Opinion
Tim Dams
Indie focus
provides his
insight into the
key events and
news stories
impacting on
the independent
Mip signals way forward
production
community
Last month’s MipTV programme market in the south of France was a
washout. It poured with rain every day, preventing many of the Croisette
parties for programme makers, buyers and sellers from spilling out onto
Cannes’ legendary beach.
Surprisingly, though, the rain didn’t seem to dampen business at Mip.
At a time when the television industry is going through its greatest ever
crisis in confidence, it was odd to hear many of the participants whisper
over drinks that business hadn’t been nearly as bad as they’d feared. TIM DAMS
Programmes were still getting financed, and formats racking up sales Editor, Televisual
around the world. Tim Dams is editor
Numbers were certainly down. Normally one has to barge a way through of Televisual, and
the packed corridors of the main Palais bunkers. This year you could stroll was previously
with ease past the hundreds of distributor stands selling everything from assistant editor of
Latin American telenovelas and British formats to French soft porn. film title Screen
It wasn’t as if those who stayed away were missed, though. By general International. He’s
consensus, the executives who made it out to MipTV were serious about also written
doing deals. “There are less people, but the quality of discussions is extensively for The
higher,” was a constant refrain. With budgets under strain, only those who Guardian, Broadcast
really had to travel were there. The chancers, timewasters and freeloaders and Media Week.
who usually make up a good proportion of markets and festivals were
nowhere to be seen.
Mip, in many ways, seemed to represent the new reality of the
television and production business. It was all about smaller teams, tighter
budgets and fewer opportunities for excess. The keynote speech of the
market, by WPP boss Sir Martin Sorrell, addressed this very issue. Asked
to predict the future of the TV industry, he – happily – predicted that
traditional TV would survive. But TV’s share of ad revenue would fall
significantly as spend was diverted into new media in coming years.
As a result, he cautioned, TV production models would have to change,
and become less expensive and far more cost effective.
As any independent producer will attest, this is already happening. The
big trend for indies over the last few months has been the massive
slowdown in commissioning, particularly from commercial broadcasters.
When a show does get the greenlight, its budget might be 10-15% less
than in previous years. So producers are having to hack cost out of
programming and be increasingly creative in the way they shepherd a
project onto the screen. In many cases this means cutting right back on
the main overhead of most indies – staffing costs.
However, as Sorrell himself said, it increasingly means harnessing new
technology – from cameras through to post kit – to allow smaller crews
to work more efficiently and effectively on productions. Working smart
might be a cliché, but it’s going to mean the difference between success
and failure in the coming years. in my view
Spring 2009 theproducer 9
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