The third day of the Banff World Media Festival (BANFF) saw a standing-room only session, In Conversation with: Sean Cohan, Bell Media.

The audience heard the exec outline the company’s vision and discuss Bell Media’s transformation from legacy broadcaster to digital media and content leader. The discussion was moderated by Jordan Pinto, North American editor, C21 Media.

“Canada and the media world are facing a set of daunting challenges and some great opportunities,” Cohan announced. “You have challenges to the legacy business but then you’ve got some great avenues for growth, some of which are unique to Canada and some of which are just inherent in the in the global media landscape.”

He specifically talked about Crave as Bell Media’s growing and profitable streamer, and touched on the media company’s recent upfront which featured more than 850 new hours of Canadian content, with another 300 hours to be announced soon.

“We are Canada’s unquestioned media and entertainment leader,” he said, adding that he wants the brand to be digitally ubiquitous.

Cohan also discussed his goal to rebrand Canada to the global marketplace, sharing the results of an informal poll he did (of mostly Americans) in the media ecosystem. “I asked them to give me a word that describes Canadian content, Canadian productions,” he told the room. “They said efficient, or inexpensive. That was the first word that came to mind. Others said mediocre or cheap. I asked the same question about the UK, they used words like clever, quality, creative. I think part of the opportunity is that we [need to demonstrate] we are more than the just the tax credit.”

When asked about the recent CRTC decision that will see base contributions of 5% of online streaming revenues be diverted back into the Canadian media landscape, Cohan said, “We’re pleased that the streamers are going to be contributing to the ecosystem. And we are, I would say, pleased that there are folks that are focused on driving towards it in this context towards a fair even playing field.”

The talk then turned to the bombshell announcement that Rogers Communications had inked a deal for the Bravo brand from NBCUniversal – which was previously under Bell Media before its rebrand to CTV Drama in 2019 – and Discovery brands such as MotorTrend, Science, Animal Planet and ID, which are currently licensed as brands under Bell Media.

“We had a long standing partnership and brand, Discovery Canada,” Cohan said. “Those agreements include some restrictions that you might suspect around launching competitive services. And it won’t be a surprise to you that we’ll assert our rights to protect our business. We at Bell believe in the importance of adhering to agreements.”

Unscripted buyers share pitching secrets

The Working with Canada: Unscripted Buyers Go Cross-Border Shopping panel gave insight into what U.K. and American buyers are looking for.

Panellists included Lyle Gamm, SVP, original series, CNN (Warner Bros. Discovery); Kate Phillips, director of unscripted, BBC; Mike Stiller, head of east coast development, A+E Networks/The History Channel; and Claire Urquhart, head of commercial content fund, S4C International. The session was moderated by Richard Jean-Baptiste, VP, business innovation and executive producer, Attraction.

Phillips noted that changes in viewing habits have had an impact at the BBC. “I’d say the big change has been our focus on digital,” she explained. “Linear channels are still very important to us, but we are seeing a significant rise in viewing on iPlayer. Overnights become less relevant as we look at a 28-day growth across both platforms.”

For its part S4C International is a Welsh language multi-genre channel that is open to international collaborations.  Urquhart told the audience, “Everyone who speaks Welsh also speaks English.” She cited one recent copro, Welcome to Wrexham, with Canadian superstar Ryan Reynolds as a project that helped put Wales on the map. A spin-off show with the football club’s fans is in the works.

Over at CNN, the documentary division finds that having a high-profile personality works best for them. This approach began with Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and has continued with Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy and into a new series Eva Longoria: Searching for Mexico. Gamm said that their audience, which skews older, values authenticity and name recognition.

“As a global news brand, CNN does its share of investigative series and on-offs too, or series that target a specific era,” he also explained. “On Sunday nights we wouldn’t do something that mirrors the headlines, we wouldn’t do Ukraine or Trump, we would do things that have a little bit of distance like the 1960s, where we can do a deep dive into event, usually over four episodes, that tells people something about the world we’re living in.”

CNN has a long relationship with Toronto-based Cream Productions and have partnered on series such as The History of Late Night. Gamm said they are currently in talks with Cream for another installment of that franchise.

The History Channel is currently in production on three shows with Canadian prodcos, but Stiller was unable to discuss the details, except to hint that one was an “exciting mystery adventure.”

In terms of pitches, the various panellists shared their approach to working with Canadians.

