William Morris setting up shop in India

US talent agency William Morris is set to open an office in India to take advantage of the booming local formats business.

The Indian production sector is booming with the launch of dozens of new channels, stimulating the need for local ideas.

Mark Itkin, co-head of worldwide television at William Morris Agency, told TBIvision that it wanted to replicate model that saw it establish offices in Shanghai and London.

"We have an office in Shanghai. The next frontier is India. It will be similar to our Shanghai or London office, importing or exporting formats, putting together coproductions and representing talent," he said.

The company has represented a number of international formats and finished programs including Japanese gameshow Hole in the Wall and Canadian drama The Listener, which were sold to Fox and NBC respectively.

The Indian formats market is booming. Channels such as INX’s general entertainment channel 9X and NDTV Imagine launching a raft of successful local formats such as the latter’s Sol-produced dance talent show Nach Le Ve with Soroj Khan and Sagar Production’s scripted drama series Ramayan.