Season_Screen_TV_Review_№6-web

sstrnews.com
ISSUE 6, JUNE 2016
MARYSIA NIKITIUK:
‘‘HOW TO OVERCOME
YOURSELF ON THE PATH
TO SELF-REALIZATION
AND NOT GIVE UP’’
MAIN TOPIC OF THE ISSUE:
TV PROGRAMMING STRATEGY
NEWS, BROADCASTING, SALES NEWS, INTERVIEW, MEDIA REPORTS

CONTENTS ISSUE 6, JUNE 2016
SPEAKERS
16
BEHIND THE OTHER SIDE OF BLUE SCREENS:
THE REAL LIFE OF THE TV “MAGICIAN BOX”
Television channel grid: programming strategy, financial indicators, success factors,
current trends
30 FILMMAKER.
THE PATH
TO THE COVETED AIM
Marysia Nikitiuk, scriptwriter, about overcoming
yourself on the path to self-realization
10 BEHIND THE SCENES
OF MEDIA AWARDS
Ins and outs for participants
sstrnews.com
Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 1

CONTENTS ISSUE 6, JUNE 2016
EDITORIAL
4
FREEDOM FOR TRAMPS: “HEADS & TAILS”
The produce “a human dream”
EDITOR’S
NOTE
26 HOW OFTEN DO YOU
HEAR THE WORD?
In search of angel investments
VR/360 TECHNOLOGY
BOOSTING THE WORLD
OF VIRTUAL REALITY
The complexity of work with content
34
KATERINA DMITRIEVA
MK Media Group
CEO
The sixth issue of Season Screen TV Review
was done in a completely new format. We came up
with an entirely new and unique concept unlike
any existing magazine in the TV industry. The
whole SSTR team decided to put aside statistical
interviews and articles, as well as standard
questions. We dig dipper — into the very soul of
television. And, according to SSTR, the soul of
television is the people that create it, care about
it, and devote all their energies to it. However, we
seldom know what they actually feel, where they
get their genius ideas to set the pace, how new
people and startups emerge all of a sudden and
break the markets at festivals. These stories inspire
us, make us move on in tune with the times, create,
and love our job!
SSTR is going to select the best TV professionals
from ALL OVER THE WORLD in each article or
interview. We shall ask them tricky and unusual
questions based solely on their knowledge and
experience. We shall tell you how complex projects
are created, what obstacles people face, how they
personally live through all that and what they get
in return, reaping the fruits of their hellish toil. We
shall help you make sense of new technologies and
upcoming important events by highlighting the
pros and cons, and shall attempt to predict their
success and long-term longevity together with our
partner experts.
38 To
BEHIND THE SCENES OF “ANY DAY HOLYDAY”
FALLING INTO THE SAME TRAPS THE HARD WAY
Season Screen TV Review is ready to talk with
anyone who has an interesting story and is ready
to share it with the world. We should know who our
TV heroes are!
come out dry
Season Screen TV Review
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“HEADS & TAILS”
WORK OR FUN?
FREEDOM FOR TRAMPS:
“HEADS & TAILS”
It seems they produce “a human dream”, carefully packed at easygoing
format with humor and interesting information which will be
very important for travelers practically among their trip. What was the
beginning of this success and how it was indeed, — we have asked to
the finance director of the show Nikita Chizhov
Looking deep inside ourselves we should be fair to
admit that all people actually want the same things: to
be free, always young, and to burn their life in a flame
of traveling adventures. Unfortunately, not every one of
us can be brave enough to risk their life stability and go
beyond the edge of their comfort to fulfill some uncertain
dreams, but THEY did, yes, they really did it.
“Heads & Tails” tried to combine ordinary life with
a dream, and, as a result, today we can enjoy an extraordinary
product — the unique entertaining-educational
project, which has quickly become one of the most highly-rated
travel-shows.
It is a project created and produced since 2010
by Teen Spirit Studio video production company. The
program was nominated and received TV “Taffy” Prize in
the category “Best entertainment program” in 2014 and
was honored in 2015 at a few nominations of Ukrainian
prize “Triumph”: “Best information and entertainment”,
“Best director of the television program”.
The most active audience in social networks among
other TV shows is VKontakte with more than 650 thousands
subscribers, YouTube — 406 thousands subscribers
and 63 millions of views and Facebook with more than
122 thousands subscribers.
They seem to produce “the human dream”, carefully
packed in easy-going format with humor and interesting
information, which will be of great practical value for
travelers on their trips.
We have questioned the Financial Director of the
show Nikita Chizhov about the beginning of this success
and how it became so.
— Actually it started with Jana Badoeva and her wish
to act in an unusual and exciting TV show. It was the
beginning of everything; anyway, it was not as easy as
it seems to people now. Our success today is the result
of a lengthy process with a lot of fails which ended in
a lot of money wasted uselessly. Now we are successful
because after every new fail we continue our attempts.
Nowadays, being the most well-known and wellloved
travel-show in the territory of almost all post-
Soviet states and broadcasting in the territory of modern
Commonwealth of Independent States, it has become a
favorite of all Russian-speaking states including Ukraine,
Russia, Baltic States, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and
even Kirgizstan.
The travel-show has already visited all continents
providing the people on the other side of the TV screen
with an amazing opportunity to travel with them all
around the world without even leaving their houses.
The first steps were made from the most well-known
cities of the world. Then the team decided to show the
real traveling conditions of exotic countries spending a
month for tour preparation. Usually the show covers 4 or
5 cities during the trip.
Furthermore, today “Heads & Tails” are working on a
round-world trip which is expected to cover 40 cities and
will last 270 days. It is the 12 th season of the travel-show
and it has been in preparation for 4 months.
Usually there are proximately 7 or 10 members of the
team involved in a trip. They are divided into two groups
with two trip directions and two storylines within the
show. Two trip directions in accordance with the tossed
coin: the luxury one and the limited one.
The idea was to show the audience that you can travel
on a very modest budget. The experience gained after the
launch of the show was fantastic, and the audience fell
in love with it. It provides useful advice on how to see the
whole world cheaply. You can spend the night not only
in a cheap hostel, but for free, for example, in a monastery
or by hospitable hosts.
At the same time, it shows the life and experience of
the people who do not need to limit their budget, showing
all pros and cons of luxury traveling.
As all great things grow from a small wish, the idea of
the show emerged from the desire to create something
extraordinary, combining fun and business.
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“HEADS & TAILS”
WORK OR FUN?
The show storyline is always the same, but it is always
unexpectedly marvelous and fun. One city and two anchormen
with the lot deciding, who is going live on one
hundred dollars, and who is going to use a golden bank
card during their trip.
Heads or tails — and you are a millionaire or a pauper.
You live in luxury apartments or spend the night in an
ordinary hostel. Dine in an exclusive restaurant or subsist
on humble fast food.
Unfortunately for the one and for the good of the
other hero of the show, the gold credit card does not mean
a guarantee of an unforgettable vacation, as the practice
shows that sometimes a hundred dollars is quite enough
and even more than enough for you to have unforgettable
impressions from the trip that will stay in your memory
forever.
The course of every
show always depends on
the coin toss: heads or
tails. We asked Nikita the
question which interests
our audience in the first
place: “Indeed, is it really
true that one person has
no spending limit and uses
the gold credit card during
the trip and the other one
has to get along with just
100$ for everything?”
Nikita Chizhov
Financial Director
of “Heads & Tails”
“According to the rules,
there are two anchors in the
show and one of them has to
get along only with a 100$ per
two days: from the Saturday
morning till the Sunday
evening, but sometimes some
anchors are trying to cheat
the rules. They are contriving
to eat some unaccounted
hamburger or to use a taxy
instead of a bus, but, frankly
speaking, no more than this.
Concerning the credit card, it
is really unlimited as it is the
reason of our show. However,
for purchases over 10,000$ it is necessary to have the permission
of the producer from Kyiv. Frankly speaking, the possibility to
spend money is very limited indeed. They can spend it on some
service or entertainment, but in accordance to the inner rules of
the show, it is strictly forbidden to buy any valuable goods: stocks,
financial instruments, real estate, cars and jewelry – everything
that could be converted into money at any time. There are also
some restrictions concerning charity and gambling, but generally
there are almost no limits to anything related to the traveling.
The aim we are trying to reach is to show that traveling can
actually be available for everyone. The show stimulates people to
travel and gives them really useful advice as well. The television
is able to transmit only the third part of the perception, that`s
why we can confirm that it is possible and not very complicated
indeed to get along and to see the world as it is in any city all
over the world. Moreover, all members of the team: operators,
scriptwriters, directors and even anchors admit that it is possible
to have much brighter impressions if you travel on a modest
budget. Luxury traveling is more comfortable but less interesting
as all 5 stars hotels, best ever cars, yachts and helicopters are
the same everywhere, no matter where you are, everything is very
similar. Anyway, ordinary people like to pry into the life of the
rich and they have such opportunity due to our show.”
Today, after a lot of challenges which they have met
during the creation of the travel-show, Nikita Chizhov
shares their secret with us.
— The main reason of their success is obviously the
persistence of all team members whatever happened to
do this the second one is a unique format of the show
which combines humor and useful insider information
for travelers highlighted from all angels.
There was an attempt to create something similar
in Turkey, but the results were primitive, frankly
speaking. They wanted to steal the idea, but they did
not actually know how to create this kind of show
format. I should say that, nevertheless, it is not as
easy as it seems. But still, it is possible for any media
production and for any region of the world, and
TeenSpirit is even ready to share its secrets with those
who want to repeat our trick. We are ready to couch
media companies to create something similar using
their sources.
The most attractive feature of the show is its excellent
sense of humor: the show always chooses wonderful and
charismatic anchors: Alan Badoev, Jana Badoeva, Andrei
Bednyakov, Lesia Nikituk, Anastasia Korotkaiya, Nikolai
Serga, Eugeniy Sinelnikov and Regina Todorenko — all of
them make the show alive, and sometimes it even seems
as if you personally know these people; they make the
show bright and sparkling with fun dialogs and humor.
Combined with unique and extraordinary format, it
makes the show an unbelievable sparkling adventure.
Sometimes, even forgoing restrictions and forbiddances
during the creation of the video, the team unveils the
hidden real life of the place and city they visit. It seems
nothing can stop the team in their aspiration to show
their audience the totally naked city, revealing its innards,
and the most unexpected moments of the big city life,
both charming and disgusting.
As we can see, the combination of two factors: creative
and crazy people in love with their job and elegant humor
and fearless desire to create for the sake of creation, — has
given birth to a marvelous product which has hypnotized
almost the entire adventure seeking audience in the
major part of post-Soviet media space.
Best wishes to “Heads & Tails” for your future plans
and we hope you still have something up your sleeve to
surprise us. ▪
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In production, 100х3 min, 2016, HD

TV AWARDS
THE MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AT THE MEDIA INDUSTRY
BEHIND THE SCENES
OF MEDIA AWARDS
The head on the pulse of best media awarding and their forthcoming ceremony
of awarding to see who will be in one line with the best of the best this year. We have tried
to highlight first of all awards which also have the wildest recognition of publicity.
“TELEVISION THAT SHINES
ON THE NIGHT OF SATELLITES”
Today our review is dedicated to some of the most
significant events in the media industry, the greatest
media awards all over the world.
The Eutelsat TV Awards (www.eutelsattvawards.com)
is a special and unique annual international event in the
media industry focusing on the creativity, innovation,
energy and exceptional talent of thematic television
globally.
“Television sits at the heart of the digital media
industry, boosted by multi-screen viewing and social
networks that are generating a global conversation.”
Duilio Giammaria, Jury Chairman of at the Eutelsat TV
Awards ceremony
For the last years it is held in Rome in Italy at November
and gathers over 300 international broadcasting professionals.
The prize-giving ceremony called “The Night of
Satellites” and the prize called Gaia (Greek goddess of
the earth, and symbol of life and hope, produced the sky,
mountains and sea. Constantly embracing the earth, her
myth is a metaphor for satellites that silently encircle
the world). This prize is a prestigious recognition of the
excellence and innovation of the thematic television
channels enjoyed by millions of satellite TV homes over
the last decade.
The Eutelsat TV Awards are aimed at promoting the
finest broadcasting in the thematic satellite landscape,
distinguishing excellence and innovation in thematic
satellite television. They reveal where the talent is,
what’s new in the market, who is nurturing creativity,
leveraging technology and growing audience share.
The event was set up to reflect the volume and
diversity of channels enabled by the emergence of digital
technologies. Thematic channels are a major component
of today’s broadcasting landscape and they deserve an
event that shines a spotlight on their creativity.
The prize has gained more importance and credibility
over the years, and has extended its presence well outside
Europe. Registration is free and virtually open to channels
from around the world, who are invited to submit their
entry in one of the following 9 categories:
CHILDREN’S: channels addressing younger audiences,
children, and teenagers.
CINEMA: offerings of networks or specific services
regarding cinema (including channels covering a specific
genre or niche films: thriller, science-fiction, etc.)
CULTURE / DOCUMENTARIES:
literature, enter-tainment, the arts
and educational programmes and
original documentaries (history, nature,
discoveries, travels, etc.)
FICTION / GENERAL ENTERTA-
INMENT: channels that feature
televised fiction and other entertainment
genres, such as variety shows,
quiz shows, comedies, reality shows,
etc.
LIFESTYLE: tourism, cooking,
fashion, socio-cultural trends.
MUSIC: all music categories and
genres.
NEWS: ‘all-news’ channels (national,
regional or international news).
SPORTS: general sport or specialist
sport channels.
An Award also assigned to
the Best Program among all the
channels entered: the Best Program
is considered a source of particular
pride of each channel. This year,
registrations for the competition will
open early May and stay open until
mid-July.
A shortlist of nominees per category
is drawn up by an indepen-dent
jury of media, who evaluate all entries
and select a winner and two
runners-up per category. They look at each channel’s
programming strategy, how it engages with its audiences,
including through social media, how it creates brand
awareness and develops new programming and marketing
concepts.
The event was created in 1998 by Eutelsat
(www.eutelsat.com/en/home.html) to shine a spotlight
on quality thematic television production and new
concepts that capture audience attention, enrich
the viewing experience and highlight the formats
and programming that best represent the satellite
broadcasting landscape across Europe, Africa, the Middle
East, Asia and the Americas. Established in 1977, Eutelsat
Communications is one of the world’s leading and most
experienced operators of communications satellites.
