ITV

Category: Production House

  • Eyeing B.A.G-ful of opportunities in media

    In the 1990s when a rookie TV producer called Anurradha Prasad started B.A.G. Films — (some old hands in the company say the strange acronym stands for Bhagwan, Allah, God) — skeptics sneered that it was another flight of fancy of a young girl from a well connected political family of Bihar, a state that can easily be dubbed the Wild East of the Indian political theatre.

    But over a decade later, critics have been more or less silenced. B.A.G. Films is today a listed company and showing decent financial results to investors, if not exactly setting the Arabian Sea on fire. It has a media training institute up and running, is doing several shows on TV channels, including Doordarshan’s terrestrial network, and has two feature films ready for release. Add to all that are its recent forays into FM radio.

     

    B.A.G. Films Ltd MD Anurradha Prasad

    “After the initial public offer in 2003, we were in a phase of consolidation as we realised we needed to move into a different league where more established players were operating. That’s the reason why we didn’t get into new businesses,” B.A.G. Films LTD MD Anurradha Prasad told Indiantelevision.com, sitting in her plush office in the company’s swanky corporate headquarters in Noida’s Film City on the outskirts of Delhi.

     

    There are also talks about B.A.G. turning into a broadcaster with the launch of at least one TV news channel (crime to be specific), if not two. But Prasad hushes away queries on this subject saying such reports are “purely speculative at the moment.” Rather, she counter-punches by asking, “Do people realize that starting a TV channel is not child’s play? And news channels are costly affairs.”

     

    Such assertions notwithstanding, rumours are still doing the rounds that B.A.G. is quietly preparing to launch a TV channel relating to crime news and shows as it has gained some expertise in this field by producing crime shows for Star News.

     

    ‘Red Alert‘ on Star News strengthened the channel‘s crime slot

    Incidentally, two such shows, Sansani and Red Alert, might not still be figuring in the Top 50 list, but do get ratings, which Prasad points out, are “heartening and encouraging.”

     

    After the consolidation, comes the expansion. According to B.A.G. Films vice-president (systems and planning) Amit Jain, middle of 2005 the company decided to make forays into FM radio segment, animation and creating content for mobile phones and other hand-held devises.

     

    Value-added services like content syndication and tailoring content for various delivery platforms for different technologies is going to become a big business, Jain explains.

     

    “At the moment, almost 90 per cent of the revenue is coming from TV programmes. But over the medium to long term, we expect each of the new segments to contribute significantly to the overall kitty,” Jain avers, pinning his hopes on the business activities taken up by B.A.G. in recent months.

     

    However, equity fund managers are still skeptical of the media company, promoted by Prasad and her Member of Parliament husband Rajiv Shukla.

     

    Said an equity analyst who tracks several media company stocks, “In terms of business, B.A.G. is doing well, but the programming strategy is flawed, which leaves the company with little scope to scale up operations. In media, the whole game hinges on the scalability factor.”

     

    ‘Siddhanth‘ on Star One gave Indiantelevision a star in Pavan Malhotra

    Another capital market analyst adds that B.A.G. Films might be doing almost 20 hours of programming per week for various TV channels, but it needs shows to break into the Top 20 and Top 50 list of programmes.

     

    “As a fund manager, I’d say B.A.G. needs to build up a sizeable market capitalization and show better earnings per share, which would come only when the company’s growth is good,” the analyst adds.

     

    For the year ending 31 March 2006, B.A.G.’s net income from sales / operations were up 16.4 per cent to Rs 423.7 million from Rs 364.1 million the previous year. Net profit after tax stood at Rs 30.5 million compared to Rs 33.8 million in the year ago period. The company said that lower net profit after tax was mainly due to significantly higher depreciation charge due to capitalization of new building at Noida. The earnings per share (EPS) was Rs 0.51 for FY’06.

     

    Woh Hue Na Hamare on DD

    Apart from launching two movies, the company’s average programming hours per month during the quarter ended 31 March 2006 were 46 for Q4 as compared to 73 in the corresponding quarter last year. Over 95 per cent of the company’s programmes continue to be commissioned. A new launch during Q4 ended March 2006 was Woh Hue Na Hamare, a half hour twice-a-week soap on DD1.

     

    Though B.A.G.’s Jain might not entirely concur with market and equity analysts, he does admit that the company is looking for both top line and bottomline growth. “Our balance sheet is very important and more important is the fact that it should reflect growth as we have to live up to our investors’ expectations.”

     

    B.A.G. Films Ltd was incorporated in 1993. The company has six separate business units (SBUs) which are TV software, ISOMES- International School of Media and Entertainment Studies, film production, animation, FM Radio and new media & convergence

     

     

    Here is a brief lowdown on each of the segments that B.A.G. operates in.

