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  • It’s the golden age of content: Sooni Taraporevala

    It’s the golden age of content: Sooni Taraporevala

    MUMBAI: Sooni Taraporevala, an Indian screenwriter, photographer and filmmaker best known for her work in Mississippi Masala, spoke on ‘The Golden Age of Content’ at The Content Hub 2020 organised by indiantelevision.com.

    Taraporevala was the screenwriter for the movie Namesake and Oscar-nominated Salaam Bombay, both directed by Meera Nair. Speaking on her friendship with Nair and her most difficult movie she said: “Meera and I wanted to work together for the longest time. Seven years after we graduated, she had several acclaimed documentaries under her belt and wanted to make her first feature. We embarked on what was to become Salaam Bombay.”

    Yeh Ballet, currently on Netflix, proved to be a game-changer for the filmmaker. A Harvard University student, Taraporevala came to movies both by chance and destiny. Her biggest lesson, ‘Never hear the naysayers and never give up’, made her successful and relevant in the industry.

    She said, “Like in screenplays real life does have turning points and this was mine. At Harvard, I discovered two things – photography and films. I initially felt I don’t have the personality to be a filmmaker. I was happy with my crew of one person and a camera. I returned to India and started working as a professional photographer.”

    Taraporevala has progressed a lot since those initial days. “I remember when I wrote the Salaam Bombay script I didn’t know what ad structures are. My script was research mixed with imagination. Everything I have learned helped me in writing. From literature, I moved to narrative, character, point of view, plots and sub-plots. Certain stories didn’t work out well. Later, I moved to Bombay. That time I was also writing Mississippi Masala, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, directed by Dr Jabbar Patel and later started Namesake. Dr Ambedkar with Jabbar Patel took ten years. It was one of the most difficult movies I did.”

    While addressing the audience, Tarporevala spoke at length about her foray into filmmaking. In 2005, the writer, after completing her shoot for Namesake, was all set to take a big leap in her life. “Now I had time for myself because before that I was writing for other people. So I wrote Little Zizou in ten days. It was a story that took place in my backyard. The main locations were the lane where I grew up as a kid.”

    Taraporevala made her directorial debut with Little Zizou. The movie had an ensemble star cast of Boman Irani and John Abraham in the main lead.

    Taraporevala believes it is the golden age of content because content providers, writers and producers are in demand. “There’s a lot of work for everybody. There is diversity of storytelling and scale. There’s never been a better time for medium-sized stories and web series to be in the business,” she concluded.

  • Writers are the key to great content

    Writers are the key to great content

    MUMBAI: At The Content Hub 2020 organised by indiantelevision.com, Tulsea talent manager Radhika Gopal and Matter Advisors founder and managing partner Caleb Franklin discussed the importance of creating an ecosystem and a platform for writers.

    While speaking to Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari, the panellists agreed that writers are the key to creating great content.

    Gopal said, “Through Tulsea we worked with some great writers, directors and actors. We make sure the talent roster is balanced. We want to be an objective narrative party in order to make deals more transparent.”

    Gopal works as an agent at Mumbai and Los Angeles-based Tulsea, a management company in India that focuses on writers and directors.

    Franklin, who has been in the content industry for the past 16 years, believes the journey from storytelling to origination to how writers are delivering the content to the end user is important. Franklin’s firm Matter Advisors closely works with writers, actors, producers and directors who ensure that the stories are presented to the right target audience.

    “There is a plethora of talent in India. We have so much opportunity. More importantly, we are constantly working to deliver great stories. We constantly update our clients on the current stories, trends, new podcasts and much more. We look at the entire ecosystem,” he said.

    Franklin represents the company's clients across the global landscape of media, entertainment, technology and sports.

