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Tag: Shardul Shroff

  • Frames to look at cinema exhibition business in India

    Frames to look at cinema exhibition business in India

    MUMBAI: The sixth edition of Frames, the convention for the media and entertainment industry takes place in Mumbai from 22-24 March 2006. It will have several tracks and high profile speakers.

    One of the tracks will be devoted to film.

    One session on the opening day is Cinema Exhibition Business in India. This session will offer an overview of the general health of the exhibition business in India. It will be moderated by Shringar Cinemas director Shravan Shroff.

    E-City Entertainment (India) CEO Atul Goel will dwell on the topic of Challenges of developing cinema complexes in India Site selection and relationships with developers. Texas Instruments director of technology development Glenn Kennel looks at Worldwide trends in digital cinema

    With the advent of the multiplexes what does the future hold for single screens? That is the issue that Cinematograph Exhibitors Association of India president Nestor Dsouza, deals with. He will also talk about how important locations are for multiplexes as the synergy between multiplexes and shopping malls is an important factor in providing an experience for visitors.

    One session will look at the Indo-UK Treaty on co-production. The session will be moderated by UK Film Council director, International, Clare Wise. The speakers are London Film Commission commissioner Sue Hayes, Amarchand & Mangaldas managing partner Shardul Shroff, and Adlabs Films COO Sunil Khetrepal.

    A key session which boasts a high profile panel looks at the Independent Film Maker versus the Studio. Back in the early 1940s, when the studio system reigned over Hollywood, a small group of film producers joined to form the Society of Independent Motion Picture Producers (SIMPP).

    The independents believed that individual artists, not studio committees should be in charge. However, later many independents grew up to become major studios. In India, we are witnessing the emergence of studio system. What does this mean for film making which is essentially a creative process? Will this lead to an assembly line mass production of movies? Where does the future lie?

    The session will be moderated by India Today executive editor Kaveree Bamzai. The speakers are Adlabs Films chairman Manmohan Shetty, Prakash Jha, Sahara One CEO Shantonu Aditya, CEO, filmmakers Mahesh Bhatt and Govind Nihalani, Kaleidoscope MD Bobby Bedi, director Madhur Bhandarkar and British actor, producer and writer Stephen Fry.

    A plenary session will look at Visual Effects In Hollywood. Visual effects have become the integral part of any project in the US. The industry is witnessing an increased amount of
    usage of visual effects in movies. VFX is primarily a Hollywood phenomenon. The session will be moderated by Ficci visual effects community chairman N Madhu Sudhanan.

  • Govt consitutes a committee for FM second phase

    NEW DELHI: The government has constituted a committee to make recommendations for the second phase of opening up FM radio broadcasting to the private participation. 
    The committee will submit its report by 30 September. The terms of reference of the panel, inter alia, will determine a transparent and effective bidding/ auction process to be adopted for allotment of frequencies, assessment of a viable licence fee structure for various cities and suggestions regarding extent of foreign equity participation to make the business more viable.
    At present, only portfolio investments by foreign institutional investors, permissible under Reserve Bank of India regulations, are allowed in private FM radio ventures.
    The other terms of reference for the committee would be:
    * To study the desirability and legal implications of making modifications in the licensing regime of phase one licences. Should a different licencing regime be proposed for phase two?
    * Examining the possibility of having non-commercial; non-advertisement driven channels to be operated/licenced by the same commercial broadcasters.
    * Suggestions for improvement in the content being broadcast and considering the inclusion of news.
    * Recommendations for a code of conduct in the programming matters and method of strict enforcement in case of violations.
    *Assessing whether co-locating transmitters is necessary and desirable and if found otherwise, the approach to be adopted.
    * Determining legal implications of the regime that may be proposed vis-?-vis the existing one.
    * Formulating draft bidding documents and contract / licence agreement.
    To be chaired by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (Ficci) secretary-general Amit Mitra, the 10-member panel would include Confederation of Indian Industry’s Dilip Chennoy, Nasscom president Kiran Karnik, radio personality Ameen Sayani, wireless advisor P K Garg, All India Radio’s engineer-in-chief K M Paul, Becil CMD KRP Verma and lawyer Shardul Shroff, apart from a government representative.

  • Finance and Legal

    Finance and Legal

    Corporatise or perish was the mantra of the session on finance and legal.

    Saurabh Srivastava, president, Venture Capitalist Association of India, explained the role of Venture Capital (VC) in the entertainment industry. He specified that VCs are always interested in taking risks, in fact that is why they are called venture capitalists. Media and entertainment as attractive as the IT sector, the only problem being that it is not organised and professionally run which adds to the risk involved.

    Talking on the role of VCs, Srivastava specify that they are not passive investor. Apart from the investment they also add value in terms of providing management expertise, etc.

    Talking on project finance in the entertainment industry, particularly with respect to film financing, Richard Soames, chairman, Film Finances, specified three thing as very important – script, budget and schedule. He said that scheduling should be done before budgeting. He stressed on the need to have the contracts in place with key people like lead artists, director and producer which was many a time lacking in the Indian film industry. The project financier normally monitors the development of the project at various stages and.

    Taking the point of need for contracts from Soames, Jeremy Saunders, Cenrisk Group, categorically stated that protection at various levels were available. One has to indemnify the services of all these leading artists as their name itself helps in bringing in the finance. Moreover, one has to see to it that the artists are not working on many projects at the same time. Insurance was another important aspect.

    Shardul Shroff, managing partner, Amarchand & Mangaldas – touched upon the different aspects of finance by saying that the tainted money in the Industry has to be stopped. “In fact last year the government has taken an excellent step by giving the film industry a status of industry’, he said. He stated the need for availability of credible and clear finance in Industry as well as corporatisation of Film production houses.

    Ashok Wadhwa, managing partner, Ambit Corporate Finance Ltd, hinted that in future the entertainment industry can go for debt-equity financing. But to get an equity partner will be a difficult proposition. “There is a price attached to equity, which is much higher in the high risk business,” Wadhwa said. But equity partners also share risk as well as losses. Again the concern was lack of professionalism in the industry.

    He was bullish about the future of the film industry thoough. “In the coming four to five years large international studios will come and produce films. Like the I-T industry, even this industry has large potential in India and globally,” he said.