     

    TV PROGRAMMING

     

     

     

    The biggest revenue earner for the company presently, content generation naturally gets prime attention from the B.A.G management.

     

    ‘Poll Koll‘ strengthened the political satire genre on TV

    Out of the 90 per cent revenue being raked in by B.A.G.-produced shows, a bulk of it comes from the Star Group, followed by Doordarshan (DD) and regional language channel Tara, which is promoted by former director-general of DD and ex-CEO of Star India, Rathikant Basu.

     

    On Star News alone, B.A.G. has a number of shows like Sansani, Red Alert, Poll Khol and a programme on super-natural elements, Kaun Hai. On top of this, the company also does part news gathering for Star News as part of business process outsourcing (BPO).

     

    “Between 10-20 per cent of the revenue coming from Star News is through the news gathering BPO,” Prasad admits. Work from Star News contributed Rs 136 million or 32 per cent of the company’s overall revenue in FY06.

     

    The company has already produced more than 5,000 hours of on-air software and has a rich footage library of more than 50,000 hours. Star Group (Star News, Star Plus, Star One), Sony Entertainment Television, Sahara Network, DD News are some of the channels that B.A.G. is associated with.

     

    The darker side of life: Haqeeqat on Sahara One

    B.A.G. has been associated with popular programmes like Poll Khol, a political satire on Star News, Kumkum- Ek Pyara Sa Bandhan soap on Star Plus, news magazines Rozana and Khabrein Bollywood Ki on DD News and multi-award winning Haqeekat on Sahara One.

     

    “We are presently in talks with Sony Entertainment TV India for some shows, “Prasad said, adding that the company is also looking at exploiting other Indian language channels by producing or dubbing programmes in Tamil, Telugu and Bengali.

     

    According to her, the revenues are not high in regional language television, but they are avenues of expansion and future growth.

     

    MEDIA TRAINING

     

    After settling down in the media education space, ISOMES now targets an expansion

     

    ISOMES or the International School of Media and Entertainment Studies has collaborated with the Missouri School of Journalism, USA, the oldest journalism school of the world.

     

    ISOMES offers post-graduate diploma in broadcast journalism, TV production and direction and media management. The school also has six months diploma courses in acting and television direction & production, besides short-term courses like radio jockey, air time sales and TV editing.

     

    According to Prasad, the media training institute is now ready for expansion.

     

    FILM PRODUCTION

    B.A.G. is producing two films in 2006. One of the films Zindaggi Rocks stars Sushmita Sen and Shiney Ahuja. The film is scripted and directed by Tanuja Chandra and Anu Malik has composed the music.

     

    Sushmita Sen rocks in ‘Zindaggi Rocks‘

    The second film in Punjabi language called Mannat starring youngsters like Jimmy Sheirgill and TV star-turned –film actress Kulraj Randhawa. The film is directed by Gurbir S Grewal.

     

    Made on modest budgets, the B.A.G.-produced films can be called small budget films if compared to the latest box-office hit Krrish (Rs 600 million) or some earlier films in recent times in Bollywood.

     

    “We need to be watchful on the financial side as we are a stand alone company making forays into film making unlike established players who have corporatised a lot in recent times,” Jain says.

     

    While Zindaggi Rocks cost Rs 60 million, Mannat’s budget was Rs. 17.5 million. But an aggressive marketing strategy like selling various rights judiciously makes B.A.G. hopeful that part of the cost involved in film making could be recovered before the release of the movies.

     

    According to Prasad, “Almost 90 per cent of investment is recovered through selling rights and small budgets films can do this successfully.”

     

     

    The company has plans to release five films by 2007.

     

     

     

    ANIMATION

     

    B.A.G. Films has entered into a joint venture with Sieundesign Co Ltd, a leading Korean firm that has presence in production, distribution and licensing of animation films and TV series.

     

    This initiative of B.A.G. is to tap the growing animation segment and also strengthen presence in the mobile telephony content business. The JV is proposed to be named Sieun & B.A.G. Animation Pvt. Ltd.

     

    At present, talks are on with some American companies for creating content.

     

     

    FM RADIO

     

    Entering the FM Radio business for B.A.G. Films was a natural stride towards forward integration, Prasad says.

     

    With the government proposing to limit such cross holdings in different segments of broadcasting business via a legislation that is being hotly debated these days, such integration process may have to be reviewed by the company at a later stage.

     

    The company has bagged the FM Radio licences for Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and certain parts of Punjab, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. For this purpose B.A.G. Infotainment Pvt. Ltd has been formed.

     

    While the top management at B.A.G. is very bullish on the radio FM business, market analysts say as radio is a long gestation business activity, a lot of this enthusiasm might evaporate once operations start and a clearer picture emerges on revenues.

     

    “The company has a long way to go in radio business, though an announced move to form a consortium with other smaller radio operators for airtime sales is a good move,” a fund manager with a Mumbai-based company says.