    Commenting on the difference made on the writer’s life Radhika said: “What we attempt to do is give writers leisure time to write, network and help in handling contracts. We give them some time to focus on their craft and work so that they can do better. Money is a very important aspect of anyone’s career. When you are financially stable you are able to continuously focus on something you are passionate about. It is hard for people to be objective about what their core value is especially in the entertainment industry that runs predominantly by relationships. From the writer's perspective, we take away the headache of dealing with everything.”

    “We talk to people in India, the US, Europe and other parts of the world to understand the ongoing trends. We look into storytelling patterns, deal structure and new formats. In fact much before Netflix and Amazon came to India we were able to foresee that the Indian entertainment sector is going to change,” she further added.

    Caleb believes that the most difficult part is not cracking the deal. But, more than deal it is about socialising which is difficult on the writer’s part.

    The panelists also started that it takes two years to execute a story on the screen. Hence, it becomes a part of a writer’s job to help deliver profit.

  • Visuals go hand-in-hand with storytelling for compelling content

    Visuals go hand-in-hand with storytelling for compelling content

    MUMBAI: It takes massive effort, time and investment but delivers great result for producing high-quality content in terms of visuals, said Travelxp’s creative director Kamakhya Narayana Singh while sharing the advantages of 4K and 8K format during the fourth edition of The Content Hub 2020 hosted by indiantelevision.com.

    Travelxp is the first Indian travel genre broadcasting channel to provide high-quality viewing experience of 4K and 8K to the viewers. It began its journey to create 4k content in 2015 and 8K in between 2016-17.

    “Two things make content great: storytelling and visual quality,” said Singh. “Storytelling is important but at the same time visuals are also important as it increases the viewing experience of the consumer.”

    From scratch to the final product, Singh points out that content creation in high-quality visual may be tiresome but the final output is beautiful and enriching. He said, “The concept of 4K is not just about increasing pixels but making the pixels, screen and viewers' experience more beautiful.”

    “Producing content is a futuristic process; we don’t produce content for one day; rather it’s done for the generations to come. And because of our futuristic approach, it took us time to understand the value of high-quality filmings such as 4K and 8K,” he said. 

    Singh said, “70 minutes of an HD shoot takes 52 gigabytes (GB) storage, whereas a 32-minute 4K shoot requires 512 GB storage. Similarly, it takes 2 hours to ingest one terabyte (TB) data, while for 4K data it takes 24 hours to ingest at the same duration.”

    “Even the last stage to get the final product takes time: 24 hours to render 30 minutes of 4K show, and 36 hours to render 8K. The time for rendering may increase subject to glitches in the first attempt'" added Singh.  

    The advantage of shooting the content in raw format and increasing the frame-per-second (FPS) from 25 to 55 gave producers a lead in visual experience. However, the major challenge they faced was storing the data they shot in high-quality like 4K and 8K as the budget increased four-fold.

    Singh said that the channel started receiving respect in the broadcasting industry because of the quality of its content (4K and 8K).

    During his 20-minute conversation with the audience, he explained how visual quality is important along with content, to give 360-degree experience to viewers. 

    The Content Hub 2020 witnessed over 900 registered delegates, more than 110 speakers and 19 partners. The two-day event saw at least 35 sessions for the content creators.

    The Content Hub’s main goal is to bring individual creators, professional storytellers, producers, streaming platforms, broadcasters and film studios under one platform to connect with a mission to broaden the knowledge pool of the content industry. “It is all about learning, networking and collaborating towards building a roadmap for a better content ecosystem,” said Indiantelevision.com group founder, chief executive officer and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari.

  • More localised stories is the way forward to connect with larger regional audiences

    More localised stories is the way forward to connect with larger regional audiences

    MUMBAI: Regional GEC is the new focus area after Hindi GEC for broadcasters, OTT platforms and production houses as well. South market is the biggest market in the regional space; it has grown by 45 per cent with OTT platforms investing in regional content. So, what is the way forward to connect with larger audiences in the regional market for broadcasters and OTT players?

