anca-Monica Pandelea (Producer, Head of Music Department, ZDF), Paul Smaczny (Producer, Director, EuroArts Music)

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTOR
Ray Winstone
in Vincent
Granada Drama and Comedy
United Kingdom

BEST PERFORMANCE BY AN ACTRESS
Maryam Hassouni
in Offers
VARA Broadcasting Organisation
The Netherlands

CHILDREN & YOUNG PEOPLE
Sugar Rush
A Shine Production for Channel 4
United Kingdom
Nominees: Johnny Capps (Series Producer and Creator, Shine Limited), Katie Baxendale (Writer and Creator)

COMEDY
Little Britain
BBC Comedy
United Kingdom
Nominees: Geoff Posner (Producer, BBC Comedy), Jon Plowman (Executive Producer and Head of BBC Comedy)

DOCUMENTARY
Hiroshima A BBC/TFI/ZDF/Discovery Channel co-production in association with the Tokyo Broadcasting System Inc.
United Kingdom
Nominees: Matthew Barrett (Executive Producer), Paul Wilmshurst (Producer/Director)

DRAMA SERIES
Life on Mars
Kudos Film & TV Ltd. for BBC Wales
United Kingdom
Nominees: Matthew Graham (Co-Creator, Writer, Executive Producer), Ashley Pharoah (Co-Creator, Writer)

NON-SCRIPTED ENTERTAINMENT
Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares
An Optomen Television Production for Channel 4
United Kingdom
Nominee: Patricia Llewellyn (Executive Producer)

TV MOVIE/MINISERIES
Nuit Noire, October 17, 1961
Cipango
France
Nominees: Alain Tasma (Director), Edouard de Vesinne (Producer)

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By Leah Hochbaum

It’s nearly three months in to the U.S. TV season, and already, several shows that began with the drone of industry buzz have been unceremoniously yanked from the schedule. Among the promising freshman series that will never make it to their sophomore slumps are: CBS’ Smith and NBC’s Kidnapped. But many insiders are speculating that for once, the demise of this crop of series can actually be attributed not to the shows’ own failings, but to a market oversaturated with good product.

“With so many great shows on U.S. television these days, viewers have a lot on their plates,” said Dawn Ostroff, president, Entertainment, for The CW, the new U.S. network that blended programming from The WB and UPN. “Runaway [produced and distributed internationally by Sony Pictures Television International] was a well-done show,” she said, referring to the network’s first creation — a series about a family on the run — as well as its first casualty. “We took a chance with a concept that blended the family drama genre with an action-thriller, and this time, it didn’t pay off. But as the network for young adults, we will continue to take creative risks because that’s what our audience wants. They want something different, something they can’t find anywhere else, and we want to be the network that delivers it to them.”

Yet while she acknowledges that the net’s first production might’ve been a bust, she’s also well aware that all it takes is quality programming to grab and retain viewers. “The fact is, if you love a show, you’re going to tune in each week — whether it’s serialized or not. If a great show grabs the viewers’ attention, they’ll make the effort to keep coming back.”

Keith LeGoy, executive vice president, Distribution for Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI), concurred that it’s actually the sheer power of older series that are keeping viewers away from some of the newer shows.

“The interesting factor has been the strength of many of the returning shows, and frankly the overall unbelievably high level of quality for new TV series,” said LeGoy. “Shows like Kidnapped, Smith or Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip are outstanding creative television, but so are returning shows like Grey’s Anatomy and ER. So the competition is intense and the quality level you need to win has been cranked way up.”

LeGoy continued: “The beauty of our business is its unpredictability. No one really knows why X or Y shows didn’t catch fire with the audience. So much of this business is the stars aligning for a great show which catches the zeitgeist, connects with its marketing campaign and is on at a time, and with a lead-in, that prompts people to try it and come back the next week.”

LeGoy is confident that SPTI’s own ’Til Death, which has “performed really strongly for Fox” will be one of those shows that keeps people coming back for more. The comedy, about newlyweds who move in next door to a long-married pair and learn some ugly truths about couplehood everlasting, stars Everybody Loves Raymond’s Brad Garrett.

“’Til Death has been one of Fox’s strongest shows this season,” said LeGoy. “Garrett is a comic genius and he has an incredibly strong connection with the TV audience. Viewers are responding because the show is fantastically written, brilliantly acted, is smart, funny, and deals with universal themes and issues which people around the world can relate to.”

