ITV

Category: Production House

  • Banijay Group in 50:50 JV with Deepak Dhar for India ops

    Banijay Group in 50:50 JV with Deepak Dhar for India ops

    MUMBAI: French content powerhouse Banijay Group is setting up its operations for India and South East Asia in partnership with former Endemol India managing director Deepak Dhar.

    Dhar will hold 50 per cent equity in Banijay Asia as its founder-CEO for South East Asia operations. He will head the new business, leading content strategies, partnerships and alliances across the region, with a central focus on India. He stepped down as managing director of Endemol Shine India in December last year having previously held key positions at Star TV, Channel V and MTV.

    The new JV, Banijay Asia, will produce content across multiple genres, including digital and films for India and South East Asia. Dhar will lead business, content strategies, partnerships and alliances in the region, with India being central focus.

    “Creating innovative and engaging content has been a passion for me, and I am always on a lookout for challenging opportunities,” Dhar said in a statement. “Creating a strong foundation in Southeast Asia is the next crucial step for [Banijay Group] and I am excited to be helming this move.”

    Banijay is an independent content creation group for television and multimedia platforms. Spread across entities in seventeen territories, its library includes programming spanning genres like entertainment, drama, factual entertainment, kids and reality; all licensed internationally by its global distribution arm Banijay Rights. Some notable formats include reality television series Keeping up with the Kardashians, crime drama series Underbelly and ABC’s reality television program Wife Swap.

    Banijay Group COO Peter Langenberg said, “This is an extremely significant partnership for us as we continue to build our presence in India and South-East Asia, one of the most dynamic and burgeoning regions in the world. We are very excited about the wide-ranging opportunities Deepak’s experience and expertise will bring to the group.”

    “After my last role at Endemol, I was looking for an opportunity that could satiate my passion to create innovative and engaging content, while at the same time, have the potential to scale at multiple levels. This partnership with Banijay Group matches perfectly with what I was seeking,” Dhar said.

    Also Read:

    Deepak Dhar bids adieu to Endemol after a decade

    Abhishek Rege elevated as Endemol CEO

  • Digital reality shows will compete with TV in future: Payal Bhagat

    Digital reality shows will compete with TV in future: Payal Bhagat

    Greymatter Entertainment has been in the news for all the right reasons lately. The Mumbai-based production house is producing Amazon’s latest reality talent show, The Remix, which has been well received so far. After having travelled to several countries in the previous years such as Vietnam and Canada, the show finds home at home. It even got the acclaim of being Fresh TV’s top 25 MIP formats to watch out for.

    Greymatter Entertainment was founded by Chandradev Bhagat, Rahul Sarangi and Payal Mathur Bhagat in 2009.

    In an interview with Indiantelevision.com, Payal Bhagat said that television viewing in India is still largely driven by appointment viewing and talent shows are mainly to drive up viewership through nonfiction content. The youth is leading the change of consuming TV content via digital platforms.

    Greymatter has done a good amount of work in the non-fiction and brand solutions space. It has also worked on shows for niche channels like MTV, Discovery, Ten Sports, VH1 and brands like Pepsi, Vodafone, Reebok, Idea and Ray Ban among others.  

    Bhagat shared her insights with us on the company’s progress and the growth of the industry.

    Edited excerpts:

    How did you begin your journey? What were the challenges faced ?

    Prior to this, I had worked for Sony Entertainment TV during its launch phase and Ten Sports, Chandradev had been with IMG /TWI and Ten Sports and Rahul with MTV and Colors.

    Having spent over a decade on the broadcaster side of things, we were keen on moving to the other side and actually being hands on involved in producing the kind of content that really excited us. There was no better way to do this than set up our own little production house so that is how Greymatter came about.

    The biggest challenge that we faced was getting used to the fact that we were starting from ground zero even after having been in the industry for more than a decade. We had to unlearn a whole lot and start from scratch.

    It was like taking baby steps in a whole new world – every step came with its own set of challenges right from the procedural hassles of setting up a new entity to trying to get meetings with decision makers for pitching our concepts to managing cash flows to keep ourselves afloat!

    Tell us about your body of work across genres. 

    Our journey began with a good amount of work in the non-fiction and brand solutions space. We worked on shows for niche channels like MTV, Discovery, Ten Sports, VH1 and brands like Pepsi, Vodafone, Reebok, Idea, Ray Ban etc.

    Apart from this, due to Chandradev’s vast experience with live sports production, we started getting live sport production projects and that turned out to be a strong vertical for Greymatter. We have done productions like IPL funfeed, Sri Lanka Premier League, Afghanistan Premier League, Celebrity Cricket League, Pro Wrestling League and Premier Futsal to name a few.

