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Category: Ficci Frames

  • Govt to step up support of film industry, animation institute, NFDC on radar















    MUMBAI: In order to give a lift to the film industry, the government is taking several measures. It will set aside Rs 200 million to encourage documentary filmmakers. It will also revive NFDC by offering financial support.



    “We are enhancing the capital base of NFDC. We are going to the Cabinet on this,” said information and broadcasting secretary Asha Swarup while not stating how much of fund infusion is going to be made.




    The government is setting up an animation institute in Pune. “We have land in Pune and it will take three years to set it up. We are looking at other players coming in,” Swarup said.



    The government will also have tie-ups with ITIs, clearly indicating that the animation industry has growth potential and needs infrastructure support. Swarup said that it is important for the government to take a role in HRD in the animation and visual effects industries.


    Speaking at the inaugural session of Ficci-Frames 2008 here today, Swarup also said that the government is also setting up a National Museum of Moving Image in Mumbai. The investment towards this will be Rs 600 million. “We will have it by the end of this year,” she added.




    Swarup also raised the concern of piracy but said that the proposed optical disc legislation that was drafted by Ficci is creating a regime of inspectors that is not in accordance with
    liberalisation.


    “To fight this menace, the supply side has to be regulated. Releasing films on multiple delivery platforms will help fight this menace. Digital release will also counter piracy,” said Swarup.



    The government has also initiated talks with state governments to see if they can come up with their own laws to fight piracy. “Tamil Nadu has a Goonda Act which is effective in tackling piracy,” Swarup said.


    Noted filmmaker and chairman of the Ficci entertainment committee Yash Chopra also raised the piracy issue which is pinching the industry of billions of rupees. He said that the main challenge for the film industry is to conquer more territories.



    “Our films are growing in popularity in countries like China, Japan and Russia. So distribution channels have to be strengthened,” Chopra added.

  • Debate on ‘Content is King’

    MUMBAI: Over two days of seminars on distribution platforms, consumer preferences and content in various media and the last session on Day 2 had both the panelists and audience divided on the question – ‘Who really is the King?‘ .

     

    Someone from the audience quipped ‘if content is the king, then who is the queen?‘ There were fewer answers and more questions that the session on ‘Content is King‘ elicited.

    MUMBAI: Over two days of seminars on distribution platforms, consumer preferences and content in various media and the last session on Day 2 had both the panelists and audience divided on the question – ‘Who really is the King?‘ .

     

    Someone from the audience quipped ‘if content is the king, then who is the queen?‘ There were fewer answers and more questions that the session on ‘Content is King‘ elicited.

  • Asia to emerge as next hub for media & entertainment

    MUMBAI: The second leg of Ficci Frames kicked off today with three stalwarts from the industry narrating the India entertainment story. Reliance Entertainment chairman and moderator for the session Amit Khanna was accompanied by producer and director Shekhar Kapur and filmmaker Farhan Akhtar to highlight the critical role of the Indian media and entertainment industry in reaching out to the world. Though our movies have travelled globally in the past, the large domestic market in India has largely restricted the industry to focus inward, which has resulted in a rather ghettoized expansion of India cinema to only reach out to the Indian diaspora, said Khanna in his opening statement.

     

    However, another deficiency that plagues Indian cinema is in the fact that it is not being scaled up in revenue, he added.

    “Concurrently we have also seen a very vibrant television market shaping up in India, that big global media giants like Disney, Newscorp and Sony have bet big on its expanding the potential.

    This prompted Kapur to add that Hollywood is gradually on the decline as the buoyant Asian market is flexing its muscle so much that he foresees a situation wherein Asia‘s consumption power would grow to about 75 per cent of absolute revenue in the media and entertainment sector, thus facilitating either Mumbai or Singapore to emerge as the next media hub. Stating that entertainment is technology driven, the need of the hour would lie in the creation of intellectual capital and this resurgence of ideas would help transform this sector from performing largely back office functions, as it often does especially with respect to animation.

    With respect of co-productions Kapur highlighted a word of caution against large media conglomerate funding, and what is often seen in as a Hollywood model, is standardization. Such associations although vital as they have the financial muscle and advertising power tend to take away the independence of a film maker. Therefore, he suggests that ‘particularization‘ as opposed to generalization is the way forward for the industry as he refers to these corporates as “marketing dragons that need to be fed.”