     

    NEW MEDIA

    The world of media, entertainment, telecom, infotech and broadcasting is undergoing a change towards convergence. The benefits of technological advancement, convergence, digital broadcasting, high definition programming, streaming and compression and the challenges of an increasingly competitive market place, demand synergy and optimum utilization of resources to develop multi-purpose software for all media windows, B.A.G claims.

     

    With an eye on tomorrow, new media initiative includes video streaming, animation and gaming, interactive content for broadband and mobi-sodes specially developed for mobile phones and handheld devices.

     

    The company already provides voice content including news, cricket and sports, jokes, astro forecasts, celebrity interviews, Bollywood reviews and music album reviews in four languages, Hindi, English, Tamil and Malayalam.

     

    “Value added services are becoming popular in India and content would be the greatest pusher for such initiatives,” explains Prasad on why the company is flirting with activities for which there are specialized outfits already operating.

     

    “Presently, the revenue is not big as telecom companies take away the maximum share (80 pr cent), but over a period of time we see the content provider’s share too increasing significantly,” Jain adds.

     

     

    CONVERGENCE

     

    A group of professionals are working closely to explore opportunities, which are coming through 3G.

     

     

    (Rs 47 = 1US$)

  • American television loses an iconic producer in Aaron Spelling

    A few days ago (Friday, 23 June) Aaron Spelling, who holds the Guinness World Record as the most prolific producer in television, passed away. The 83-year-old, who died in his mansion in Los Angeles, had suffered a stroke on 18 June.In a career spanning an astonishing five decades, Spelling, who had a great fear of flying, worked in one form or another on nearly 200 projects on both television and film.

    Such was his sphere of influence that a trivia fact on imdb.com indicates that in the 1970s, when he had one hit show after another, he had so many shows on ABC with who he had a contract that insiders used to joke that ABC stood for “Aaron‘s Broadcasting Company”. He was involved with around 70 weekly television series, which amounted to around 4,220 hours. Back to back it would take 176 days to watch all of them.

    Born into a Jewish family, Spelling, in his early life, had to fight against the tag of being different. He started his career in Hollywood in the 1950‘s. Success did not come in a hurry though. He spent some time as a writer and as a bit-player actor (he was a gas station attendant in an episode of I Love Lucy). He then donned the hat of a producer thanks to a break given by Dick Powell.

    His first hit was the crime drama Burke‘s Law, starring Gene Barry. However it was the next show The Mod Squad in 1969 that paved the way for his path breaking career. In the 1970‘s he cemented his reputation by producing one great show after another. Some of them included S.W.A.T., Starsky and Hutch, Charlie‘s Angels, which were conceptually so appealing that Hollywood, desperately searching for ideas, made them into films a few decades later.

    Charlie‘s Angels showed women in a role other than a homemaker happy with kids. It is justly considered ground breaking in terms of having women who took care of business and did not need a man to look after them. More importantly it gave young girls in the 1970‘s and 1980‘s strong role models to look up to.

    Starsky and Hutch was one of the first great cop shows on American television. It paved the way for numerous cop shows including the likes of Miami Vice.

    There are two clear reasons for Spellings‘ success. One was his keen sense of intuition of what audiences at a particular point of time wanted to watch. The other was the fact that he always respected the viewer. Spelling was also great in the casting arena, a prime example being Charlies Angels which made household names out of Jaclyn Smith, Kate Jackson and most of all, Farrah Fawcett.

    That is a knack he never lost. In the 1990‘s he produced Beverly Hills 90210 which is considered to have defined a generation of privileged youth who despite being surrounded by luxury in the svelte surroundings of Beverly Hills have anger issues. He was astute in casting his daughter Tori Spelling as a teen. While the father and daughter did subsequently have their differences, Tori issued a statement saying that she was glad that she had the chance to reconcile with her dad before he passed away.

    Another piece of great casting was having Joan Collins play the matriarch in the long running soap Dynasty. This show in fact proved that Spelling was comfortable working in different genres.

    Spelling noted that Collins brought a huge aspect of her personality to the role which lent the show more bite. “We wrote a character, but the character could have been played by 50 people and 49 of them would have failed. She made it work.”

    So there was Dynasty on one hand an escapist soap and then there was Family. This was a far more realistic drama that ran from 1976-1980. Spelling had the courage to tackle among other subjects – homosexuality which even now Hollywood is skittish about tackling. Dynasty too had a gay character. More recently Spelling was involved with the supernatural show Charmed which airs in India on Star World.

    Recently, 7th Heaven passed The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie as the longest-running family drama.

