TV sales: Deal or no deal
There is so much television content generated around the world that if a program is to have a fighting chance in the marketplace, it needs a distributor who knows what they’re doing. Miguel Gonzalez spoke with a number of experts about what’s selling, and what they need to do to get the interest of broadcasters.
Each television program needs a good distributor in order to travel the world. Production companies and networks entrust their creations to these experts, and they discussed their current challenges
with .
Endemol Worldwide Distribution represents product such as Packed to the Rafters and Home and Away (Seven Network), Hi-5 (Nine Network), Bananas in Pyjamas (ABC) and Southern Star’s Rush and Rescue: Special Ops, in addition to all international Endemol brands. While the company has positioned Australian content in a number of countries, it has found resistance trying to place home grown drama in markets such as the UK and the US, where local product dominates the screens.
According to marketing manager Shannon Becker, the key is the three ‘knows’: “Know your product, know your market and know your client”, “Develop the relationships and always give them what
they’re looking for; not what they don’t need. To build a healthy relationship with a client takes time and, as with anything, it gets better with age. Most people in this industry are time-poor, so making each meeting count and following up is incredibly important,” she said.
Becker also advises agents – and content producers – to stay on top of broadcasters’ needs and the changes they may be making to their schedules.
Fiona Crago is the general manager of Beyond Distribution, whose Australian slate includes What’s Good for You (Nine Network), Snake Tales (Westside Film and Television), Dirt Game (Harvey Taft Productions) and the company’s own output – Mythbusters, Taboo, etc. In her opinion, most executives “can sort the wheat from the chaff quite quickly and efficiently”, but that doesn’t mean that strong programming will always succeed in the marketplace.
“The main difficulty is if the international sales potential of the program is not as great as the producer might have assumed. A very strong program can still be difficult to sell internationally for a wide variety of reasons,” said Crago.
The public broadcasters have their own sales divisions to place most of their content internationally. According to Karen Dacey, ABC TV’s manager for program sales, the public broadcaster’s bestsellers are its children’s drama series, documentaries, comedies (Princess Pictures’ 2007 show Summer Heights High is still one of its highlights) and lifestyle programming.
In her experience, Asia “has an appetite for Australian content”, while countries that are more prolific producers of content, such as the UK, Canada and Germany, acquire very selectively – but on a positive note, they are willing to co-produce when the opportunity comes along.
At SBS, manager for content sales Kristin Burgham represents the independent production companies who are commissioned to produce content for the public broadcaster, and her slate’s bestsellers include food/travel titles such as Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam and Food Safari.
Burgham has identified that some territories “definitely have trouble with an Australian accent” and are resistant to this content. “However, if an idea or program is good, with some persistence they will usually take a look.”
The trend to acquire successful formats to create local versions of international hits– particularly reality/ lifestyle programs – remains strong.
According to the ABC’s Dacey, most broadcasters are not looking to take risks with new or groundbreaking programming.
“In this uncertain financial climate they’re looking for a safe bet; programmes that have built-in wide appeal, both for formats and acquisitions”.
For Endemol’s Becker, interest in big breakthrough formats will continue for the foreseeable future.
“Both the commissioning of local product and the acquisition of finished programming – in particular US network and cable product – are equally important strategies for all networks.”
SLOWER DECISIONS
Regardless of the differences in their slate, all agents are facing the same challenges. In the words of the ABC, pre-sales are “limited”, but according to SBS “they’re not dead”. For Endemol’s Becker, pre-sale opportunities still exist for “high quality shows” with good casts and production credentials, but Beyond’s Crago points out that broadcasters are “very risk-adverse and somewhat spoilt for choice”, and rarely see the need to commit in advance.
Deals are also taking longer than ever before, and there’s less money available for content acquisition.
“Many acquisitions budgets have been reduced and it’s taking longer for programming decisions to be made. We’re doing more dedicated sales trips, enabling us to have in depth meetings with our clients,” explained Dacey.
Burgham agrees: “Clients are exhausting their catalogues before buying more content… but if you have a really great title, things can move very quickly.”
In addition to limited slots and capped budgets, Becker says further challenges are coming from polarised viewers and a fluctuating advertising spend.
TWO MINUTES TO WIN IT
With clients including FremantleMedia, the Shine Group, ITV Studios Global Entertainment, Sony Entertainment Television, DRG and All3Media, marketing company Zealot is always busy generating sales reels for reality formats and drama, helping television practitioners and distributors sell their content to networks around the world.
According to managing director Shaun Farrington, sales reels are increasingly important because the amount of content generated around the world means that decision makers need something that is short enough to be digestible and quickly watched, and just long enough that they can make a decision to potentially sit and watch screeners.
“No one is going to sit down and start to even begin to watch a screener unless the entire spot is a very good promo. In fact, many sales agents say that the reality is that most network executives don’t watch all 13 episodes when they’re buying something; they watch the promo, and if they really like what they see, they will watch the first episode, a bit of the middle, somewhere near the end and check that it stacks up and potentially make a purchase from that,” explained Farrington.
Shine Australia CEO Mark Fennessy agrees: “It’s hard to sell anything off a page without a supporting promo reel.” The company, launched earlier this year and currently producing shows for SBS (Letters
and Numbers), Seven (Minute to Win), Ten (Junior MasterChef) and Nine (The Boss is Coming to Dinner), is employing “a guy based in Adelaide” to create its new sales reels.
According to Farrington, the formula for a good sales reel is finding a balance between being entertaining and clever, and being informative: “You are still involved in a business transaction, but unlike the average corporate presentation, you have to make the product look incredibly entertaining – because that’s what we are ultimately selling, entertainment – and at the same time, provide enough facts.”
“A good promo should leave the viewer wanting to see/know more,” said the ABC’s Dacey.
Adds Kristin Burgham: “There is nothing worse than a reel that goes too long or has too much information to take in, or one that doesn’t represent the content honestly. It is pointless to show a real that is slick and pacey if the show you have to sell is slow and tedious, and vice-versa. It’s a waste of everyone’s time if you can’t get this right.”
For long-running series, said Farrington, “it’s a real art from” to synthesise years of content [such as Zealot’s work for Neighbours and the UK’s Coronation Street] into a cohesive two to three minutes, trying to represent multiple plots and ideas, while something like Underbelly is easier because it has a beginning, a middle and an end.
“Sea Patrol was sold to the Hallmark channel around the world; it travelled better than other Australian series because it’s got a slightly more international flavour,” said Farrington. “Underbelly has
the makings of a successful international program, but people do struggle with the accents. It has still been a big success story, but if that same plot was set in New York with American accents the sales would be much higher internationally.”
In terms of format sales, Zealot has worked on MasterChef, The X Factor, the Idol franchise and Project Runway, among others. Farrington believes it’s all about selling the concept in a compelling way while still giving executives the information about what makes the format worth spending money to buy the rights, “as opposed to them going and make a cooking show that they can think up themselves”.
“You need a glossy two-page sales sheet, well-produced promos and good communication, to constantly update the buyers as to how particular shows have launched and how they are performing in
different markets in the world. All the distributors work slightly different but they are all doing slightly similar things,” added Fennessy.
After all, they all want the same: to get the content they represent on as many screens around the world as possible.
