Analysis: European Drama Co-Productions Boom As Broadcasters Seek To Redress The Balance With Global Streamers
deadline.comAs the U.S. streaming giants commission more and more shows from Europe, the continent’s traditional broadcasters now see co-productions as the best weapon in their armory.
The LA Screenings continues this week, but across the pond the number of expensive dramas with multiple partners is expanding as channels seek to make budgets stretch further.“International co-productions are an important part of our vast portfolio,” says Christoph Pellander, Senior Vice President of Drama at ARD Degeto, the content arm of German public broadcaster ARD. “In the last couple of years they are becoming more and more important for us in terms of volume but also in terms of recognition.”And local broadcasters need to make noise.While debates rage in several countries over future funding models and governments wrestle with content quotas, Netflix, Amazon and co.
keep pouring resource into European originals. Just this month, Netflix opened an office in Rome with a 13-strong line-up of scripted and non-scripted shows, while Amazon revealed it has spent £1BN ($1.2BN) in the UK since 2018.ARD Degeto — which commissions, buys and produces shows for terrestrial channel Das Erst and streamer ARD Mediathek — currently has around 15 projects with international on its slate, which sit alongside its long-established local scripted production business.
As Deadline revealed on Tuesday, among its new projects is The Seed (working title), a thriller co-produced with Norway’s NRK, Czech studio MIA Film and German producer Odeon Fiction and its parent Leonine Studios, which has acquired sales rights.
Read more on deadline.com