Today this company provides capacity on 40 satellites
to clients that include broadcasters and broadcasting
associations, pay-tv operators, video, data and Internet
service providers, enterprises and government agencies.
Over one billion viewers across Europe, the Middle East
and Africa, watch channels broadcast by a Eutelsat
satellites. A total of 6,000 TV channels are broadcast of
which over 800 in High Definition as well as 1,100 radio
stations.
Eutelsat’s satellites are also the key gateway into
Europe and Africa for leading Asian and American
broadcasters, and the main hub for distributing and
exchanging programmes among broadcasters. The
company has a worldwide network of offices in Brazil,
China, Dubai, Germany, Italy, Madeira, Malta, Mexico,
Poland, Russia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Turkey,
the UK and the USA.
‘The jury of the Eutelsat TV Awards is tasked with
assessing talent, innovation and creativity across
multiple genres of channels and regions of the world.
It is a responsibility we face with passion, each year
measuring the progress of this exciting industry’-
Duilio Giammaria, Jury Chairman
After the jury meeting, approximately three weeks
before the prize-giving ceremony voting begins for the
People’s Choice Award where viewers are invited to vote
for their preferred channel. The winning channel is the
one that obtains the highest number of votes from the
viewing public.
Trying to throw more light to this important
nomination we have asked some questions to
Vanessa O’Connor, Eutelsat Director of Corporate
Communications.
Mrs. O`Connor can clarify for us for whom exactly
is held TV Awards?
The Eutelsat TV Awards is an annual event that
distinguishes excellence and innovation in the world
of thematic television. The event was set up to reflect
the volume and diversity of channels enabled by the
emergence of digital technologies. Thematic channels
are a major component of today’s broadcasting landscape
and they deserve an event that shines a spotlight on
their creativity. After a longstanding relationship with
the cities of Venice and Rome, the Eutelsat TV Awards is
moving to Milan in 2016. We expect this year’s ceremony
to assemble over 350 broadcast executives from around
the world. The event will be on 25 November in the iconic
Palazzo del Ghiaccio, one of Milan’s most interesting
architectural jewels, designed and built in the 1920s.
And what is the main purpose of the organization
of this event?
The objective of the annual Eutelsat TV Awards is to
highlight the formats and programming that best represent
the current satellite broadcasting landscape across
Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and the Americas.
The event reveals where the talent is, what’s new in the
market, who is nurturing creativity, leveraging technology
and growing audience share. Over the years, the
Awards have recognized excellence in markets of all sizes,
from powerhouse markets in the UK to emerging markets
in Afghanistan.
Vanessa O’Connor
Eutelsat Director
of Corporate
Communications
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TV AWARDS
THE MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AT THE MEDIA INDUSTRY
Which countries are able to perform their
channels in the competition?
Because Eutelsat now has a global footprint, the
competition is virtually open to channels from around
the world. Registration is free; eligible channels are
invited to submit their entry in one of the following
categories: Children’s, Cinema, Culture / Documentaries,
Fiction / General Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music, News,
Sports.
There is no limit to the number of channels each
broadcaster can enter. A jury of media experts will
evaluate all entries and select a winner and two runnersup
per category. All participating channels are also
eligible to take part in the People’s Choice Award that
opens after the jury meeting. This year, registrations for
the competition will open early May and stay open until
mid-July.
What criteria do you usually use for the selection
of participants?
A shortlist of nominees per category is drawn up by an
independent jury of media experts that this year meets
in Paris in September. The jury is tasked with assessing
talent, innovation and creativity across multiple genres
and from diverse regions of the world. They look at each
channel’s programming strategy, how it engages with
its audiences, including through social media, how it
creates brand awareness and develops new programming
and marketing concepts. The jury picked finalists out of
100 channels from 27 countries using sample content
and live viewing. For the People’s Choice Award, viewers
are invited to vote for their preferred channel. Voting for
this Award starts immediately after the jury meeting
and closes approximately three weeks before the prizegiving
ceremony. The winning channel is the one that
obtains the highest number of votes from the viewing
public. This year’s international jury will beas chaired
by Duilio Giammaria, Rai (Italy) and included Jerzy
Barski, TV-Sat Magazine (Poland); Frédéric Vaulpré,
Eurodata TV (France); Robert Briel, Broadband TV News;
Sergey Buntman, Echo of Moscow (Russia); Paolo Dalla
Chiara, Pentastudio (Italy); Richard Izarra, Produ (USA);
Giacomo Mazzone, EBU; Tayfun Atay, Cumhuriyet / Okan
University (Turkey); Reem Nouss, Executive producer /
TV consultant (UK) and Mauro Roffi, from Millecanali
(Italy) also provides technical advice.
How is the competition itself? What does a
victory in it? Do appear there any benefits for him?
The 2015 Awards ceremony brought together 350 executives
from the international broadcasting and satellite
communities in a ceremony where celebration was at the
centre of everyone’s attention. Broadcasters make up the
majority of the attendance, with the participation of market-leading
TV platforms and broadcasters that include
Sky Italia, Rai, NTV Plus, nc+, Digiturk, the BBC, Trace,
MTV, Cyfrowy Polsat, Eurosport and Euronews. Other
guests include executives from aerospace and communications
companies, government representatives and
international media.
Is there a similar event in the world?
There are many TV awards but the Eutelsat TV Awards
is special and unique. It is the only international event
focusing on the creativity, innovation, energy and exceptional
talent of thematic television around the world.
We have no doubts that in future the television will
shine even more bright at the light of Eutelsat satellites
broadcasting and I am sure that you will join to me
wishing them to overcome their own success in their
great expectation for future. Let’s keep in touch and look
forward for forthcoming ceremony of awarding to see
who will be in one line with the best of the best this year.
“CELEBRATING VISION
PASSIONAND DEDICATION”
Another significant prize in media industry
conceptualized for the television industry in Asia Pacific
and delayed to an audience reach in excess of 300 million
within the continent is The Asian Television Awards
which is also the most significant and celebrated
event, launched by in 1996, recognizing excellence in
programming, production and performance. It is an
Asia’s most widely participated television competition.
Asian TV Awards is organized by Television Asia Plus
magazine, established in 1994 and formerly organized
by Singapore Broadcasting Corporation. Published 10
times a year, TV ASIA Plus offers complete coverage of the
Asian TV industry, embracing the region’s vibrant broadcasting,
production and distribution businesses, including
free TV, pay TV and new media platforms. TV ASIA Plus
has developed a reputation for being the essential source
of news and information for the region’s broadcast, cable
and programming markets. Based in Singapore with an
expert team of journalists and regional correspondents,
TV ASIA Plus offers professional industry news, analysis,
information and the most effective access to broadcast
and new media markets.
“The Asian Television Awards has evolved over the
years to truly become one of Asia’s most definitive
platforms for the regional television industry to
acknowledge and reward creative and programming
excellence. The caliber of participants and entries has
advanced over these years and it is very heartening
to see one forum that captures and showcases the
evolution of the industry.”
Mark Whitehead, Executive Vice President & Managing
Director, Asia • Viacom International Media Networks
an audience reach in excess of 300 million within the
continent. The award recognises the best programmes
and talents in Asia Pacific’s television industry. This
includes not only the personalities in the public facing
side of the business such as hosts, presenters, actors and
actresses, but also those hard at work behind-the-scenes
such as the directors, editors etc. All are equally important
in making quality content and thus should receive their
deserving recognition.
Tell us more about the
criteria you usually use to select
the dominants?
We have 41 trophies up-forgrabs
in 2016. They range from Best
Actor / Actress in a Leading Role,
Best Actor / Actress in a Supporting
Role to Best Cinematography etc.
For 2016, the Best Direction category
has been re-categorized into
Fiction and Non-Fiction genres.
An exhaustive list of award categories
for this year is available at
www.asiantvawards.com/
awards-categories.
What are the benefits of
winning the nomination, does
it really matter for participants
and in which?
The fact that the award is judged
Cindy Ng
Managing Director
Asian Television
Awards
in a peer reviewed format further lends credibility to the
awards. Winners of our awards are thus well recognized
for their efforts in producing excellent content.
We decided to find out what is this award means for
Asia and its media industry at interview with Managing
Director Asian Television Awards, Cindy Ng.
Mrs. Cindy can you explain to our audience who
are able to participate, for which countries is it held
and what is the purpose of it?
The Asian Television Awards was originally conceptualized
for the television industry in Asia Pacific. Since
last year (2015), we have introduced a public facing element.
Our event is also broadcast both “live” and delayed to
What is new and unusual, you will have in TV
Awards 2016?
As mentioned earlier, the Best Direction category
has been re-categorized into Fiction and Non-Fiction
genres. We are also looking to expand our list of broadcast
partners in 2016. Our television audiences can expect
to enjoy Asian Television Awards “live” in more
countries this year and expect a brand new stellar
cast of international and regional performing artiste.
As and when we have updates, we will announce them on
www.asiantvawards.com.
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TV AWARDS
THE MOST SIGNIFICANT EVENTS AT THE MEDIA INDUSTRY
NATPE BUDAPEST 2016 MARKET & CONTENT SUMMIT
REPORTS AN INCREASE IN BUYER NUMBERS TO 400+
ANNOUNCES SESSION PROGRAMMING
The Awards comprise over 40 categories and represent
the industry’s foremost recognition by enjoying the
support of every major industry player throughout the
region.
The range of nomination for awarding varies from
Best Actor/Actress in a Leading or Supporting Role to
Best Cinematography: 26 nominations at Programming,
9 nominations at Performance, 6 nominations at Technic
& Creativity (Cinematography, Direction (Non-Fiction),
Direction (Fiction), Editing, Original Screenplay, and
Theme Song), 2 nominations for Channels (Terrestrial
and Cable & Satellite) and 2 nominations for Broadcasters.
As we can see they do not omitted no one. This includes
not only the personalities in the public facing side of the
business such as hosts, presenters, actors and actresses,
but also those hard at work behind-the-scenes such as the
directors, editors.
Every year, at least nine jury sessions are held in several
Asian cities including Kuala Lumpur and Singapore,
where the panel of judges of over 15 countries evaluate
and select the entries in closed sessions.
Determined in a peer reviewed format by an expert
panel of over 60 judges from across the region the results
are tabulated and audited by international auditing firm
Price Waterhouse Coopers, with the winners announced
only during the Awards Ceremony generally performed in
December. The registration for nomination entry usually
opens until the end of June.
Asian Television Awards had a
20 years history and is positioned
as the only event of its kind
within the Asian region, and
upholds a prestigious reputation
of showcasing quality television
production.
We have tried to highlight first
of all the most general and wildly
cowered regional awards which
also have the wildest recognition of
publicity. Any way media industry
is permanently developing and
creates more complicated structure
of media landscape involving
new specialists at their orbit and
opens new possibilities for new
nomination and new ideas to be
fulfilled.
Despite the good manners and
courtesy this industry holds the
image of the most competitive and
merciless sphere and demands
the complete dedication of their
actors. That is why Awards in this industry is highly
appreciated and widely recognized by the audience and
by the winners. The last thing to do is finally to watch and
estimate from our critical position the annual results of
the media professional’s hard work and to see the real life
behind the screen. ▪
LOS ANGELES, May 11, 2016 – NATPE announced today that
the success of several new initiatives has helped the forthcoming
Budapest 2016 Market & Content Summit achieve a substantial
rise in the number of pre-registrations by acquisitions
executives. More than 400 key buyers from 217 companies and
49 territories, including buyers from all the major TV stations
within 25 CEE countries, have already registered to attend.
Additionally, NATPE will host an extended lineup of conference
sessions presented by both leading international and locallybased
content executives, all of which will take place at the
InterContinental Budapest 27 – 30 June.
NATPE Budapest will feature dedicated screenings to
showcase new programming from major studios including CBS,
Lionsgate, NBC and Warner Bros., as well as a diverse range of
local and international exhibitors. Companies new to exhibit
at the 2016 Budapest event include Bonneville Distribution
(USA), Comarex SA de CV (Mexico), EastWest License Ltd. (Hong
Kong), HNFF World Sales (Hungary), Horizon Film (Turkey),
Newen Distribution (France), One Connxt (Jordan) and Sonar
Entertainment (USA), with Paramount returning to the event
after a five year hiatus.
Along with an increased number of delegates from across
the CEE region, the market will host participants from Latin
America with Caracol Television, Comarex SA de CV, Telemundo
and Televisa, as well as many exhibitors from across the Middle
East, Europe and Asia.
NATPE Budapest’s Content Summit will highlight both
local and international, scripted and unscripted programming,
kicking off on Monday 27 June with a CEE Content Showcase
where Danny Kershaw, K7 Media’s International Research
Manager, will shine the spotlight on the very best in Central and
Eastern European original unscripted programming revealing
the current tastes and cultural differences across content
created in the region.
This is followed by a unique masterclass, designed to provide
detailed information about the steps required to reach global
co-production success. In The Practicalities of Making a
European Co-Production, a leading panel of experts will cover
all aspects of scripted co-production from how to best design an
effective pitch right through to choosing the proper distribution
platform. Issues specific to the CEE will be discussed, including
financing plans, and union relations and understanding global
co-production treaties.
Launching the programme on Tuesday 28 June NATPE
Budapest will present a fireside keynote chat with Mr. Peter
Kolosi, Deputy Chief Executive Officer of RTL Hungary at RTL
Group SA who will discuss the opportunities and challenges of
local scripted content in the CEE. Mr. Kolosi is responsible for the
programming of RTL Hungary’s family of channels, including
the market-leading flagship channel RTL Klub and the seven
cable channels for Hungarian-speaking audiences.
Mid-day, participants will reconvene during lunch for a
Case Study session spotlighting HBO’s “Aranyélet.” A criticallyacclaimed,
eight-hour drama series produced by HBO Europe,
“Aranyélet” (“Golden Life”) is based on the Finnish format “Helppo
elämä” (“Easy Living”), with the story and characters adapted for
Hungarian audiences by local writers. The case study will look
at what drew HBO to the project, the necessary considerations
for adaptation and how HBO Europe approached its production.
