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Tag: Sony Pictures India

  • Gayathiri Guliani named VP of licensing & content partnerships, Lionsgate South Asia

    Gayathiri Guliani named VP of licensing & content partnerships, Lionsgate South Asia

    Mumbai: Global media company Lionsgate India has named Gayathiri Guliani as vice president of licensing and content partnerships, Lionsgate South Asia.

    A media specialist with experience of over two decades in the creative and business side of the entertainment industry, Guliani will be closely working with Lionsgate South Asia and networks-emerging markets Asia managing director Rohit Jain, said the company in a statement.

    “We at Lionsgate are thrilled to have Gayathiri as the newest member in the team. Her rich knowledge of the media and entertainment landscape in India & South Asia will help our rapid growth and pace immensely,” said Jain on the new appointment.

    With over 23 years of experience in planning, strategising, content development, green lighting process of the local content films, Guliani has in-depth knowledge and understanding of the licensing markets in India and globally. She has marketed and distributed content to over 70 territories worldwide.

    She has worked with well-known entertainment brands like Star TV, Channel V, Viacom 18, Reliance Entertainment Group, and Sahara One Motion Pictures to name a few. Prior to joining Lionsgate India, she was with Sony Pictures India as director of international business and revenues. She is a key opinion leader in various forums like FICCI and a recipient of the youngest achiever award for international distribution.

    “It is a privilege to be a part of a company that holds a strong brand legacy that’s iconic. Excited about taking the vision ahead and building new partnerships. I’m looking forward to establishing path-breaking milestones with the help of the Lionsgate India team,” stated Guliani.

  • Guest column: 2020 has been full of new learnings for content creators

    Guest column: 2020 has been full of new learnings for content creators

    MUMBAI: Summer vacations typically start from the month of April leading up to June, a period when content consumption amongst children is usually at its peak for kids entertainment channels. This arrived as early as March this year owing to pandemic-induced lockdown and has continued since. To meet this increased consumption demand of our young viewers, our production houses worked remotely and delivered fresh content throughout the pandemic to keep them entertained. We utilised this time for reflection on the content mix and content journey, hence we have also given them brand new content with the launch of our first chase-comedy show, Pyaar Mohabbat, Happy Lucky; and continued it with another new show in the mythology genre – Krishna Balram.  We also expanded our language feed from seven to nine languages with the launch of Honey Bunny ka Jholmaal in two new language feeds, Gujarati and Kannada. The consumption pattern also moved towards consuming long forms, adapting to which Sony Yay! released 15 new Honey Bunny movies this season.

    We improvised our existing plans and adopted a fresh approach of omni-channel presence of our characters to keep up with our young viewers and entertain them throughout. We commenced this journey with our summer campaign – What’s Your Summer Plan? –announcing exciting new episodes, telemovies of our marquee characters along with new shows. We also launched a unique workshop series called Yay! Summer Camp brought together artists and experts from various fields to create videos on art and craft, Zumba, storytelling and more. In addition to this, the Yay! the ecosystem was expanded to cater the fans with special Honey Bunny themed mobile games and interactive Honey Bunny themed Instagram filters.

    Biggest takeaway from 2020

    Entertainment becomes transformative and necessary in the lives of people in times of crisis like the one we’ve witnessed. 2020 has been a year of learnings and thus, witnessing the shifts and increase in demand for fresh content, we quickly readapted to the situation to create more content thus, while also curating more potential ways to connect with our young audiences. While television continued to be the staple mode of entertainment, the digital medium also took huge precedence. Both kids and gatekeepers have had a dynamic shift in their behaviour, content consumption and perspective. This led us to create new ways of connecting with them through their favourite characters on television as well as digital.

    New skillsets learned during this time

    This year we have seen dramatic shifts in lifestyle and content consumption amongst kids. Thus, we understood that it is paramount to expand our ecosystem offerings and broaden our horizons beyond television. Sony Yay! also enhanced its digital outreach by creating a digital portfolio with immersive workshops, interactive Instagram filters, special Honey Bunny games, and extensive outreach for relevant influencers of the community. Furthermore, in 2020 we have also enhanced our engagement skills by creating experiences for kids in the form of virtual offerings.

    Technology has played an important role

    Apart from the tantamount benefits of technology, the one that stood out for the kids’ entertainment category during the pandemic is helping us stay connected to our young viewers and to our production houses. Our production houses operated remotely and kept creating fresh content meeting its increased demand in the category, thanks to the advancement in technology. This is an opportunity for content creators like us to collate all our experiences and package it into an interactive virtual ecosystem. Also, with higher internet penetration and multi-screen availability, online gaming has witnessed exponential growth and we have tapped into this trend with some of our popular games Honey Bunny ka Jetpack, Kicko & Superspeedo game, Merge Super Speedo exceeding expectations with an incredible one million+, 10 million+, one million+ downloads, respectively, so far.    