    A panel discussion on the power of regional storytelling at The Content Hub 2020 organised by Indiantelevision.com highlighted that more localised and relatable stories that connect the audiences in regional market is the way forward. The panel was moderated by Bodhitree Multimedia co-founder and director Mautik Tolia with panellists Endemol Shine India CEO Abhishek Rege, Vaishnave Mediaa Works managing director Kutty Padmini, Star Maa & Star Vijay creative consultant and Zee Network Programming Trainer Vivek Bahl, Fakt Marathi co-promoter Shirish Pattanshetty and Prime Focus Technologies SVP-global localisation Jyothi Nayak. 

    The panellists also elaborated on the need to explore regional stories, challenges faced by broadcasters and creators, dubbed content, remaking of regional content and the way forward.

    Padmini said, “Today, 45 per cent of south Indian content has grown and this year Netflix, Amazon, Hotstar, and Zee5 have invested huge money and created so much of work for people like us who are creative. The south content is very strong because it has talented technicians and writers. Hindi GEC is the largest space and the budget allotted to them is also high but South GEC has limited budget and in that limited budget we also create very good content.”

    Bahl lamented that although it is fantastic to see so many networks going into regional market he is a little disappointed that the content is similar and not unique. "We need to dive deep down and look more into local stories which are relevant in that particular market." He added the network owns all the IPR and replicate in whichever language they want without paying the writer or creator anything else and they are probably not even getting the credit. That also is holding back the talent.

    Rege said that there is a great acceptance of formats like Bigg Boss in the past few years. "More than acceptance it was always a demand to want high-quality stuff which wasn’t coming by. It helped the advertisers and broadcasters pushing it in. There is always going to be such demands again, so you put through all formats as long as you can make it viable and it's upto producers to come up with such stuff.”

    Pattanshetty said that some people from the fraternity claim that Maharashtra is bilingual so the requirement of Marathi which was classified as a P1 market a couple of years back is now going down because buyers feel that their requirement is covered by Hindi channels while that is not the case. "If we exclude Mumbai and Pune we find that Maharashtra has a lot of regional content requirement and it is growing fast. On the Marathi remake of Tarak Mehta… also we were little hesitant and we took a strong call on doing it. We saw that with that show we grew in the urban market as well.”

    Nayak said, “From 2019 to 2022, the OTT space probably is going to grow around 118 per cent. As a company, we have to ensure what is that your audience is looking at in order to scale up. If we talk about dubbing, it’s not just about translating the language, it’s about understanding that particular regional space. As a company we have to be the backbone and support and ensure that we are working hand-in-hand with content creators to ensure their expectations are met. At the same time our audiences are accepting what you are delivering. So we are in the middle of content creators and audiences and we have to satisfy both our people and that’s the challenge. Overall, the digital disruption in the media and entertainment industry has definitely impacted the market landscape and that has helped the industry while going to the next level when it comes to creating the content or serving the partners.” 

  • ZEE5’s content strategy is customer-centric: Aparna Acharekar

    ZEE5’s content strategy is customer-centric: Aparna Acharekar

    MUMBAI: The core values of Zee’s digital platform are based on three Cs – compelling content, the convenience of viewing  and consumer experience, said ZEE5 programming head Aparna Acharekar while giving a presentation at the fourth edition of The Content Hub 2020 organised by indiantelevision.com.

    Explaining about the three Cs, Acharekar said, “We want to create compelling content, which can be watched as per the convenience of the audience, anywhere and eventually, that increases the viewing experience of the consumer while giving value for their money.”

    She added, “We want to ensure that a 40-minute each 10 episode-long series or 90-minute long digital film become compelling enough to binge-watch. Similarly, we give the power of convenience to consumers of what to watch, when to watch and with whom to watch the content. And the consumer experience to view content on various platforms be it subscription or advertising-based.”

    “Our main theme is being customer-centric,” said Acharekar. “We have kept the customer at the heart of everything we do, and which is exactly why, we are able to entertain the young boy in Colaba, Mumbai and a person of the same age living in Chhapra, Bihar.”