    While we kept working on non-fiction / docu series like Mid-Wicket Tales with Naseeruddin Shah, Satyamev Jayate – Mumkin Hai and Umeed India with Virender Sehwag, we were looking forward to build our own IP and invested time and effort in building out bibles for some concepts that we felt strongly about. We now have a bank of formats like The Remix and Street Stars which are being distributed around the world.

    How do you see reality shows, made especially for digital, shaping up ?

    Reality shows made especially for digital is a fairly new phenomenon. While there have been a few in the cooking and travel space, a music reality show has not been attempted purely for digital on a larger than life scale.

    The Remix on Amazon is one of the first such shows and in some ways will set the benchmark as well as offer viewers a new experience on the digital platform.

    Reality shows lend themselves to conversations as viewers develop strong opinions and attachments with the contestants. On the digital platform, they get a ready medium to start and engage in social conversations instantly and that to me is one of the key aspects that would shape the consumption of reality shows on the digital medium.

    Does a show like The Remix directly compete with talent shows on TV ?

    The way things stand now, I don’t think shows like The Remix directly compete with talent shows on TV since popular TV talent shows have been around for multiple seasons and have their own loyal audience. 

    Television viewing in India is still largely driven by appointment viewing and talent shows on TV garner viewers who come to a particular channel for their weekly dose of non-fiction entertainment.

    However, this viewer habit is rapidly evolving. Audiences are beginning to enjoy the benefits of ‘content on demand’. More and more people are beginning to consume even television content on the digital platform at their own will and convenience. This is already a common phenomenon with the youth and is fast permeating into other audience segments too. Keeping in mind this trend, I feel in the near future, shows like The Remix will become direct competition to talent shows on TV.

    The focus these days is on regional content. Are you planning to come up with any regional content ? 

    We have always been excited about regional content and one of GreyMatter’s most interesting projects has been the live coverage of the Celebrity Cricket League which we produced with eight customised regional feeds.

    The Remix as a format very easily lends itself to regional adaptations and we are looking forward to explore this exciting possibility.

    Is the viewership on TV at the 10.30 pm slot low because of the lack of content ?

    There could be a variety of reasons for a dip in viewership for the 10:30 pm slot on TV and lack of good content could be one of them.

    A closer study of viewership and programming data or a sharply directed market research would be required to arrive at a conclusive reason for this observation.

    Also Read :

    Will increase ads after sampling phase of Colors Tamil: Ravish Kumar

    TLC to target Tamil, Telugu markets

    Living Foodz to add Tamil feed in FY 18-19

  • Siddharth Kumar Tewary features among Asian producers to watch at MIPTV

    Siddharth Kumar Tewary features among Asian producers to watch at MIPTV

    MUMBAI: Indian TV producers can take heart. One of their ilk will be taking centre stage come 10 April at arguably the world’s largest TV and digital content gathering – MIPTV  in Cannes.

    The chutzpah that One Life Studios founder & chief creative  Siddharth Kumar Tewary has displayed by keeping  IP ownership of his on-air Porus on Sony Entertainment, striking innovative distribution deals with productions he does for Indian broadcasters and the massive slate that he has developed in the 10 years since Swastik Productions existence has caught the attention of  the  Reed Midem team.

    And it has  featured him in a session that is entitled Asia: New Producers to watch. 

    And what’s special about Tewary being featured as a top producer is the fact that he is a creative professional who turned entrepreneur. The other folks featuring in the panel are working in networks:  SBS (Seoul Broadcasting System)  global productions producer InSoon Kim and Japan’s Nippon TV producer Hisashi Tsugiya.

    InSoon Kim is a producer in the company which has been behind  such shows as The Fantastic Duo, Running Man, Spooks love her,  I can see your voice,  among many others.  Tsugiya is the producer of a series called Mother, which has ben adapted in several countries.

    Tewary is excited to be able to  give his perspective on producing at MIPTV and to be on a panel which has highlighted him not just as an Indian producer but as an Asian one too. Says he: “We at One Life have been producing historical series for sometime. But what many don’t know is that we have a slew of affiliations with other producers who we are partnering under the One Life/Swastik umbrella. Finally, we have also turned distributor and have been representing a clutch of producers in India for international syndication sales. Hence, telling the story from both a creative and business growth perspective will be quite interesting.”
     

    The Asia: New Producers to watch  session is to take place at Auditorium A, in the Palais des Festivals on Level 3.

