TELENOVELA BLOCK.pages 24 - 30: - Discop

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A GOOD FRIEND – MICHEL RODRIGUE
By Bob Jenkins
When it comes to doing business
in the CEE, Michel Rodrigue,
CEO and President of Canadian format
distributor, Distraction Formats, is a
man with form as well as formats. The
company was founded in 1989,
launching at MIPCOM in the autumn of
that year. “And,” recalls Rodrigue, “the
very first sale recorded by the then
fledgling outfit, was to a Polish producer
of a Canadian format, THE MAD
DASH. The producer sold it on to TVP,
and the show ran in Poland for a total
of 115 episodes.”
This might have been the first
experience Distraction had in the
region, but it was not Rodrigue’s first
exposure to Eastern Europe. In 1989,
just at the very moment communism
was falling, Rodrigue was part of a
Quebecois delegation that visited
Czech Republic and successfully negotiated
a co-production agreement
between the republic and Quebec.
Poland was Distraction’s first sale
in the CEE, and despite the company
now doing business, per Rodrigue, “in
virtually every country in the region,
Poland,” he says, “remains the company’s
most important market in the
region.” And it might be about to
become more significant.
One of the techniques which has
been very important to Distraction‘s
expansion in the region is one known
as “carousel production.” This is the
process by which one set is built in a
chosen location for a given format,
and one crew becomes versed in the
techniques of the show, and then presenters
and contestants are brought
in from neighbouring countries and
the same crew and set are used to
produce several different versions,
allowing the cost to be amortised over
a number of different productions.
Poland has run two seasons of
what Rodrigue describes as, “a big,
SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER style format
from Italy called CIAO DARWIN”. As
Poland is preparing to shoot its third
season, there is a lot of interest from
surrounding countries such as
Hungary, Bulgaria and Romania, and
possible interest from Russia as well.
In many ways, this is the logical
continuation of what Rodrigue sees as
an ongoing process that started with
the fall of communism. “Obviously,”
says Rodrigue, “before communism
was overthrown in this part of the
world, there were no commercial stations,
and, just as obviously, there
were no independent producers. Once
communism went, many western
companies such as SBS and ViaSat
moved in to open stations. But they
needed a viable independent sector,
and so, they set about helping to create
one. And, they succeeded.”
Although Rodrigue celebrates the
successful birth of the independent
sector in the CEE, it was not, he notes,
without its birth pangs. “Initially,”
recalls Rodrigue, “there was a question
of technical and creative communication.
The people of the region have
always been very creative, but under
communism, this creativity was channelled
in a very specific manner. Also,”
he continues, “this creativity was ope -
rating with technology that was
increasingly antiquated, film, and only
the very earliest form of video. This led
to a situation, once free enterprise
was introduced, in which the new independent
production sector in the CEE
immediately upgraded the technology
to state of the art, often putting them
ahead of the West where conversion
costs had to be amortised, but in
which they were still imbued with the
old creative styles.” But Rodrigue is
insistent that all of that, “is now in the
past,” and that there is now a vibrant
and successful independent production
sector which bodes well for the
future of the region.
In fact, one of the things he celebrates
most in the region is that,
“unlike many other parts of the world,
when it comes to formats, they are
not, unlike most other regions of the
world, wedded to formats from the UK
and the US; in fact, reports Rodrigue,
“90% of the formats we sell in the
region are from Germany, Italy,
Canada and France.”
Finally, and possibly most encouragingly,
Michel Rodrigue believes that,
in the format business, the CEE is laying
the foundations of a solution to its
biggest challenge. “That challenge,”
insists Rodrigue, “is the successful
export of their own formats.” But with
the carousel production method
Distraction has pioneered in the
region, a healthy market in format
sales is developing between various
CEE countries and, believes Rodrigue,
“it will only be a matter of time before
that success begins to be exported to
other countries around the world.” }
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discop link 03 www.discop.com march 2006