    In real life Spelling had a 123 room mansion in Los Angeles which many considered to be a parallel to the life of ease and excess that the rich characters in Dynasty lived. “The house that Dynasty built‘ is how tour operators describe his mansion to hordes of tourists. In fact, Spelling was known to on occasion wave a hello to tourists. the soure of his wealth came from Spelling-Goldberg Productions. In 1986 the company went public.

    Spelling may have made escapist crowd pleasing fare, but he was also not shy of working on projects that took a hard look at subjects. An example is the film And The Band Played On which looked at how Aids would not have been such a menace had the authorities paid more attention during the early days.

    As far as the critics were concerned Spelling had a choice to make. As he once said in an AP interview way back in 1986, “The knocks by the critics bother you, but you have a choice of proving yourself to 300 critics or 30 million fans.” Going by the ratings and the enduring appeal that his shows constantly got over the years, Spelling can rest in peace knowing that he fulfilled a mission that other producers will be lucky to come anywhere close to achieving.

  • Prasad EFX delivers VFX for Rakesh Roshan’s ‘Krrish’

    Prasad EFX delivers VFX for Rakesh Roshan’s ‘Krrish’

    MUMBAI: Prasad EFX, one of the largest Digital Post Production Studios in India, has executed more than 1200 VFX shots for the upcoming Hrithik Roshan starrer Krrish.

    The movie, produced and directed by Rakesh Roshan, is loaded with spectacular VFX and is all set to catapult Indian VFX to Hollywood standards, says the company in an official release.

    VFX Supervisors from Hollywood Craig Mumma and Marc Kolbe, worked with a team of more than 100 VFX specialists in Prasad EFX to come out with the VFX sequences.

    Prasad EFX senior team leader Himakumar says, “We have done very high end 3D modeling and animation including whole body scans. A lot of 3D models of cars, bikes, helicopter, birds and animals were created and animated to match live action footage. Fire sequences are always a challenge and we have used it to great effect in Krrish. Very complicated wire removals and compositing work were minutely executed, so were critical special effects that add intensity to images and action shots. A whole futuristic set was designed and implemented by the team at Prasad EFX in 3D.”

    Rakesh Roshan says, “Prasad EFX has exceeded my expectations because they’ve done a fantastic job – unbelievable! I was a bit tense as to whether it will be to the standard of Hollywood but I think they have lifted the status of the film to a very high level. It is not like Hollywood. It is Hollywood. I salute the entire EFX team.”

    Craig Mumma, who has to his credit films including Independence Day and Godzilla, says, “One of the reasons I was approached by Rakesh Roshan to work on Krrish was because we wanted to do some mind blowing, world standard VFX. We had to keep various things in mind, budgets, capability, infrastructure and so on. We looked at many studios and all our efforts pointed to Prasad EFX. I wanted to work with a company that will get involved with the project to a very deep level. EFX in my past couple of years of experience with other projects has delivered the goods well above my expectations.”

    Adds Craig, “Working with the people at Prasad EFX has been a great experience. They understand films, they understand VFX and that way I was able to get the most out of them. The VFX will be a trendsetter. We will see more of this happening in the future.”

    Prasad EFX also provided the Digital Intermediate service for Krrish. Senior line producer, DI, Rajiv Raghunathan says, “DI is catching on fast. Right now it is the big budget and special effects intensive movies that use this service. Once filmmakers understand the advantages of having a Digital Master at 2K/4K resolution, then only the full potential of DI will be realized. Digital Cinema, DVD masters, HD/Sd outputs, Mobile/PDA delivery, web and other future media can be served content from a single digital master resulting in consistency, cost & time savings and flexibility. Very soon DI will be part of the planning for all movies. One obvious change noticed in the past one year is that DI is being used more towards enhancing the look and feel of the film as opposed to correcting shooting flaws.”

    Prasad Film Labs made over 700 prints for Krrish for national and global distribution form the DI negatives, according to the official release.

  • Media education space in focus as industry biggies take aim

    The Indian media and entertainment industry is expected to grow at 19 per cent compound annual growth rate to reach Rs 837.4 billion by 2010 from Rs 353 billion at present, says a study by FICCI and PricewaterhouseCoopers. As market analysts point out, one area, which is going to capitalise immensely on this expansion will be the media education sector.

    So, that explains the kind of boom that this particular stream of education has been witnessing since the last two years. Some of the listed media firms in the country such as Zee and B.A.G. have also chosen the occasion to explore the media education space while more players are gearing up to make their entries.

    B.A.G. invested to the tune of Rs 120 million to launch its International School of Media and Entertainment Studies (iSOMES), Noida, in collaboration with Missouri School of Journalism, USA in August 2004. Zee Interactive Learning Systems Ltd (ZILS), the education arm of the Subhash Chandra-promoted Essel Group, launched its own media institute, the Zee Institute of Media Arts (ZIMA), in the same year in November on an initial investment of Rs 30 million.

