TELENOVELA BLOCK.pages 24 - 30: - Discop

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usa & cee UNITED WE STAND By Bob Jenkins The announcement, January 23rd in Las Vegas, that NATPE was to acquire DISCOP is a major development for both organisations. But it is not one designed to bring fast and furious change. Speaking to DISCOP.Link immediately after the announcement, NATPE President and CEO, Rick Feldman was keen to emphasise that, “NATPE is an organisation that has always tried to grow by meeting the needs of those attending our conferences, and I think this is an important philosophy.” Applying this to DISCOP means, says Feldman, “allowing DISCOP to grow organically,” and also, “taking the time to learn what the needs of those attending DISCOP are, and understanding how we can best serve those needs.” If rapid change is not part of the new game plan, longer term change certainly is. Explaining NATPE’s excitement at the acquisition of DISCOP Feldman reveals that, “we felt it important for NATPE to develop as a global brand, extending its footprint outside the US. The nascent, but growing, market of the CEE,” says Feldman, “made DISCOP a perfect organisation for us to partner with.” Revealing longer term thinking Feldman continued, “NATPE has been an established brand for forty-three years now, during which time we have successfully established and run a number of conferences, and this experience,” believes Feldman, “has allowed us to develop marketing abilities and relationships that are much broader than those possessed by DISCOP.” The combination of these marketing abilities and relationships, and of NATPE’s ability to, as Feldman puts it, “have experienced US conference staff talk to people from Central and Eastern Europe,” will, he believes, “offer real scope for the expansion of the John Weiser, NATPE Co-Chairman, President, Distribution Sony Pictures Television; Rick Feldman, NATPE President and CEO; Patrick Jucaud, General Manager DISCOP; Stephen J. Davis, NATPE Co-Chairman, President Mobile Media Infospace, Inc. DISCOP market, and the development of a richer range of services for DISCOP delegates.” And there is good reason to feel excited at the prospects for the future. Not only is the region a nascent and growing market, but there are plenty of signs that the CEE is an early adopter of the new digital technologies, with all the growth potential these offer. While Feldman cautions that, “it is important to understand that no one really knows what the impact of these new digital platforms will be,” he continues, “one of the few things that can be said with certainty is that over the coming two or three years, not only 14 discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006
usa & cee Sandrine Pechels de Saint Sardos 3rd Annual Legacy Award Recipients, Marc Cherry, Pat Mitchell, Steven Bochco will content producers enjoy many more ways of getting their content seen, but over that same time frame we will, I believe, see an increasing amount of content made specifically for these new platforms driving new revenue streams for content creators both large and small.” Nor are these the only grounds Feldman sees for optimism. “The big development in terms of the future of companies from North and South America,” he predicts, “will be the overseas sales of Telenovelas.” South-American countries, historically the world’s powerhouse of Telenovelas, have now started selling these, effectively, as formats giving the purchasing station the right to adapt the characters and storylines to their own culture. In the US, Fox is about to start running a Telenovela strand, DESIRE, which will feature three or four Telenovelas over a thirteen week period, and, says Feldman, “I believe these will be successful. If they are, and, especially if the Anglo audience buys into them, then I think this will presage an era of unprecedented opportunity for Latin American companies in the US.” Of course, Telenovelas are already well established in the CEE as a hugely popular form of entertainment, and many pounding the floor at NATPE will be in Budapest in June for DISCOP; and with good reason. One of those is Amanda Cordner, Director, International Television Sales, Lionsgate Entertainment, who views Central and Eastern Europe as, “probably one of the fastest growing international entertainment markets.” Cordner attributes this to a number of factors. Firstly, “new platforms are popping up all the time, and panregional operators are expanding at an incredible rate, also, the population is consuming more and more entertainment.” And that’s not all. Ac cor d - ing to Cordner, not only is the population of the CEE consuming more and more entertainment, but also, “its tastes are closer to American tastes, meaning that, in this region, the programming needs are a little easier to meet than say some emerging Asian markets.” These are points echoed by Lise Romanoff, Managing Director of Vision Films. “DISCOP,” says Romanoff, “is a great market to focus on strengthening relationships with Eastern European buyers.” Romanoff reveals that, “in the past we used to sell to just one distributor for the whole of the CIS or Yugoslavia, but now,” she enthuses, “we are meeting buyers from across the region who want American product from companies like ours.” Underlining the point NATPE’s Feldman made that the audio-visual market in the CEE is nascent, but growing, many of the companies working the floor in both Las Vegas and Budapest are just starting out in Central and Eastern Europe. Classic Media attended the market for the first time in 2005, and, says Vice-President, Programme Distribution, Sandrine Pechels De Sardos, “ we made sales in Hungary, Poland, Georgia and Ukraine, as well as entering into a development deal in Russia.” Consequently, she plans to develop Classic’s business in the region, “principally be visiting DISCOP,” where in 2006 she plans to, “introduce two new titles, THE LEGEND OF FROSTY THE SNOWMAN, and PETER COTTON TAIL THE MOVIE, while also building on and developing the relationships I made at DISCOP 2005.” Also in the early stages of, “making a foot print in the CEE market,” is Sesame Workshop, says Vice-President, International Television Distribution, Rene Mascara. Although Sesame Workshop already has ULITSA SEZARN well established in Russia, where season 10 is due to launch in September, Mascara is looking forward to the April launch of a SESAME block, on Poland’s Canal+ MiniMini, which will include PLAY WITH ME SESAME, ELMO’S WORLD, GLOBAL GROVER and SESAME ENGLISH. This, she hopes will, “eventually lead to a local co-production of SESAME STREET featuring Polish Muppets and storylines reflecting the everyday life of a Polish child.” If this should happen Mascara reveals, “our goal is to replicate this programming strategy in other Central and Eastern European countries,” adding, “we hope to grow as the CEE grows, and to be an integral part of the evolution of children’s programming in the region.” This is an aspiration shared by Canadian kids outfit, Cookie Jar. “The CEE,” says Sam Ewing, Senior Vice- President, Sales and Distribution, “is experiencing an incredible rate of growth, and we want to grow with it.” DIS- COP is an important part of that ambition because, as Ewing puts it, “DISCOP gives us the opportunity to personally meet many of the buyers from the region and to present them with both our exciting new series such as DOODLE- BOPS and GERALD MC BOING BOING, and also many old favourites from our library such as MONA THE VAMPIRE and PADDINGTON BEAR.” Echoing Rick Feldman’s earlier point that the CEE is jumping ahead of the game when it comes to new digital platforms, Mainline Releasing’s Senior Vice-President International Sales, Tannaz Anisi, finds the CEE, “a fast growing market, embracing new technologies and delivery systems,” adding, “I find it a pleasure to continue to explore new relationships with new buyers, while continuing to strengthen those with my existing client base.” } discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 15
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Page 5 and 6: news FULL OF WESTERN PROMISE By Bob
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TELENOVELA BLOCK.pages 24 - 30: - Discop

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