    Is TV being monetised enough?

    In India, TV has always been a staple in almost every household and accounts for nearly 40 per cent of the total advertising expenditure in the country in 2019. The kid's entertainment category is still extremely under-indexed with a huge gap in the ad rates compared to some other categories. That said, with high-quality engaging content, we have seen constant growth in viewership and brands also warming up to increase their spending.  

    (The author is business head, Sony Pictures Networks India kids’ genre. Indiantelevision.com may not subscribe to her thoughts.)

  • Sony Pictures India, Dentsu Webchutney launch interactive game on YouTube

    Sony Pictures India, Dentsu Webchutney launch interactive game on YouTube

    MUMBAI: Touted to be one of the largest video streaming platforms of today, YouTube is undoubtedly the world’s largest repository of videos. In fact, the average number of mobile views via this platform alone is more than 1000 million; and yet, never ever has this platform been used beyond visual content to interact with its users. Thus, to engage with this ever-abundant content-loving population that sits on this platform, Sony Pictures Entertainment, in partnership with Dentsu Webchutney, has created the first-ever gaming video for YouTube.

    Inspired from Sony Pictures Entertainment’s latest release, Zombieland: Double Tap, the gaming video features zombies and guns. Taking cue from the movie tagline – Double Tap, the game asks users to double tap on their screens to shoot the zombies with different weapons. For instance, a single double tap could lead the user to kill the zombies with a pistol, a shot gun and/or a machine gun. Double tapping on the video at different indicated times will also enable the user to reach interesting milestones within the gaming story. For the record, Zombieland: Double Tap is a post-apocalyptic horror zombie comedy film. It is about Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita and Little Rock who square off against the undead. 

    The video has already received more than 1,000 views in the first hour of its upload. More than hundreds have already shared screenshots of their entries via direct messages.

    Sony Pictures Entertainment India Director & Head – Marketing Shony Panjikaran said, “Zombieland is one of the few unique films which has a cult following since years. This is despite the fact that the subject and its treatment is a bit niche for the Indian market. We recognized that a huge chunk of the target audiences are gamers. Therefore, to engage them with a thematic game was our unique proposition. After analyzing what platforms would be the best to use based on numbers and also creatively befitting, we thought YouTube would be the most ideal platform for this. Also, the YouTube feature of double tap to forward was a perfect tool for us to display the tag line of our film. Hence, the team came up with a game around the feature. It is the first of its kind, simple and ingenious and is particularly apt to market a film such as this to our young TG. We have gamified the experience and have added levels to the 'double tap' to shoot and complete the user journey with a CTA to book tickets.”

    Dentsu Webchutney Executive Creative Director Pravin Sutar said, “Social media numbers for YouTube say that it’s one of the most popular platforms and happens to entertain millions of people daily. With so much content being watched without having any interaction from the user’s end was an opportunity waiting for us to be explored. We changed the notion of just watching a video on YouTube by introducing an interactive element to the video wherein one could kill zombies by double tapping the video. Such small gaming hacks on a video platform results in disruption of sorts, which in turn creates a lot of engagement for the user.”

  • Sony Pictures India appoints media specialist Gayathiri Guliani

    Sony Pictures India appoints media specialist Gayathiri Guliani

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Entertainment India has appointed Gayathiri Guliani as head of International Distribution for Indian language films.

    With over 19 years of experience, media specialist Guliani will be responsible for distribution and syndication of local language content in overseas diaspora markets and to identify newer markets to expand the footprint of Indian movies.

    A seasoned professional with experience ranging across broadcasting and motion pictures in international distribution and business development, Guliani has spear-headed the international distribution, marketing and syndication for over 26 films. Her last assignment was with Reliance Big Pictures where Guliani has worked on the successful movie, 3 idiots, which created a benchmark in being one of the highest overseas film grossers of all time. She has worked on other successful movies like Rock On, Jab We Met, Singh is King, Welcome, Ghajini to name a few.

    Speaking on her appointment, Sony SPE Films managing director Vivek Krishnani said, “At Sony Pictures India, we are committed to strengthening our international distribution network for local films. With the growing overseas contribution of India movies, we are happy to have Gayathiri on the team, who with her vast experience will work closely with the global Sony Pictures offices and help drive the growth in the international business”.

    Commenting on her appointment, Guliani said, “Sony is a brand with global vision, the leadership is iconic. It is a wonderful opportunity to be here and grow the international markets and take our Indian films to new frontiers. I look forward to a successful innings”.

