Festival In Focus: As Peak TV Moves To Peak Caution The Battle For IP Is On — “Producers Need Deep Pockets”

Peak intellectual property doesn’t have the same ring to it as peak TV. Drama based on tried-and-true ideas, however, removes risk for commissioners in challenging international markets and is in vogue. But producers be warned: the best ideas don’t come cheap.

The volume of TV drama ordered will increase in 2024 according to analysts, but it will remain way off the Golden Era highs. The well of money for scripted TV hasn’t run dry, but it’s no longer overflowing.

The Series Mania Forum is engineered for market shifts with its international co-production strand feeling more relevant than ever. Laurence Herszberg, Founder and General Director of Series Mania, said the industry element of the Festival is a toolbox for professionals. One tool it will add this year is a new IP market. The dedicated space will allow IP owners to press the flesh with the 4,000 TV folk expected in Lilles in March.

“Everyone is looking for IP because, of course it’s faster to develop, you know that there is already a community of fans and it’s less risky than starting from an original idea,” said Francesco Capurro, Director, Series Mania Forum. “Seeing that, we decided this year to open an IP market in the Forum. It will be a place where we will organize matchmaking meetings with book agents, podcast creators, publishers and people who have IP to sell.”

Analysis from K7 Media showed that in the 2021-2022 TV season, 42% of U.S. series launches were based on some form of IP. The figure was 28% for the rest of the world. The downward trajectory in the volume of drama commissioning since means the totals are likely to be higher in today’s cautious market.

Using road-tested source material can break through the clutter but it often comes with a chunky price tag. “Given the plethora of material out there from various sources, for example books, podcasts, magazine articles, true crimes, theater, comic books or anime, games… the contest to win the rights of well recognized IP that plays internationally is fierce and expensive,” says seasoned drama exec Marc Lorber, Executive Producer, at the Art of Coproduction. The starting point has to be a great story, he added, but “in a crowded marketplace with many options for consumers, material that can break through and help market itself becomes increasingly more valuable.”

The UK is source of innumerable publishing properties, but the hottest are only available to a select few. Hannah Griffiths recently joined Banijay in a newly created Head of Adaptations role at the production and distribution giant. She said IP is a well-trodden route to market for producers and commissioners but noted market inflation. “The number of auctions for ‘hot books’ has increased in recent years, with the option fees becoming prohibitively expensive for many UK producers,” she said. “It’s no longer enough to have early intel on new books – producers need deep pockets too.” 

IP is seen as a potential tool to mitigate risk, reduce development time and cut though the clutter of content, but does not provide is foolproof blueprint and can come with baggage, according to Danna Stern, the founder and former head of Yes Studios and now an independent producer.

“The mirror image of the desire for existing IP is, obviously, a reduced propensity to take risks on original ideas and certainly those coming from younger or less experienced voices and talents,” the drama expert, who is now based in Berlin, said. “Using IP does not give immunity or any guarantees of success — in fact the more recognizable and better known the original work or brand, the more scrutiny and potential criticism a project can attract. There are endless examples great source material that went horribly wrong in adaptation, while smaller or lesser-known works achieved greatness.”

Publishing, podcasts, videogames are well mined in terms of IP, opening the question of where the untapped pools of intellectual property lie. Griffiths points to the Sony Pictures deal with the Guardian that gives the studio first look at the newspaper’s journalism and expects to see and “more first look deals with content creators in other media,” as well as interest in film catalogs.

Stern, meanwhile, said the gates are wide open in terms of what the TV world will consider IP and where people will look for ideas. “Today, almost anything has the potential to be considered IP,” the drama exec said. “The only criteria seems to be does anyone else also think it is, and are they willing to place a value on it’s potential.”