On October 17-20, MIPCOM traditionally gathered content producers and buyers from the world over in Cannes. The market of 2016 was significantly different from the previous editions: all participants note that during the last few years it has become the biggest and the most saturated. What is even more important, Ukraine was in the limelight. The law on film industry support, our successes and the successes of our colleagues, promising formats and high-quality finished projects – all this created a very favorable informational field.
FILM.UA Group delegation spent rather intensive four days in Cannes and is ready to share its impressions.
1. The magic word “rebate” immediately singled Ukraine out among other countries
For Ukraine as producer, this MIPCOM has become a breakthrough, and it is no exaggeration. All production companies keep working, producing competitive content and telling the market about it. But the adoption of the law on state support for film industry has become a real precedent. The information about 25 per cent rebates for funds invested in film production on the territory of Ukraine was the central message on our corporate stand. It never failed to attract attention of foreign partners.
“Though the law has not yet been signed by the president and has not entered into force (we honestly tell about it), the magic word ‘rebate’ immediately singled Ukraine out among other countries: we are a unique location for filming, we have highly qualified experts, and production on this territory is much cheaper than in any other European country,” says Kateryna Vyshnevska, head of development and co-production at FILM.UA Group. “It is not just our impressions or assumptions; after MIPCOM we already have two projects from foreign producers submitted for a budget estimate.”
Viktoriya Yarmoschuk, director of MRM company, adds, “The main thing to note this time is that Ukraine is already well known. It becomes understandable, and others start looking at it with great interest. As proof, I can cite the list of publications who mentioned Ukraine this time: TBI Formats and TBI, Prensario International, C21 International, Worldscreen, Realscreen, Animation Magazine, International TV Bizz, Senal International, MIP Preview and each edition of MIP Daily. We should support this trend all together, consolidate Ukrainian market, transmit the right messages and act jointly. According to the estimates of numerous foreign colleagues, Ukraine objectively overtakes other territories in many aspects: I mean our active involvement, successes on the international market, experts’ qualification, etc. Now it is very important to justify this credibility and strengthen our reputation successes through joint Ukrainian industry events at the following international gatherings, including Cannes.”
2. “That was you who sold The Sniffer format to Japan, right? What else are you filming?”
No doubt, the bragging right of FILM.UA Group was the news about the premiere of The Sniffer Japanese adaptation: on the very first day of the market NHK showed to the international community for the first time an episode of finished product in 4K. The series was aired on Japanese TV screens on Saturday, October 22 – now we are waiting for information about the premiere’s rankings. Just as a reminder, it is for the first time in its history that NHK has adapted a foreign series format.
“At one of the conferences, three representatives of Japanese TV top management listed the necessary qualities of content for it to be interesting in Japan. They took a long time; believe me, this list reaches up to the sky. And at the end of this speech one of them said: ‘Even if you have all that, there is a 90 per cent chance that you won’t interest us anyway.’ But our Sniffer managed to do it! I was very happy for it and for us,” says Olga Cherepanova, director and producer at Glowberry (FILM.UA Group).
“Before, the clients were really cautious about us and practiced a wait-and-see approach. Now they come directly to our stand. ‘That was you who sold The Sniffer format to Japan, right? What else are you filming?’”, says Yevgeniy Drachov, international sales manager at FILM.UA Group. “And we tell them about all 30 projects in production, showing them trailers, teasers and working materials. As soon as the contracts are signed, we’ll surely inform about that.”
3. “Mavka is an astonishingly beautiful princess!”
“Mavka. The Forest Song attracted attention even from a poster. The magic image created by the team of project animators and producers simply mesmerizes the people passing by,” says Yevgeniy Drachov.
“We are very happy that the image of Mavka seems ideal not only to us as the project’s ‘parents’. To our great surprise, Mavka attracted a lot of attention from the Asian market as well. For example, a co-founder of a Chinese animation studio was amazed by Mavka arts and told me she had never seen such a beautiful ‘unique princess with green hair’ in animation and that she is sure our project will enjoy international success. She invited Mavka and us to China for negotiations at least on distribution and possibly even on coproduction,” says Iryna Kostyuk, producer at FILM.UA Group. “One of the main and very important meetings about Mavka was a meeting with a screenwriter whose filmography includes a cartoon (also based on authentic legends) nominated for Academy Awards. We discussed our work, he shared his experience. According to him, the main thing is to stay true to one’s roots, and then our story filled with Ukrainian culture, authentic and ethnic elements, will become truly unique. So we and Mavka go the right way,” says Iryna.
4. “If the story is not touching, you’ve lost”
Animation is still in the top of requests from buyers. Olga Cherepanova, director and creative producer at Glowberry (FILM.UA Group), came to Cannes several days before and attended practically all events dedicated to series and feature animation projects at MIP Junior. “We brought our new animation series Mom Hurries Home to MIP Junior; the materials included a teaser and a pilot. (Just a reminder: the series is another step in the development of a successful brand: the book Mom Hurries Home was published in Ukrainian in 2010 and quickly became popular among children and parents alike, and its interactive version for Android and iOS enjoys tremendous success and has had over 40,000 downloads. Rightol Media company, which presents Mom Hurries Home brand in China, signed a contract with a local publishing house in October 2016 to distribute the book on Chinese-speaking territories.) At the market, I had two goals: to gather feedback of international experts about our product and to find out the latest news and trends of animation formats for children. Along with classic magic, adventures and superpowers, the trend of this year is zombies and monsters. Barbie presented their breakthrough at MIP Junior, a Gaga Zombie doll with Lady Gaga as its voice for the advertising campaign. Besides, two statements from the presentations of Amazon Kids, Disney Kids, BBC Kids and Toca TV directors were especially memorable: ‘uniqueness and novelty – this is what you use to amaze’ and ‘if the story is not touching, you have lost.’ Having evaluated the feedback about Mom Hurries Home according to these criteria, I can say that we are on the right way: the story about Mom who rushes home is new, and the sophisticated animation was a pleasant surprise even for Planeta Junior – they were convinced there was no high-quality 2D produced in our region and we work only for local markets. A South Korean TV channel is ready to sign a pre-sale agreement, but we’ll tell about it later in more detail.”
5. Ukranian Formats catalogue has six new projects
Another reminder: at MIPCOM, an updated UA Formats catalogue was presented, with six new projects included; the sure headliner was Wife on the Drive reality show. Buyers from several countries became interested in the product, both in the readymade version and the format.
This is not the only news about FILM.UA Group TV programs – in Cannes, a British company acquired the rights for distribution of a cycle of documentaries about urban explorations, “Insiders Project”. In the nearest future we’ll inform about the details of the deal. By the way, in the international version the cycle will be broadcast under the title Soviet Megamonsters.
6. FILM.UA and Armoza Formats will jointly develop AR and VR content
One of the big newsbreaks during the market was the conclusion of a deal between FILM.UA and Armoza Formats on joint participation in the development and promotion of AR and VR content. According to the arrangements reached, FILM.UA will focus on the production part, and Armoza will take up the main part of distribution obligations. “The company has built a solid reputation of a leading and independent creator and a developer of innovational and entertainment formats”, says Kateryna Vyshnevska.
Very soon we’ll have even more work, we’ll do it maintaining the same high quality, stand up to challenges and never stop developing. And it is not just about our company, it is about the whole Ukrainian media market: our ability to join efforts in achieving common goals has surprised the world. Well, we’ll keep surprising it in the future.
