U.S. buyers are getting back into the co-production game, according to European studio Mediawan.
“The co-production market in the U.S. was almost closed for the past two or three years,” said Elisabeth D’Arvieu, Global Content Officer at Mediawan and CEO of Mediawan Pictures. “It’s reopening a little. That’s good news, particularly for UK companies. We just sold 1536 to HBO in the U.S., and that’s what allowed us to get the show done.”
1536 is the Drama Republic period drama series set in Tudor England for the BBC, which HBO has boarded.
The UK is an obvious partner for U.S. coproduction, but British producers have talked about how U.S. partners have pulled back in recent years. France-based studio Mediawan is home to UK labels including Wild Horses prodco See-Saw, One Day producer Drama Republic and Wild Seed, which made The Last Bus.
She used 1536 as an example of U.S. doors opening. “We were able to raise the financing between BBC in the UK and HBO in the US, and it’s a co-production,” D’Arvieu said. “What’s important in this difficult and ever-changing market is to stay nimble, very agile, and to be pragmatic … most [buyers] are also more and more open to new schemes and new ways of financing and producing with us.”
The French studio’s output included Call My Agent! and HPI, which has been remade as High Potential for ABC in the U.S. It is also active in film and majority owns Brad Pitt’s Plan B banner.
As well as incentives and tax breaks, Europe can also be a base for drama that is more cost-effective than U.S.-produced fare, D’Arvieu said.
“I think also the [opportunity] for Europe clearly is being able to produce shows at much [lower] budgets than in the U.S., but with the same quality, and bringing a U.S. or international cast to Europe. Not all the buyers in the U.S. are yet open to it, but I think they will all come to it because they all have budget constraints and they all need content to compete.”
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