Future Vision

FUTURE VISION: YELLOW BIRD FILM AND TV'S MARIANNE GRAY

SHE is one of the more prolific and frankly prescient producers in the entertainment industry. In this Future Vision, Marianne Gray, chief creative officer for Yellow Bird Film and TV US, talks up the transformative power of creative insight and her mission to bring more Scandinavian inspired English language projects to US broadcasters and streamers.

Q. You started out your career working in the US, then moved back to Sweden and now are back in the US. It’s a completely different career path than is taken by most European producers, isn’t it?

A. Well, I am Swedish but I landed in the US at the beginning of my career and started out working for Dawn Steel’s Steel Pictures at Walt Disney Studios, Baltimore Pictures at Warner Bros. and 20^thCentury Fox’s Jacobs/Mutrux Productions. After a while, I went back to Sweden to head up the drama and film department at Jarowskij.

Q. At Jarowskij... read more...

FUTURE VISION: FUJI TV'S TAKA HAYAKAWA ON ASIA'S GOLDEN AGE OF TELEVISION

Born on the cusp of the digital revolution, Fuji TV vice president Taka Hayakawa is among a new breed of top Asian executives working a global brief that would have been undreamed of a few decades ago. In this Future Vision, Hayakawa talks up global drama strategy, working with China and Korea and the influence of the digital mind on the future of entertainment.

Q. You’ve done business on every major continent, you hold academic degrees from Japan, Singapore and the US, and aside from Japanese, you speak several other languages comfortably. Your global background is pretty much a sign of future times, isn’t it?

A. When I started my career in 1994 we only thought of making shows for domestic audiences. Now, every day we get contacted by big Chinese investors or Korean producers saying, "Let's make a show together for Amazon Prime or Netflix." Two decades ago, I could never have imagined this kind of... read more...

MUSIC, MONEY AND CREATIVITY

The global music industry is on a roll, but with billions at stake, how long can it last? In this edition of Future Vision, Juliana Koranteng, founder of JayKay Media, publisher of MediaTainment Finance (MTF) and TechMutiny, and owner of exclusive media investment database MTF Monitor offers up some cutting-edge insight into the future of music media investment.

Q. Even before launching JayKay Media, you were a contributing editor at Billboard and other publications. MTF and TechMutiny each year provides exclusive coverage of investments in, and changes or disruptions to, the international media, entertainment and creative sectors. In other words, you've spent much of the last few decades looking into the business of music. What's the attraction?

A. Music is the most accessible of all the creative intellectual properties, but it is also the one that other creative sectors, including film, TV, live entertainment, sport and advertising, cannot do without. So... read more...

Future Vision: Apple Film's Dariusz Jablonski Lifts the Lid on the Pleasure Principle

INTRO: Eastern Europe’s very first co-production between three territories is now set to premiere in early June and has been picked-up for worldwide distribution by Beta Film. Multiple award-winning director and producer Dariusz Jablonski, founder and CEO of Apple Film, talks about how the production came together and why he believes it will be a success on the international stage.

Q. You already have quite a lot of experience producing internationally with Spies of Warsaw and The Passing Bells, with BBC picking up worldwide distribution in both cases. On top of this, Beta Film obviously believes The Pleasure Principle will be another win. What about this production intrigued you?

A. The script was excellent and the storyline is multi-layered and fascinating. The lead detective, as an example, is a woman whose unique world view—she comes from a family of musicians—helps her solve the crime. And we don’t show much actual violence in the series.... read more...

Future Vision: Atlantique Productions Patrick Nebout

AFTER five months of filming in the Arctic, Midnight Sun, the Leila Bekhti/Gustaf Hammerstein starred thriller has wrapped. Future Vision chats with multi-lingual multi-talented Atlantique Productions creative director and producer Patrick Nebout about the high concept series, and the major challenges facing Europe's robust new wave of drama players.

Q. This is the first Swedish/French drama co-production, and it's got some phenomenal partners on board. Canal+, SVT, Nice Drama, Atlantique?

