Commissioners from four of Europe’s top public broadcasters assembled in Madrid on Tuesday for a roundtable discussion about what they’re looking for in potential scripted projects.
Hosted by the Iberseries & Platino Industria forum and emceed by María Valenzuela, the panel included speakers Morad Koufane, France Télévisions’ director of international and young adult series; José Pastor, director of cinema and fiction at RTVE in Spain; Michele Zatta, commissioning editor in charge of international co-productions for Italy’s RAI; and Laura Mae Harding, commissioning editor for international co-productions at ZDF in Germany.
In addition to sharing what excites them about pitches, the panel also discussed the importance of international co-productions, the differences in their audiences, appealing to younger viewers and why public broadcasters are number one on the list of favored production partners.
Here are five key takeaways from the enlightening conversation.
The day’s conversation started with a brief explanation of the European Alliance, a co-production agreement launched in 2018 by three panel participants, RAI, France Televisions and ZDF. Zatta, Koufane and Harding all praised the six-year-old pact, which will unveil a new project to be backed at MIA in Rome later this month.
Outside of the Alliance, Koufane says that anytime France Televisions is looking for a partner, “We have a Plan A, and a Plan B. Plan A is my colleagues,” he explained, motioning to the other broadcasters on stage. “When we have a project, we first present it to them, and they say yes or no. When we have a no, we go to Plan B, and that is the platforms.”
Public broadcasters as the best bedfellows is hardly a surprise, given recent cutbacks on commissions from global streamers. With so many platforms tightening their belts, it’s little wonder that broadcasters are looking to one another to help get projects off the ground. Independent producers are, too.
The panel’s participants agreed that established IPs are among the most attractive propositions to any commissioner. Examples such as France Télévisions’ “Zorro,” the European Alliance’s “Around the World in 80 Days” and France Télévisions’ and RAI’s “The Count of Monte Cristo” were all cited to emphasize the fact.
For Pastor and RTVE, the appeal of established IP has always been there but become more of an imperative lately, given the uncertainty of the current production landscape. “We’re in an environment where we are taking less and less risk, and IP is getting more and more important,” said Pastor. “For us, it’s critical.”
“If you read the trades in the morning, the biggest announcements are always for scripted series, and they are always an IP,” said Koufane before joking, “usually with Nicole Kidman attached.”
Each panelist agreed that their audiences have an insatiable hunger for crime series but that each market has its own nuances and codes that audiences expect in their shows.
According to Zatta, in Italy, “The Italian way of telling crime stories is very different from the German way. Italians really don’t give a damn about the crime itself,” he explained with a laugh. Using the iconic investigation series “Inspector Montalbano” and its spinoffs as examples, he elaborated, “Italians are interested in what he eats and drinks, and there is a strong comedy aspect of the series. Every scene in his office is comedy. This is the Italian touch.”
Although each audience has its particular tastes in crime series, occasionally, common ground can be found, mitigating the financial risk of all parties involved while expanding the potential audience. RTVE and ZDF’s upcoming “Weiss & Morales,” which Pastor said should be ready by Q1 or Q2 of next year, was presented as a perfect case study. The Canary Island-shot crime thriller is a true 50/50 partnership both financially and creatively and features cast and crew from both Spain and Germany.
“We have the same number of writers on both sides, and we check all the episodes together,” Pastor explained. “This is useful because, from my point of view, it helps me understand how Germans think, and it’s important to know what will work and won’t work for that audience.”
According to Zatta, young audience demographics are changing and becoming more international, requiring commissioners to take a more diverse approach in picking their projects.
“We know that there are a lot of Italians living in Madrid, Spanish people living in London, youngsters are mixing and gathering everywhere,” he pointed out. “We still are not really capitalizing on the stories that move these young people.”
Harding pointed out that ZDF has drastically increased its production output for ZDFneo, the company’s platform for younger adult audiences, viewers between 25-35. “There, we actually doubled the number of shows we’re producing from five to 10 co-productions each year, and a huge part of that comes from shows we’re doing for a younger audience.”
When it comes to distributing breakout international hits outside of their domestic territories, the streamers are the unquestioned kings of the hill. That said, broadcasters are still keen on finding foreign gems of their own.
Whether through commissions, acquisitions or co-productions, broadcasters are always on the lookout for something to surprise viewers.
“It is very important to us that ZDF Fiction is showing our audience a window to the world,” explained Harding. “We actually have quite a lot of projects where there is no German involvement on the story side whatsoever. That doesn’t mean we don’t want to be active co-production partners, but it means we want the Spanish shows, the Latin American shows, and we want to show places from around the world.”
