Brit Talent Makes Big Splash At Miptv

By Author: John Bregar
Total Articles: 27
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Anyone in Cannes this month for content market MIPTV would have been struck by the deep levels of engagement that British drama talent (onscreen and behind the camera) now has with the international scene. British TV may still be among the best in the world, but the clear message from MIPTV is that the way it is developed and produced owes a lot to the increasingly complex world of multinational financing.

A great illustration of this was Julian Fellowes’ mini-series Titanic, which had a Gala Screening on the opening night of the market. Aired recently on ITV in the UK, the mini-series is a co-production involving ITV Studios, Shaw Media, Deep Indigo Productions and Lookout Point in the United Kingdom, Sienna Films Inc. in Canada and Mid Atlantic Films in Hungary, where it was filmed using mainly local film crews. Now sold to 95 countries, it was early deals with ABC US and Channel 7 Australia that helped ITV Studios push Titanic from storyboard to seaboard.

The complexity of financing evident in Titanic is no real surprise when you ...
... look at the cost of making high-end drama. The BBC was also in Cannes with Parade’s End, a new period drama based on novels by Ford Madox Ford and scripted by Tom Stoppard. Budgeted at US$20m, this one is a Mammoth Screen Production for the BBC in association with HBO Miniseries and Trademark Films 
and BBC Worldwide and Lookout Point, co-produced with BNP Paribas Fortis Film Fund and Anchorage Entertainment. Like Titanic, the cost of making Parade’s End also forced the producers to go abroad in search of tax incentives. In this case, it was Belgium that was the beneficiary thanks to tax breaks.

Such examples are increasingly the norm. And because international partnership funding is now so important, drama producers and distributors feel compelled to come to MIP with as much fanfare as possible. Titanic may have stolen the headlines this time, but also in town were the cast of Midsomer Murders and the creator of Shameless Paul Abbott. Having never travelled to MIP during 30 years in the business, the fact that Abbott was promoting his new Sky series Hit and Miss this week is a great indicator of how times have changed for TV execs.

Bigger budgets and complex funding models present key challenges – such as the threat of a diluted or homogenised creative concept and the loss of rights to foreign partners (Downton Abbey is quintessentially British but the international rights belong to NBC Universal). Nevertheless, there are also upsides in the new financial model. The first is that British TV is better able to attract A list movie talent and top film crews. Creative highlights at MIPTV included Top Of The Lake, a new drama for the BBC that is directed by Jane Campion and produced by Iain Canning (part of the Anglo-Australian team that won an Oscar for The King’s Speech).

The second is that global distribution firms are willing to back high-end drama with significant upfront finance. A case in point is FremantleMedia Enterprises, which has come on board as a partner for the BBC’s new kids series Aliens vs Wizards, written by Russell T Davies. FME is also involved in financing Abbot’s new slate.

Thirdly, and no less significantly, is the way that UK-based firms are playing an increasingly important role in the deal-making side of the business. With Brits having had a run of success adapting their UK dramas for the US, it was interesting to note that 4Rights, the rights exploitation arm of Channel 4, is involved in helping Paris-based Helion Pictures adapt French drama series Pigalle for US television. That deal, which will see Emmy award-winning writer and producer James Manos, Jr adapt the series is a good indicator of the pivotal role that Brits play in bridging the US and European markets.

Note: MIP’s significance doesn’t stop at drama series. Also in Cannes to promote their properties were celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, the cast of Jersey Shore and Elle Macpherson, who launched her new branded entertainment format Fashion Star. The most notable absentees were the US studios – which tend to visit Cannes in October for MIPCOM (but that just creates more mindspace for Brit creatives…).