These and other matters will be examined by Antony Root, EVP,
Original Programming and Production, HBO Europe, and Gabor
Krigler, HBO Hungary’s Creative Executive who developed
and oversaw the show creatively and HBO Europe Production
Executive Anna Zavorszky. They will be joined for this special
lunch session by the series’ producer Judit Stalter from Laokoon
Films, the production company behind SON OF SAUL, winner of
the 2016 Oscar for Best Film in a Foreign Language, and other
members of the production team.
On Wednesday, 29 June formats are again put under the
microscope during the breakfast session Global Formats:
What’s Working, What’s Failing, What’s Next? The session
panel boasts a world-class lineup of industry executives
including Mike Beale, ITV EVP Global Development and Formats;
Merrily Ross, VP Formats & Content Development, Modern
Times Group; Amos Neumann, COO Armoza Formats and Pascal
Dalton, Regional Sales Director, TV Formats and New Media, CEE
Endemol Shine Group. The panel will analyze the past, present
and future of the global non-scripted business.
Of special interest to local producers within CEE is PITCH
& PLAY LIVE, a session presented by NATPE in partnership
with CEETV and TVBIZZ, which aims to showcase original
non-scripted format ideas with international potential from
across the region. Any non-scripted developed format created
after June 1, 2015 in the CEE region may be submitted for
consideration. Out of all entries, up to 10 titles will be selected
and reviewed by a Finalist Selection Committee comprised
of five TV industry professionals who will be charged with
selecting three finalists. This committee includes George R.
Chakarov, CEO at CEETV, TVBIZZ Group; Jordan Ryder, VP of
Domestic & International Programming, NATPE; Pascal Dalton,
Regional Sales Director, Formats: CEE at Endemol Shine Group;
Nick Smith, SVP International Format Production at All3Media
International; and Noelia Nicolas, Director European Formats
at CBS Studios International. The top three finalist formats will
then be identified and presented “live” by their creators during
the session to a Blue Ribbon jury of three highly respected TV
professionals including Can Okan, CEO & President, ITV Inter
Medya; Amos Neumann, COO, Armoza Formats and Girts Licis,
Head of CEE, Formats & Content Development, Modern Times
Group. Collectively these three jurors will select and declare
one format as the winner at the conclusion of the session. In
addition to media coverage by CEETV, TVBIZZ and NATPE,
the winning format will be awarded a development meeting.
For full details of PITCH & PLAY LIVE please email:
pitch.play@ceetv.net
“We are pleased that our return to Budapest, with an
expanded market and content summit, has been met with such
enthusiasm from all parts of the industry and we are delighted
to see both buyer and exhibitor registration numbers continue
to build,” said NATPE COO & Managing Director JP Bommel.
Adding, “Our focus is to promote a mutually-beneficial
flow of programming across borders, encouraging local CEE
producers to come together with international exhibitors,
studio executives and acquisitions experts to explore the many
opportunities benefitting the region and the wider global
market. We believe there is a huge, untapped opportunity for
content both entering and leaving the CEE, and NATPE Budapest
is the perfect venue to learn about the current possibilities and
optimize business prospects.”
For full details of the NATPE Budapest schedule please visit:
www.natpe.com/budapest/schedule
PRESS CONTACTS:
Debbie Lawrence
The Lippin Group/London
dlawrence@lippingroup.com
+44 203 008 5406
Kevin Broderick/Megan Levy
The Lippin Group/LA
kevin@lippingroup.com
megan@lippingroup.com
+1 323 965 1990
14 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016
ABOUT NATPE
Celebrating 54 years of service to the ever-evolving global television industry, NATPE inspires the
growth and success of content development, creation, production, financing and distribution across all
platforms through marketplaces where industry decisionmakers gather to offer insight and make deals.
For more information,
please visit www.natpe.com

ANALYTICAL
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE TV-PROGRAMMING STRATEGY
BEHIND THE OTHER SIDE
OF BLUE SCREENS:
THE REAL LIFE OF THE
TV “MAGICIAN BOX”
SPEAKERS
Andrey Koval
Program director
TV channel 1+1
Ukraine
Yin Wah Kok
Owner,
HTV Entertainment
Limited
Malaysia
Donovan Castillo
Mohlman
Programming &
Acquisitions Director
NBC Universal
Singapore
Olivier Laouchez
Owner
Trace TV
France
Raphael Correa
Netto
Executive Director —
International Business
Division
TV Globo, Brazil
Programming schedule is a vital part of the channel efficiency and can be considered as a result
of broadcasting coordination and transformation of audience demand in accordance to mission of the
channel.
We chose 10 leading TV channels, independent media groups and independent distributors and
asked them about the specific of their channel schedule elaboration and designing: how do they select
the content and what are the factors which have an impact to their choice; which content is more
highly rated and which is less among the audience and what expectation does it have today; what are
the main tips helped them to develop their channel schedule for prime time and finally what are the
challenges they meet today.
Thus we summarized an experience of the following media companies: International Producers
Group (USA), Fox TV (Spain), HTV Fun (Malaysia), TV Globo (Brazil), Latina TV (Peru), Armenia TV
(Armenia), 1+1 (Ukraine), TRACE Urban (France / Africa Region), DaVinci Media GmbH (Germany),
NBC Universal (Asia) and Safe Media (Lebanon).
David Babakhanyan
General Director
of Armenia TV,
Film director,
producer and
screenwriter
Armenia
Daniel Perez
Director of content
and programming
at Fox International
Channels (FIC)
Spain
Una Suput
Manager Programme
Acquisitions &
Scheduling
Da Vinci Media
GmbH, Germany
Richard Ellman
President and CEO
of International
Producers Group
USA
Milagros Tuccio
Head of fiction
Latina Television
Peru
Adham Nasrallah
Content Manager
SAFE MEDIA SARL
Lebanon
We couldn’t deny the fact that the television became
today some kind of substitution of the reality. It is obviously
an inescapable part of modern culture. We depend
on TV for entertainment, news, education, culture, weather,
sports — and even music. Television turned into some
kind of social drugs and there are still no medicines to
heal the society from the TV addiction.
Moreover, an old saying Meal’n’Real would be more
actual in rephrasing Real’n’Meal — peoples devour media
product with more and more hunger which growing daily
in a progressive way.
At the same time modern media consumer became
more selective demanding from TV channels to feed
them with a new dainty. What is the “dainty” fed to modern
audiences; — we were trying to discover by gathering
some figures and summarizing different points of wives
aiming to animalize general tendencies.
Obviously that since the discovering of television the
main task of TV management was to find a proper feed to
fill their channels and attract more and more audience,
but what was the reason of their success and what instruments
do they use to reach it — let’s take a look.
Analyzing all answers we can say that all channels
are oriented at the same, but use different approaches
and strategies: for example Fox TV pays a lot of attention
to precise content selection combining strong and popular
franchises with wise brand policy; Latina TV and
HTV Fun make their main stresses at careful analysis of
their audience, world trends, as well as innovative and
fun production; Da Vinci Media and TRACE Urban choose
one precise and limited segment of their audience; Safe
Media tries to find a new approach to reach the audience
challenging the new digital reality.
Let`s look at the whole picture step by step, carefully
unveiling all important aspects: instruments of the
channels schedule development; its strategies, approaches,
tips and targeting of the audience.
NBC Universal We’re very fortunate at NBC
Universal to have a bouquet of complimentary channels
whose brands have been meticulously cultivated and
defined across not only our territory in Southeast Asia,
but also across the globe. We have DIVA, which draws
a very attractive female viewership for both our affiliate
and advertising partners, and Universal Channel our
flagship general entertainment channel. Pairing these
two channels with our US channel brands, Syfy and
E!, we’re able to offer a robust channel portfolio that
reaches all audience segments, which afford us the
opportunity to benefit from a distribution, scheduling,
development, marketing / cross-promotion, and
acquisitions perspective.
1+1 Media The first instrument we use for content
selection is targeting of new products. It is used for finding
precise matching with needs of our target audience.
The second is the audit combining with optimization
of existing products; there is a tendency to reduce the
number of products in daily playlist, choosing 3-4 as the
most successful. It seems to be most optimal strategy —
to increase the number of outlets and the timing of one or
two of the most successful products.
HTV Entertainment Limited Why viewers have
to choose your channel? We must have content that is
uniquely valuable by providing content that’s unavailable
or hard to get elsewhere plus great user experience. This
means it’s easy and pleasurable to watch anywhere on
any device. The issues that we need to consider are a
massive upgrade versus what’s already available on the
web in aggregation, accessibility, and/or design. We need
to create the “wow” factor to everyone who views the
content in our channel. The overall look-and-feel must be
of highest quality too.
TRACE Urban We are remaining true to our brand
and relevant at the same time. TRACE evolves with its
audience; you witness this in both our platforms and
content. Our channels were born out of a need to provide
an under represented community with entertainment
that celebrates urban culture in its greatest form —
music. Each feed is closely monitored and adapted to the
markets it serves, providing the right balance of TRACE
values and cultural relevance.
TV Globo Our intention is to diversify, both in
production/proposal of content as in the way how it gets
for each viewer.
Da Vinci Media GmbH Over the years we’ve
established Da Vinci Learning as the go-to place for
educational content for families. We are very selective
in both our acquisitions and productions, because we
don’t just want to make sure kids learn great new things
from all possible areas of life, but also that they do so in
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ANALYTICAL
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE TV-PROGRAMMING STRATEGY
a safe and stimulating environment. Parents trust us
and we have to constantly make sure to justify this. We
really want family viewing to lead to engagement with
the content — whether it’s building a volcano or going
to the backyard to dig up some fossils. That’s why a lot
of our shows emphasize creation, experimentation and
exploration.
Latina TV There is only answer to the question about
the secret of our programming effectiveness: it’s all about
the wheel of fortune. There is almost no precise technique
how to be successful at the screen, nobody knows this
secret formula. Which approaches do we use? First of all
we try to get to know our audience within the long period
of time. We investigate the preferences and values of the
audience. Moreover we are trying to be informed about
the main world TV trends: how does the news all over
the world are performed, which serials do family preferall
of this help us to make our final decision concerning
our programming. We also produce our own new and
unique content. We also try never losing the spirit of our
region being oriented at content with specific of national
authenticity. Finally we are trying to keep our finger
on a pulse of our competitors. It makes us more selfdemanding.
FOX TV A good selection of content, combining strong
and popular franchises with brand. As we can see some
of channels freely open their cards, other ones keep their
tips in secret. Every company has its own approach and
strategy. Any way all of them gave the same aim: to satisfy
and to overcome the growing demands of their audience
and to make it after all even larger. This task annually
worked out by different departments from defining the
audience values till financial statistics and dates.
As we can see, every channel has its own strategy for
programming and its individual approach. That is why
all of them the giants and are at list at the top 3 of their
region or state.
So how do they reach such results? Actually the secrets
are on the top: they feed their audience with a delicacy
which has never been tried before mixing them with
the most delicious content which is already known and
beloved by the audience.
Obviously that the process of content selection
depends on inner factors and the specific of the audience:
if some region is more patient and emotional or less,
what preferences and priorities does it have — all this
psychological factors pay a vital role. For analyzing
demand and consumption the channels usually try to
analyze their audience and in accordance with a general
image they create a further strategy.
What is the process of the content selection, which
factors do they pay their attention and which analysis
do they usually perform before? — our experts will try to
answer to all our questions.
At the very beginning let’s give a word to distributors
which cooperate with channels:
International Producers Group On a regular basis,
I contact most of the major US broadcasters and ask them
straight out, “what is your current programming strategy
“TODAY”. I do this because there are always new buyers
and management to consider which seems to take place
often. Each bring with them their own vision of what they
would consider as the type of programs (content) they
see the channel gaining the most viewers. It often does
not work which is another reason I am in touch with the
buyer to find out exactly what kind of content for which
they are open to screening as a possible license. This is a
big challenge because what you often see on the channel
is not necessarily what they are looking for. They may be
running out the clock on a series or license agreement.
The one thing I do NOT want to do is send my customers
new availabilities on programs that I know they would
not have an interest. BUT... then I have what I call the
“YA NEVER KNOW” category. I send them an availability
of a program that almost fits into their strategy, but
not quite. So, I ask them to take a look because, “Ya never
Know”!!! It is a challenge trying to keep up to date on
all the programming needs of my American Broadcaster
and VOD customers and I spend a great deal of time doing
this.
SAFE MEDIA SARL If there was a secret formula
for everything nothing would ever fail, there’s a huge
surprise part within! The psychology / emotions of the
consumer behaviors is the key element! This can never
be measured! Predicted may be but not measured. The
recommendation is “Know your audience”, that will
eventually lead to the content they want! The better
you know them, the better you can cater them, sit with
them, and listen! Give them attention, spend time, watch,
observe this helps understand their needs and attend to
their content needs.
It means that distributors and productions have
never known how the audience will meet their product.
It seems like tightrope walks: one wrong step and they
could fall down. It`s a kind of extreme activity especially
if there is your asset which are at a stake.
Does it really so hard process indeed? What is the
position of those who directly make a decision what are
going to be at their channel schedule in prime-time?
HTV Entertainment Limited First of all, we will
look for one of a kind unique content that isn’t available
anywhere or hard to get elsewhere. Then we will see
whether the content is relevant and appeal to the
platform/channel mission, “Connects you with fun and
unique content from the world”. This will attract audience
although not a big audience but maybe others have not
reached them yet.
Working with the right business partner is also part
of the content selection criteria. Since we are a new
channel, we want to build a strong business partnership
with producers and distributors who can work together
through thick and thin.
Financial models of distribution channel deals,
legal rights to air and content suitability based on local
requirements, for example no to nudity, story theme
based on gay / lesbian or high level of violence in film is
also banned.
Armenia TV We believe that except of news we need
to broadcast comedy stand ups, sitcoms and soap operas
of our national production. In addition, we actively use
the Brazilian soap operas, which are already more than
20 years of presence in our market. 90% of the grid takes
our content: sitcoms, morning shows, food-shows, socialoriented
talk show. It is more reasonable to create our
own content as we want it for ourselves.
Fox TV CHANNELS We work with two genres for
prime time: series and feature films. In terms of films we
always look for strong blockbusters, easily recognized for
the audience. Regarding series we create our prime time
plan with the more mainstream content in the slots with
more consumption. We have a deep knowledge of the
market, trends and – even programming is not an exact
science – we have enough tools for creating a successful
prime time.
