TELENOVELA BLOCK.pages 24 - 30: - Discop

strategy in region
ASIA HAS THE CEE IN ITS SIGHT
By Bob Jenkins
As DISCOP continues to cement its
role as the venue for trade with
Central and Eastern Europe, a number
of very interesting developments follow
this continuing expansion. One
such, is the increasing presence of
sales companies from South East
Asia, who are starting to see the
region as offering new, and potentially
significant opportunities for growing
their international business.
Amongst these early pioneers of
an audio-visual trade between two
regions on opposite sides of the globe
is Reena de Guzman Garingan, Direct -
or International Sales and Distribution
at ABS-CBN Broadcasting Corpora -
tion. Although Garingan draws hope
from the popularity of Indian movies in
some CEE territories, notably Ro -
mania, and the recent sales of some
Chinese costume drama to Bulgarian
cable, she recognises that, “after just
three years operating in the region, I
am still a baby.” But she believes that
the Philippino tradition of, “gritty
drama with strong female characters,
will offer a real alternative to ‘the beauty
pageant’ of the telenovela,” and, she
vows, “I will return to DISCOP every
year until I find an opening.”
Garingan sees the CEE as the logical
extension of the existing markets
for her product of South East Asia,
Latin America and Africa, whereas
Gary Kam, Producer and Marketing
Manager at MBC, Korea’s largest
broadcaster, thinks the CEE might
bring about a change in their international
policy. “Traditionally,” says Kam,
“we have only paid to clear rights such
as music, on our drama series, as
these have been hugely successful in
our home market of South East Asia,
and our documentaries, game shows,
and entertainment shows have been
less so.” MBC attended DISCOP for
the first time in 2005, and, reports
Kam, “we noticed a marked preference
for our documentary programming,”
which he puts down to, “many
of our documentaries are culturally
neutral, unlike all of our drama, which
culturally is very Asian.” Kam believes
it will take, “maybe five years” to get
into real business in the CEE,” but like
Garingan, he is determined to make
that investment.
Another Asian delegate bullish
about the potential of the CEE is Mr
Hiroshi Kumada of Japan’s GDH
group. GDH produces animation for
three different demographics, kids’,
teens’ and theatrical, and, says
Kumada, “we believe the teenage animation
market will grow along with the
expansion of DVD, and the development
of new TV platforms in the
region, and we also hope to find an
audience for our newly created theatrical
business.” Although Kumada
acknowledges that, “at the moment
the CEE is a pretty small market for
our content,” he points to, “recent
success in placing five series on a panregional
TV channel,” and notes that,
“the demand for our content is certainly
increasing.”
Mikyeong Jung, Director of Pro -
gramme Development at Korean animation
house Iconix attended DISCOP
for the first time in 2005 under the
Korean umbrella stand, KIPA. Jung
reports that, “although she was very
busy during the market,” she is, “a bit
disappointed,” that there has been little
or no feedback from the CEE buyers
she met in Budapest. Despite this,
Jung believes that the region has the
capacity to, “develop into a new market
to continue the sales expansion we
have witnessed in Latin America, and
Europe,” although she does admit
that, “I am undecided whether to continue
visiting DISCOP, and the CEE territories,
learning about their cultural
needs, and building relationships, or
to appoint local agents on a territory
by territory basis.”
Overall, it is probably true to say
that life is not easy for Asian companies
in the CEE, but it is also true to say
that opening new markets never is,
and that without both imagination and,
above all, perseverance, it’s probably
impossible. }
discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006 07