Genre Reports Genre Reports

Action-Adventure

The international TV market seems to have an unquenchable thirst for action series. Although U.S. actioners previously dominated foreign airwaves, a growing number of European producers are working with local broadcasters to produce their own series.

When there is such a glut of action programming, you need something that "really sets your show apart," declares Jeffrey Schlesinger, president of Warner Bros. International Television Distribution. He believes that an action-adventure series must have a built-in franchise. "It needs a brand identity, a recognition factor, some top-spin that may come from a feature film, like 'Mortal Kombat' or 'Police Academy,'" he says.

Rysher Entertainment utilizes name recognition with its new series, "Highlander: The Raven" and Jerry Bruckheimer's "Soldier of Fortune"; the latter is approaching its second season in U.S. syndication. "Action-adventure is less culturally specific, so it tends to travel well," points out Ira Bernstein, Rysher's president of TV distribution. "Nash Bridges," starring Don Johnson and Cheech Marin, is in its fourth season and gains a competitive edge by including comedic and family elements.



Animation

As Japan continues to be an increasingly successful market for animation, Tokyo Broadcasting System plans to become a major player. "As we see it, the Asian market still offers plenty of opportunity," explains Isao Zayasu, vp of the TBS program sales division. TBS has a varied lineup of original animation in the pipeline and is showcasing "Sexy Commando Masaru-san," (which features a group of misfit high school students) and the young male-targeted "Goemon" (based on a very successful Nintendo game).

The emergence of new specialty channels is spurring the growth of animation. One reason the genre is thriving in Asia is that new channels "cover whole territories," believes Yasuhiko Matsuoka, manager of international sales and production for Nippon Animation. "Animation has fewer problems with cultural differences and tastes among countries." He sees a continuous market for programs with animal characters.

Classic characters and well-known children's authors have become major focuses in both live action and animation, reports Rodrigo Piza, director of Nelvana Enterprises U.K. "Parents have faith in these titles when they are adapted to television series." Nelvana's character-driven shows include "Franklin," "Babar" "Rupert" and "Pippi Longstocking."



Comedy

"The idea that comedy does not travel well may no longer be true today," opines Herb Lazarus, president of Carsey-Werner International. He believes that comedy is holding up better and better overseas today when "you have a good show with a family-type of appeal." Carsey-Werner has sold shows including "Grace Under Fire," "Third Rock From the Sun," The Cosby Show" and the new "Damon" to the U.K., Germany, Scandinavia, Australia and/or Poland, and has seen them perform remarkably well.

This year, "Seinfeld" has benefitted overseas from the considerable media attention its final season has generated. Last year reruns of the series enjoyed their first real recognition in Israel, bringing in 300% higher ratings than a usual show stripped at 10:30. "We are very excited to be showing the last season," effuses Yossi Uzrad, director general of Israel Cable Programming.



Documentary

The global TV marketplace is currently witnessing an unprecedented revival of documentary programming. A growing audience is watching more of this genre than ever before -- and broadcasters are noticing. With reality-based channels developing rapidly and primetime slots opening up to the genre, nonfiction programming is now recognized for its cross-border appeal and wide range of subjects.

The MIPDOC event "is a recognition of the indelible importance of documentary and nonfiction programming to the multichannel universe," says Donald D. Wear Jr., president of Discovery Networks International, who sees a growing role for nature programming. He is looking for programs that may have greater topicality and a slightly shorter shelf life, but he sees the need to balance that with traditional, less-topical subject matter that stays fresh longer.

"Documentaries play the roles of entertaining, informing and educating," notes John Cuddihy, vp and managing director of A&E Television Networks' international division. "Our research shows that people want to be entertained and learn something while watching TV. More than any genre, documentary programming fills this need." A&E specializes in history docs. "Like animation, documentaries for the most part are adaptable to Western audiences," observes Isao Zayasu, vp of the program sales division at Tokyo Broadcasting System, which is producing a new documentary short called "The Garden."

Wildlife, natural history, science, technology and medicine are especially popular nonfiction categories, according to Scott Hanock, managing director at Unapix International. "If you can bring stories in from all over the world and internationalize the subject matter, it will be of major interest to co-production partners." Hanock keeps his library fresh with "hot topics that broadcasters want to see."

National Geographic Channels Worldwide is one of many companies that will be aggressively pursuing new partners at MIP. Connie Bruce, its director of program acquisitions, hopes to do a lot of business at MIPDOC, which she sees as "a fabulous opportunity for independent producers to get together with broadcasters" to talk about upcoming projects. "Up to now there has been no specific market for documentaries, so we look forward to the new opportunities that MIPDOC may bring," comments Kristina Hollstein, director of documentary co-production for ZDF Enterprises (which is selling "Hitler's Henchmen" and "World of Water").