    The latest to join the bandwagon is the Subhash Ghai promoted Mukta Arts Ltd which will unveil its Whistling Woods International Ltd (WWIL) in July this year. Mukta Arts has invested Rs 500 million to set up what it claims is Asia‘s biggest film, television, animation and media arts institute in Mumbai.

    Balaji Telefilms is another player, which is seriously looking at the media education sector. According to market sources, the production house will be launching its institute in Pune within another year or two.

    B.A.G Film‘s iSOMES at Noida

    Looking at the kind of investments made by these media firms on media education, the thought would occur that if they are considering the space as a natural extension of their main area of business. Does a firm hold on the media space and the right understanding of the industry enable them to give a better performance in this area? Are they able to translate the kind of talent accessible to improved business performance in the areas of production and broadcasting? How much does it help them to forget the worries of head-hunting for their own organisations? Are their final products competitive enough to survive in the uncertain industry (here films)?

    “The media industry is now driven by the techniques of convergence and I would say a well-trained talent pool is the key for survival,” says B.A.G. Films promoter Anurradha Prasad. “Earlier, we used to hire fresh trainees and spend a lot of time and effort to get them equipped. Now, we are able to source well-rounded professionals from our institute and that helps our cause to an extent. It saves a lot of trouble because they are already trained. That way, the whole industry is also benefited.”

    ZILS CEO Arun Khetan says his institute follows a standalone business model irrespective of Zee‘s interest in the broadcast business. “Irrespective of our parent company‘s interest in the broadcast business, we have access to all the major players in the industry,” he says.

    Speaking on the advantages, Khetan adds it brings a certain kind of synergy into the business. “You can get the right kind of feedback on the programming and other areas from your student community. They can be very good critics. You can use this talent pool for your research as well.”

    Subhash Ghai‘s Mukta Arts has followed the theory that, expert knowledge should be passed on to the right hands. Explains Chaitanya Chinchlikar, who heads the marketing division of WWIL, on the rational behind Mukta extending to film education: “If one knows how to make a qualitatively good film and turn a profit while doing so, it would make sense to teach others how to do so.”

    When queried on the kind of revenues that these initiatives chip into the kitty of their parent companies, the general feedback is that there is not much dependence as such for the initial years. “We are not looking at WWIL as a revenue resource at this point of time. The idea is to invest in quality education, which keeps up to the international standards, and boosts the whole industry by offering well-trained talents,” says Ghai.

    Khetan reveals that, Zima was launched as a high level pilot project and major expansion plans are on the anvil. “We made an initial investment of about Rs 30 million to launch this project. Now the plan is to convert it as a complete academy through a gradual process of expansion. We are planning to pump in at least Rs 350 million more over a peiod of three years,” he says.

    WWIL dean Kurt Inderbitzinn

    While Zima is mainly targeting Indian students, WWIL and iSOMES (remember the Missouri connection) keep an eye on the international aspirants as well. That fact is reflected in the fees structure that these institutes follow. Zima charges about Rs 150,000 for its one-year Diploma course in Television Direction, according to Khetan.

    “While offering a competitive curriculum, we have also made it a point to attract the right Indian talent through an affordable fees structure. Presently we are not targeting international students,” says Khetan.

    On the other hand, the two-year film direction course in WWIL costs about Rs 1 million. On an aggressive note — in order to attract global attention — WWIL has gone ahead and associated with most of the leading entertainment technology providers on the infrastructure front. The institute also has its dean in the internationally renowned film-television professional Kurt Inderbitzin.

    “There is a clear lack of International level of technical expertise. Hence India falls behind in a truly global economy,” reasons Chinchlikar.

    At a time when media institutes mushroom as each and everyone – be it media firms, media personalities or independent aspirants – try a hand in the seemingly lucrative space, what should be the criterion for choosing an effective educational platform?

    “I agree that lots of shops are being opened these days and they are charging some unbelievable amounts as fees. It is up to the aspirants to decide between boys and men. The criteria one should look at to choose an institute would be, exposure, experience and quality of curriculum. Work experience in a live environment is very important,” says Prasad.

    So much said and done, there remains the most important element in any education – placements. Khetan feels that the television industry‘s growth in the recent past and the eagerness to rope in the right talent has boosted the placement side really well. “The concept of campus interviews is now gradually coming into this space. Well trained students will really benefit from this trend,” he says.

    Visualisation of the reception area at WWIL

    “An Indian Film, TV, Animation & Media Arts institute having campus placements akin to MBA schools and Engineering colleges will be commonplace. The industry is hungry for professionally trained talent,” confirms Chinchlikar.

    Prasad feels that this has become true to an extent for television, while it is not the same for film aspirants. “People who are trained in television-related streams are able to fetch jobs very easily and the payment is also decent. An assistant director earns in the range of Rs 12,000 to Rs 16,000 and that is not very bad if that person is a new entrant. However, it is still difficult in films,” says Prasad.

