– Enid Blyton books go to series

Anyone who has entertained thoughts of looking into those (over 600) Enid Blyton books they enjoyed as kids, put them out of your mind. Enid Blyton’s Enchanted Lands was announced by PolyGram Television International at mip-tv, 26 10-minutes based on the stories of two of Blyton’s book series, The Magic of the Faraway Tree and The Adventures of the Wishing Chair.

Developed with the bbc, both series are being produced by Abbey Home Entertainment and animated by Cosgrove Hall Films. The u.k. autumn ’97 broadcast is timed to coincide with the Blyton centenary celebrations.

pti president David Ellender says PolyGram is looking to handle four or five new animated series per year. PolyGram recently signed a three-year deal with Cinar Films for six shows, including Lassie, and Ellender says PolyGram will be announcing similar deals soon.

Loredana Cunti, formerly with Malofilm, is now vp sales, children’s programming with pti.

-Europe examines drama problem

The kick-off conference at mip-tv was entitled ‘Time to Invest in European Drama?’ One of the moderators, London News Network journalist Alastair Stewart, led off the conversation by stating, ‘We’re a single market with 12 trading nations and almost as many different languages.’

A blue-chip panel of European broadcasters (many sporting translation headsets) explored why info/entertainment and factual programming has grown, but drama has not.

Stewart put forward the observation that ‘while all European countries have literature that is pan-national, the taste is national.’

Broadcasters also pointed out the issue of volume of new American programming versus the longer lead time for coproductions, and market demand as another problematic area.

The question of whether the market should be allowed to dictate, or whether government should take a leading role in European drama was also raised.

By saying that BetaFilm is uniquely positioned to gather market intelligence and find topics that will work internationally, Beta’s Brendam Fitzgerald offered a ray of hope for improvement as European companies continue to grow their business beyond their borders.

Stewart pointed out that while u.k. series Cracker spawned a feature and series in the u.s., there has been no activity in Europe

-20th Century outlines plethora of development

The volume/market domination theory was manifest when Twentieth Century Fox International outlined its slate, and launched a Website to tout its ‘global products’ to its worldwide customers.

A ’97/98 pilot update included nine drama (including a Carlton Cuse project) and nine comedy series from talent such as the Burns Brothers and two from Danny Jacobson. Damon Wayans has both a drama and a comedy pilot on the go.

Stating the dramatic increase in content production, Mark Kaner, president of Twentieth Century Fox International Television and Worldwide Pay tv, said the corp has gone from 30 films four years ago to 330 films in development today, and pilots have gone from two to 19.

Kaner describes the feature film biz as scary. ‘It’s a 4% business. You can make more money leaving it in your checking account.’

-Interactive game for traditional TV

As to things digital beyond satellite service turmoil, Interactive Television Entertainment is heavily promoting its new interactive game/entertainment show for traditional tv, Throat & Neck in Sheepheaven.

In the first five days of its April launch on MTV Brazil, 22,000 calls (at $3 a shot) came in from viewers anxious to be one of the two players in the interactive broadcast game involving two green fearsomely teethy cg creatures who battle to the bitter end; the loser turns into a sheep.

ite managing director Carlos Zalve says North America is a target market for ite, which opened an l.a. office in January. ite is in discussions with ChumCity on Throut & Neck placement in Canada. The company’s first game, Hugo, has just been relaunched, and is now also a multiplayer system. Hugo is seen in various incarnations in 18 countries including the u.s. and u.k.

ite has very targeted advertising potential, building personalized entertainment into its product offering to broadcasters. ite’s (patent pending) IM4U system ties pcs to traditional tv broadcasting, utilizing a cd which consumers use to store demographic info on themselves; signals in the tv broadcast activate the pc (which would have to be beside the tv), enabling specific communication on the pc via the Internet in an intelligent agent mode. A Web Director system is involved.

-Market Mentorship Program

The Ontario Film Development Corporation’s Market Mentorship Program debuted at mip-tv, and due to the support of the Canadian producer/distributor mentors which enabled access to the sought-after ears, it’s received enthusiastic reviews from the participants.

The objective is to help the four producers gain entree to the international market, and conduct fact-finding and research to develop the international focus of their projects accordingly.

The advice from the seasoned vets included reinforcing the relationships factor and keying down the pitch to an info level, and not to be anxious about making a deal at mip.

Bamm Pictures’ Anita Herczeg found all the tips and Canadian contacts very helpful in setting up project-specific meetings.

With ChumCity International’s director of development Isme Bennie helping to target who to approach, Sheri Elwood of Lunaflicks says she was quite successful getting meetings with potential coproducers in France and Italy.

Fellow program participant Catherine Annau, similarly impressed with ‘the tremendous goodwill of people,’ cited Malofilm and Jan Rofekamp of Films Transit, who directed her to individuals who would be a good fit for her doc project.

Of the market experience, Michael McMahon of Primitive Features says the pressure-cooker environment helps you hone your skills and makes you realize you have to be there, noting that the market cachet also extends to Canadians taking you more seriously; he plans to follow up the experience with a trip to the u.k. in the next few months.

The program is seen as a very practical use of the ofdc’s abilities, post the loss of its production financing role. One of those cited for ‘really putting themselves out’ is the ofdc’s international market specialist Kelley Alexander, who worked on developing and oversees the program.

Alexander attributes part of the success to the fact that Canadians as a group are respected in the tv industry, and says the next event for the ongoing market mentoring will be a larger group attending the Toronto International Film Festival (where she will be heading up the sales office), followed by the Amsterdam International Documentary Filmfestival. Alexander also wants to see the program extend to Berlin, Cannes and natpe.

Prior to the market, a series of workshops was held, helmed by the likes of Cambium’s Rita Carbone Fleury, Tom Perlmutter and Malofilm, and included a coproduction primer from Telefilm’s Deborah Drisdell.