    “Relatable content that is real and resonates with the audience is going to work,” Acharekar said. She believes convenience is the basic reason we see the shift of audience towards over-the-top platforms.

    “ZEE5’s content strategy has relied on the understanding of consumers, who are divided in a huge number of content clusters,” Acharekar said post the audiovisual screening, which had glimpses of the original shows and films the platform possesses.

    “It’s important to indulge in perfect science and art while creating content – the science of making the content and the art of how you execute it,” pointed out Acharekar. “We are in the era of content creation wherein even an antagonist, who has made a star in the state, is enough to attract eyeballs.”

    The Content Hub 2020 witnessed over 900 registered delegates, more than 110 speakers and 19 partners. The two-day event saw at least 35 sessions for the content creators.

    The Content Hub’s main goal is to bring individual creators, professional storytellers, and producers, streaming platforms and broadcasters, film studios under one platform to connect with a mission to broaden the knowledge pool of the content industry. “It is all about learning, networking and collaborating towards building a roadmap for a better content ecosystem,” said Indiantelevision.com group founder, chief executive officer and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari.

  • Series Mania Festival, events cancelled due to coronavirus scare

    Series Mania Festival, events cancelled due to coronavirus scare

    MUMBAI: The 2020 Series Mania Festival (March 20-28), Series Mania Forum (March 25-27), and Lille Dialogues (March 26) have been cancelled in view of the coronavirus situation. The decision has been taken after meeting with the French government, health authorities, and city officials from Lille, said Series Mania president Rodolphe Belmer.  

    "Every year since its inaugural event in Lille, Series Mania has attracted 80,000 festival-goers, most of whom have already booked their event tickets, and more than 3,000 professionals. Due to the recent restriction from the French government banning gatherings of more than 1,000 people, coupled with the travel restrictions for many of our international participants, we have made the difficult decision to cancel Series Mania,” said Rodolphe Belmer.  “In this delicate period, we are very touched by the ongoing support of our French and international partners, and we want to express our warm thanks to everyone.”

    President of the Hauts-de-France region Xavier Bertrand added, “The Hauts-de-France region has had the honour of hosting Series Mania since 2018 and is already looking forward to welcoming the Festival, Forum and Lille Dialogues in an ambitious way in 2021, as well as its further development in future years.  Series Mania has our total support, as well as the people around the world during this difficult time.”

    Founder and general director of Series Mania Laurence Herszberg added, “This year’s Series Mania was an event not to be missed with an exceptional programme and amazing guest list. It is with great sadness that we have had to make this difficult decision.  However, our utmost concern is for the safety and well-being of our valued clients, guests, and staff who have invested so much time these past few months.  I would like to thank the city of Lille, Hauts-de-France region, and European audiences for their enthusiasm and passion. I would also like to thank every creator, talent, producer, and broadcaster who have trusted us since the beginning. To our audiences, professionals, politicians, and industry leaders, we will be back stronger than ever in 2021 with a new edition that will be, from the bottom of our hearts, even more ambitious and radiant.”

  • Content creators should focus on viewership in the beginning: ‘Gippi’ director Sonam Nair

    Content creators should focus on viewership in the beginning: ‘Gippi’ director Sonam Nair

    MUMBAI: Sonam Nair, the director of Kaafir, Gippi, Khujli and The Trip – Season 2, never had any plans to enter B-town but has been praised by audiences and critics alike. At The Content Hub 2020, an initiative by indiantelevision.com, Nair at spoke at length about directing digital and television series.

    Nair poured her heart out while addressing social stigmas and how she was bullied and body shamed as a kid.  However, things were never easy for her; she had to wait for almost three years to make a sex comedy film. Finally, a short film named based on the same ethos of sex comedy Khujli starring Neena Gupta and Jackie Shroff resurrected Nair’s career.

