Amanda, what is your focus right now?
The real focus right now is with the U.K. and U.S. broadcasters who do not have Asian producers, and the Asian producers here don’t have to talk to hundreds of Americans or British producers because I am their bridge. I bring the ideas that will work so I’m a glorified matchmaker for broadcasters for television programme ideas and business strategy as a whole. I’m looking at how we can share development, funding and how I can get British broadcasters and American broadcasters to start taking Asia more seriously. Culturally they are panicking because their audiences are getting smaller and the places with growing audiences especially among youth with digital connection are all in Asia. That is where my model works because it’s not just cooking shows or lifestyle shows although those are the safe ones to start with. We’re also doing format exchanges. I’m looking at a lot of Asian formats and I’m thinking, ‘can I re-version them for the Western market and vice-versa so it’s a whole fl ow of business for both markets’. If you watch how CJ is working with Endemol Shine, that is sort of collaboration that I’m talking to CJ as well as others with other programme ideas. We know that audiences are very different but I don’t see anybody else trying to make it work on both sides. When I approach a broadcaster in London, the first thing I ask, “Are you prepared to share the rights because it is not going work for an Asian broadcaster?” I think the biggest attraction for British and American companies is Asia. This is where the growing youth segments are today.
What is the perception of the West coming to the East?
It has been viewed as very challenging from the legal aspect of it. The contracts and the understanding, the cultural understandings are very different and there are different levels of transparency over budgets. This alarms the British broadcasters as they need to know where every single penny is being spent otherwise they are in trouble. For many years, the West has been trying to push the Western programmes to the Eastern audiences and the Eastern broadcasters were doing the same to their Western partners. The only way it will work is when it is co-produced with both markets in mind. Sometimes, you get a slight reversion for example in Korea, we always have to do the programmes in Korean language but as a whole, you still have a very similar programme which works in both markets with slight tweaking in the differences in voice.
Content that travels are science documentaries, natural environment programmes, social series about people’s lives are absolutely fascinating. Asia has a rich source of stories so it gets more and more attention on what is going on here. American producers were saying that Hollywood is now culturally bankrupt; it has run out of stories because they have told all their stories. Of course, that doesn’t mean, they would come to Asia immediately but I am being asked about the big Asian stories by the U.S. studios. It will be years before they do it but it’s definitely a change of seat. Now they are asking me about the Asian stories, it’s like suddenly they noticed Asia. And when it works for Asian nations, then, of course, the big American audiences gets interested as well. This is also the reason why Korea has put so much money into programming. It has the cultural power which brings people to the country. Tourists started to visit Korea, increase their awareness and become more sophisticated. They realise Korea doesn’t just produce phones and there’s more to it. They start to view Korea in a much more balanced way. They realise that this is a country that has its own culture with a unique storytelling angle.