"We wanted a place where broadcasters, producers and distributors could get together and exchange information instead of searching for each other in a large market where everything is mixed up," adds Catherine Lamour, managing director of Canal Plus' documentary subsidiary Docstar (which has four documentaries at MIPDOC). "For two days, people from all around the world can know precisely what is new, what trends are turning up and what kind of projects are successful."



Drama

Before Worldvision's "Beverly Hills 90210," the idea that young adults would watch a one-hour drama series was highly dubious. But today, youth drama is catching on. Columbia TriStar International Television's "Dawson's Creek" and "Significant Others" are likely to be popular with overseas young adult viewers.

CBS Broadcast International's most saleable genre has been the hour drama. The company is renewing its 22-episode action-drama "Pensacola: Wings of Gold" at MIP. "Drama always travels well," claims Rainer Siek, president of CBS Broadcast Intl., "although its definition has become broader than ever before. Everyone is looking for escapism -- where people and surroundings look good -- with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor thrown in. However, those are difficult to write, and there are not too many around." Currently, "Walker, Texas Ranger" and "Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman" are top 10 shows in Europe and Latin America.



Children/Teen

With the continuing growth of new European satellite channels, there are more opportunities for kids' programming than ever before. Distributors are now able to sell quality children's series to multiple channels in multiple markets. "Broadcasters have warmed up to kids' programming and are now looking at the genre as a significant source of revenue," states Stan Golden, Saban International president. Golden cites animated and live-action series targeted to boys ages 6 to 12 as two of the most popular genres currently in the European market. Kathleen Hricik, senior vp of program enterprises at Nickelodeon International, sees growing global interest in high-quality live-action kids' programming.

As in the U.S., a great deal of overseas interest has been focused on educational programs. "We have been very hot in Latin America with Discovery Kids and we have a block in Asia that is doing well," reports Donald Wear, president of Discovery Networks International. "We found a great opportunity to take the traditional Discovery genre and give it a little nuance to make it more appealing to the youth audience."



Reality

International attention has been increasingly given to reality-themed shows. "Even the majors want

to have a meaningful stake in the genre," says pioneer reality programmer Gary R. Benz, president and CEO of GRB Entertainment. He feels distributors may be unaware of the financial difficulties involved in working with broadcasters to customize and tailor programs for their local markets.

Village Roadshow Pictures Television has decided to explore the genre for the first time, with its new reality-based magazine-style series "Planet Ocean," which consultant Kirk D'Amico describes as "MTV meets the Discovery Channel." "The series reflects issue-oriented news reporting that appeals to a younger audience," he says. "We have a great Australian production team who feel like they can make this for us at a good price."

The key challenge with reality series is finding universal concepts rather than simply American stories. "In Canada, reality plays well and does not require a deep state of attention," remarks Francois St. Laurent, vp of production and business development for Quebec-based TVA International. "If broadcast in access primetime, it is very successful. We modify the format and use Canadian stories."



Science Fiction

Sci-fi remains a popular staple of European TV schedules, and because the genre travels so well, the number of U.S.-co-financed productions is likely to rise.

David Ellender, president of PolyGram Television International, credits the worldwide popularity of "Star Trek" creator Gene Roddenberry and the availability of 22 episodes with the sale all over Europe of "Gene Roddenberry's Earth: Final Conflict" (an Atlantis Films production in association with Tribune Entertainment, Tele-Muenchen Gruppe, Baton Broadcasting and PolyGram). "There is still tremendous interest in the unknown, and we are inclined to focus on properties that have name recognition," he adds. PolyGram is also offering the sci-fi series "The Crow," based on the film which achieved critical acclaim in many overseas territories, showing wide demographic appeal.



Telefilms/Miniseries

Many distributors feel that the TV movie business is in limbo. "We are trying to figure out what genres work," says Village Roadshow Pictures Television's Kirk D' Amico, "and we are finding that event and family-oriented miniseries are working well in the U.K. and Spain." Today, broadcasters are willing to focus on their telefilms and are learning how to promote a miniseries as an event. Unless they have high-level talent attached, telefilms don't really work in the Asian territories or Latin America, but D'Amico believes there is more potential for miniseries in the next year.

Broadcasters are being much more selective, picking individual titles that have to do with the cast or storyline and not buying bulk like they used to. However, Stephen Davis, CEO of Hamdon Entertainment disagrees, describing the global marketplace for telefilms as "extremely robust. A majority of telefilms generally receive positive ratings results in the overseas markets," he asserts.

The German market seems to frown on TV movies that profile social problems, with disease-of-the-week films declining in popularity, according to ZDF Enterprises president Alexander Coridass.