    Khulji’s success inspired Nair to work for digital platforms.

    Sonam echoes, “I don’t think having lots of special effects and an ensemble star cast works. I think simple, relatable stories that have humour attached to it do. This whole digital platform opened up for me and I could tell stories I wanted to tell. After Khujli I directed the second season of the show called The Trip, I directed Kaafir and now I am working on a story written and directed for Netflix called Masaba Masaba. The show is based on the bond between a real-life mother-daughter duo of ace fashion designer Masaba Gupta and Bollywood actor Neena Gupta."

    Her interest in movies increased only after working in Ayan Mukerji’s Wake Up Sid. Post that she worked as an assistant director in Vishal Bhardwaj’s 7 Khoon Maaf. After working in two critically acclaimed movies Nair went on to direct a film based on her own life titled Gippi.

    While addressing the issues prevailing in the content industry Nair said, “It is difficult to sell stories to a particular platform because this not how OTT platforms work. It is an anthology of supposedly six short films that works. Otherwise platforms are quite scared to take just one story. Initially one should focus on viewership and not selling the story to the OTT platforms. With this move you create confidence in audiences and also at the same time prove your work.”

    Expressing her view on the term showrunner Nair said that the term is now a days completely misused. Sometimes a head writer becomes a showrunner, or sometimes a producer is a showrunner. "In my previous show, Kaafir, Siddharth Malhotra was a producer and a showrunner. His gets the credit for bringing in the cast together. He was responsible for the scripts. That makes him a showrunner. I am still figuring out this term. Getting credit for the work which you have not done still scares me.”

  • High concept, simple story, understandable plot are key to good movies: Kross Pictures’ Thomas Kim

    High concept, simple story, understandable plot are key to good movies: Kross Pictures’ Thomas Kim

    MUMBAI: Thomas Kim, co-founder of Kross Pictures, in a candid conversation with indiantelevision.com founder CEO and editor in chief Anil Wanvari at The Content Hub 2020, mentioned how he started his career as an investment banker. He also shared how working in The Walt Disney Company and Pirates of the Caribbean inspired him to become a filmmaker.

    Kross Pictures, an international film and television production company, made the commercially successful movie The Devotion of Suspect X.

    Kim echoed, "I was working as a management consultant for a few years but never really enjoyed that work. I had an opportunity to go to Hollywood and work at The Walt Disney company. This was the first time I saw how movies are made. One particular project Pirates of the Caribbean opened my eyes to filmmaking. The motion pictures group came to my group which was in charge of making a theme park called imaginary group. They made a movie based on the storyboard. This actually taught me that films can be made with any type of stories. So, I quit Disney and started my company in 2003. I am mostly active in Korea and China in making films and TV series based on famous IPs, mostly in comics and novels. In 2015 I had the pleasure to come to India and worked on a film project called ‘Teen’ with Amitabh Bachchan. This was my first experience of working in Bollywood. Today I have offices in Seoul, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Hyderabad.”

    Kim, who is very active in China, made one feature film and a TV series and both were commercially hit. The Devotion of Suspect X became a mega-hit with Rs 4 crore box office collection.

    Kross Pictures currently has over 15 features and TV content both in Hindi and the South and aspires to become a premium production house. “I believe storytelling is universal. The story which works in one country can work in other countries too. With that vision I have a team in Korea, India, and America, who are constantly looking at projects,” he stated.

    In 2014 Kim met Balaji Telefilms' Tanuj Garg in Korea for a project. This meeting led Kim to come to India and explore Indian filmmaking market.

    Sharing his Indian vision of Kross Pictures Kim said: “My aspiration for my Mumbai team is to grow to be a premier production house and maybe possibly a studio in the near future."

    Kim believes that not all stories are able to mobilise in foreign countries, other than the one which do commercially well. According to Kim, there are key three aspects for a good movie: the element of high concept, a simple story and an understandable plotline. Also, not all stories can localise. A lot of Indian stories are great but it may not work in the Korean market.