    Prior joining Sony Guliani has worked with brands such as Reliance Big Pictures, Studio 18, Sahara One Motion Pictures, Channel V, Star TV to name a few. She has been a recipient of ‘Young Achievers Award 2014’ by WWI (Whistling Woods International) Academy for her contribution in International Business. As part of her independent work, she was also honored by the Consulate General of China (2015) for promoting Indo-China bilateral and cultural exchange between both countries.

  • Sony Pictures India appoints media specialist Gayathiri Guliani

    Sony Pictures India appoints media specialist Gayathiri Guliani

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures Entertainment India has appointed Gayathiri Guliani as head of International Distribution for Indian language films.

    With over 19 years of experience, media specialist Guliani will be responsible for distribution and syndication of local language content in overseas diaspora markets and to identify newer markets to expand the footprint of Indian movies.

    A seasoned professional with experience ranging across broadcasting and motion pictures in international distribution and business development, Guliani has spear-headed the international distribution, marketing and syndication for over 26 films. Her last assignment was with Reliance Big Pictures where Guliani has worked on the successful movie, 3 idiots, which created a benchmark in being one of the highest overseas film grossers of all time. She has worked on other successful movies like Rock On, Jab We Met, Singh is King, Welcome, Ghajini to name a few.

    Speaking on her appointment, Sony SPE Films managing director Vivek Krishnani said, “At Sony Pictures India, we are committed to strengthening our international distribution network for local films. With the growing overseas contribution of India movies, we are happy to have Gayathiri on the team, who with her vast experience will work closely with the global Sony Pictures offices and help drive the growth in the international business”.

    Commenting on her appointment, Guliani said, “Sony is a brand with global vision, the leadership is iconic. It is a wonderful opportunity to be here and grow the international markets and take our Indian films to new frontiers. I look forward to a successful innings”.

    Prior joining Sony Guliani has worked with brands such as Reliance Big Pictures, Studio 18, Sahara One Motion Pictures, Channel V, Star TV to name a few. She has been a recipient of ‘Young Achievers Award 2014’ by WWI (Whistling Woods International) Academy for her contribution in International Business. As part of her independent work, she was also honored by the Consulate General of China (2015) for promoting Indo-China bilateral and cultural exchange between both countries.

  • Film & TV exec Vivek Krishnani to head Sony Pictures India

    Film & TV exec Vivek Krishnani to head Sony Pictures India

    MUMBAI: Sony Pictures India (also known as SPE Films India) today announced the appointment of Vivek Krishnani as its managing director, come 1 November. He will be replacing industry veteran Kercy Daruwala who is retiring after a long stint at the studio.

     

    Vivek was most recently Senior Vice President – Revenue and Marketing at MSM Motion Pictures. MSM Motion Pictures is the film production arm of Multi Screen Media,  which is a part of Sony Pictures Entertainment Television Network.

     

    Says Sony Pictures Entertainment senior vice-president, international distribution, Asia, Brett D. Hogg: “I’m very pleased to welcome Vivek to Sony Pictures India. He’s a media veteran with very valuable experience in the unique and dynamic Indian market, in both Hollywood and local-language productions. Under his leadership, we look forward to taking Sony Pictures India to even greater heights.”

     

    Sony Pictures Entertainment produces, acquires, and distributes its films under its various film labels: Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Screen Gems, Sony Pictures Animation, Sony Pictures Classics, Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions and Sony Pictures International Productions.

     

    Vivek is excited about his new position. Says he: “I have had a great experience being part of the Sony family and I am now looking forward to a new role with Sony Pictures India. With a legacy of over 80 years since the first Columbia Pictures office opened here, Sony Pictures has over the decades continued to entertain Indian and global audiences. We have our own pipeline through which these products get funnelled. We are committed to further strengthening our distribution network in India and overseas for both Hollywood and local films. “

     

    He points out that the studio has a great slate of films lined up which are going to keep him busy just as he takes over. Among the big ones include the Jack Black starrer GooseBumps (in Hindi, English and Tamil) on 30 October, animation flick Hotel Translyvania 2  (on 6 November), the Daniel Craig (Bond) and Ralph Fiennes starrer Spectre (in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu). “ I’m excited to hit the ground running,” he says.

     

    Apart from the Hollywood pipeline, he is really looking forward to the MSM Motion Pictures-Balaji Motion Pictures  Azhar which is slated for a March 2016 release and also aims to scale up things a notch through  “third party acquisitions for India and overseas for Indian titles to whom we can provide an effective dependable distribution mechanism. We are committed to local product.”

     

    His  vast experience at 21st Century Fox, Fox Star Studios and prior to that with Turner Entertainment Networks should serve him well.