    Farhan shared the same sentiment, saying he now chooses to fund his productions on his own. His only co-production thus far has been with UTV for Laqshya. The large capital resources provided by behemoth corporate houses have a stretched managerial order at the organization that create decision making problems for the filmmaker and both Kapur and Akhtar agree that it strips the filmmaker of all freedom. To sum up, Kapur concluded, “The more we get separated from ownership, the less innovation occurs.”
     
     

  • Frames discusses ‘changing face’ of news channels

    MUMBAI:The Ficci Frames panel discussion on ‘The Changing Face of News in India‘ elicited both optimism and calculated caution from the panelists who included BBC World Wide (Hindi Service) Sanjeev Srivastava, TV Today executive director and CEO G Krishnan, Times Now CEO Sunil Lulla and Alessandro Ferino from DoC Italy. The session was moderated by Pankaj Pachauri who started the session with some very encouraging numbers for the news media.Pachauri started the session by bringing to the audience‘ notice the Times of India cartoon for the day by RK Laxman which features the common man flipping through the channels , watching static images and noting that this is by far more entertaining than the fare actually dished out on television. This attitude could be one of the biggest concerns for news broadcasters in India he noted.

    Although the numbers for news media are encouraging, the content and quality of news content came under sharp focus by the panelists. According to Pachouri all news room discussion revolves around the 4 Cs – Cricket, crime, cinema and crisis. The industry is now facing a question of how to better the quality of their product and move beyond the obvious issues that hog the headlines.
    G Krishanan, the first speaker at the discussion candidly shared that it wasn‘t easy to set up or build the TV Today network in the late 1990‘s when the banks were unwilling to help financially and there were critics galore who insisted that ‘we don‘t need a third news channel, we already have two‘. There was a general consensus then that advertisers won‘t pay a premium and news was a loss making proposition.
    Illustrating how he had been introduced to the new face of streaming mobile video at the Frames seminar Krishnan noted, “It is not the changing face of news but the changing face of India which has brought things into sharp focus. News of course is a micro part of the whole discussion. It is the changing technology and changing nature of demographics that has really helped chart the success story of media and news media in the country.”

    Speaking about the challenges faced by news channels Krishnan said, “Most television news channels are clones of each other. We don‘t need more crime news with scary anchors.” He emphasized the need to build a super brand through ‘differentiation‘ with factors like “art of story telling, look and feel of news and technological advancement playing a big role.”

    He concluded by saying, “there was a need to create multiple touch points for news- radio, mobile, OOH, in-flight entertainment and video streaming on mobile and internet. The idea is to create a brand instead of just a commodity.”

    BBC World Service‘ Srivastava chose to speak on the phenomenon of “infotainment” and question if there is a methodical research to check what viewers want. “There is an increasing feeling that there is more entertainment and less information while the idea of infotainment was to present information in an entertaining manner.”

    As a British public broadcaster who has also had an India presence for long and has actually seen “the changing face of news in India from an half hour telecast to the mushrooming of 24 hour news channels to the present scenario where there is a need to create differentiated, quality news programming,” Srivastav still believes that despite all the news coverage on television the common man is not getting his dues.

    “The man on the periphery loses out in this news game. He‘s not part of the middle class or the consumer class and therefore he has no stand. News ends up disappointing him.” Despite what he calls ‘his old fashioned misgivings‘, Srivastava insisted that news channels would have to wake up to their social responsibilities soon. The television networks have to be responsible to both the market and to the Indian consumer, he said.

    Alessandro presented the Italian news media view where he explained that the country had the bigger corporate giants like telecom and other industries launching news channels. The state of Vatican also had its own news channel. But the country was increasingly facing a situation of “one source news” which was perhaps balanced only by the excellent work done by independent documentary film makers.

    Times Now‘ Lulla had a very specific point to make stating that the business of television news was “highly undervalued”. “There is a big money involved in running a 24 hour news channel. The constant on air product, technology and infrastructure involve big costs.”

    Replying to the constant refrain of audiences and panelists on news leaning towards entertainment Lulla pointed out, “Films, corporates and brands – they turn to news channels to promote themselves because they still view us as a credible source of information.”

    The panelists were confident that the various news channels coming up in India would find ‘its place in the sun‘ and there was no need to hit the panic button on a cluttered market.However, all the panelists also believed that the reason the topic was chosen was to primarily point out that the “change” was still a continuous process and news channels were still evolving.

  • Importance of marketing and distribution of films discussed at Frames

    MUMBAI: Marketing and distribution of movies has always been an integral part of the business plan for film producers.








