Water Cooler

By Leah Hochbaum Rosner

The 53rd annual Promax/BDA conference, which ended June 19 at the Hilton New York Hotel, came to a close reporting yet another year of increased attendance from a total of 48 different countries. But the halls still seemed somewhat empty. And the roughly 70 sessions (which also seemed less than full) ranged from the relevant — World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) chairman and CEO Vince McMahon receiving a Lifetime Achievement Award — to the mostly unrelated — the Reverend Jesse Jackson extolling the virtues of U.S. presidential hopeful Barack Obama. Promax/BDA, which purports to be about advancing the role of entertainment and information content marketing, promotion and design professionals, definitely needs to refocus its energies and get back to basics. At least in the view of some observers.

“As an industry, I think we’re at the crossroads of the most challenging, but also the most exciting time in the history of entertainment,” said Jonathan Block-Verk, Promax/BDA president, during his opening address, which began nearly 40 minutes late. “It’s not about television — it’s about entertainment and information content marketing, promotion and design.”

The three-day event, featured a wide range of keynotes, sessions and speakers, including such relevant-to-TV seminars as: “That Was Then, This is Now: The Animal Planet 2008 Relaunch,” “Case Study: Wrestlemania—24 Years of Excitement” and “Maximizing The Mothership: Getting the Most From Your Network, Station Group and Syndication Partner” and such seemingly irrelevant sessions as the aforementioned Q&A with the Reverend Jesse Jackson; an Innovation Keynote with Nicholas Negroponte, founder of the One Laptop Per Child Association, an organization that oversees the creation of affordable laptops for kids in the third world; and “Can’t Live Without My Radio!”

At the awards ceremony, where WWE’s McMahon received his Lifetime Achievement prize from Promax/BDA, the ever-humble wrestling bigwig said: “I really appreciate this extraordinary award. And you’ll probably never hear anyone else say this, but I really deserve it.”

One of the issues weighing on many attendees’ minds was the imminent February 2009 U.S. switchover to DTV. A related concern was the loss of TV households that receive TV signals over roof antennas.

During one of the few interesting presentations, “Deciphering Digital Transition,” Barry Goodstadt, senior vice president of Los Angeles-based Centris, a media market research firm, presented new findings on the decline of over-the-air (OTA) households. “An analysis of Centris data collected since early 2004 shows that the number of OTA households has declined from nearly 24 million to about 17 million in first quarter 2008, a loss of seven million OTA households,” said Goodstadt. “We estimate that with consumer choice information and the evidence of potential reception problems factored in, this number could drop to between 4-5 million once the transition has ended. This substantial reduction in the number of OTA households has serious implications for broadcasters and the TV industry.”

In other words, the transition to digital television may result in viewers’ reevaluation of how they receive their local television. And up to 13 million households might decide to get rid of off-air reception in favor of cable or satellite. If and when this happens, towers and transmitters that are currently aimed at a diminishing number of OTA viewers will be devalued, resulting in lower stock prices. Also, government regulators might have to change their views in respect to broadcast spectrum that will be used to reach only a handful of people.

Some of the most popular sessions were also the “30 Minutes With…” dialogues, which included conversations with such luminaries as Adam Stotksky, svp, Marketing and Brand Strategy, NBC Universal Sci Fi; Jakob Trollback, founder and creative director of Trollback + Company; Douglas Scott, senior partner/president of Ogilvy Entertainment; Lee Hunt, president of Lee Hunt LLC; and Dave Martin, director, Interactive Media, Ignited. These meetings gave people the opportunity to directly interact with their design and promotions mentors.

Last year’s Promax/BDA featured the keynote address by former U.S. president Bill Clinton. This year’s featured a reverend discussing the probability of Americans voting an African American into the White House. Here’s hoping that next year, conference organizers recognize that attendees were there to discuss promotions (especially TV)… not politics.

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By Leah Hochbaum Rosner

More than 25,000 people from 82 countries gathered to check out 6,000 properties and brands at the 28th annual Licensing International Expo, a three-day conference for merchandising rights holders that was be held June 10-12 at New York’s Jacob Javits Convention Center. Doug Schwalbe of Classic Media, an Entertainment Rights company, was on hand to discuss the latest trends in licensing and merchandising, whether the weakened dollar affected the Expo and why he, for one, may not attend next year’s conference, which will take place in Las Vegas, June 2-4, 2009.

