OTTAWA – Jens Richter, chief executive at FreemantleMedia International, had some advice for Canadian TV producers. During an interview style session at the Canadian Media Producers Association’s annual Prime Time in Ottawa event, he suggested that Canada’s proximity to the U.S. and the fact that they understand the U.S. market better than most gives domestic producers an advantage over others.
Canadian producers know so much more about the American market and have closer ties to programming there than their European counterparts and that’s an advantage to be leveraged, he said. European producers on the other hand fly to America once a year. This should lead to solid opportunities for Canadians, Richter added.
Of course, there are other benefits such as the common language which also makes it easier for Canadian productions to find a home on UK networks. The low Canadian dollar is also advantage because putting together the financing is always a challenge and Canada could help on that front.
During the interview with Peter Sussman, a consultant with AVER Media, Richter noted that when approaching FreemantleMedia International for projects, its best to make contact earlier in the process than later.
It’s at this stage, he said, when the Canadian producer may have some power in the discussions. For example, it might be determined that Canada-U.S. co-production would be the best approach and having too many of the project’s details done, it could derail the production.
“At that time if you already have the wrong writers attached, it might become impossible (to get a deal done),” said Richter. “If you want to get into the U.K., you have to certainly go with U.K. writers or you won’t get into the U.K. So the earlier the better.”
During the 45-minute session, the Freemantle CEO also talked the shifting patterns in the European market, particularly as it relates to drama. Whereas in the past, the European airwaves were dominated by U.S. serial drama, some markets have moved to a large extent away from that.
For example, the U.K. was one of the first to shift away from American drama and Scandinavia was soon after that. However, Germany is an exception and still has a lot of American drama in its primetime schedules.
Freemantle is best known for its non-scripted content such as the Idol and Talent franchises which have been adopted in multiple markets around the world. More recently, the company has entered the scripted drama space with a show called American Gods. As well, Freemantle has tested, successfully, a type of non-scripted drama for the U.K. market. The show, which has main plot points, sees the actors improvise the scenes.