Da Vinci Media GmbH Our channel is somewhat
unique insofar as during the day our primary audience
is children, while access primetime is reserved for joint
family viewing and from 8 PM (or 9 PM in certain regions)
onwards we present documentary content for adults.
Because we offer a wide range of educational content
for all ages, we have different primetimes for different
audiences.
TRACE TV Selecting the content for prime time is
based on our own criteria of ‘heat’. We make sure that
these evening slots are filled with content that is a hot
topic amongst our young audiences at the time. With our
urban music channels, the schedulers are working around
the clock to determine the artists that will be trending
at periods in the year, as well as continuing to monitor
the popularity of urban singles around the world.
NBC Universal With the recent influx of Video-
On-Demand players in Asia and globally, we’ve had to
take a stand of late with the type of content and the
rights we require when choosing content for primetime.
The fight is no longer with other linear channels (new
or established), but rather with these players who are
spending an inordinate amount of money to snap up first
run and exclusive global rights to prime time content. In
the initial launch and investment stages, some of these
companies are driving up the costs of content that has
traditionally been the staple of Pan-Regional general
entertainment channels — US studio based content.
We’re now forced to be creative in choosing our content,
to ensure we’re still offering our subscribers something
fresh, unique, and entertaining.
Thus, we can highlight a few key points we create
our formula of success: it should be the high quality new
unique product; someone relies on their intuition and experience;
it happens that a key role to play for content is
genre; for the world’s major channels it is also important
to be recognized as brand; and sometimes, it is necessary
to look at the competitors, to determine what makes
them ratings, and create a similar or even better product.
An important factor was the business partner’s requirements
of reputation and financial transactions distribution
model.
We decided to clarify in which extent is hard to work
for TV channels with their “business partner”.
SAFE MEDIA SARL Handling a Channel is not an
easy job or task! This clearly reflects on transactions with
all its supply chain management, even more complicated
when comes to content. The decision making process
is long, takes a lot of time especially with a selection
committee, then chasing the payment. As we are evolving
so fast in TV into the unknown, audiences is harder to
please, the risk factor is very high causing the advertisers
to spend less. All this makes it not an easy! We all know
that all TV channels when cutting down cost the first
they take out is budget for content! The simplest would be
government channels as all they do is media propaganda
of the honoring the governments, and content to them is
basic wall paper!
International Producers Group It is difficult
importing foreign Independent documentary programming
to an American channel mainly because they have
a very high standard for the quality and the content must
have a strong appeal to American audiences. Oh yes, it is
also important to have English dubbed versions with a
few sub titles as possible. AND... today only HD programs
are acceptable.
All of them try to create their own unique product
which would be able to differ qualitatively and concur at
the world media market. All of them bet on horse of fun
which traditionally winning and dark horse of national
consciousness.
All of them have both as something in common as
well precise differences. Thus all media companies, which
were interviewed, in average give from 75% till 90% of
their air-space to national content produced and released
by themselves or their national fellow colleagues.
1+1 TV We try to invest approximately 75%-80% of
our budget on prime, most off time filled with reruns
of our old, proven products. The average cost of an hour
of the product in prime off time more than 3-4 times.
Taking into consideration the optimistic estimation
of the Ukrainian advertising market volumes in 2016
which is in average $200 million the most economically
reasonable price for an hour of ready-made product is
approximately $30-35 housed. Any way it’s quite hard to
talk about some definite figures and content cost recovery
by the advertiser. Sharp changes at the price of currency
make this task even more complicated. It is clearly that
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BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE TV-PROGRAMMING STRATEGY
ANALYTICAL
no one from national channels is really profitable in
recent moment and the tight times are getting over only
due to the support of the stakeholders investments.
Armenia TV Depends on the type of content
percentage of profits may vary from 30% to 150 %. At
the case of Brazilian soap operas payback is 30%-40%,
regarding our domestic sitcoms it could be even 150 %.
Da Vinci Media There is no significant difference in
cost between prime-time and the rest of the day, as the
content rotates. Apart from a few countries, we haven’t relied
heavily on on-air advertising so far. Where possible,
we want to be able to offer a safe environment for kids,
which to a lot of parents also mean an ad-free environment.
NBC Universal In the past, we would look at content
acquisition costs and compare these to the projected
ratings performance and ad-sales revenue of a particular
slot. In the case of my pay TV linear channels and in the
face of the on-demand players coming into market, we no
longer focus so much on this time slot. I believe it’s still
somewhat relevant to free-to-air terrestrial channels, but
for us our focus has slightly shifted to acquiring unique,
appealing content, with a level of exclusivity no matter
the time slot. We look at our channel as a whole, rather
than varying day parts. We have a ranges of prices for
which we’ll pay, that averages out. We try not to pigeon
hole content into a specific price range, but rather if there
is a series or film title that we feel strongly about we’ll step
up and pay more than market rate. Likewise, for content
that is more filler than driver, we’ll drop my acquisition
costs anywhere from 25-50%. We’d all like our content
costs to be covered by advertising and affiliate distribution
revenue. Some of our channels internationally are
able to go above and beyond these costs. Though, returning
to my earlier point about what makes our channels
so effective, it also comes down to variety of content and
channel brand. Advertisers are more willing to support
a programme or channel based upon the association of
the brand vs. the performance of a specific title, as well
our ability to spreading their marketing message across a
variety of channels for optimum reach.
FOX TV We play in a market where pay TV has a 30%
of penetration, so it’s really complicate to find advertising
investment for paying the content. We have started to
work in branded content but the reality is that we are still
far to find a model where the strategic content would be
paid with advertising.
All of this confirms the fact that political and economic
situation determine the state of business, especially
it concerns media industry. After all, when there is a
striving for bread there is no need in entertainment, but
when everyone is sated it’s getting bored and it is already
time for entertainment. It creates a base for advertising
market, one of the sources of financing of TV industry.
Consummation demand is growing as well as the
expenditures of the channels have an eager to satisfy
the passion and the hunger of their tempted audience.
That is why the channels, especially those who have to
be more careful with their budgets while the creating of
their “magic potion” aggravated by the wild capitalism
and economy recession, optimize their feed using new
products targeting and reducing the number of old ones.
Whatever happened, the channels schedule should be
filled out. So what are they the tips according to which
the final decision about the content buy are made? What
is the key point?
1+1 TV The key factor is the estimated effect of
originality. We are interested to find something that
will be perceived by our audience as something new. At
the same time, the product should be understandable
to our audience (for example, we are not interested in
youth product, or a product of nostalgia for the audience).
In other words, the main task of programming is to see
unique, unusual, new product potential mass-market
trend for several seasons. We are trying to look at the
product through the eyes of our target audience and
understand how interesting topics are, in which extent
characters are familiar and recognizable, whether the
storylines are intriguing, if a proper proportions of
the humorous element are exists, if there is a balance
between optimistic degree and dramatic intensity. This
requirement is valid for all time slots and t our attention
is concentrated on this aspect first of all. For prime-time
also becomes important potential of watching nontargeted
audience, ideally — the possibility of family
viewing. Obviously, there are areas, themes and conflicts
are close and understandable to the masses in general. We
have identified 3-4 areas for which we make purchases
for, their mesh products — it is Ukraine, the CIS, Turkey,
USA, Europe. We try to explore deeply the features of the
products to understand the trends and main strengths
of each Production. In order to be included in the focus,
the product must be properly innovative, bright, with
minimal localization or connected with our country.
NBC Universal The deciding factors are always: how
does it fit into my current inventory, will it outperform
content for which I currently have the rights acquired,
and does it satisfy my ad-sales and affiliate commitments.
Ultimately, by the time it comes to making an offer I’ve
already assessed the content strengths and weaknesses.
Utilizing previous ratings performance, stakeholder
feedback, and brand fit we can quickly identify if a series
is going to work for us. The challenge when acquiring a
programme is determining whether or not the content is
going to succeed in its original market. This is where the
knowledge of global markets other than your own comes
in to play, its crucial to be aware of content’s potential to be
renewed before making an investment as an acquisition.
It’s not critically important from what country
content, though it is a consideration based upon the
known production quality for a specific territory. We are
happy to source content from any country as long as it is
strong creatively and works for our channel. For the most
part, we do tend to look at English content only, simply
because it’s a language a lot of our viewers in Asia speak
or have some understanding, even though we subtitle
everything in local language.
TRACE TV Purchasing content has become a very
large part of our activities more recently because of
our work on the TRACE Play platform. We are building
this service for viewers who enjoy urban culture. It
was important to identify content that would not just
resonate with our audience, but also entertain, empower,
and engage them. In each territory we will launch, the
teams have been working on identifying unique, trendy,
and popular programming that will make TRACE Play
a must-have amongst the Afro-urban population in that
region.
TRACE sources content from across the world, and
makes sure it fits our urban music programming and
sport lifestyle themes respectively. With TRACE Tropical
and Toca, the source country, or region, will more than
most times be the same, e.g Angola for Toca and Latin
America as the music on this channel. TRACE Urban has
hip-hop from across the world, with the South African
and Rest Of Africa feed containing localised content.
These are just some examples of our views on the source
country, we try and localize where possible but remain
providing the best content from the channel’s vertical.
Da Vinci Our acquisitions committee evaluates
the content based on educational and production value,
creativity, storyline, target audience and so on, but also
how it complements the current channel offering in
terms of genre, target audience or format. We also pay
close attention to the needs of different markets — what
may work really well in Singapore, won’t necessarily
work in Russia or Romania. So we rely on feedback from
our regional teams in all these countries and of course
feedback from operators and above all viewers, which is
the most precious.
Once all these factors come together, we decide on a
programme for Da Vinci Learning. We won’t buy in bulk
just because it’s easier or it may bring down the acquisitions
cost, because a big part of having the best educational
programming is hand-picking each show. And
once picked, the prices vary significantly depending
on the region, for which we acquire, whether the show
is animation or live action, or for example whether it’s
an observational documentary about animals or a lavish
re-enacted docudrama.
Latina TV All materials that appear in Latin America
are carefully tested. There is nothing to choose only
ruling by “intuition” or with the assumption that “may
or may not” like the audience, on the contrary, we must
be sure of that. Thus, the solution adopted also by taking
into account the opinion of our audience, because we are
working for them!
Evaluations, which can make the area, solutions
that can take the lead, always include the results of tests
carried out for the target audience.
Fox TV First of all, when we are going to acquire of
content we analyze, which are the lacks of the channel,
what show has been cancelled, its profile and how to keep
the same kind of viewer for its replacement. Once we have
screened the content we also take in consideration where
this product is going to be scheduled in US, when, the
competition, etc. With all this information we are more
comfortable to decide if the show is good for our channel
or not.
Our schedule is built mainly with US content. Local
scripted production is more successful in free TV and pay
TV viewer is more receptive to the US shows
Finally after analyzing all of them — the findings were
quite predictable: the decisive factors are the potential
of mass-market trend for several seasons (interesting
and related topics, familiar characters, intuitive sense of
humor); it is important to match clearly the interests of
your audience by age and gender; minimal localization;
quality and again quality; advancing trends — modern,
fashionable, innovative. TV channels from the nearest
countries are betting on their own production. Often,
they have their own special tendencies which are based
on the historical and cultural values. It is clear that the
national or self-production is a feather in one’s cap for
every country. Some, on the contrary conduct special
tests to identify the interests of their audience and have
the results of selected content. It’s quite unusual and
interesting way of making decisions, especially if it works.
For example, this approach is used by Latina TV.
Some platforms are covering half of the world, guided
only by western producers. On belief of many — that they
set new trends in production.
At the same time they all have their strictly ordered
audience, thematic and sometimes completely different
approaches in content selection. Some of them are
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ANALYTICAL
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE TV-PROGRAMMING STRATEGY
oriented at the global audience in accordance with their
interests and demands such as Fox TV, Da Vinci Media,
TRACE Urban.
For example, Da Vinci TV gives their preference
to creative educational product of high quality
predominantly oriented on children and family and
TRACE Urban dedicated to the many means of expression
of urban culture: music, fashion, sport, film, dance, etc.
As we can see both, as Da Vinci as well TRACE Urban,
control their feed content very carefully trying to find
balance between consumer demand and declared values
of the channels.
Predominantly all channels agreed that the biggest
rate they usually receive from national talent, comedy
(stand ups) and reality shows as well as from quality
serials. That’s why they use this main content in a prime
time.
Concerning the sources which TV channels use to
fill up their “magician box”, it depends on the regional,
cultural tradition and off course their purse. Thus the
region of Latin America used to buy media product at USA
or make it by itself.
Post-Soviet countries traditionally exchange their
products or make it jointly such as Ukraine and Russia
(there are still a lot of joint media projects despite the
political disagreement between the states).
Most channels produce their own content, and those
who want to establish new partnerships with the ability
to enter new markets make their projects in coproduction.
Coproduction is also a way to use for production
common budget. Accordingly there are much more
chances to release their movie or program in cooperation
with one or two partners.
1+1 TV Our strategic goal is to fill the grid by over 80%
of the national product and 65% — of our own. Localized
product has a better ranking potential and own product
best fits the brand.
We do not produce content ourselves at this moment
but we have planned to work in co-production in the
future. We are interested in web series suitable for the
whole family. Our current plan is to focus on brand
building since our channel is still young. We have many
requests in co-production and we will surely consider it
when the timing is right.
TRACE TV The positioning of TRACE Sport Stars
has been largely characterized by our exclusive access to
sport’s biggest names. With this in mind we produce a lot
of content ourselves, involving traveling, partying, and
celebrating with the stars. We also have a very beneficial
partnership with Australian production company Inverliegh
who supply about 100 hours of content per year. In
total the content broadcast on our feeds is 60% production
and 40% acquisition.
For our music channels, to accompany the streams
of popular urban music, we regularly bring in the artists
for interviews. This means that about 10% of content on
the music channels is produced by TRACE. It’s important
to be first and foremost music channels but also offer
something different in our Guest Star interviews.
Also we have tried to localize our feeds when and
where possible. You see this today with the multiple
feeds across TRACE Urban, TRACE Sport Stars, and TRACE
Gospel. The programming is also adapted to the market it
serves with regular celebrity features that are popular in
the feed’s region.