    The success of the film no longer depends on just the content, storyline and the star cast, but also on how well the film is marketed. The successes of Krissh, Don and Dhoom 2 in the Indian scenario are examples of this.


    One session at the Frames convention discussed the new methods employed to get to the target audience especially in international markets. The speakers included Kaleidoscope India MD Bobby Bedi, Eros Intl group CFO Andrew Hefferman, P9 Integrated CEO Navin Shah. It was pointed out that genre is a differentiator. Stars, topicality, controversies give a film unique strengths. Also market segmentation needs to be more precise in terms of how much one can get from theatres, DVDs, TV rights. One should not take just one business model into consideration.









    Film of course is the only medium where the price is uniform irrespective of the budget.



    The main of promotions Be4di points out is to get audiences into cinema halls on the opening weekend.

    How the film fares in the coming weeks depends on word of mouth.Marketing to the right TGB is key. If you market to the wrong TG then you might still get a string opening. However due to negative word of mouth there will be a sharp drop off in box office collections. Bedi notes that simply plastering the film’s tagline and the actor’s mug shot are not enough. The film’s name is key and must communicate what the film is about. Therefore choosing the4 name is a business decision.

    For the film’s poster the images need to fit the tagline. So if it is a thriller you cannot have clean faces. Then you have to find a star that will sell the film. A theme can be the star which was the case with Bandit Queen. You also need a peg on which to hang a film. It could be a major event or a controversy.The distribution strategy is key. It is not always necessary to go straight with a wide release. For instance Mira Nair’s The Namesake was initially released in eight cinema halls in the US. It is now playing in 70 cinema halls.

    Hefferman points out that the internet is growing in importance in terms of giving a film buzz. You also have cinema trailers being present on DVDs. Going to festivals like MipTV, Cannes is becoming more important for distributors as they can sell the TV rights to multiple territories. He suggests that Bollywood films push themselves towards an art house audience abroad. This of course is something that European films do in the US.

    Srinivasan dwelt on films being made exclusively for the mobile platform. With UGC content growing the gap between the filmmaker and viewer is narrowing.Sundance in the US has made six films for mobile. At the Macau conference later this year 175 made for mobile films will be on display. Roamware earlier this year partnered with Hungama Mobile to distribute Dus Kahaaniya which is a series of films made for the mobile by Sanjay Gupta.

    Shah says that producers should look at the possibility of creating entertainment brands around a film. He offered the example of Krrish which is now a brand. Eight brands did product placements inside the film. The film also did a co-promotion with Lifebuoys soap. Krish also tied with Singapore Tourism. That allowed the producers to cut production costs. Through merchandising the film has made Rs. 70 million so far.Now thwere is talk of the likes of Disney looking at using the character for an animation series.

     

  • Ficci gears up for Frames convention

    Ficci gears up for Frames convention

    MUMBAI: Frames, the convention for the business of Indian entertainment organised by Ficci, will take place from 26 – 28 March in Mumbai.

    Business delegation from over 20 countries is expected for the event which is in its eight year. This year Italy is a partner country.

    The television track kicks off with a plenary session – Regulatory Framework for Entertainment Industry on the opening day.

    There has been a regular debate among various stakeholders on regulation. How much of regulation should be there? Should the content regulation be consistent across all delivery mediums such as TV, radio, films and print? Should there be a price regulation? Or the industry should be left to market forces to evolve on its own?

    With the boom of news channels, there will be a session on Changing face of News. In order to survive, news channels along with newsworthiness should have something different. Along with managing editorial content, the gatekeepers are also acting as brand managers.

    Viewers wanting a global perspective of television can attend Fresh TV around the World. This special session, now a regular item at the television trade events in Cannes, France Mip TV and Mipcom, presents the world’s freshest and most popular TV shows of the season, specially edited for Frames participants.

    This includes clips from the world’s most successful, innovative and most talked about TV shows. Based on the monthly The Wit Fresh TV Report which spots new shows launched in more than 30 markets worldwide, the presentation also covers the most creative trends in different programming genres.

    With Cas and DTH already introduced, Frames will have a Plenary Session on The Last Mile: Battle of reaching consumers. The challenge of retaining existing consumers is going to be tough. Are existing distributors well equipped to take up this challenge?

    Another plenary session examines the importance of content. Innovative marketing and promotional campaigns can be of little hope unless it is fuelled with winning content. Irrespective of platform, the key to success is high quality content. Can anybody afford to disagree?

    There will also be a focus on the Asian TV Market in a session. Asia has common cultural values thereby having huge potential of sharing content with countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal, and Singapore. How the trade of content can be further strengthened among these countries?