    Film industry aspirants indiantelevision.com spoke to call for an organised professional set up to drive recruitments and a competitive payment structure. They feel that firms such as Zee, Mukta and B.A.G. should take an initiative in this regard. “If the industry is coming up with so many courses, the main question is – are they prepared to offer job and pay on merit? Or do they expect their students to work free-of-cost for them? Industry contacts should not be the criteria, but the right talent. Opportunities should be given on merit,” says a qualified film aspirant in condition of anonymity.

    “It matters what training has been imparted to the student – students who are taught expired knowledge, will not be valued heavily in the industry, and hence will be paid less. Time will tell that well-trained, technically brilliant freshers will be able to command a much higher price in the market than their current peers,” Chinchlikar responds.

    That seems a valid question and a valid explanation at a time the industry is witnessing an explosion of growth. However, lot would depend on how these companies plan their growth in this space.

  • B.A.G Films ties-up with Korean production firm Sieundesign

    B.A.G Films ties-up with Korean production firm Sieundesign

    MUMBAI: Anurradha Prasad’s B.A.G Films is pursuing opportunities in new media avenues and also eyeing the animation frontier. The company has entered into a joint venture with a Korean firm Sieundesign, which has a presence in the production, distribution and licensing of animated movies and TV series.

    The JV is proposed to be named “Sieun & B.A.G. Animation Pvt. Ltd.” with both companies holding an equal stake. The business model will involve both creation of IP for global audiences as well as servicing outsourced projects.

    Speaking about the development, Prasad shared,“This initiative represents B.A.G. Films’ entry into the exciting and strongly growing animation business. We are delighted to tie up with Sieundesign Co Ltd, which is a leading international animation player and look forward leveraging its experience to building a strong presence in India.”
    B.A.G, is already running a media school –iSOMES (International School of Media and Entertainment Studies) and through the new JV, the company will be extending into animation education too.

    “We understand that we require a huge work force and so we will be training people as a backward integration excercise. The animation course starts in October,” remarked Prasad.

    “As a content company B.A.G films has always stayed at the forefront of cutting edge technology and even in the animation JV, the idea is to create a synergy, a best of both the worlds where we will utilise India’s expertise in animation production and combine it with the Korean strength of concieving characters and content,” concluded Prasad.

    Sieundesign presently owns more than 30 IPs of cartoon character content, which include Black Jelly, Booby, Yamm, Newton, Flower Terry, Tomato, 205 Friends, Little Tinny, Mr. Cool, Dear Alice, Dennis Family, Eyeme Angel, Emily, Pumpkin Seed, Oh-Baby, Brambly and Moose Bear besides the children performance Rise Up Monster character development. It also supplies cartoon content to several Korean mobile and on line services.

    All animation and character licenses owned by Sieundesign internationally will be owned in India by the joint venture entity.

    At the same time, B.A.G. Films is also looking at initiatives including video streaming, DVD, animation and gaming, interactive content for broadband, mobisodes, wireless transmission and the internet, besides identifying new uses for existing technologies such as digital libraries, interactive story telling and distance learning, according to a posting today on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

    The company is also contemplating providing voice content including news, cricket & sports, jokes, astro forecasts, celebrity interviews, Bollywood reviews and music album reviews in four languages namely Hindi, English, Tamil and Malayalam.

    B.A.G is already working the major cellular operators Airtel and Hutch on IVR.

    On the movie front, the production house proposes to release two films during the current calendar year. Zindagi Rocks, with Sushmita Sen and Shiney Ahuja as the lead actors is directed by Tanuja Chandra with music composed by Anu Malik. Then there is a Punjabi love story directed by Gurbir S Grewal with Jimmy Shergil and Kulraj Randhawa as the lead actors.

  • ESS kicks off a month of finals in May

    ESS kicks off a month of finals in May

    MUMBAI: ESPN Star Sports (ESS) has declared the month of May as the “Month of Finals”. The action series begins with soccer when Liverpool meets West Ham on 13 May in the FA Cup final. The telecast will kick off at 9 55 pm (Singapore time) and 7 25 am (IST).

    The FA Cup final follows the Champions League final, between Barcelona and Arsenal on 18 May. The final telecast is scheduled for 2 am and 11 30 pm (IST).

    UEFA Cup action heats up on 10 May at Eindhoven, Netherlands, as Middlesbrough and Sevilla meet for their first European final, with both finals of UEFA’s cup competitions featuring England vs Spain. ESS will telecast the finals on 11 May at 2 30 am and 12 am (IST).

    Another season of the Barclays English Premier League comes to an exciting conclusion in May. ESS will telecast the action starting 7 May from 9 55 pm and 7 25 pm (IST).