Yet while things are looking promising for ’Til Death, other on-the-bubble series are still waiting to learn their fates. The casts of Fox’s Standoff and Vanished, as well as ABC’s much-hyped The Nine (which is produced and internationally distributed by Warner Bros. International Television) and Six Degrees (distributed by Buena Vista International Television) still don’t know whether they’ll be employed or looking for work by the end of the year.

But no show bowed with more buzz than NBC’s Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, also produced and distributed internationally by Warner Bros. International Television, which, though hemorrhaging viewers, has been granted a full season order by the peacock net — which, surprisingly, seems more than willing to wait to let a worthy show find an audience. After all, it worked for CBS’ Criminal Minds, which started slow, but in its second year, has become a Nielsen hit. The same could happen for this Aaron Sorkin-helmed sketch comedy drama. But with trigger-happy network execs eager to quickly pull the plug on even quality dramas that cannot immediately find a following, the show may not last past its less-than-stellar first season.

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By Leah Hochbaum

With MIFED dead and buried, the 27th annual American Film Market (AFM), held November 1-8 in Santa Monica, CA, was supposed to have been the place for the independents to do business. But occurring too soon after the recent (and strong) MIPCOM in Cannes, France and the new RomeFilmFest in Italy, questions soon surfaced: Has the AFM made the right choice switching from its traditional February date to the current one? And, more importantly, is the AFM really necessary?

Yes, said Classic Media’s Doug Schwalbe, who pointed out that most markets seem to favor big-ticket studio offerings over less well-known independently produced fare. But “AFM is a better moment for indies,” he said. Classic saw a “huge amount of interest in Casper Scare School,” a new movie about the friendly ghost’s decision to enroll in an institution of higher learning. While he couldn’t yet reveal what deals had been made (details are still being finalized and contracts have yet to be signed), he did disclose: “A really good geographical cross-section of buyers comes to AFM. In a single day, you can have meetings with buyers from Australia to Argentina to Japan to Turkey to France.”

Pete Kalhan, FremantleMedia Enterprises’ (FME) senior vice president, Home Entertainment and Archive Sales, concurred with Schwalbe that the market is essential, but feels that it might benefit from being shortened. “Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were very busy. But on Saturday, four of my meetings didn’t show. And on Sunday, it was the same thing. It seems to be a trend that people don’t want to work on the weekend,” said Kalhan. “I question whether this is really an eight-day market. It’s more like three or four days.”

Regardless, Kalhan was pleased with the deals that got done. “We’ve had lots of interest in Live From Abbey Road,” he said, referring to FME’s new musical performance show that features the likes of The Who, Paul Simon, The Killers, Snow Patrol and many more. FME also garnered attention for feature-length documentary 638 Ways to Kill Castro, as well as a prequel to Jane Eyre. The company also sold home video rights to South Africa for classic British comedy series Benny Hill.

“This is primarily a film market,” said Kalhan, “but we’re here for home entertainment.”

One company that was at the AFM to sell movies, however, was Beyond Films. But even general manager Hilary Davis admitted: “it would be unlikely [that Beyond would] launch a film at AFM because it’s a market, not a festival.” She also pointed to the recent RomeFilmFest (“wonderful, fantastic location”) as possibly putting the kibosh on future Beyond Films visits to AFM. “It’s very expensive for us to come to AFM,” she said, noting that the Australian company’s film division is based in London. “It’ll be easy to get to Rome. We as Europeans will tend to favor it over AFM.”

Despite all the moans and groans about this year’s market, some companies were happy with the way things went. “We had a really good response to the two new films we had here,” said Gene George, president of Regent referring to Aurora Borealis, which stars Donald Sutherland and Juliette Lewis and Dawson’s Creek alum Joshua Jackson, and Freshman Orientation, a comedy in the vein of American Pie.

George concurred that the bulk of deals were made in the first few days of the AFM, but unlike FME’s Kalhan, he was happy to take it easy as the market wound down. “Everything was spread out. We weren’t completely backed up for once. It was nice.”

A more detailed report of the AFM condition and state of affairs will be published in VideoAge’s November/December Asia TV Forum Issue.

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