    Kim, who is currently working on the adaptation of the Bollywood film Kahaani, thinks Believe Oh Baby! – a Telugu movie was a great combination of storytelling and execution. Successful stories or successful adaptation requires a good understanding of the original material. He finds Indian films exciting and emotional. However, there is a lack of disciplined storytelling. That's what the Kross Pictures wants to bring to India.

    Sharing details on the necessary ingredients required for a commercially successful film, Kim said, “We try to identify stories which are exciting to the Indian audience. We also look at commercial success. Combining the two we constantly look for stories in Korea, Japan and China that have a track record of being a commercial success.”

  • FICCI FRAMES 2020 postponed

    FICCI FRAMES 2020 postponed

    MUMBAI: FICCI has decided to postpone its annual conference FICCI FRAMES 2020 in view of the public health concerns over coronavirus and the recent advisory from the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, which has recommended to avoid mass gatherings.

    The three-day global convention was scheduled to be held from 18 to 20 March 2020 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Mumbai. It was to cover the entire gamut of media and entertainment segments such as films, TV & radio, print media, digital entertainment, advertisement, live entertainment events, digital and new media.

    A release said that FICCI will soon announce the new dates for the event.

  • We want to be future-protected: Netflix’s Aashish Singh

    We want to be future-protected: Netflix’s Aashish Singh

    MUMBAI: Netflix India’s recent film Yeh Ballet has received critical appreciation. It is a story of two boys from humble backgrounds who go on to become dancers. On the contrary, critics did not hold a very high view of Drive. The streaming service has kicked off March with another film Guilty. Along with churning out premium episodic content like Sacred Games, Jamtara, the ambition of Netflix to make a mark in digital original films is very evident.

    At Indiantelevision.com's The Content Hub 2020, Netflix India original film director Aashish Singh in a candid chat with Indiantelevision.com founder, CEO and editor-in-chief Anil Wanvari spoke about Netflix’s upcoming diverse slate of films to offer its subscribers content for every mood.

    Singh said that they are looking for content creators to create the best work of their lives. The platform is looking at a very diverse slate including films that can work across all genres for any audience that they can watch, anytime, anywhere. Singh is of the view that good stories could come from anywhere and can be watched everywhere. 

    “We do look at quality in terms of the technical requirements of a film, in terms of the cameras because we want to be future-protected. We want our films to be watched even ten years later, for that matter. So definitely quality is something that we definitely look at. We want to work with the best creative talent,” Singh commented.

    Netflix is also expanding its funnel by getting to know the Indian market better. 

    "So you will get to see a very diverse state going forward. And we have a wonderful slate already that's in process for 2021 and 2022,” he added.

    Singh also reaffirmed that the platform is not only looking at big names and they are working with ten new directors, nine new writers, eight women as new writers and directors this year itself. He added that Netflix is hungry for people who have not yet been discovered. According to him, those are the people who can come up with shows like Jamtara.

    When it comes to filmmaking, Netflix helps filmmakers throughout the process right from pre-production. The streaming service has a production team, finance team, post production team, VFX team that supports the entire filmmaking process. He notes that it helps in quality production. He also mentioned that they support creators to make it the best experience for them but they do not interfere in the process.

    “I liked Yeh Ballet a lot. And it's a very authentic story which talks about dance form that's not very common. The feedback that I got from a lot of people is that they didn't know much about ballet but after they saw the film, they want their kids to probably go and learn ballet,” he added. He also stated that Drive has also performed well on the platform.

    Although Netflix has not announced any animated content in terms of films, the platform is exploring things that could do well in the animation space and is in talks with a lot of people who are creating animation content in the country.

    Talking about challenges, Singh mentions that awareness of Netflix is an issue in India. Although the tier one cities and most of the urban people know about Netflix, Singh thinks they still have a long way to go as far as reaching out to the tier two cities or tier three cities.