    It is the business end of the NBA with the coveted ring awaiting the Champions. Post-season sees 16 teams, eight each from the Eastern and Western Conferences fighting out for the right to play in the NBA Finals. ESPN will telecast this on 25 May, 27 May, 29 May and 31 May at 8 am (Singapore Time) and 5 30 pm (IST).

  • Creative Eye forays into sports marketing, celebrity management

    Creative Eye forays into sports marketing, celebrity management

    MUMBAI: Production house Creative Eye Ltd has made a foray into sports marketing and celebrity management. The company has begun the innings by marketing the telecast rights of the on going EurAsia Cup Cricket Series. It is planning to include tennis also under the purview.

    “Creative Eye’s aim is to function as an event promoter and rights holder of sports properties. We will be negotiating with private broadcasters as well as Doordarshan. We have started with the EurAsia cricket series and propose to hold the series every year, thus establishing our mark in the field of sports. Another segment we are very serious about is tennis,” states Creative Eye director Dheeraj Kumar.

    In an official communiqué, Creative Eye said its foray into sports had opened new avenues for the company in terms of revenue generations and also added new horizons for the company’s overall growth. “We are targeting revenue of $3 million out of the first EurAsia Cup series,” says Kumar.

    The first edition of the EurAsia Cup Cricket Series is currently underway in Abu Dhabi. As already reported, Sahara One Media & Entertainment Ltd. acquired the satellite rights of the series from Creative Eye. Now the production house has brought Prasar Bharati also on board to telecast the series from 29 April, when the second leg of the series begins. The matches will be aired live on DD Sports from 4 pm onwards, apart from the satellite telecast on Sahara One’s Hindi movie channel Filmy.

    Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Trust , in association with the Abu Dhabi Cricket Council has conceptualised the EurAsia Cup Cricket Series, which features India A, Pakistan A, Sri Lanka A, Holland, Ireland and the United Arab Emirates. Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Trust’s sports wing V K Sports then signed Creative Eye to market the telecast rights of the event.

    “Regarding EurAsia, our responsibility is to market the telecast rights and also ensure that the logistics are in place. This is a cash-less deal. Jawaharlal Nehru Sports Trust’s interest in the initiative is to promote the young cricketing talents in this country,” explains Kumar.

    Creative Eye is planning to market two more sports events this year, including a tennis tournament. Celebrity management is another area the company is planning a foray into. “We have already initiated with prominent sportspersons of the country, including various new talents in cricket. We will be divulging the names as soon as the deals are through,” says Kumar.

  • AVM Productions and Spirit Nipuna form JV

    AVM Productions and Spirit Nipuna form JV

    BANGALORE: AVM Productions and Spirit Media (subsidiary of Suresh Productions and Rama Naidu Studios) have announced a Joint Venture (JV) to create an advanced state-of-the-art film processing, Digital Intermediate (DI) and Visual Effects facility in Chennai.

    The new JV will kick off with 50 world-class visual effects professionals and technicians, and will double its numbers by the end of the year 2006. The team would operate out of AVM Studios, which has state-of-the-art infrastructure and will also install top-of-the-line equipment for Visual Effects, DI and Film Processing, informs an official release.

    This JV would also bring in first-of-its-kind the “Kodak-kit chemistry negative processing technology” imported from New Zealand. For the first time in the country, film makers would benefit from the high quality Kodak film and negative processing experience.

    “We are delighted to form a JV with the Spirit-Nipuna team, which will bring immense value to the film making industry. Our joint experience with 50,000 man years in film making will surely boost the technical composition to Digital standards.. This partnership will definitely set new standards film making,” says AVM Productions managing partner MS Guhan.

    “The combined of AVM and Spirit Nipuna corporate expertise will provide film makers and entertainment companies with a well balanced studio facility equipped with a rare mix of the latest imaging technologies, artists, visual effects (VFX) supervisors, and technicians to provide story-driven visual enhancement.” says Suresh Productions MD Suresh Babu.

    “The Spirit-Nipuna success in Hyderabad and now the partnership with AVM Productions will bring in significant opportunities in the domestic and global visual effects segment. The joint team would work on forthcoming films being produced by AVM as well as other producers in Chennai.” says Spirit Media MD Rana Daggubati.

    “We’re proud to be associated with AVM Productions, and are very excited to work on challenging projects. This partnership brings in significant opportunities with the major boom in the global digital effects industry,” says Nipuna COO Deepak Mangla.

    Spirit-Nipuna has successfully completed their first Tamil project AVM’s ‘Tirupati’ an Ajith starrer, which has been released today. Spirit-Nipuna bagged this project against stiff competition from existing post production facilities in India, the release adds.