A. Yes, and both Bekhti (Tout Ce Qui Brille/The Source) and Hammerstein (The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo/Bruno) are highly sought after star talent on the European drama landscape. As are Midnight Sun's writers and directors Mans Marlind and Bjorn Stein.

Q. Marlind and Stein were both creators and directors of the very successful Swedish-Danish co-production The Bridge as well?

A. Indeed. We were very lucky to get them. They are not only known for their unique voice... read more...

Violence and the Courage to Create: HBO's Dilemma

IN some ways, the flurry of complaints surrounding HBO's 'Game of Thrones" rape scene is heartening, in that there is, today, clearly a line that can be crossed when it comes to violence, and especially violence against women.

This is an industry that has been rushing headlong in the direction of "anything goes" when it comes to using violence to push the adrenalin buttons that jack up ratings and box office. Richard Plepler, CEO of HBO, last year speaking at the Paley Centre for Media, noted "We are in the business of building addicts."

The question now is at what point is the industry willing to take an honest look at itself and fess up. At what point does violence cross the line from being about legitimate storytelling and creative vision and wander into the less lofty territory of just being a tool for building adrenalin addiction. HBO is on the defensive right now but the discussion is one the entire industry... read more...

No Borders, No Barriers, No Limits

CANNES - It is not often that the top decisionmakers in the business of media gather together in one room but each year, the crème de la crème of the drama co-production world do just that at the MIPTV International Drama Co-Production Summit.

Organized by Reed MIDEM, the fourth edition of the Summit, held this year at the Carlton Tuesday April 14, brought together more than 80 of the top dealmakers, creatives and senior executives for what has become an annual no nonsense, no borders, no barriers and no limits look at the business of drama co-production. Key to the Summit's success is a closed door policy, with no press invited, and a guiding ambition to move beyond competition, language and territory to discuss issues and problems common to the co-production industry.

XFiles creator and Big Light Productions chief executive Frank Spotnitz has been at the Drama Summit for three of the last... read more...

Film Commissions Step Into the 21st Century

FILM Commissions and film support organizations are poised to become significant players, creatively and financially, on the 21^st century media landscape.

That's the upshot of MIPCOM 2014's Film Commissions Day, held October 14 in Cannes. The event featured film commissions and film offices from territories across Europe, the Middle East and Asia unveiling their latest incentives, rebates, and support packages, all aimed at luring in producers from all sectors of the audiovisual world to their territories.

"It is only in the last couple of years that the media world has woken up to the idea that film is no longer the default first window, the holy grail, in the world of audiovisual," Marlene Edmunds, chief executive and founder of Marlene Edmunds Media Consulting and Future Vision creator told... read more...

Violence and the Courage to Create

MANY times in the business of film and television, we talk about creativity but not about how much our fear that something will fail influences, to our collective detriment, creative vision.

We know, for example, that the adrenalin rush produced by gratuitous scenes of violence in our films and TV programmes jacks up ratings and box office. And we also have legitimate fear that if we don't follow the formulaic requirements of the industry for producing blockbusters or smash hit TV series, there is a very good chance we will fail.

Violence is not the issue. Rather is it how willing we are, as individuals and as an industry, to have the courage to create stories that go beyond formulaic expectations. There are thousands of iconic films and TV productions that have been and are being made where violent scenes are an integral part of the story. The Killing Fields, Apocalypse Now, and The Pacific are but a few. And there are films and TV programmes with violence in them... read more...

Drama Co-pro Toppers Stir It Up at MIPTV 2014

PASSION, trust and shared vision. That's the name of the game when it comes to original drama co-production for several major MIPTV 2014 keynoters and 60 top drama co-producers attending the third edition of the MIPTV International Drama Co-Production Summit in Cannes.

Long time colleagues Starz CEO Chris Albrecht and Playground chairman and CEO Colin Callender traded anecdotes about past and present collaborations at MIPTV's opening Media Mastermind keynote. The two collectively have won more than 200 Emmies, Golden Globes and other awards while working together at HBO and more recently on such projects as the BBC's eight part series The Missing.

Earlier co-productions were always "a conversation about two co-producers trusting or not... read more...

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