TV GLOBO In co-productions, the highlight of 2015
was the novel “Salty Sea”, co-produced with SIC, Portugal,
which was the most watched program in the country in
2015, with over 1.7 million viewers a day.
The client portfolio was enriched with 75 new
companies. Thus, growth of the year, compared to 2014
was 10%.
DA VINCI MEDIA GMBH We decided to produce our
own short-form series. We also wish to become more local
in certain markets and introduce more diversity. This is
why we are producing our own 26-episode children’s
series on famous scientists which doesn’t cover the
usual known Western European celebrities like Newton
or Einstein, but also women which have so far been
marginalized, as well as scientists and inventors from
Asia, India or the Middle East.
Latina TV At the present time Latin America can be
totally satisfied by the fact that here is almost 80% (not 90
%!) of national content at her TV screens.
Fox TV Currently we are working with 4-5 titles per
year including The Walking Dead, Outcast or Wayward
Pines. All this series are brand defining shows that have
a lot of marketing effort behind, we premiere at the
same time in all the markets and they have strongly
contributed to the success of the channels around the
world. I think that local scripted production on pay TV
is one of the big factor successful in our market, but it’s
an expensive format and we need to be sure of doing it
without too many risks.
TV production is a continuous process, which needs
a permanent modification at filing the stories and
technical terms. But what remains the same in this
process is an ever increasing consumer demand. And no
matter how much we have of the finished product, there
is always something missing. So, what are the challenges
which channels meet today and what are the problems
they need to handle with? — We asked this question
to our experts and now can clearly understand their
expectation and aspiration:
TRACE TV Content that successfully represents
the culture of a niche audience. This is a gap we are
bridging with TRACE Play for the Afro-urban audiences.
Mainstream content is exactly that — mainstream. We
have shown with our linear TV channels that serving a
niche audience; serving them well, can give you the base
for a successful multinational organization.
I would recommend manufacturers, especially those
from a minority background to consider developing into
more niche areas, cultures that are underserved by the
mainstream media. Stay true to your culture, stay true to
your brand and you can create something great, just like
we have with TRACE.
Thus, if you’re still looking for a media market niche
for realization or have a drive to grow up your business,
Oliver`s advises would be certainly useful for you.
Da Vinci In general, educational content for a 6+
audience isn’t easy to come by, with most producers
still focusing on pre-school, especially when it comes to
animation. We would love to see strong math programs
for older kids, shows about different careers / professions
but also programs about health and fitness that parents
can watch together with their kids. There is no limitation
in terms of genre or format for us — so long as it’s entertaining,
educational and has that certain something to
stand out, we’re happy to have it for Da Vinci Learning.
International Producers Group We have probably
more than 400 channels in the US and each have their own
demographics and programming. The broadcasters and
VOD companies I deal with are looking for high quality
newer HD programs and series about Science, History,
Crime, Investigation, Medicine, Travel with People and
Cultures including food, Current events, Sports, Military,
Nature and Wildlife, Health and Retirement, Gay and
Lesbian programming, programming for women, and
the one I do not even bother with, Reality non scripted.
Programs with on camera hosts generally do not work
unless they are speaking English and the host has to be
enthusiastic, authoritative and look and sound like they
know what they are talking about. If the programs have
a voice over narrator, a mid Atlantic English voice is OK,
but the narrator should have some acting ability to be
convincing. In many cases, a broadcaster may want to use
their own American narrator and record over the one on
the program.
We should also to mention concerning the localization:
Fox TV I think that local scripted production on pay
TV is one of the big lacks in our market, but it’s an expensive
format and we need to be sure of doing it without too
many risks.
Finally, there are some precise advises from our experts:
NBC Universal I can’t wholly take credit for the
answer to this question, as it comes from something
Brandon Tartikoff once said in an interview 25yrs ago.
“The end of network television will come if all it is
an endless sea of sitcoms and reality shows.”
It’s important to develop original ideas and content,
don’t fall prey to the trap of chasing a trend. Viewers want
to be entertained; they don’t want to have to sift through
an endless schedule of content that is simply a variation
of the same basic format.
That being said, I’ve always said you can’t go wrong
with monkeys, people for some reason love monkeys!
However, to be aware of the precise aim, we should
be able to analyze the market and our target audience.
To be able to predict what will be important in a year at
least. Naturally, without an understanding of the current
favorites it would be difficult to do. Therefore, we offer
you to get acquainted with some of the products that are
holding the audience today. It will be useful as for production
as well for TV channels.
NBC Universal We’ve recently acquired from
Warner Bros. the unscripted series Little Big Shots, which
airs originally on our sister channel domestically in the
US. We identified this series early, prior to the launch
in the US, where it quickly became the highest rated
new unscripted series in 18-49 of the past 5 years. Here
in Asia, the series also premiered to fantastic ratings on
DIVA. What makes this show work is simple, KIDS. It’s
not a program that puts kids in unusual adult situations
or is filmed in such a way to target only children viewers.
This is key; this is what makes the series appeal to
audiences of all ages. There’s no pandering to a specific
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ANALYTICAL
BASIC PRINCIPLES OF THE TV-PROGRAMMING STRATEGY
age or demographic. While it might sound easy to create
such a series, it’s the gentle balance between adult
humor and kids being kids. It’s a mix between Got Talent
the classic US format Kids Say the Darndest Things,
its pure genius. It’s not surprising though, as it comes
from the godfather of reality and unscripted television,
Mike Darnell.
HTV Entertainment Limited Asian Dramas has
the most viewed so far in our channel followed by food
and travel content. We see some promising signs in
the ratings of the few food programs like Simple Food,
Fun Food and Foodlab International distributed by
MK-Distribution.
TRACE TV As you can imagine, celebrity features are
always the biggest talking point. Our Guest Star program
is formed by exclusive interviews with the most popular
urban artists in the world. In Guest Star, the celeb reveals
their secrets and their plans for the future. With this
program, viewers get up close with their favorite artists,
like never before.
Guest Star has been a firm favourite since TRACE’s
inception and we will continue to provide the best artists
a platform to promote their music and new ventures.
It also takes viewers into a space where they can reach
an understanding with their musical heroes and role
models, something not always possible through the
medium of music.
Given the success of this show, we have expanded
Guest Star program to all of our music channels — TRACE
Urban, TRACE Tropical, TRACE Africa, TRACE Toca. TRACE
Gospel has its own GUEST STAR program, which is called
GLITZ, GLAM & GOSPEL where Mario Winans Jr., a key
figure in the Gospel music world, meet up with famous
Gospel personalities in Los Angeles, USA.
LATINA TV While our great shows, entertainment
formats and media content are extremely powerful on
our screen, the most visited of the program belong to our
stellar unit TV-novels (fiction content).
The reason is that an innovative product, the stories
are the stories of light perception, the book (script) of
our TV-novels are extremely powerful and have deep
storylines. Every next chapter has a “sensation” in
history, and thanks to these critical moments, our TVnovels
are always full of new within the same story.
Characters grow, develop, change, will melt known, and
do not remain as they were originally. Stories intertwine.
And all this with great skill, which not only touches the
audience and leads them to validate themselves through
the main characters, which are reflected in them, and
involved what is happening to them. We should also
remember that literature is characterized by a special
“intimacy” with the audience, as there is a continuity
that makes the viewer to follow by it every day, to know
that this time would happen to his “new friends”, which
in practice they are; suffer with them, rejoice with them
and live with them every day.
Fox TV The Walking Dead, Last Man on Earth, X-Files,
NCIS LA, Bones, a combination of classic procedurals that
usually works well in our market with worldwide big
franchises like The Walking Dead and X Files.
SAFE MEDIA SARL Few years back in the MENA
region it was all about Reality TV (Star Academy, Survivor),
Gaming shows “Who want to be the millionaire?”, Then
came in the Turkish Series 3 Shows a night back to back,
in the 90’s it was the Latino soaps, later came in FORMATS
(The Voice and The Idol, Dancing with the Stars, now it’s
sort of the Pan Arab Drama).
As you can see, all of the content selection factors
that are listed in this article are totally and completely
reasonable. The facts mentioned above approve this
finding at the whole extent.
Another key point is the overall development of the
media industry at each different country. It depends on
growth rate and the possibility to implement and utilize
innovation and new technology. It makes an impact not
only to the demand of the audience and desire to earn
money, but also to political, social and economic situation
in general.
The way audiences watch television has been transformed
over the past ten years, more than it did for the
past fifty. No matter what name or technology is used, the
option of watching selected programs anytime & anywhere
changed everything in TV forever.
NBC Universal On-demand, on-demand, ondemand.
There’s been no bigger change in the industry
over the past 10-15 years, full stop.
1+1 TV Due to the Russian occupation of the Crimea
and the war with Russia at Donbas, the Russian content
was statutory imitated. It is ought to be mentioned that
some channels are elaborating their c grids for prime
exceptionally on the basis of Russian content, so now you
can imagine what will be the impact of such statutory
limitation for them. Moreover due to global media market
stagnation there is also reduction at sharing the reality
show.
TRACE TV TRACE has always had a fairly young
viewership, that being an audience consisting mostly
of millenials. Research we did showed that 70% of our
subscribers are watching our TV channels whilst using
a second screen. For us, we felt an obligation to launch
TRACE Play because the way in which our young fans are
consuming content is increasingly digital.
HTV Entertainment Limited HTV Entertainment
Limited: In our opinion, series and movies ratio of
views are equally distributed between the 2 formats.
For example, Korean series and Hollywood movies are
watched worldwide. For TV shows and cartoons ratio
of views, it will depend on the content popularity and
target audience. However, we believed cartoon has better
views ratio because many viewers will watch cartoon no
matter what is their age including me. Entertainment
genre always stays on top of the popularity chart.
However, educational content has long shelf life and
popular among parents. Parents prefer to let their young
kids to watch edutainment content when they are busy.
Entertainment TV shows like reality program are gaining
popularity among the young generations in recent years
especially in Asia. Documentary genre always claimed
a spot on the popularity chart although not the top but
worth to watch genre.
What are the most challenges you meet nowadays?
And what are your plans for the future generally and for
second part of the year 2016?
ARMENIA TV: We are continuing to be oriented
at our home-made sitcoms and serials, and will try to
implement at our live broadcasting some night-shows
and stand ups.
NBC Universal We’ve had a lot of success so far in
2016, so thankfully we don’t feel an urgency to correct
any glaring holes. Instead, we plan to work a little more
closely with advertisers and agency in crafting concepts
and ideas which can be fully funded through product
integration. As mentioned earlier, original content is
important but it’s necessary for us to work with our
advertisers from the start and tailor a concept that fits
both of our needs.
SAFE MEDIA SARL The main fact we can agree on is
that audience are constantly changing. Multiple screens,
devices or platforms have shifted the audiences into era
far from the normal TV, as it had always been known. No
one wants to wait behind a TV screen anymore to wait
until their favorite show comes. Moreover, 80% of most
audiences and views worldwide watch TV with another
screen in the same room simultaneously. We spend
approximately more the 50% of our time behind digital
devices. When the very popular Ellen DeGeneres selfie
on Twitter attracts 80,000 retweets in three minutes and
over one million in less than an hour.
This is a perfect example for where audiences are
shifting and going. Interesting question, ask yourself
“If you had to give up on one of the two, rather give up
on your TV or your Mobile phone?” The answer is simple
I can’t live without my mobile! There you go that’s the
new TV screen. It’s even a challenging process for viewers
not everyone is very cooperative to pay money in order
to watch TV. In the MENA audiences still need time to
understand it, that something they always got for free or
pirated they will be paying for. Individuals have not got
into the habit of using or giving their credit card numbers
to strangers or online! It will take a bit of time for
them to relate paying per view.
HTV Entertainment Limited We are interested in
web series suitable for the whole family. Our current plan
is to focus on brand building since our channel is still
young. We have many requests in co-production and we
will surely consider it when the timing is right.
TRACE Urban In June this year, we will begin the
international rollout of our SVOD platform TRACE Play.
Entirely dedicated to Afro-urban entertainment, it will
be filled with series, films, documentaries, and even our
linear TV channels.
FOX Last years have been really exciting in our
market. All the non-linear consumptions has completely
changed the model of the channels, the type of content in
the schedules, the ratings analysis and also the channels
have strongly improved the timings for premiering the
content, being close to US or UK premieres, trying to
avoid piracy. We are living the best moment in terms of
penetration and the entertainment is also living its best
moment in terms of number of series and quality. So, go
the market and find the best product for our channel is
a challenge because there are hundreds of series that
people are expecting or talking about.
Summarizing everything we can say that the era of
television is still far from its sunset, obviously that despite
of the emerged challenges it is on a summit of its bright
development. Hard times require conceptualizing of all
approaches and reconstructing all existing instruments
at TV production. At the same time new challenges create
a favorable environment for productions to be unique and
really extraordinary, to be real in its aspiration.
What do audiences want? In all areas of television
they hunger for surprise.
With so many channels audience scatters its attention.
Furthermore, channels are initially limited in the offers.
Therefore, all channels are oriented on the top content
which can be put on repeat. And if you spend millions on
a production then you must have a large quantity show,
to cover costs and earn. And it’s a complete red herring
to think that viewers never want to see a program twice.
Digital channels also encourage experimentation and
risk-taking from new writers. It’s a very interesting time
for television, and the future is there to be thought for.
That’s all about shared experience. Television still has
the ability to bring people together, to create communities
with something in common on a scale no other medium
can really rival. That remains incredibly potent because it
means TV not only reflects popular culture but defines it.
As we can see the world of media is changing at a rapid
pace and nothing will stop the growing love of audience
to this sweet life substitution and barely Charls Kignsly
and Karl Marks were right: It’s not the religion it is the
television which is the opium for peoples and it obviously
release their suffering indeed creating a sweet illusion in
which re-live. ▪
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STARTUP
IN SEARCH OF ANGEL INVESTMENTS
HOW OFTEN DO YOU
HEAR THE WORD?
Startup. It whas become increasingly popular as of late. This platform creates fertile ground for
collaboration of major players and young startuppers. The former have the power of their brand,
access to audience and financial resources, and the latter possess ideas, flexibility, innovativeness,
and can quickly adapt to the dynamic market. In our high-tech time, it’s a fact that media industry
desperately needs startups.