VideoAge International: Why was it important for Classic Media to attend the Licensing Show this year? Was it a success?

Doug Schwalbe: It was very exciting. There was a lot more going on for us as a company this year than last year — just a lot more energy here. We’re celebrating the 60th anniversary of Casper the Friendly Ghost, as well as the 15th anniversary of VeggieTales. We’ve also been experiencing a lot of success with George of the Jungle, which is big with boys ages 6-11. We have two other shows in production: Guess with Jess, a British preschool show from Nelvana and Treehouse, and Casper’s Scare School, which we’re working on with MoonScoop in France and DQ Entertainment in India. We’re getting ready to present both to U.S. broadcasters soon. At Licensing Show, our people were taking folks through the licensing and merchandising of these and other shows, as well as through our revitalized style guides.

VAI: Have you noticed any new trends this year?

DS: The biggest trend I’ve noticed is that companies are trying to refresh classic characters. It’s a big issue for everyone involved in character licensing. We’re doing that with Casper, of course. We have the new CG Casper’s Scare School and at the same time, we’re re-launching classic Casper with a completely separate style guide. He’s living on as a hip, Halloween-themed retro property.

VAI: After last year’s safety scares with foreign-made toys, do you think things have been resolved?

DS: Absolutely. These concerns were so serious that every company worked at 110 percent to correct them. They had to do whatever they could to make sure everything was safe.

VAI: Has the weakened U.S. dollar affected the Show?

DS: It’s got to be weighing on people’s minds. The weakness of the dollar certainly doesn’t help. But prices for things that people want will still be driven by competition — not the dollar.

VAI: What do you think about the Licensing Show’s plan to relocate to Las Vegas next year?

DS: NATPE will also be in Vegas and I don’t know that two trips to Vegas are necessary for me. It’s nice to have the show in New York because you don’t have to make a big trip. You’re able to go back to your office. But as someone on the TV programming side, not the licensing side, I probably won’t travel to Vegas for a related business.

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By Leah Hochbaum Rosner in N.Y. with reports from Dom Serafini in São Paulo

The highlight of the ninth annual Brasil TV Forum, held June 3-5 in São Paulo’s Frei Caneca Convention Center, had to be the first ever “Portuguese-Speaking Broadcasters Meeting,” which was held at the nearby Novotel Jaragua. This meeting represents a precedent as, to the best of VideoAge’s knowledge, there have never been any other, similar gatherings among broadcasters of nations that share the same language.

Broadcasters hailing from all of the nine Portuguese-speaking nations around the world, including Brazil, Portugal, Angola and Mozambique, got together to discuss technological innovations and co-production opportunities.

At the Frei Caneca Center, there were 18 exhibitors, six panels, three pitch sessions, 20 meetings (including the much-anticipated “30 Minutes With…” sessions in which directors discussed their programming and acquisition policies, as well as offered tips for producers and distributors on how best to pitch projects to acquisition execs), and a whopping 83 screenings.

Bringing together broadcasters and producers from more than 30 countries to network, share experiences and find product, this year’s Forum occupied double the space than last year’s edition. Organizers moved the event to a different floor at the centrally located Frei Caneca Convention Center hoping to make things more comfortable for attendees.

The Latin-flavored Forum drew roughly 1,200 participants — mostly hailing from Brazil, but with contingents from Canada, and for the first time this year, a delegation of eight producers from Italy, seven from Spain and 10 from Uruguay.

At the opening cocktail reception which officially kicked off the event, prizes were awarded to Brazilian production house Flamma for its children’s cartoon series Princess do Mara; to HBO for a large number of original productions made in Latin America; to Brazilian TV network RBS for encouraging local production; to Janete Clair, in memoriam, for her contribution to Brazilian dramaturgy; and to Colombia’s Fernando Gaitan, creator of Ugly Betty, which has become a hit in many countries, including the U.S. Besides the opening ceremony, Brazil’s own TV Globo organized the only other cocktail reception at the event.

Organizers of the Forum, including André Mermelstein, are hopeful that the number of Brazilian co-productions will soon soar due to new tax incentives that should soon be in place, which are designed to encourage TV channels to partner with independent producers in Brazil. Article 3 of the new Audiovisual Law allows foreign companies that sell or license programming to invest 70 percent of withholding tax due in the development or co-production of independent features, shorts, series or documentaries. The National Film Agency (Ancine) still needs to implement the rule, but locals expect it to happen in the next few months.