  • CCCL puts TV production firm Celador up for sale

    CCCL puts TV production firm Celador up for sale

    MUMBAI: Complete Communications Corporation (CCCL), the parent company of television production firm Celador Productions and Celador International, has announced that it is making the worldwide intellectual property rights and UK programme library of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, its globally successful quiz show format, available for sale.

    If a sale of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is agreed, the parent company will encourage and support a management buyout of both Celador Productions and Celador international.

    CCCL has employed the services of corporate finance advisory house, LongAcre Partners, to advise on the sale.

    CCCL chairman, Paul Smith said, “I have been at the helm of Celador for over 20 years and it is no secret that I have, for some time, wished to reduce my responsibilities within the television division to allow me to focus my attention on opportunities within radio broadcasting and film production. I also wish to allow myself more leisure time. To that end I have been pursuing a partial exit and succession strategy for the past 18 months.

    “I have already significantly downscaled my day-to-day involvement with Celador Productions and Celador International by devolving responsibility to the managing director of each company. Both are led by motivated and accomplished management executives, have healthy current projects as well as a number of exciting developments in the pipeline, and prosperous futures ahead of them.”

    Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? was launched in September 1998 in the UK on ITV1 and quickly became a ratings phenomenon. In India, it changed the fortunes of Star in its local avatar Kaun Banega Crorepati? The format has won over 60 awards globally and been licensed to 105 countries. Now in its 19th season in the UK, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? is a mainstay of ITV1’s Saturday night schedule, regularly attracting audiences of over seven million viewers.

    Alongside its on-air success, the format’s reach extends into a range of hugely popular consumer products and pioneering interactive applications.

    Although renowned for Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Celador has enjoyed success spanning two decades and has earned a reputation for producing innovative and original programming for broadcasters at home and abroad, and distributing and licensing entertainment brands across a global platform.

    Celador Productions’ factual entertainment format, You Are What You Eat, became one of Channel 4’s highest rating shows when it launched in 2004. Now in its third series, the completed programme or format has been sold to 17 countries and spawned a range of successful consumer products including a series of best-selling books.

    The company is currently producing a brand new factual entertainment series, Turn Back Your Body Clock, for transmission on UK’s Channel 4 in May, which will be launched internationally at the television event MipTV in Cannes, France next week.

    A tenth series of Commercial Breakdown recently concluded on BBC1 having consistently won its slot with an audience share of over 20 per cent, and a new six-part comedy for BBC3 Live! Girls!, has just commenced production. Celador Productions is also expanding its operations to a regional office, details of which will be announced in the coming weeks.

    Celador International’s portfolio of successful game shows includes Talking Telephone Numbers, The People Versus, and Brainiest. Last year the company acquired the rights to the kids animated show Roobarb & Custard, the new series of which is currently showing on Five’s Milkshake strand and on Boomerang, as well as ABC in Australia and Ireland’s RTE. It has also just been released on DVD in the UK.

    Celador International also holds the merchandising rights to the new Tales of the Riverbank movie, which has recently commenced principal photography.

  • K Sera Sera to pump in Rs 2.5 billion for 20 movies

    K Sera Sera to pump in Rs 2.5 billion for 20 movies

    MUMBAI: K Sera Sera is planning a production pipeline of 20 movies and has announced an investment outlay of Rs 2.5 billion over the next two years.

    The company will also foray into regional film production. “We have been looking at aggressively scaling up and have signed up big ticket directors. We plan to produce more than 20 films, which will be released by end-March 2008, at a total outlay in excess of Rs. 250 crores,” said K Sera Sera managing director Parag Sanghavi.

    The company has signed up a wide spectrum of directorial talent like David Dhawan, Abbas Mastan and Priyadarshan which it believes will give it a definite edge in the battle for market share in the Hindi feature films business. “We are in advanced stages of discussions to forge an alliance with yet another leading Bollywood director who has won immense critical and popular acclaim. We shall share details at an opportune time in the near future,” Sanghavi revealed.

    How does the company fund these projects? In the first phase, K Sera Sera will require Rs 1.1 billion, of which it has deployed Rs 550 million for the four movies which are on floor. Besides, it will use Rs 300 million from the money it raised through a follow-on public issue. The debt component will be around Rs 250-300 million.

    K Sera Sera recently launched its first initiative of film distribution as a test case in Mumbai. Elaborating on the plans to release more films in the near future, Sanghavi said, “We released Malamaal Weekly with a total of 150-plus prints including digital prints in Mumbai. The film achieved a revenue of close to Rs 40 million, which was much more than what was achieved by mega starrers like Family and Zinda in the same time.”

    The company is planning to make 8-10 movies a year, scaling up from three movies it produced for the current fiscal. “We should see a topline growth of over 100 per cent year-on-year in FY 07 and 08 from the expected March 06 figures of Rs 700 million. Profitability too is expected to grow at the same rate,” said Sanghvi.