Forseveral years, Startup.Network Investment
Platform has been holding Startup Battle, a unique
business event aimed to provide assistance to young
entrepreneurs in assessment of the readiness and
investment appeal of their projects and procurement of
their first angel investments. Thanks to the event, several
most fantastic projects have been already successfully
implemented.
Aleksandr Soroka, CEO of Startup.Network: We
hold our event, first of all, to popularize entrepreneurship
and, of course, to help investors find really interesting
startups. As a rule, winners of the Startup Battles end up
finding the necessary investments, although it’s not the
winning that is important in the Olympic Games, and
if investors find out that the project has participated in
such event, they take great interest in it. So, here is my
advice: take part, train, and stand out to perfect your
presentation.
Startup Battle participants have a unique opportunity
to meet the major players of the global market of venture
investment with more than one successful business
project under their belts, adopt their best practices, learn
of the latest trends in the world of investment, present
their business ideas to experienced colleagues and hear
their expert opinion and advice.
Dmitry Kuzmenko, CEO & founder of Startup.
Network: Startup Battle is held monthly. To participate,
one must propose one’s own investment project to
hundreds of potential investors, present it before the
members of Startup.Network expert board, and then
before business angels, representatives of venture capital
funds and investment banks at the Project Battle Finale
held by Startup.Network twice a year — in fall and in
spring.
As a rule, the event has two stages: the entrepreneurial
unit and the investment unit. During the first one, venture
market experts with more than one successful business
project under the belt share their experience with young
colleagues, describe the trends of the investment world,
give valuable advice, and answer the questions of the
event guests and participants.
During the second unit, the participants present their
Aleksandr Soroka
projects to owners and top managers of major Ukrainian
companies, private investors, representative of venture
and seed funds, and heads of incubation and acceleration
programs. Presentation of one project takes 6 minutes,
3 of which are allocated to presentation itself, and another
three are reserved for questions from experts and event
guests.
Two projects that score the highest after the presentation
win the Battle. One is the participant that has
attracted most of attention from the investors, and the
other is the participant that has received most votes from
the event guests.
Startup.Network has successfully held 45th Startup
Battle, and has certain results. Every second project from
the Startup Battle is already a business, as well as 30%
of those that have entered the Battle and subsequently
received investments within half a year. It does not always
happen at once; sometimes projects need more work.
The list of investors includes Ukraine, Russia, the Baltics.
Minimum amount invested into a project constitutes
USD 10-15 ths., and the highest achieved investment
constituted USD 300 ths.
Dmitry Bezkorovainy, CTO of Mymobstr: We
ranked first in Startup Battle following the public
voting. What did we get from it? Thanks to the Battle, we
have found our investor. It is a great event for aspiring
entrepreneurs, and its main appeal is in its availability.
Sergei Pasichnik, CEO of Vint Design Bureau:
I presented my project at two Battles. The first one was
followed by several interesting meetings. And the second
one led to me meeting my investor. I entered the event
with a definite purpose in mind — to get positive results.
And so I did: within several weeks after the Battle, I was
already negotiating with investor and had the contract
concluded by the New Year.
Roman Zadirako, CEO of Tooltip.io: A young
entrepreneur has to make oneself visible, people should
know about you, you should communicate with users and
experts. Such events provide the possibility to interact
with nice and useful people and meet investors and
experts of their trade.
Today, there are special services to help startuppers
and investors find each other. Startup.Network Investment
Platform is one of them.
An event like Startup Battle is an excellent opportunity
for entrepreneurs to obtain valuable experience of presenting
their project, receive feedback from potential
users and investors, and establish useful contacts.
Independent competent assessment is important
in any business. And it is simply vital for startups, not
only for the investor, but for the entrepreneur as well.
The former needs to assess the project correctly in order
to make much of the investment or at least avoid losses;
and the latter needs to know the criteria to match for
procuring the required amount of investments.
Today, startup projects are an industry of their own.
Interest in them is expected to grow in the future.
However, we must not forget that, according to various
estimates, only 5 to 10% of the projects achieve actual
success. Media industry is considered to be one of the
most promising ones for the next few years.
Startups should be viewed as an alternative to participation
in film festivals. Often, young filmmakers with a
short film and a ton of ambition run around film festivals
searching for a sponsor. However, only few filmmakers
managed to do their first feature film thanks to participation
in a film festival. The others got nothing from their
victories. Participation of media projects at such events
is an excellent opportunity to find the missing resources.
A new, original, unconventional idea in high demand
at the market is important for a new business. Sometimes
investors are prepared to pay for the idea itself, even
without implementation. Most often they are interested
in young startuppers who are usually completely engrossed
in their project and are ready to stain every sinew
for its success. Thus, key success factors are creative ideas
and, of course, a good team.
Startup is a good opportunity to procure foreign
investments. Today, many countries offer super-favorable
terms for entrepreneurs to start their businesses. As you
know, startups are responsible for around 40 ths. jobs in
Europe every year. For example, in Chile startuppers don’t
even have to look for money: if you have a good idea, the
government shall give it to you. Great Britain and Canada
have special funds operating that are ready to finance an
aspiring company. We should adopt the experience of our
colleagues, and we are on the right track. ▪
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Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 27

45 min, 2016, HD

INTERVIEW
WE SHOULD HAVE A FAITH AT OURSELF
Inspiration is a bird which comes to those who has a patience to catch it when it comes.
At the same time when the whole Ukraine was watching with bated breath Eurovision not least
event took place at France: Cannes Festival where our incredibly gifted and talented writer Marysia
Nikitiuk had been recognized as one of the best scriptwriter and awarded by the Krzysztof Kieslowski
Scriptwriter Award for the Best Script from Central and Eastern Europe for ‘When Trees Fall’. Off course
we couldn’t lose the chance to hold an interview with her and we dared to do this as soon as she came
back from the Cannes Festival. Despite the haste and emotional stress, it was a fun and interesting
experience. We should confirm that we were absolutely fascinated by Marysia. Here are some words
that come to mind when talking to her: brave and beautiful, open-minded and extraordinary, incredibly
talented winner. Moreover we have received some exceptional information that her next film will be
shot in five languages. No typo there; these five languages are: Ukrainian, Russian, Surzhik, Polish,
and Romanian. Now let’s take a closer look on the talent from Ukrainian and her amazing work.
Tell us a bit more about your triumphant work.
When Trees Fall is my first full-length script and film,
and it marks the beginning of my way as a director. After
writing the text, so close to my memories of my own
childhood, I realized that I would never be able to give it
to anyone. At that time, film critic Volodya Vojtenko, my
cinematographic guardian angel, was putting ideas about
directing into my head, and producer Igor Savichenko
simply suggested that I try shooting shorts, just to see
whether I can and want. By now, I have already done
three shorts. They seem okay. ))
FILMMAKER.
THE PATH TO THE
COVETED AIM
Marysia, you have won the Krzysztof Kieslowski
ScripTeast Award for the Best Script from Eastern
Europe at 2016 Cannes Festival. Tell us more about
the award, please.
ScripTeast is a training program aimed to prepare
scriptwriters to shooting and film project promotion at
the development stage. Thus, the program is attached
to the professional part of two major European film
festivals — Berlinale and Cannes. We had three sessions:
Warsaw, Berlin, and the final one in Cannes. Scripts from
Eastern and Central Europe were selected for the program;
we trained with the best film professionals from England,
Spain, France, Germany, and North America. For example,
I had my script read and commented by Academy
Award-winning scriptwriter Mark Peploe, the author of
Bertolucci’s Last Emperor and Antonion’s The Passenger.
During this time, we became friends with the program
participants, completely forgetting about competition.
Yet in the end, one of us was to receive the Krzysztof
Kieslowski Award for the Best Script.
Did you hope to win? What did you feel afterwards?
I wanted to receive the Award, I really did, because it
is so beautiful. However, I did not set my hopes high, for
all the disappointed expectations prove disastrous to creative
energy. So, I was very surprised to receive the Award.
And yet, I was extremely happy, jumping on my heels like
a little girl, but a big one and wearing a floor-length dress.
Tiniest moment of happiness, before you poison yourself
thinking that now you’ll have to live up to this declaration
of success.
What is the film budget and what financial aid
have you received from the State Film Agency?
The film budget is around UAH 22 mln. Half of that
is provided by the state — we’ve won State Film Agency
pitchings last fall. The other half should come from coproduction
with Macedonia and Poland — Igor and I are
currently waiting for several film funds to reply.
The project attracted a lot of interest — from French
and Swedish producers; then, our Polish partners and
Igor Savichenko continue negotiating. However, all missing
specifics shall be made clear in June. Furthermore,
Spanish distributors and several film markets tailored to
search for lacking funds have also shown interest in the
project.
When are you beginning the shooting?
The shooting is planned for August-September, within
the territories of at least three countries: Ukraine, Poland,
and Macedonia.
It will be a film about freedom, ideological triumph of
good when evil seems to prevail. Attention is focused on
the fate of three generations of women living in modern
Ukraine who sacrifice their dreams to accommodate the
society.
Marysia, does one need special education to
become a successful scriptwriter? What personal
traits must one possess for the same purpose?
I think, no. No, one doesn’t need special education. It
might be even better without it. But certain professional
skills would be certainly useful. There are lots of wonderful
workshops, courses, master-classes for scriptwriters
in Europe: for example, MAIYA workshops, the already
mentioned ScripTeast, Torino FilmLab, and many others.
I’ve mentioned only the best ones. Then, there are lots
30 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016 Season Screen TV Review
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Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 31

INTERVIEW
WE SHOULD HAVE A FAITH AT OURSELF
of books: Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand
Faces and Myths to Live By, McKee’s Story, and loads of
professional literature on anthropology, psychology
(psychopathology, psychological types, stories from
actual practice etc.), philosophy, cosmology, physics and
so on.
Without the knowledge, modern storyteller will
only wallow in multiplying template stories. And to tell
stories today, one must be the best. So, you have to read
a lot, take interest in everything, observe people, listen
in on them, even spy on them. All life, all lives, the entire
world — that’s the source of a story. Intuition is also vital
to creating a proper script, original and unconventional.
Story has its own logic, often called three-act structure.
In fact, it is the frame of any person’s life: birth, death,
and something in between.
Give some tips for aspiring writers. What should
they begin with? How does one introduce oneself to
the right people and how does one meet them? How
does one make a name for oneself? (and not only
within one’s own country)
A scriptwriter and a writer must be proficient in
psychology and have interesting life experience. One also
needs to read a lot, listen, want to tell and pass on not only
one’s own grandeur and inflated ego, but something of
value. That’s all one needs to become a good scriptwriter.
As for making a name for oneself, one can either produce
one-hundred-percent-sure commercial hits, or adhere to
one’s own unique and, thus, lonely and often painful road.
It depends on what you are looking for: money, women,
and glory, or the happiness of being real and free, even if
people do not accept or love you.
You are scriptwriter and director. Does it benefit
the film if one person is responsible for both areas?
I’d say it happens. Or, sometimes, there are two
persons working together. To each his own.
What is the key to creating a script that holds the
audience today? What hooks must the plot have?
There must be no hooks from other films. People
have advanced a lot in terms of perception. We watch,
read, perceive too much; more than we live. Thus, the
audience becomes more exacting, and the storyteller —
less engaging. So, one needs to be sincere and righteous,
while really breaking the logic. Complex characters are
taking the center stage now — villains with kind hears
and enormous guilt. The more complex is the inner world
of the character, the more interesting is the story.
As a scriptwriter, what techniques do you use?
Do you have a role model among successful scriptwriters?
No authorities, no role models. I have favorite films,
favorite books, favorite writers: Borges, Céline, Bukowski,
Márquez, Jodorowsky, Virginia Woolf; favorite directors:
Godard, Bertolucci, Béla Tarr, von Trier, Roy Andersson,
Paul Thomas Anderson.I write as it goes, in a flow. But
first, I carry the story, or the feeling of a story inside for
a long time, it kind of stews within me. And while it
stews, I create the narrative track, place markers and
flags, direct the story. Though, it often bursts its banks
and makes its own and very different route to the end in
the process of actual writing.
How important is rich life experience to cover
this or that issue? For example, does one have to
experience tragic love in order to depict it vividly?
Yes. Experience is everything. Life, in fact, is a sequence
of experiences. As I have already said, dramaturgy did not
appear from nowhere, simply because it’s pretty. Its roots
are buried in life experience, structured by our brains
into stories. The more experience you have, the richer and
deeper the story is.
In your opinion, what does the audience want
today? What genre will be popular in the next few
years?
The audience always wants one thing: to be enchanted.
Everyone comes to the cinema for magic. People give their
attention to the director hoping to be scared, to laugh, to
cry, to live another life, full of emotions. As for genre, it’s
not really important. It’s just the question of mood and
depends on individual preferences, sometimes on history
phases.
It is not easy to become recognized in the film
industry. Can you tell us about your failures on this
road? How do you overcome them?
Well, I had my fights with directors. Then, some films
didn’t work out, and my own films, as a director, fell
victims to my unreasonable expectations and inadequate
self-perception. Those things are not easy to overcome,
but there are two ways. Either you pull through and let
yourself go, give yourself the right to make mistakes,
to a bad film, to misunderstanding, to anything, and
everything will be okay, you will become free from the
thing you call ‘recognition.’ Or you don’t and simply
break down.
What are some funny, awkward, interesting
incidents from your work as a director?
A lot of them. Like when I was running with the crew
after the actress, filming her jogging from the back, and
I had pockets full of small change, of which I completely
forgot. Then, during the shooting of Mandrake, seaweed
plugged the motor of the boat with seven crew members.
We were shooting three people in the boat with one
strong young actor doing the rowing. And then our boat
kept drifting due to the wind. The only persons who
happened to be “free,” i.e. have nothing in their hands,
were camera mechanic and I. So, we rowed on both sides.
I was giving orders, throwing lines to actors, watching
them act through the tiny camera monitor, and rowing,
all at the same time. There you have it, experience.
What unfulfilled dreams do you have today? :)
I have great dreams, I have smaller ones, but none
unfulfilled. I either have already achieved my goal, or am
on the way. Even if I don’t reach them while alive, I will
still consider them as “everything is possible.” ▪
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Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 33

VR/360
NEW TECHNOLOGY
VR/360 TECHNOLOGY
BOOSTING THE WORLD
OF VIRTUAL REALITY
Obviously this new virtual reality technology will open new possibility for media
business development. It will boost as well the possibility to tell the story more realistically
as well to make the audience to believe on it. That is why we can predict a great future to
this new segment of media production and hope that this technological step forwards the
deep world of virtual reality would be able to make this real world much better and safer
place.
out interference or guidance. This immersive experience
triggers a hit of wanderlust when the viewer envisions
themselves there.
