Timing is everything in TV sales and the Hollywood studios have decided they like the timing of London in February.
For the distribution arms of the Hollywood studios London comes ahead of the LA Screenings, their annual show-and-tell, which is timed right after the networks have made their pick-ups when, historically, everyone knew what was coming to the international market.
That set-up in May meant that the now defunct MIPTV market in April did not really work for the studios, who mostly stayed away. The commissioning cycle has, however, evolved to be more year-round, and the Studios’ distribution bosses tell us that a transatlantic trip to the London TV Screenings (LTVS) in February is now a must.
“It’s been impressive to see how quickly the market has grown,” Michael Bonner, President at NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution. “Our production partners are delivering content year-round, so we’re selling year-round as well, and LTVS has become an important early touchpoint in our sales calendar.”
“The London TV Screenings has become a strategic moment in the calendar for us because of where it sits,” adds Prentiss Fraser, President at Fox Entertainment Global. “It allows us to engage buyers early in the year, setting the tone for the months ahead, and creates a clear call to action in February.”
A newish event that attracts a critical mass of acquisition executives holds obvious appeal for U.S. TV distributors. Especially so in a climate where buyers’ budgets are stretched and any sales deals are hard won – and in an era where studios can no longer routinely ink so-called ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ output and volume deals.
In terms of who is in town on the client side, Fraser adds: “London is a global hub. You tend to see a strong mix of UK, European, Australian and U.S. buyers, and increasingly buyers from further afield as well. That concentration makes it a very efficient use of time.”
NBCU’s Bonner says the core buyer mix is anchored around the UK and Europe, but the footprint has expanded: “In recent years, we’ve seen increasing attendance from clients in the U.S., Canada, Australia and across Asia, which speaks to how global the market has become in a relatively short time.”
In London, NBCU will be getting behind Jennifer Garner-starrer The Five-Star Weekend as well as Prisoner, and Ted: The Animated Series (WT). While it will not be bringing talent to town, we hear there will be a special pre-recorded segment with Amy Poehler and Hugh Laurie, who will intro their Peacock comedy Dig.
Don McGregor was recently named President of Paramount Content Licensing, and says for his studio London “fits into a nice window where we can feature brand new mid-season shows from our Network CBS such as CIA, along with select streaming shows that we want to share with clients early, so that they can license early with plenty of time to promote and market day-and-date around the world – M.I.A. for example.”
Paramount will screen the two abovementioned dramas as well presenting unscripted shows including the Padma Lakshmi-created cooking competition show America’s Culinary Cup and Everything on the Menu with wrestler Braun Strowman. “We have a packed screening session this year,” says McGregor. “For M.I.A. and CIA, we have full episodes, and for our unscripted shows we have teasers and key segments to share with buyers.”
In terms of unscripted, NBCU and Warner Bros. have standalone formats units that will present at the Screenings. Several of the studios also have interests in UK production companies, so it makes sense to showcase these labels series where possible. That is the case with Dear England from Sony Pictures Television (SPT)-owned Left Bank Pictures. The series is about the England soccer team and its former manager Gareth Southgate, but is “so much more than a football story,” says Mike Wald, Co-President, Distribution & Networks at SPT. “It’s really about the fear of failure and how to cope with pressure, and importance of role models.”
Sony will also show some footage from S.W.A.T. Exiles, the spin-off of long-running CBS series S.W.A.T. and which has yet to lock in a U.S. home, per our recent deep dive into the distribution of the show. “We’ll have talent there, and we’ll show some clips,” says Wald. “This is one that we’re taking our time with. There’s no timetable that we have to abide by. This is fully in our control.”
The Sony exec says the international success of the original series, one of its top sellers, was key to greenlighting the spin-off. “One hundred percent, we would not have done this if it wasn’t for the strength of the IP and the strength of the show internationally. So yes, of course, we have high expectations.”
Sony, like Warner Bros. Discovery, does not have U.S. broadcast network in the corporate family. Fox, NBC and Paramount do, and Fox Entertainment Group will have a glitzy world premiere of The Faithful: Women of the Bible at London’s historic National Gallery this week. Starring Minnie Driver, Jeffrey Donovan and Natacha Karam, all of whom will be in town, the event series will bow on Fox in the U.S. this Easter. Speaking about the Carol Mendelsohn show, Fox’s Fraser says it is “a new lane for the business and we’re excited to expand our audience.”
On a practical note, Fox will be shopping the series in two formats: 6×60’ and 3×90’ to accommodate the scheduling needs of different international buyers. Other shows on its London slate include the Doc Martin remake Best Medicine.
Evolving calendar
In terms of distribution, the international TV cycle has now evolved to offer up three tentpole events: London in February, LA in May, and Cannes in October.
“It actually provides a nice set of dates with a hammock in between, says David Decker, President, Content Sales for Warner Bros. Discovery. “With London, everyone has quarter one underway. It allows people to figure out what their goals and needs are going to be for the rest of the year, with a set regroup at LA Screenings, and then another at MIPCOM.”
WBD uses the Screenings for internal as well as client-facing events, with a big European sales meeting in the diary. In terms of its lineup for buyers, the focus is on movies, new seasons of series that are performing, and unearthing gems from the catalog.
“We have The Pitt, which is doing incredibly, incredibly well and Abbott Elementary on ABC that is also doing very well,” says Decker. “Then we have library shows that are resonating like never before. We have Big Bang Theory and Friends, which we sell globally, and we also have Gilmore Girls, which has had this resurgence. We’re having a lot of meetings about how to really amplify that.”
If ‘newstalgia’– meaning old series that find new generations of fans – has become a trend, then the studios are well placed given the vast breadth of their catalogs. Buyers picking up classics also speaks to how the scripted industry has evolved now we are on the other side of Peak TV. “With fewer new series available widely in the market, because streamers tend to take longer-term licenses, and fewer episodes being produced for traditional broadcast television, the resilience of libraries like ours is evident,” says Decker.
He identifies some classics that are coming back to life. “ER continues to resurface, especially with The Pitt and that appetite for medical dramas. We’ve actually revived another show by John Wells called Third Watch. You’ll see these shows resurface. We’re actually spending a lot of time remastering them, re editing them, cleaning them up, working with the producers to bring them to contemporary standards.”
With Warner Bros. Discovery on the block and Paramount a potential buyer – and Sky, which is owned by NBCU parent Comcast – trying to buy ITV, it could be all change by the time London Screenings 2027 rolls around.
In the meantime, the Hollywood sales houses are in London town this week and looking to do business.