Fancy being treated to freshly barbequed prawns and beef marinated Thai style and washing all the goodness down with sparkling wine whilst watching the sun go down on the French Rivieria – well, that’s what some clients of ABC Australia were treated to at the Thai Street Food function held during the MIPCOM market in Cannes.
Natalie Lawley, Manager of ABC Content Sales, fronted the event in the presence of the series’ presenter and chef David Thompson, who was in Cannes to promote the 13-part series, and of course, cook for guests.
The title represents a first for ABC content sales, says Lawley, who shares that this is the first time the content sales department has co-produced the show with distribution in mind and NOT for the flagship ABC TV in Australia. Premiere for ABC Australia has not been announced which gives buyers at MIPCOM a shot at aiming for not just exclusivity but premiere status.
“This is the first market where our new acquisition strategy has kicked in and the emphasis is on offering our buyers truly premium titles,” says Lawley. Lawley explains that the new strategy sees the Australian distributor scaling back on the quantity of titles offered (which given the number of years of actively producing for the home channel, the distributor has lots of), to an emphasis on quality; cherry-picking the titles that are premium and those that will truly resonate with buyers and eventually audiences.
“It (the dinner event) was the perfect setting. David Thompson’s not a commercial chef. He is so intimate and I felt the event, which was small and intimate, was really representative of the show,” says Lawley.
Lawley also emphasises that beyond Lifestyle, two other genres will offer premium titles. ABC Content sales will offer Super Predator and Shark Girl for the Natural History genre while all eyes are on A Cautionary Tail (1×14’ HD and voiced by Cate Blanchett) in the children’s genre, which has garnered high interest since the title was chosen as a finalist for the MIPJunior’s Kids Jury awards 2012.