Contrary to some skeptics’ claim that VR/360 will
eliminate the desire to travel, the viewer is more
apt to see themselves experiencing the adventure.
This delivers a deep connection and forges
a bond with the destination that encourages
that super-specific travel itch.
One of the most welcome benefits of
VR/360 storytelling is that there’s less need
for intensive editing and lighting. It’s an
organic medium, as the viewer must be able
to explore all angles without interference.
The absence of trickery is more trustworthy
than slick, well-produced videos, building
a conversion-friendly authenticity.
Trying to understand more about how it
works and what are the solutions they offer
to their clients we had asked some questions
to Ms. Sabrina, Novovision`s Regional Sales
Manager MENA & Marketing Manager.
Sabrina Hounas
Sales & Marketing Manager
Novovision
France
In March of this year well-known distributor of clips
and shows Novovsion had presented its new virtual
reality-focused distribution division — VRDistrib —
offering to its clients “the widest range of cutting edge
and innovative VR/360° programmes” and immersive
experiences.
Novovision is best known as the industry’s funny
clips distributor. Founded in 2002, it is the world’s largest
provider of funny clips. Let’s find out what it is the VR/360
technologies and what is the gate it open for future of
virtual reality?
360-degree VR (360-degree virtual reality) is an audiovisual
simulation of an altered, augmented or substituted
environment that surrounds the user, allowing them to
look around them in all directions, just as they can in real
life.
360-degree VR can be used for many purposes other
than entertainment. The virtual reality technology can
be used in most kinds of training that involve a physical
environment, including pilot and driver training (as well
as actual piloting or driving), surgery, and undersea and
space exploration via remote-control robots.
There are a number of types of 360-degree VR,
including live and previously captured video or real-time,
real-time rendered 3D games, and pre-rendered computer
graphics imagery (CGI). There are two key technologies
in play: Virtual Reality (VR) and 360 degree video (360).
The VR setup requires dedicated technology while more
affordable analog setups, such as Google Cardboard,
create similar experiences with less visual depth. 360
degree video has the advantage of fitting within existing
platforms, such as YouTube, while also translating
seamlessly to virtual reality. All users have to do is hit
play and then use the cursor to move the view around the
shot. Here’s why these technologies are shaping travel
marketing now and into the future.
All great marketing starts with a story and the ability
to build a new kind of story is built into VR/360 technologies.
Similar to the “choose your own adventure” classic
book series, immersive storytelling is built upon choice.
VR/360 empowers the viewer to explore the scene with-
Recently, you are very actively promoting
content VR / 360 technologies. How
did it all start?
Given Novovision’s history of international
distribution in more than 140 countries, we
maintain a strong relationship with content providers
and broadcasters all over the world. A few months ago we
started to feel that a demand for a new kind of content
was rising: VR / 360° videos. We decided to create two
subsidiaries: VRDistrib and Eyes in the Box, (respectively
a distribution and a production company) to fill in this
demand.
On the one side acquiring high quality and eye
catching content to distribute on a worldwide scale, and
on the other side producing original, innovative scripted
content to embrace this new technology and all the
possibilities it brings.
What is the most difficult in the production
of programs VR/360? And what are the most
important?
The most difficult thing in the production of
VR/360 programs is also the most important
thing. The writing! VR/360 brings a totally
different way to tell stories: you don’t
impose your storytelling to the audience
as they chose to follow (or not to follow)
what is happening in your video.
The final user is the master of the
story, he is part of the immersive
experience.
So you need to adapt the
writing to captivate the attention
of the audience in a brand
new way, using everything
that is at your disposal to
bring him along where
you want without forcing
him (sound, acting, light
effects…). Everything is to
be invented.
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VR/360
NEW TECHNOLOGY
How much time is required for the production of
a full cycle of one television program?
VR/360 is expanding in the broadcast TV market as
evidenced by recent sports programs and the investment
by Comcast, Disney and Time Warner in VR startups.
The production is a bit more complex in that there is
no 4th wall with these new shows. So, the direction for
a compelling program will require a different type of
camera direction and writing.
In average what budget is needed to create a single
program? As far as cost-effective, such programs to
date, given that this trend is only growing?
The budget needed really depends on the content that
is produced, for example, a series in 360 CGI, the building
of the 3D world, the animation around the “camera” are
significant. It is like an animation movie or a video game,
but you can also go out with a 360° camera at the nearest
beach and take some beautiful 360° shots without a huge
investment. However, the appeal of a non-scripted show
will likely be less than a scripted version.
Who do you sell this content? Who is the main
consumer of it today? Which countries have already
adapted to this type of content, both technically and
psychologically?
Today it’s mainly sold to VOD platforms that adapted
and own a 360° player, or content applications available
in App Stores (iTunes, GooglePlay, Occulus Store…).
However, we have many broadcast customers who are
now exploring this enormous task. The early adopters
are likely to be younger demos, smartphone owners,
gamers, and tech friendly people, but manufacturers are
doing everything to push it to the mass (the VR Samsung
Gear is free if you buy the Galaxy 7). The countries that
are the most advanced for this type of content are Canada,
South Korea and China.
What changes in technology need to do TV
channels to show such a video format? For how far is
it an expensive process?
The technology switch needs to come from both side:
TV Channels AND the audience. Indeed, the audience
needs to be able to navigate in the VR/360° content so
people will need controllers to this end. Apple is currently
developing Apple TV 4 that will support 360° content,
and thus bringing the controller to the public. The other
challenge for TV Channels is to bring the VR/360 content
to a linear approach, but then again, as I said earlier,
everything is to be invented!
What genre is optimal for content VR/360?
There is no optimal genre for VR/360 content, as
far as it is creative, but live event capture and extreme
sports are pretty impressive right now. To date, we’ve
seen higher interest in shorter programs. It’s difficult
to expect someone to keep a headset on for more than
30 minutes.
What are the minimum and the maximum value
of one such program for the buyer? What is the cost
per hour?
The market is budding so the prices are not defined
yet.
Have you systematized you service in some
extent? And what thematic are usually used for
these programs?
We have categorized our content in 4 genres:
Discovery, Sports, Event and Series, I invite you to visit
www.vrdistrib.com to watch of few example of our
catalog.
How do you think does it have any perspectives
during the next 3-5 years? Will it be widely available
to ordinary average people over the globe? Will it
develop this technology and whether everyone is
properly equipped to view VR / 360 at home?
In the next 3-5 years people will be more and more
acquainted with the technology, and more and more will
have access to it. According to a Goldman Sachs report
on VR, the technology adoption curve is following the
penetration rate of the smartphone, so you can imagine
that it is coming pretty quickly, and video entertainment
is far to be the only application of it! You will see VR/360°
in education, health, retail, engineering… so basically
everywhere!
For what audience is this content dedicated?
(Age, social status…)
It is going to be for everyone but currently it is not
yet advisable to be allowed to children less than 13 years
old watch VR/360° content for medical reason (brain
development).
Are there any contraindications viewing for such
video? (Possibly prohibited for people with unstable
mentality)
The main limitation is the Virtual Reality sickness
which is close to the motion sickness. It starts when
a disagreement exists between visually perceived movement
and the vestibular system’s sense of movement, but
it doesn’t affect everyone the same way. A lot of medical
studies are being currently run, but as the technology is
new contraindications are not defined yet. We must also
think of ethical issues with some VR/360° applications
such as torture, or military and thus we must always
remember Rabelais’ wise words: “Science without
conscience is but the ruin of the soul!” Obviously this
new virtual reality technology will open new possibility
for media business development. It will boost as well
the possibility to tell the story more realistically as
well to make the audience to believe on it. That is why
we can predict a great future to this new segment of
media production and hope that this technological step
forwards the deep world of virtual reality would be able
to make this real world much better and safer place. ▪
INFOTOY
26X7 MIN, 2015, HD
36 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016
Season Screen TV Review

BEHIND THE SCENES
TO CONQUER THE GREATEST PROJECTS
BEHIND THE SCENES
OF “ANY DAY HOLYDAY”
FALLING INTO THE SAME TRAPS
THE HARD WAY
“Failures are finger posts on the road to achievement.” — C. S. Lewis
Behind every success there are always many faults and mistakes and the story of our
success is no exception. Whatever hard it was we always knew that we have no way to
retreat we need to move only forward. It seems that we are so aware of what are we doing
just because at the very begining it was extremely complicated to create the production
studio which will produce something unique and extraordinary and will not be afraid to
differ from all the rest. We are extremely proud to be real professionals at our sphere,
especially due to the hard way we have passed and it gave us a solid background and
the reason of self-esteem and self-appreciation. We do really appreciate what we are
doing; ad now it is the reason of our lives and the star we are permanently oriented by just
because the results which we had achieved after all came to us at great cost of many falls.
Large projects always demand loads of time and
resources. The team appears to be flounder in chaos with
everyone stretched thin. Of course, full immersion into
such processes naturally entails sleepless nights and
overwrought nerves. Every expert is like a rope-walker,
balancing at the edge of his or her professionalism; one
wrong step bodes a drastic plunge into the abyss of career
failure.
However, gradually, step by step, the thorny path
is left behind, and solid ground appears underfoot.
The cherished silhouette of a triumphal arc begins to
glimmer ahead in form of a completed project with all
its dividends. And believe it or not, the most important
thing is not the profit, but the realization of one’s own
professional growth.
One would think, this is the end, the project is done,
time to rest now. Nothing like that! It is not yet time to
relax, but to review the lessons learned and analyze the
mistakes made during the process of product creation.
And, take our word for that, there was an improper lot of
those! If we do not get to the bottom of all the troubles
encountered and forgo drawing appropriate conclusions,
we risk falling into the same traps when working on
further projects.
Since most of our mistakes were quite common ones,
many people and companies may find the tips below
very useful. And not only for those who work in video
content production, but also for people from totally
different industries. The main point here is dealing
with long-term projects.
First, we should tell a bit about the project itself.
“ANY DAY HOLYDAY” is an edutainment animation
program of 26 episodes. Each episode, 7 minutes long, tells
the adventures of five fairy-tale helpers of Santa Claus
traveling through different countries celebrating New
Year. One of the main distinctive features of the program
is its visual component: all characters and the interiors
have been painted by hand in watercolor and then
animated using SG technologies. This program is aimed
at general target audience.
The project proved to be an extremely rough ride
for our team. First of all, it was the first time we worked
on something of that scale, and we simply didn’t know
what to expect. If not for the atomic efforts of each
team member, the project would have been a complete
failure. Fortunately, we managed, but at what a price!
The production duration almost doubled, part of the
team dropped out, and the ones left kept working on bare
enthusiasm, at the end of their tether.
Was the result worth the effort? Yes, of course! After
all, no obstacles mean no growth. Furthermore, one
cannot form a really strong team without putting it
through hell. Put crudely, we did not make the project,
the project made us.
In order to grasp the full scope of the issues we had to
face, let us go through individual production components,
analyzing the mistakes made and identifying the
most important aspects that will help to avoid many
unfortunate situations in the future.
38 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016
Season Screen TV Review

BEHIND THE SCENES
TO CONQUER THE GREATEST PROJECTS
GENERAL CONCEPT
AND DIRECTING
Originally, “ANY
DAY HOLYDAY” was
envisaged as a collage
animation, without
main characters or
any specific plot setting
for each episode.
It was supposed to be a
potpourri of New Year
celebration customs
and traditions from
different countries in
form of simple collage
sketches, something
in keeping with the best traditions of Monty Python’s
Flying Circus.
However, following another session of brainstorming,
we agreed that this idea was rather boring. We had done
something technically similar already (see INFOTOY),
so, in order to make the program more interesting, we
decided to introduce characters that would unite the
entire series and create a common visual feature. First,
we thought up abstract circles wearing New Year hats
without any distinct personalities. Yet, after a number of
transformations and “morale building,” we got Santafleas
— five little helpers of Santa Claus. Here they are, our
beauties: Fatty, Long-Legs, Bully, Oddball, and Mister
Fifth.
They made friends quickly, developed their own
habits, special traits, mutual affinities, and became the
“core” of the entire series. In the end, all 26 episodes
focused on the funny and entertaining adventures of the
Santafleas, presented in the light of New Year customs
from different countries.
Each episode traditionally begins with our characters
sitting at home and suddenly deciding to go to another
country and help the locals prepare for New Year
celebration. And have some fun along the way as well.
The idea seems nice and good. Presence of main
characters is much more interesting, both in terms of
dramaturgy and marketing. However, we continued to
develop the original concept. Inspired by the works of
Kharkiv artist Sasha Danilenko, who is currently living
and working in the USA, we asked another artist, Vlad
Tsvetkov, to help us make the Santafleas alive. The result
was funny, detailed, and very far from collage style. And
when Denis Voloshchuk, the art director of the project,
saw the characters, he immediately suggested painting
the entire project in watercolor and forgetting about
collage.
The terms and budget were, to put it mildly, absolutely
not accommodating, but the team, as if having
conspired in advance, were ready to work 24/7 pushing
themselves to their limits. As soon as we started
working on the first episode, we realized we were in
trouble. But it was too late, no turning back! At that
time, we could not even fathom that it was just the
beginning.
We had to learn the specifics of character animation,
handle enormous volumes of dramaturgic solutions in
scenarios, organize efficient communication between
designer and animation artist, search for hundreds of
compromises in sound, details, rendering, and other issues
that kept coming from everywhere. All this continued
from the very first day of work and until the very last one.
It also required monstrous time input — we forgot about
weekends and got used to calls after midnight or at six
am on Saturday concerning certain issues of design or
animation.
There was no time to think; we just had to see this
through to the end. I’d compare it to a train that is on
the verge of breakdown, but repair works carried out
on the go do not let it happen. If I were offered to go
back and do the project based on the original concept,
I’d refuse and leave everything as it is. It is only by
trying something new, strange, and scary that you feel
yourself growing as a professional and discover new
dimensions of yourself.
