Press

Fox targets global drama production

DRAMA SUMMIT INTERVIEW: In the first of a series of profile interviews from last week's MediaXchange Drama Summit in Los Angeles, Fox Studios president Emiliano Calemzuk talks to David Jenkinson about a potentially game-changing strategy to produce drama in local markets worldwide and then sell the finished series back into the US.

In the first half of 2008, Hollywood's Fox Studios has greenlit three 13-part English-language drama series, each created within the US but to be produced abroad with international broadcast partners – bypassing the traditional American network pick-up and paving the way to a new global model.

Each of the series is penned by US writers, staffed by American crews but designed to be rolled out internationally, and, significantly, pitched back into US network television once completed.

For Fox Studios president Emiliano Calemzuk (above), an Argentinean native, the bold move is set to shake up global drama production. The lack of reliance on a US network pick-up, and the bid to make series of "equal or better quality" to that currently filling American primetime schedules, if it works, is a game changer.

The first of the three offshore productions, Mental, is currently filming in Bogotá, Columbia, and stars Annabella Sciorra (The Sopranos) and Chris Vance (Prison Break). Turned down by a US cable network, the project was picked up by Fox International Networks, which is co-financing with Fox Studios.

"Mental is a great script," says Calemzuk. "It is set in a psychiatric ward and has a fantastic cast. I went into Fox International Channels and we agreed it was a good project to partner on. It is growing exponentially around the world and needs programming. It also has a production facility in Columbia that we partnered in bringing up to world standard, which is where we are shooting the show. Fox International Channels ended up keeping a lot of the rights where it needed them and we are keeping rights where we usually derive the most profit as a studio.

"Mental is produced very cost-effectively around a completely decentralised model. It's shot in English and could play well in any network in the US as a non-serialised drama."

The other two as-yet-unannounced projects are coproductions with Canadian and European channels. The second will start shooting in September and the third in January 2009.

Meanwhile, Calemzuk and his team are on a world tour to find stories and production partners that can play to the new global production strategy.

"There is financing available around the world," he says. "There are also great production facilities worldwide and there is definitely an opportunity to come back into the US with programming that is equal or better quality at are price that is consistent with what the networks can pay, given the economic scenarios in the US.

"We looked at the conditions and decided it is possible to take some of our great show creators and showrunners, and put them together with great ideas and finance from around the world without talking to US networks. There are plenty of international broadcasters willing to finance good drama."

It seems the bypassed US networks are biting too. "All networks in the US are very interested in what we are doing," says Calemzuk. "We have been getting phone calls from them all. You have the emerging cable networks that really need to start producing original content more cheaply. And you have the broadcast networks who suffered the assault of the cable networks last summer and need fresh shows for this summer."

But it's not just taking US ideas and filming them in cheaper locations. For Calemzuk, the move towards a global production agenda is more significant. "We need to be very bold in developing and finding stories that are global and relevant. We need to get out of our comfort zone. As a result we have team that is constantly travelling to find stories from all over the world and look how we can produce them – in English, with the right local partners.

"Most of the captivating stories today come from places that haven't traditionally been developing television. There is a lot of very fertile ground around the world where stories exist. It is up to us to be out there capturing the essence of those stories wherever there are.

"The US can no longer be the driver and sole responsibility for the worldwide drama hit factory. As a global industry, we need to be clever," continues Calemzuk. "We need to be facilitators of this global trend – find writers and producers and get production going wherever an idea, the resources and talent are aligned. We are scouting the world carefully, and we are allocating resources and placing bets wherever the ideas are strong enough and where there is someone with an eye for a camera and a local broadcaster who is prepared to put some money down.

"A studio of the 21st century needs to be a network of contacts, and when planets align and there is a great idea, financing, good local production – boom, a show should be made."

David Jenkinson 30 Jun 2008
© C21 Media 2008