  • RAHUL SARANGI – GREYMATTER ENTERTAINMENT @ MIP FORMATS

    RAHUL SARANGI – GREYMATTER ENTERTAINMENT @ MIP FORMATS

    Mumbai: Co-founder & Director, Rahul Sarangi is the First Indian invited to be on the panel of Spot the Talent (Formats) @ MIP Formats – 7th April & 8th April 2018 at the Palais des Festivals et des Congres de Cannes in Cannes, France. Rahul will be a panelist amongst renowned industry experts like Matt Steiner, MD, Primal Media, UK; Assaf Gil, CEO, Gill Formats, Israel; Roy Aalderink, Concept Street, Germany, David Flynn, Co-Founder, Youngest Media, UK; Meredith Chambers, MD, Electric Ray, Sony Pictures, USA; Ed Waller, ED, C21Media, UK.

    MIPFormats is the incubator for big ideas, the next wave of must-see formats. Taking place two days before MIPTV, MIPFormats is where the world’s leading producers, commissioners, buyers and distributors discover the very best in entertainment formats.

    Spot the talent – Indies Around The World – A platform to discover exciting formats that have just been commissioned (or are about to be) in this special spotlight, featuring independent format creators and producers from around the world.

  • BBC Studios launches officially on 3 April

    BBC Studios launches officially on 3 April

    MUMBAI:  The newly created BBC Studios officially has launched today (3 April 2018), heralding a new chapter for the BBC’s content creation and exploitation activities.

    In an environment of increasing competition for viewers, the merger of BBC Worldwide and BBC Studios brings the BBC Group into line with the rest of the industry and ensures the creative and commercial success of the organisation. BBC Studios will see content through the full life cycle of development, commissioning, production and co-production, sales and distribution and will underpin the creation of new BBC-owned IP.

    BBC Studios CEO Tim Davie said, “Bringing together the UK’s most awarded production business, a world-class content sales business, our unique portfolio of brands, and a network of premium indie partners, BBC Studios has what it takes to create and export quality British programmes in this new age of content.”

    The newly formed BBC Studios will build on the unique heritage and global success of both organisations, with British creativity and outstanding content forming the cornerstone of the company.

    Leading a staff of around 3000 and overseeing an annual turnover of £1.4bn, Tim Davie, Chief Executive Officer and Mark Linsey, Chief Creative Officer officially assumed their new roles today and unveiled the organisation’s new vision, purpose and strategy.

    BBC Studios CCO Mark Linsey said, “Today is an important and exciting day for the BBC. For me, it’s all about BBC Studios’ outstanding creativity and the brilliant programmes that we and our indie partners make, so it’s even more thrilling that I can announce today that Shakespeare & Hathaway, our break-out daytime drama hit, has been recommissioned.” 

    And following last month’s announcement to set up a production office in Sydney, Australia, BBC Studios is developing new production opportunities in Beijing, China.  Award-winning executive producer Matthew Springford, who has over 20 years’ experience in factual programme-making, will be based at the BBC office in Beijing alongside the BBC Studios’ distribution team and will be working with Chinese TV stations and digital platforms to co-develop and co-produce original content and new formats across all factual genres.

    Also read: 

    Sony BBC Earth shakes up factual entertainment space

    Surya Food Agro begins testing of news, GEC channels

  • The Greatest Dancer Commissioned by BBC One

    The Greatest Dancer Commissioned by BBC One

    MUMBAI: The BBC has commissioned Syco Entertainment and Thames (part of FremantleMedia UK) to produce a new Saturday night dance talent show, it has been announced.

    The Greatest Dancer, an 8 x 60 entertainment series will feature a host of talent from across the world of dance as they give the performances of their lives in the search for the UK’s Greatest Dancer. From ballet to jazz; hip hop to Bollywood; the show is open to anyone. Expect dramatic auditions, incredible challenges and remarkable live performances as dancers from across the nation swing, swirl and sashay onto the stage each week in the hope of being crowned the winner. 

    Controller Entertainment Commissioning for the BBC, Kate Phillips said: “With the continued success of Strictly Come Dancing, the BBC is undoubtedly the home of dance. By launching The Greatest Dancer we want to give the vast array of dance talent across the UK the chance to shine. I can’t wait to work with Syco and Thames to uncover the talent out there and let our audience critique and celebrate the nation’s unsung dance heroes.”

    Nigel Hall, Global Head of Television for Syco Entertainment, said: “The auditions for the pilot episode saw some of the most jaw dropping, heartfelt and moving auditions I’ve ever seen on a dance show. There are some spectacular moments and we are beyond thrilled to have secured this commission over fierce competition. We look forward to working with the BBC team on something just a little bit special.” 