Pavel Rymkevich — executive producer, Art Director of the
project
CONCLUSIONS and TIPS:
All these problems stemmed from one simple
truth — any change in project concept leads to drastic
resource costs and technical complications. Increasing
the number of main characters results in directly
proportional increase of time required by the scriptwriter,
director, designer, animation artist, and sound designer
to complete the same timeline. Changing design
methods means growing the team of designers several
times. And then, it is far from certain that you will have
enough time, budget, and stress resistance. Yet the most
important thing is that it is a challenge for willpower
and enthusiasm.
DRAMATURGY
When the concept
of the program was
finally approved,the
characters were
through and drawn,
new issues arose. Now
— from scriptwriting.
The first issue concerned
searching for
information on New
Year traditions from
all over the world.
One would think
our planet is so huge; there are so many countries,
peoples, tribes, and ethnicities. And all of them have
their own culture, customs, and traditions. Just spin
the globe, point your finger at random – and there you
have a new subject for an episode. In reality, it turned
out to be much more complex.
The truth is that many New Year celebration tradi-
tions are similar in different countries, and some do
not celebrate New Year at all. This is due to religious,
historical, and geographical factors that have influenced
the culture and life of the people. For example, New
Year traditions of France and Germany, Cambodia and
Myanmar, Bolivia and Peru, although not without
differences, are still very much alike. There are so few
unique customs between these countries that they simply
won’t be enough to make a story, even for a small timeline
of 7 minutes. On the other hand, if we were to tell about
the traditions of individual tribes and peoples, we
would have to carry out major analytic work, dive into
anthropologic research, and scramble for bits of necessary
information. This was plainly impossible under the set
schedule.
The second scriptwriting issue concerned the
form. Initially, the program was to be educational first,
entertaining second. It was conceived as a New Year video
encyclopedia. Interesting facts about New Year traditions
from different countries were to be accompanied by
a vivid collage video sequence without any clear plot.
However, as characters were introduced and style was
changed, visual component came to the fore.
As a result, “ANY DAY HOLYDAY” grew from a simple
interstitial program into a hybrid of an educational
program and a cartoon. According to the laws of
dramaturgy, each historical fact had to be supported by
a corresponding scene based on a gag, while creating
a counterpoint between the video sequence and the
voiceover. Of course, our five main characters came to
rescue, each having their own specialty. Yet, bare character
traits are not enough for a good story. Besides, we
wanted to communicate the atmosphere of every country
visited by the Santafleas. Not an easy task, this one.
The most difficult part was coming up with gags for
the scenes. First, they had to match certain text blocks.
Second, I set myself a goal – avoid repeating myself at
all costs. The problems blossomed somewhere around
the 8th episode; I was simply out of ideas! However,
several hours of persistent brainstorm with myself
and art director gave me a second wind, and the search
yielded the necessary result. Since every episode had
at least 10 gags on the average, the entire series of 26
episodes provided us with a huge collection of unique
gags easily adaptable for almost any story. This was
some crucial experience!
Artyom Gordynia — project scriptwriter
CONCLUSIONS and TIPS:
Having faced and overcome the above-mentioned
issues, we have learnt several important nuances to be
considered prior to developing scripts for a series.
First of all, when you are thinking through the entire
series, try to establish the subject of each episode in
advance. Also, collect at least minimum information
required to write the script. Otherwise, you risk losing a
lot of time on research, and then you will have to choose
between writing a good script and meeting deadlines.
Secondly, remember that the number of characters
have no influence whatsoever on the quality of the story.
Sometimes, as few as one character is enough to enliven
the scene. The more characters you use, the more difficult
it is to work with them: each character must act, stay
in character, and propel the plot. Character’s inactivity
immediately gives the sense of something lacking and
can spoil even the most interesting scene. Better not to
put the character on screen at all, if you don’t know what
to do with it.
Thirdly, the pilot episode (or the second one, but not
later) is the key episode. It sets the style and atmosphere
to be used throughout the series. Work it out with
maximum details and attention. It is better to spend five
times more time on the pilot episode than deviate from
the style as the work progresses and turn the entire series
from an integral product into a hodgepodge of different,
although similar episodes.
DESIGN
AND ANIMATION
When we said
we were in trouble,
we meant first of all
design and animation.
This is where all the
major issues began.
The idea of going for
watercolor seemed
excellent at the approval
phase, but the
implementation
turned into all-out
nightmare. Of course,
drawing ten-fifteen
scenes with background, objects, items, secondary
characters, and breaking them into layers is a very laborintensive
process that requires a lot of time and resources.
Yet we had deadlines, and tight ones. As a result, our
designer was physically incapable of managing the
amount of work.
In order to save the project, we found several more
designers in the shortest time possible. They had to
get into the swing quickly and begin to work. This
notwithstanding, our newly created design department
was still overwhelmed. The only way to remedy the
situation was to sacrifice the details in order to meet the
deadlines. Over time, thanks to the efforts of our designers,
we accumulated a sound collection of backgrounds,
interiors, objects, and secondary characters that helped
us out more than once. However, the beginning of work
was pure hell in terms of design.
Yet, another nasty surprise was waiting for us. We had
the video sequence drawn, but now we needed to animate
it. Seeing that we switched from collage to character
animation, implementation required much more time
and efforts. Although our animation department was our
largest one, it still couldn’t keep up with the task.
Character animation differs greatly from other
types of applied animation, since it requires specific
knowledge in the field of directing, scene arrangement,
and physiology. Each element of the on-screen set-up
must interact with the characters, highlight the story,
and place emphasis on the important points.
40 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016 Season Screen TV Review
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Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 41

BEHIND THE SCENES
TO CONQUER THE GREATEST PROJECTS
Next, we faced another problem that no one could
have foreseen. It was the human factor. Animation artists
began missing deadlines one after another. In order to
escape responsibility, they started to disappear or leave
the project entirely. New came in their place. Naturally,
we did not have enough time to teach and properly brief
them, so many of them simply could not manage the set
tasks.
We were faced with a monstrous staff turnover. It
was like public transport in rush hour, not an animation
department. The problem stemmed from the complexity
of the project and the schedule of its implementation.
Furthermore, the budget was already set, and we could
not make adjustments. Thus, only someone absolutely
desperate could agree to such cooperation conditions in
their right mind. Yet, we are overjoyed that we have found
such people and they have become a part of our team.
I’ll be honest – I’ve never worked with character
animation, so I had to learn as I went. For me, the workflow
included looking for necessary motion references,
searching for literature and video lessons, which are,
fortunately, abundant in our information space. While
carrying out seemingly impossible tasks, I have formed
clear understanding of many nuances in this animation
area. The project made me realize — work, improve,
and outdo yourself. This is the only way to grow your
professional skills of a motion designer and become a real
expert.
Ivan Marchenko — project animation artist
CONCLUSIONS and TIPS:
Having faced such a load of problems and spent
incredible amounts of time and efforts to solve them,
we realized that it is better to prevent than cure.
First of all, do not set the bar too high, even if it seems
within reach. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t raise it ever.
Just be reasonable about it, pace yourself, and be clear
about your capabilities. Creation of a series of programs
is a complex process, where schedule is one of the key
elements. It is a conveyor that must work without
interruptions. Miss one deadline, however slightly, and
you are up for an avalanche of blown deadlines. If you
set a too difficult task for yourself, you will run out of time
to accomplish it. This is exactly what happened to us.
Secondly, never start working on complex long-term
projects, if you do not have yet a fully formed team or
you are not completely sure in all members. Ideally,
you should have some spare experts that can quickly
get the hang of the things and begin working in case of
emergency. Human factor is highly unpredictable and
can let you down at the most inappropriate moment.
A good way to ensure some safety against it (especially
if you are working with freelancers) is to sign a sworn
written agreement specifying all possible nuances with
all appropriate sanctions and penalties.
Thirdly, remember: even if a member of your team
does not have enough knowledge or skill, do not panic
and search for a replacement immediately. It is much
more feasible to train a trusted employee than go for a
full briefing with a new one. Besides, the Internet is full
of available information and lessons. When faced with
this problem in the animation process, we found lots of
Internet resources with useful and valuable information:
http://www.referencereference.com/ — one of the first
resources to assist in character animation. Here you can
find loads of motion samples: running, dancing, etc.
http://www.biomotionlab.ca/Demos/BMLwalker.
html — excellent software for setting various character
parameters, such as sex, weight, mood, etc. Furthermore,
you can watch each motion from different angles.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gz4qhRUyPsM —
an excellent series of video lessons explaining the main
rules of animation. Easy-to-understand style and nice
colors. Enjoy!
https://vimeo.com/20889371 — here you can familiarize
yourself with an interesting technique for character
rigging that enables creating pseudo-3D effect.
http://animation-ua.com/ru/shkola/master-klassy/605-
richard-williams — Complete breakdown of the 12 rules
of the animation artist with detailed description of many
nuances. The course was developed by Richard Williams,
a British cartoonist, film and animation director with
two Academy awards for Who Framed Roger Rabbit?,
for which he has our special gratitude.
DUBBING AND
SOUND DESIGN
Considering the
above, this phase
proved to be much
more merciful to us.
Of course, it was not
free of problems, with
never-ending editsand
sleepless night of our
poor sound designer.
However, the phase
went more or less
smoothly, since we
had learnt from our
negative experience
and done our best to optimize the process to prevent
unforeseen situations. Nevertheless, we still could not
avoid certain issues, despite all the efforts of our team.
Initially, we wanted to record all sounds and sound
effects for the characters alive, so that they would have
their unique voices. Yet, there were five of them, and then
each episode had almost as many secondary characters,
so the task required additional financial resources,
while we had no more. Finally, we had to discard this
concept and use the available sound libraries. It led to
some serious issues. The thing is, ideally, any cartoon
or character animation brims with various special and
unusual sounds that highlight the on-screen action
and create funny and comical background. Despite the
abundance of libraries, we had to spend a lot of time and
efforts to find suitable sounds.
For example, we decided to use Chinese rap in a
certain scene of one episode. This is no easy task for
people situated in Europe. Furthermore, there is the huge
issue of copyright. Even were we to succeed in finding
the necessary track, we’d have to search for the contacts
of the performer, negotiate, sign papers, all the while
making our way through the language barrier and legal
technicalities of different countries. Besides, we were
restricted by the budget and schedule. In the end, we had
to abandon this idea.
The next issue arose from combining the final edit
with the dubbing. There are two methods for mixing
the dubbing and the video in video content production:
either you edit the video to match the dubbing, or you
make the dubbing to match the video sequence. Since
we were dealing with a part cartoon, part education
program, we considered the second option to be more
appropriate, although it was more expensive than the
first one.
At first, this is how we proceeded: the voice actor
received an edited episode with sound design and
recorded the text over it, placing emphasis where
appropriate. However, by the tenth episode, pressing
deadlines left no time to wait for the voice artist to
receive a finished episode. Besides, we had to cut the
budget due to additional expenses on animation. By the
end of the series, scripts were written blindly, based solely
on the scenario. As a result, the voice actor had to start
working while the episode was still at the initial phase
of animation, not to mention sound design and editing.
The voice actor had to rely on the text and timecodes,
outlined by our manager in advance. By that time he had
gotten the hang of it, since he understood that the project
was falling apart and verging on the brink of complete
failure if no measures were taken. Furthermore, our
voice artist was outsourced from the USA, and the time
difference posed a serious obstacle for the workflow.
After all production phases were completed, the
dubbing was recorded over the video. This is when we
could finally see all the shortcomings: sagging plot,
obscured meanings, and weak video sequence. As a
result, we were forced to invent laborious workarounds.
We had to make the dubbing match certain moments
and, if necessary, amplify it by means of equalization,
compression, etc. Only after all the adjustments had
been made, we could get down to the long-awaited final
episode rendering.
As I viewed every new finalized episode, I was
overwhelmed with pride. All the innumerable problems
we faced while working on the project showed us who
is who. Many people dropped out, unable to bear the
stress. As a result, only the most reliable professionals
stayed, who believed into the final goal to the last
and were ready to extend themselves 110%. They also
came to the aid of each other, whether the issue was
professional or personal. This is the real team, the one
that can bring you to unprecedented heights!
Dmitry Martyniuk — project producer and head of the
DMart Production Studio
CONCLUSIONS and TIPS:
As for the most vulnerable points of dubbing and
sound design, we should mention the following:
Since we were creating the project for the international
market, translation was of critical importance. Some
ordinary, word-for-word translation was unacceptable.
One should always aim at translation adapted for the
specific foreign target audience, taking into account age,
style, and slang language features.
Successful dubbing depends to a large extent on
the voice actor and his or her readings style. Take great
care when selecting the voice and pay attention to
the general mood and nature of the program itself.
If the voice actor can bring out the funny side of
the text, even the most boring information will be
perceived easily and with pleasure. For better reception,
order the dubbing from native speakers only. As for
the English language, buyers and channels prefer
British, not American accent. There is a nice resource
https://www.fiverr.com where one can find the
necessary voice actor at a reasonable price. Furthermore,
most voice actors from this resource are quite
understanding of the situations when it is necessary to
rerecord the audio.
***
In the end, we have only one thing left to say – do not
be afraid of difficulties. If the circumstances are stronger
than you and you cannot overcome them no matter
what, you are simply not there yet. But don’t forget: any
growth, personal or professional, is possible only when
you face problems and make extra effort to solve them.
In our case, “ANY DAY HOLYDAY” project turned out to
be an extraordinary challenge. Yet we persevered and got
our invaluable reward – a tight-knit reliable team of likeminded
professionals!
May you too find your own treasure on this thorny
path! Best of luck! ▪
DMart Production Dream Team
42 ▪ Issue 6 JUNE 2016 Season Screen TV Review
sstrnews.com
Issue 6 JUNE 2016 ▪ 43

1 st season — 13x13 min, 2015, HD
2 nd season — 13x13 min, 2016, HD
or 13x26 min, 2016, HD

SEASON SCREEN TV REVIEW
June 2016
Published by MK Media Group
DENYS MIKHEIEV
General Director & Publishing Director
KATERYNA DMYTRIIEVA
CEO & Editor In Chief
SVETLANA KONAR
Managing Editor
YANA SEREDA
ANASTASIIA KOLOMIIETS
Editors
ANDRIY BEZHYNOV
Design
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