But even before those new incentives are available, there was big news of a co-partnership coming out of the Forum. Globo TV announced the renewal of its partnership with Portugal’s SIC for another four years. The deal gives SIC the exclusive rights to exhibit all new soap operas produced by Globo until 2012. It covers only the purchase and sale of soaps — not programming of any other kind.

Earlier this year, Forum Brasil organizers announced plans to move the event to Rio next year in order to make it more palatable to visitors, but during this week’s market, they said that the plan has, for now at least, been scrapped. Dates for next year’s event have not yet been set, but Forum Brasil 2009 will most likely take place in early June.

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By Dom Serafini

It looks like the entertainment industry is moving away from the realm of show business and entering into something akin to the shoe business. At NATPE, after listening to all the reasons why the industry has to scale back, to downsize, to re-tool, to face reality, to cut costs, etc., I’m convinced that this business has now become purely a question of numbers, just like shoes: a 32 small, 42 wide, and so on.

So, if this is indeed the case –– that the industry has been reduced to mere numbers — how did this happen? In effect, the industry has not changed much during recent times. What has changed, though, is management. Years ago, the sector was run by showmen. Today we have MBAs who are proud to say that they’ve been trained to run any company. To them, selling entertainment is just like selling shoes or toasters.

The new business philosophy, based on “cutting,” instead of “making,” reminds me of a studio that, in order to save $10 million annually, absorbed an acquired company and, in the process, caused $30 million per year loss in missing revenues, from what the company was making independently.

If the industry’s corporate leaders want to remove the “show” component from the show-business combination, supposedly in order to improve the bottom line, aren’t they changing the whole nature of the entertainment business?

In order to save money, the corporate suits are taking away extravagant parties to launch new programs. They want to do without the hoopla surrounding personalities connected to programs and eliminate promotional and advertising campaigns at various trade shows. But in the end, what are they getting? A dud, that’s what! Something without life, that one cannot call a “show,” but simply “content:” just like tomato paste in a can.

Plus, how do they expect that this demystified and un-eventified content is going to be sold for real money to advertising agencies, clients and international buyers?

If today’s producers, networks and international distributors are no longer allowed to be excited by their own product, how do they expect the buyers (be they advertisers or international programmers) to be excited?

The reason why American entertainment became popular throughout the world is because Hollywood relied on talent (in front and in back of the cameras and in the sales field) and… excesses! And it was those excesses that brought-in truckloads of money. For years, American distributors could sell ice to the Eskimos, because they made a “show” out of that boring thing that is snow, aka content!

I remember, years ago –– when the big independent companies roamed the television field –– a resourceful advertising and marketing executive named Doug Friedman called me into his West Los Angeles office for some advice. He had a problem to solve. His company, New World (later incorporated into Fox), had just launched a new half-hour show called Grudge Match in U.S. syndication.

The show quickly became popular among local TV station managers and the company looked for ways to monetize it on the international market, as well. Now, the premise of the show was downright silly: two people hitting each other with pillows inside a boxing ring. So, the question was: How can we position a show that is popular in the U.S. but could offend the intelligence of international buyers, let alone try to sell it to them?

The answer was to position it with a showy advertising campaign, as the craziest thing that Americans could come up with (Italians have a word for it: Americanata). And with that, Friedman was able to transform an obstacle into a sales tool, since all international buyers, who are for the most part, intellectuals, like to make fun of Americans, who they think to be simpletons. Friedman proved that, by putting some extra “show” into show business, the business can rule over most difficulties.

The industry began changing not because television took over cinemas, or cable-TV overwhelmed broadcasting, or pay-TV, or home video, or DVDs or the Internet…

The entertainment industry began to change when MBAs entered the sector, which was flush with cash. When these MBAs overtook rich TV broadcasting outlets, they began lobbying (i.e., paying) politicians in order to have relaxed rules and regulations to allow them to buy studios.

But once they did all the work, instead of TV networks buying studios, the latter ended up for the most part buying them, often without having cash, thus loading themselves with debt.

One could say that this state of affair represents the new reality that the industry has to face, but has nothing to do with show business, only with detrimental financial engineering.

In my view, to effectively deal with the problems caused by this financial “reality,” we have to force-feed the “show” back into show business.

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