    Thames TV, Managing Director, Amelia Brown said: “The Greatest Dancer is such an exciting project and we’re delighted to be working with the BBC to bring it to life for everyone at home. It’s a fantastic format full of warmth and heart with the pilot revealing some incredibly magical moments. It’s sure to make an unmissable Saturday night treat for the whole family to enjoy.”

    The Greatest Dancer will be executive produced by Nigel Hall, Global Head of Television, Syco Entertainment, and Amelia Brown, Managing Director, Thames TV.

    The series has been commissioned for BBC One by Charlotte Moore, Director BBC Content, and Kate Phillips, Controller Entertainment Commissioning. The Commissioning Editor for the BBC is Kalpna Patel-Knight.

  • Weinstein Company files for bankruptcy

    Weinstein Company files for bankruptcy

    MUMBAI: The Weinstein Company, producer of movies such as Inglorious Bastards and Lion, has filed for bankruptcy. The move, intended to facilitate a buy-out offer from a private equity firm, came months after ex-chairman Harvey Weinstein has been accused of sexual harassment and assault.

    In a press release, the company said it would be releasing all employees from non-disclosure agreements. After spending months looking for a buyer or investor, it has entered into a “stalking horse” agreement with a Lantern Capital affiliate. Lantern affirmed its commitment to “maintaining the company’s assets and employees as a going concern.”

    Harvey Weinstein, once a big name in Hollywood, has been accused of sexual misconduct by more than seven women. According to reports, he used non-disclosure agreements as a secret weapon to silence his accusers. Company termed its latest move as “an important step toward justice for any victims who have been silenced by Harvey Weinstein.”

    “No one should be afraid to speak out or coerced to stay quiet. The company thanks the courageous individuals who have already come forward. Your voices have inspired a movement for change across the country and around the world,” the statement said.

    The studio produced and distributed critically acclaimed hits including The King’s Speech and Silver Linings Playbook and The Artist as well as TV series such as long-running fashion reality competition Project Runway. 

    Also Read :

    Viu partners Morris Street to launch Hollywood Squares India adaptation

    Hooq to maintain its Hollywood focus in India

  • Prime Focus Technologies and microsoft forge a pivotal partnership to lead the Media & Entertainment industry to the cloud

    Prime Focus Technologies and microsoft forge a pivotal partnership to lead the Media & Entertainment industry to the cloud

    MUMBAI: Prime Focus Technologies (PFT) has partnered with Microsoft to further strengthen its flagship CLEARTM Hybrid Cloud-enabled Media ERP Suite. CLEAR handles 1.5 M hours of content, and its extensive domain knowledge combined with Microsoft’s powerful Azure Cloud Services will create an intelligent, media-savvy cloud solution. The depth and breadth of this collaboration is designed to create new revenue streams for PFT by enabling it to develop new products and services for the Media & Entertainment (M&E) industry. PFT selected Microsoft Azure as its preferred cloud hosting platform to best implement CLEAR across geographies with extreme reliability, scalability, performance, and global accessibility powered by Microsoft.

    “We are seeing an explosion in the creation and consumption of media across platforms around the world. PFT has been offering global media brands the platform to manage their value chain from development to distribution to archiving. By leveraging Azure, PFT’s is positioned to deliver even more innovative, scalable solutions through Microsoft’s global, secure, reliable cloud infrastructure and advanced AI services”, said Meetul Patel, Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft India.

    With traditional revenues shrinking and costs increasing on the back of digital endeavours, this partnership will enable content owners to quickly and easily leverage the efficiencies, flexibility, and agility that the cloud provides-made possible by PFT’s flexible approach to virtualising business processes, content supply chain, and vision to build a connected enterprise. Microsoft Azure also enables innovation by the companies around new media workflows, new operational capabilities and, new business opportunities.      

    The foundation of the alliance begins with the immediate migration of all consolidated data storage to Azure for uninterrupted service, before the migration of core CLEARTM Media ERP to Azure coupled with Microsoft’s Cognitive Services. In addition, the companies will work in close cooperation on the overall go-to-market approach, which will help clients migrate to the cloud easily and more cost-effectively.

    “Increasing accessibility and time to market for content creators is a necessity in today’s fierce and rapidly developing M&E industry. Our flagship product, CLEARTM Media ERP on Microsoft Azure will help M&E companies manage the content supply chain efficiently and create more time for the creative process by truly tapping into automation by CLEAR and agility of Azure,” said Ramki Sankaranarayanan, Co-founder and CEO, PFT.       