    The Film Track kicks off with the crucial topic of marketing and distribution. This has always been an integral part of the business plan for film producers. The success of a film no longer depends on just the content, storyline and the starcast, but also on how well the film is marketed. The successes of Krissh, Don and Dhoom 2 in India scenario are prime example.

    The session will discuss the new methods employed to get to the target audience especially in international markets. Another session looks at digital cinema. From Celluloid to digital …Indian multiplexes and stand alone theatres are adopting the digital technology. Earlier business models were driving the technological applications. The scenario is just the opposite now, it’s the technology driving the business of Indian Cinema. The digital technology is changing the way the movies are being watched…. What lies in the future?

    Another session examines whether remakes and sequels revisits the past or is it the result of intellectual bankruptcy. Indian films now have a lot of sequels and remixes. Sequels of Munnabhai, Krissh, Hera Pheri, Dhoom and remakes like Don and Umrao Jaan and their success has added a new dimension to the Indian film industry. Some see it as a case of intellectual bankruptcy. In the era of commercialisation does storytelling hold a chance?

    What makes popular cinema tick? Is there a magic formula for success at box office? Increasingly the taste and sensibilities of the Indian audiences are changing. This is reflected in the different genres of movies making box office history this year. Films like Dhoom 2, Krishh, Rang De Basanti and Munnabhai have generated mass hysteria. There is a radical change in the scripts, treatment and presentation. The changing trends of Hindi films will be looked at in a session.

  • Ficci regional council moves to a new premise in Mumbai

    Ficci regional council moves to a new premise in Mumbai

    Mumbai, 5 May, 2006 – With a mission to accelerate industrial and economic growth of the western region manifold by acting as a catalyst in the process of progress, FICCI Western Regional Council – the regional arm of the FICCI – the largest and the oldest apex body for industries, moved on Thursday evening, to a bigger and modern office at Krishnamai Building, Pochkhanwala Road, Worli, Mumbai 400025. With this shifting, FICCI-Western Regional Council has become the largest regional office of FICCI in India. The new office has been designed to accommodate a big conference room, research center with space to accommodate future growth.

    Inaugurating the new office of FICCI-WRC, Mr. Saroj Poddar, President, FICCI expressed confidence that the regional office of FICCI, which has been doing wonderful work, would serve the industry and the society with renewed vigour. He pointed out that the expansion of the regional office in Mumbai was in line with FICCI’s firm belief that strong regional offices would strengthen the apex body to maintain the position of leadership in serving trade, industry by offering excellent service. He assured all out support to its regional office in its developmental efforts for the region.

    Mr. Habil Khorakiwala, Sr. Vice President, FICCI in his address said that the opening of the bigger and modern office in Mumbai showed the importance that FICCI attaches to this great city of Mumbai and the State of Maharashtra. He envisioned Mumbai becoming the knowledge capital of India, based on her strengths in IT, ITeS, Pharma, Biotechnology sectors. He called for a total transformation of Mumbai, Maharashtra and the entire western region, which have a great potential for unlimited growth. He expressed confidence that FICCI Regional Office could act as a catalyst in bringing about such a transformation.

    Earlier Mr. Sushil Jiwarajka, Chairman, FICCI-WRC, gave an overview of the regional and national initiatives undertaken by the council. He elaborated on the achievements of the council in areas of regional core competence viz., Textiles, Chemicals, Pharmaceuticals, Petrochemicals, Entertainment, Energy – Oil, Gas, Power, Agriculture, Banking, Capital Markets and Medical Tourism. He also highlighted its Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives like curbing of cyber crime, flood relief, rainwater harvesting, and corporate governance. He stressed the role of the regional council in areas like trade facilitation, arbitration and conciliation, sold waste management, women empowerment and enterprise.

    Underling the need for brand protection, Mr. Ashok Chhabra, Executive Director, Procter & Gamble, Member, FICCI, Brand Protection Committee said that fake products and counterfeits wee harming the interests of all the industries in general and FMCG & Pharmaceuticals in particular. He also said that FICCI was taking every effort to contain this menace. He called for total cooperation of all concerned to control this problem.

    Highlighting the need to reduce transaction costs and improve market access in international trade, Mr.Ramu Deora, Chairman, FICCI Trade Facilitation Forum elaborated on the work being done by the Forum in providing a forum for effective interface with trade related agencies and the authorities concerned for creating a hassle free international trade environment.

