Fly High or Soar !

As another TV market approaches, I can't help but feel a deep sense of frustration. Despite the industry gathering in just a couple of weeks, buyers rarely respond to emails. This is particularly disheartening for someone like me who has been involved in the TV content business for years. As a former acquisitions director, I made it a point to respond to every inquiry. I introduced colleagues when asked and spent extra time with newcomers and boutique distributors. I believed in discovering hidden gems, which eventually led to incredible successes like our groundbreaking Korean drama adaptation (the first ever one outside SEA) or the unexpected hit of Newen in France after we adapted it for the first time.? A tried-and-tested formula gets tested when someone dares to try it. The Korean and Japanese scripted formats are now global; why is that? Yes, it's a different culture, a language that's not English, faces that are unfamiliar, but someone had a look!?

Years ago, I saw the potential in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire to come back to the screen in a world where everyone was chasing the latest and shiniest formats.? While others dismissed it as not the latest, it paid off with over a decade of success. A back catalogue is not always a bad catalogue.?

As a small distribution company, it's a huge challenge to compete with the big players with huge resources to market their content all over the place and invite buyers to posh parties. But we invest heavily in attending markets and meeting buyers in person, only to see them gravitate towards the major sellers. Either they are OOO, or they are booked, or the efforts to communicate go nowhere.? It's disheartening to put your heart, soul, and finances into these efforts, into the content that you would be acquiring if you were a buyer, something that you strongly believe in, and yet you are almost ghosted. So many of my friends all over the world are only working as consultants for a larger group; they cannot even take the leap of faith to set up their own distribution company because it is too much work and not enough return on investment.?

Our "40 Questions" format was initially rejected because of the genre, but it went on to become a hit in three different countries. You know how it happened—the presenters of the show talked to each other and sold the show—in the truest sense of the word!? "Queue Up had a US option because of its innovative format structure, but I'm sure only a handful of buyers have had a look at it!? "The Wall Project" won awards and was the most talked-about new title at Mip, optioned by Fremantle but even stayed unknown to their local producers. These shows will no doubt be big one day, but will we get the credit or will another big player step in and take the credit?

To the buyers: Is this the world we want to live in? In a world where we only focus on securing our position with proven titles, that AI can take over our place quite easily very soon? Even when the title had a good track record but unfortunately was not coming from the US or UK, it's a no? Quite discriminatory, no? I can give you countless examples of shows that ended up becoming the big distributors' top-selling shows simply because a buyer worked really hard to convince the team.? We live in a universe where we can easily connect with each other for free. Am I the only one who finds this exciting? Supermarkets are great. But don't we all miss the neighbourhood store, where we can even leave our keys if we need to?

The next big thing isn't going to happen by following the masses. It will come from those who think outside the box. Don't just be part of the bidding wars for the same content. Connect with passionate and innovative creatives. The person you're overlooking today could be the one you'll need tomorrow. Your competitor's biggest win could be the content you didn't even bother to look at. Remember, karma has a way of coming back to haunt you.

We are all striving to create a more inclusive, innovative, and responsive industry where all voices have the chance to be heard and all ideas have the chance to flourish. We all speak about loudly how discrimination and judgement keep harming us, change starts within. Couldn't we also make sure that we act according to our values??