TBI Weekly: Ahead of MIPCOM, does anyone actually have any money?

La Croisette

As the industry gears up for MIPCOM in a month’s time, TBI’s resident format expert Siobhan Crawford questions where the money will  be found when we all reach Cannes as the industry reaches a tipping point.

One big collective shit-storm.

Shall we talk about it?

You know, our situation… where are we going?

A line we have all used before.

Many of us are about to galivant to luxurious Cannes and take our trips around Europe for the pre-markets without asking the big question..

Does anyone actually have any money?

I have had some great catch ups recently and one of them was with friend/client ‘H’. He got me thinking, do we actually know what we are walking into in Q3 2023?

The reality is that recommissions are easier than commissions now, in six months, and always. But never truer than now

So let’s talk about it. Lay our cards on the table and say a collective ‘shiiiiittt’. Are we walking the pre-MIP pitch red carpet with any money up for grabs? Are we setting precedents we will have problems with later? Are we producing copycats as a quick fix? And what are we doing that we are proud of?

Sounds like some people are not making this ‘their problem’. But you would be a fool to think you won’t get bitten by these problems at least once, somewhere in the supply chain.

Mark your territory

The reality is that recommissions are easier than commissions now, in six months, and always. But never truer than now.

The cost of developing, launching and marketing a new show will be done less and less in this climate so you need to do anything you can to keep any series on air and fix any glitches.

Protect your slot. This means extensions of a brand are also easier than starting afresh; to bring a kids, VIP or senior version will be preferred. So you must, and it has always been smart to, invest in the brand.

If a broadcaster comes to you to rest a brand then understand it – so long as they rest it, not drop it then you know they are committed but the situation has forced them to assess the spend on that one big show that only really works in live viewing once a year. Invest in the brand to broaden the offering while it rests.

Flip reverse it

In 2019 we had a golden era. H was wondering if we would still have ended up in this situation if Covid had not happened. Did Covid just introduce turbulence in the journey to an end we were always going to arrive at? Such an interesting question.

What we had in 2019 was a golden time of choice, big brands, some reboots and risk on new shows. Then during the pandemic, we had the shutdowns, regulations limiting many productions and unemployment.

Then a year ago, the huge post-covid explosion of all the things we had been missing happened, leading to the production staff shortage.

This season will see the market suffer, you will either be part of the problem or the salvation. When someone asks something of you, pause, consider why they are asking and then find a solution

Productions went understaffed or you met the demands for fees. Producers guilds tried to reach agreement between companies that they would not play the game of highest bidder, not always successfulfly, and budgets went up accordingly (plus with the new ‘normal’ Covid line).

And in these post-Covid ‘good times’ where demand surged, we had many new prodcos forming. The problem now is that many markets are too small to accommodate so many production companies and very few channels have quotas for how they share their business amongst the groups and the indies. The result is that probably around 70% of business is with the groups in many territories, leaving only 30% to go around to the rest.

The expectation in this climate is some of these new prodcos will now have to close or fold into groups, or loan out staff. I am not sure which is the preferred option but these four years have been a rollercoaster.

Actions speak louder than words. And as we roll into MIP, there are things to expect:

• Push big spends to 2025/space out the schedule – you can’t have so many big ticket items in one schedule, so expect delays and revenue being pushed
• Copycat climate – if you lose a show to a higher paying competitor or don’t want to pay a format fee, internal development will see people coming close to ‘the line’. If you do this you are the problem, you are damaging the ecosystem
• Track records have to work or we will boomerang into an era of new launches. The low risk purchase of brands has to work, the know-how was supposed to guarantee better viewship and if it is not there then why buy brands?
• Streamers local spend has to work or the reign of US versions will be back – we have demanded that Netflix and the like have a local spend, now they are doing it but they will ask why if the local versions don’t rate drastically higher than the US versions
• Longer options – these as a standard will increase to 9-12 months as decisions take longer and the money for new spends will only be released after the performances of the autumn and winter schedules are assessed. Then blink and you will miss the extra money that channels receive end of spring
• Share of producers fees and 8-9% format fees. You do you, I get it. Some people take what they can get and ask ‘but what’s the problem’. But this is damaging the ecosystem too and exacerbating the problem that indie producers are facing, while using up a much larger percentage spend of the channels, and it means the cycle goes on. It is your problem, it is all of our problems unless we start asking how small changes we make can help.

Say it with me… shiiiittt. This season will see the market suffer, you will either be part of the problem or the salvation. When someone asks something of you, pause, consider why they are asking and then find a solution.