    Lauding the FICCI-Western Regional Council for setting up the excellent office in Mumbai, Dr. Amit Mitra, Secretary General, FICCI, envisioned that the regional office would provide more services to industry, bring about radical changes in the economy, and effect changes in policies to enlarge market opportunities for conducting easy and hassle free trade in the true spirit of globalization with liberalization as its foundation. He underlined the strengths of FICCI at the national level in terms of highly qualified manpower, economic database, wealth of research information, research facilities and the support of its regional and overseas office. He was confident that both FICCI and FICCI-WRC could bring about synergies in operations and be a strong force to reckon with.

    Media Division,
    FICCI, Mumbai

    For further information please contact:
    Neha Taleja/Shefali Virani
    ntaleja@corvoshandwick.co.in
    /shefalivirani@corvoshandwick.co.in
    Corporate Voice I Weber Shandwick

  • FICCI’s report on the entertainment industry projects optimistic figures

    FICCI’s report on the entertainment industry projects optimistic figures

    The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has compiled a report “The Indian Entertainment Industry: Strategy & Vision” with the assistence of Arthur Anderson. It was officially released at the “International Conference on the Business of Entertainment: India-Opportunities in the 21st Century” held in Mumbai on 30 March, 2000.

    The report presents very optimistic figures pertaining to the entertainment industry and makes some recommendations to the government to facilitate the growth of the industry. It expects the turnover of the entertainment industry to touch Rs 600 billion. The report says that the future of television broadcasting belongs to the satellite channels. The market of regional channels is huge with more and more players like Zee and Broadcast Worldwide making a foray into the regional channel market. Even the niche channels like Nickelodeon, Maharishi, Cartoon network, Fashion TV, ESPN, Discovery, Channel V etc have a tremendous potential and their huge success indicates the fragmentation of audience. Regarding the Direct-To-Home (DTH) mode of distribution of television channels, the report says that it too has a tremendous potential and if the segment is opened up, there would be 1 million DTH homes in India by 2002.

    FICCI recommends that the government should lift the ban on the use of KU Band reception equipments as it will be incongruent in a scenario of freely viewable television channels over the Internet. It also suggests that the government should privatise the terrestrial network along with introduction of DTH which will enable the smaller cities to receive satellite channels as the cable operators ignore that segment. Another important point highlighted is the ammendment in the conditions for the presumptive rate of taxation of foreign companies which stands at the rate of 10% of deemed profits. A legislation clarifying the taxation of foreign telecasting companies is demanded.

    Development of about two to three earth stations in India within the next six to seven years would generate revenues between $12 million to $23 million as Indian as well as foreign channels would consider uplinking from India. The Government can generate revenues between $12 million to $23 million by leasing a part of its terrestrial network. The level of employment can double from the existing 2,50,000 people in the next three to five years. The growth in the broadcasting industry will simulate a similar trend in industries such as the television software industry, film industry, the music industry and even the equipment and hardware manufacturing industry which directly depend on the broadcasting sector.

    In the cable television sector, FICCI has requested the government to rectify the hinderences in the growth of the cable television market due to restrictions on foreign equity participation and the short-sightedness of the Cable Television (Networks) Act, 1995 and the archaic Indian Telegraphs Act, 1885. The growth of the cable television industry would help the government in generating more revenues in the form of taxes. The penetration of Internet to the common man can also increase with the growth of the cable television industry. Employment in this sector stands at 2,50,000 people. Additional 4,00,000 peaple can be employed in the next three to five years.

    On the television software side, FICCI has requested the government to nominate a representative who would be an active member and assist in industry issues like hardware insurance, copyright protection, etc. The government should also facilitate the growth of training institutions focussing on software development that would help the students learn modern techniques on up-to-date equipment and be aware of the dynamic trends in the entertainment industry. The television software and entertainment companies should also benefit similarly from the 10% listing criterion currently enjoyed by infotech companies as it would help in giving adequate ESOPs. Another benefit of utilising 100% proceedings of funds raised through ADR/GDR issues to acquire overseas companies is enjoyed only by IT industries and this benefit should also be made available to other companies.

    Owing to the increase in revenues in this segment to $2,093 million by 2005, the government’s tax collections will rise to $318 million. If proper and adequate incentives are provided by the government, the export earnings from this segment will rise to $233 million within the next two years, from the current $81 million. The industry expects this figure to touch $1.356 billion by the year 2005. Direct and indirect employment will rise from the current level of 1 million to 2 million by the year 2005.