Dealmakers


PAUL BUCCIERI Managing director, ITV Studios International


O CAREER


2011 Appointed managing director, ITV Studios International 2007 Named president and chief executive of ITV Studios America 2005 Becomes president of programming at Twentieth Television, overseeing 500 hours of production in his fi nal year 2002 Joins Endemol USA as executive producer


ver the years, a number of executives have come and gone as ITV seeks to become


a serious player in the international market. But one who is starting to look settled is LA-based Paul Buccieri. Buccieri joined as president and


chief executive of ITV Studios America in 2007 and grew the business by 40% in his fi rst year. Obviously things have continued to go well because ITV’s new(ish) boss Adam Crozier decided to name Buccieri as the fi rst managing director of ITV Studios International in July. Buccieri, who was previously


president of programming, produc- tion and development for Fox’s Twen- tieth Television division, is primarily known for his work in the reality and entertainment genres. Among the shows cited as evidence of his capa- bilities are Hell’s Kitchen USA (one of ITVS’ most successful fi nished programmes internationally) and Jeremy Kyle’s talk show (pictured, below), which he brought to the US.


Prime deal He is starting to show that he can also get a few decent drama productions off the ground. This year’s big news is that Buccieri and his team have secured a format deal for classic British crime drama Prime Suspect. NBC began airing a US version of the property, set in New York, last month, and ITV Studios International will distribute it internationally. The remake is the result of many


months of development with NBC but, at the outset, it was by no means certain that the US broadcaster would be involved. Buccieri tells Broadcast: “We were in the enviable position of having three of the four broadcast networks after the show, once we had made the decision to make it available for adaptation. There was a bidding war, which NBC won.” In addition to Buccieri,


other ITV Studios executives who played key roles in bring- ing the NBC deal to fruition include Buccieri’s immediate boss Kevin Lygo; Julie Meldal-Johnsen, senior VP, busi- ness devel- opment and business affairs, ITVS


www.broadcastnow.co.uk


Prime Suspect


‘Three of the four US broadcast networks were after Prime


Suspect and NBC won’ Paul Buccieri


America; and Marias Kyriacou, managing director, ITV Studios Global Entertainment. But Buccieri is keen to stress the


importance of the talent attached to the series as well as the exec- utives who helped to bring it about. “When Sarah Aubrey


and Peter Berg from Film 44, who have the big movie Battle- ship coming out later this year, came on board, the project really got a lift,” he recalls. “They brought Alex Cunningham on board [as execu- tive producer]. Getting the confi - dence of some- one like NBC


programme chief


Bob Greenblatt meant the project really took fl ight from there.” Buccieri, clearly not busy enough


already, will executive produce. But he’ll also be hoping that his sales divi- sion can replicate the success of the UK version of Prime Suspect (15 x 120- minute episodes), which is, he says, “one of the best-selling titles in our catalogue, with sales to more than 100 territories, including the US, France, Germany, India, South Africa and Pan Latin America. It’s been selling robustly ever since its launch on the market in 1991.” Lygo sees the US version of Prime


Suspect as a key phase in ITV’s “trans- formation plan”. But isn’t there a danger that it’s a one-off? After all, ITV has already had its own ‘The British Are Coming’ moment when Cracker was adapted for the US, only to fi zzle out. Buccieri, though, is made of tough stuff. Although he declined to give specifi cs, citing, “confi dential, ongoing negotiations”, he told Broad- cast that there were “a number of other shows the adaptation of which we are in the process of discussing in the US”.


30 September 2011 | Broadcast | 29


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36