    Combined with a full spectrum of capabilities and extensive media services available through 42 Azure regions across the globe-more than any other major cloud provider—Azure is exceptionally positioned to meet the needs of media enterprises and creative professionals around the globe. CLEAR allows M&E organizations to manage workflow orchestrations across the entire content supply chain on one system. It lays the foundation for streamlining content operations and helps M&E players enhance efficiencies across core processes like Acquisition, Review and Approval, Cataloguing, QC, Mastering, Distribution, Promos, and Localization. This exclusive capability by PFT will usher in extreme transparency across the content lifecycle, help automate business processes and lower Total Cost of Operations for M&E enterprises.

  • Keshet International acquires Greenbird Media

    Keshet International acquires Greenbird Media

    MUMBAI: After buying BBC Worldwide’s shareholding, Keshet International (Keshet) has made another acquisition. The company has acquired majority stake in London-based Greenbird Media (Greenbird), a production firm that owns stakes in various TV production companies founded by joint MDs Jamie Munro and Stuart Mullin

    Keshet acquired the 30 percent in Greenbird previously owned by BBC Worldwide and has increased its own stake in the firm.

    Keshet becomes the distribution partner for the independent production companies that are supported by Greenbird. Greenbird will continue to provide independent producers with access to innovative funding models and expertise in the commercial exploitation of IP and licensing deals to support their creative productions.

    Keshet CEO Alon Shtruzman said, “Greenbird Media, with its entrepreneurial and creative culture, is the perfect match for us. We share similar philosophies and values, and by combining Keshet’s global footprint with Greenbird Media’s stellar team, I see limitless possibilities and accelerated growth.”

    Keshet International U.K. and West Europe MD Sammy Nourmand said, “Jamie and Stuart have created a nurturing and supportive environment for the impressive stable of producers they work with. The quality content that the Indies produce speaks for itself and the opportunity to work with the team at Greenbird and those IPC’s was too good to turn down.”

    Also Read:

    Star Plus brings ‘Prisoners of War’ to India, renowned director to direct 

    Keshet International inks first-look deal with Woodcut Media

  • “A Taj Mahal Love Story” (A film by Madhureeta Anand) announced officially during Justin Trudeau’s visit

    “A Taj Mahal Love Story” (A film by Madhureeta Anand) announced officially during Justin Trudeau’s visit

    MUMBAI: Justin Trudeau announces the first official Indo-Canadian co production titled “A Taj Mahal Love Story”.  The official Canadian announcement was quoted  saying  “True Space Films (Toronto) and Ekaa Films (Delhi) have signed an agreement to co-produce “A Taj Mahal Love Story,” a full-length feature film with a strong woman empowerment narrative. The film will be shot in India with editing and post-production completed in Toronto”.

    While Ekaa Films Pvt Ltd is Director Writer Madhureeta Anand’s company who has written and directed “A Taj Mahal Love Story”, True Space Films belongs to  Anu Vittal , a Canada based producer.

     Madhureeta Anand’s  ‘Kajarya’ received several international accolades before its release in India in December 2015 and subsequently found a home on Netflix.

     “ With the casting process currently going on ‘A Taj Mahal Love Story’ will be shot in Agra in September this year .  The script has been described as path breaking because it has a strong woman centric theme with a unique screenplay that is quirky and strong at the same time.   A lot of the film’s crew will be Canadian and all postproduction will take place there as well.  However the story, actors and locations will be Indian – making this a true Indo-Canadian collaboration.

     Madhureeta Anand is an extremely prolific film writer and director.  She has directed two feature films, written five feature films, directed many documentary films and series, spanning an array of genres. Many of her films have won national and international awards.

      Madhureeta says  “I spent three years researching and writing this script. And so this is a film close to my heart.  Having the Prime Minister of Canada announce it  as a part of the Canadian and Indian government’s joint initiatives is a rare privilege and naturally I’m thrilled. The collaboration with Canada will make this a truly international film and I look forward to crafting it as such.  In today’s world with shrinking box office numbers worldwide, it is imperative that we expand the scope of our films and their audiences. Why limit our films to just Indian audiences? Why not go to people everywhere. But this can only happen if we collaborate internationally and tell our stories to the world” 

    Co producer Anu Vital quotes  “Creative industries are very important to Canadians as culture connectors with the rest of the world . The total contribution of the cultural  Industries is $54.6 Billlion to the GDP of Canada per annum. With this movie we want to tell the story of love with a focus on women empowerment, which is currently a very strong initiative for the Canadian Government as stated by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during his women’s round table session in Mumbai on Feb 20th, 2018. We believe that the movie will not just tell a story that connects humanity across the world but will also lead to increasing social and cultural capital of both Canada and India.”