“I know there’s a lot of companies in Canada that have [offices] in the U.K. We’re doing an art series with Blue Ant Media at the moment,” said Phillips. “So we’re open if you’re a Canadian indie and you’ve got a really good idea. And you can do a deal with a U.K. indie.”

She added that the BBC also likes pitches to be more like a conversation than a fully-formed idea with all the bells and whistles worked out. “I’ve commissioned a pilot literally from a piece of paper when someone’s just scribbled a game show,” she said, adding that, in that case, they shot a pilot before going to series.

“It’s a crowded media landscape, to break through you need something special and something surprising,” added Stiller. “There’s lots of ways to pitch us. I don’t need to tell it locked in necessarily at the very beginning. You can come to us with a concept.”

Stiller reiterated that like at CNN, a celebrity host can help get a show greenlighted, such as The Unbelievable with Dan Aykroyd.

Sean Cohan talks TV

The ongoing romance between The CW and Canada

The panel Spotlight: The CW brought Saleena Lockett, the network’s executive director of scripted programming, the CW, and Brad Schwartz, its president of entertainment, to the stage. It was moderated by Mark Montefiore, founder & CEO, New Metric Media.

The CW, once the home of upmarket YA like Gossip Girl and Riverdale, or DC shows such as The Arrow and The Flash, has changed courses since being bought by Nextstar Media Group (the company now has a 75% stake in the broadcaster).

The new CW is wanting to get into broader spaces for older audiences. Schwartz revealed that on the linear channel the median age of viewers is 58.

Lockett explained that she and her team are on the lookout for broader shows with a multigenerational cast. “We want to look at having something that represents the grandparent’s age, the parents age, and also the teenagers so that everybody can find an entry point into the story and feels that they’re part of the story.”

She added that they are also interested in finding more episodic series, specifically police procedurals. The broadcaster recently landed the Vancouver-set Wild Cards from Blink49 Studios, Front Street Pictures and Piller/Segan in association with CBC.

The tone of a show is also key to the CW’s plan. “We want it to be fun. We want it to be escapist. We don’t want it to be too heavy,” explains Lockett. “Procedurals sometimes deal with murder, but it won’t really be about the murder. It’s going to be about the relationships around solving the case and the murder.”

Schwartz, who is Canadian and developed Schitt’s Creek with CBC when he was an exec at Pop TV,  discussed his goal at the CW is make it profitable, something it was not previously under CBS and Warner Bros. He stressed that on unscripted shows they can usually afford to produce them in-house, but the same can’t be said for scripted. “We have great ambition to do a lot of scripted. [But] it’s hard for us to do shows on our own. So the coproduction route is really the only way for us to do scripted programming,” he said. The brand is currently working on copros for scripted series with Australia, the UK, and of course, Canada.

When it comes to the setting of a series, both Lockett and Schwartz spoke to about the importance of a non-specific setting to their audience.

“I’m a most proud Canadian and so I love taking Canadian content and celebrating around the world but on Schitt’s Creek it was really important that it be like Springfield in the sense,” said Schwartz. “We didn’t have to say Schitt’s Creek, Ontario. It can be in Idaho. It could be in Montana. It could be anywhere.”

Montefiore pushed harder for details about what makes Canada such a great copro partner beyond the tax credits and other financial advantages.

“The number one is no accents,” Schwartz jumped in. “It’s really the greatest reason partnering with Canada.” He went on to explain that shows with Australian or British accents don’t always succeed with American audiences, who find them more challenging to understand with one major exception; period pieces like Downton Abbey, or The CW’s upcoming 80s set, Joan.

The close proximity to the border also makes Canada a favoured partner. It’s faster to turnaround things on set or in the edit room, and it’s a quick plane ride for execs to do meetings. “And then there’s just the personal connection for me,” Schwartz added, and referenced the various Canadian executives he’s worked with, including the CBC’s Sally Catto.

Montefiore lobbed some hardballs at the panel, too, touching on how Americans have sometimes looked at Canada as the discount place.

“I would hate for anybody to think that Canada is the discount area. Maybe that’s kind of our Canadian personalities in the first place,” Schwartz responded. “I think historically, maybe people didn’t respect Canadian content as much. And maybe there’s still a little bit of that in the background. I think shows like Letterkenny, Schitt’s Creek and Orphan Black started to prove to people that there is Emmy-winning, award-winning talent, incredible content, incredible shows that come out of Canada.”

Photo by Kristian Bogner Photography