On Monday, May 20, VideoAge‘s Water Cooler attended the studios’ screenings at the Paramount lot, and on Wednesday, May 22, at the Disney lot.
Previously, Lionsgate held a special screening of Hal & Harper, The Hunting Wives, Fake, and Border Line.
Paramount Global Content Distribution screened three new series, plus showed clips of 12 new titles in post-production, including Transformers One (which required 3D glasses) and clips from Republic Pictures’ (a Paramount company) six titles. In terms of full episodes, Paramount screened The Darkness; the drama Happy Face, starring Dennis Quaid and Annaleigh Ashford; and darkly comedic drama Average Joe, starring Deon Cole.
At Disney, buyers screened High Potential, Clipped, The Veil, and Under the Bridge. The Latin contingent was also shown three local productions. Acquisition executives’ regions were identified by the color of the ribbons on their badges.
Content output quality is good all across, but the licensing rights are checkered, in the sense that they are not available right away in territories where the studios’ streaming services operate. In certain territories there was even the oxymoronic term of “co-exclusive” rights.
In terms of U.S. networks, NBC added three new series: Brilliant Minds, St. Denis Medical, and Happy’s Place; ABC picked up High Potential, Scamanda, and Doctor Odyssey; and FOX’s new series are Rescue: Hi-Surf, DOC, Going Dutch, Universal Basic Guys, and Murder in a Small Town. From CBS there are NCIS: Origins, Matlock, Poppa’s House, and Georgie & Mandy’s First Marriage. Watson will debut on CBS mid-season.
Pictured above, clockwise from top: Dan Cohen, chief content licensing officer, Paramount and president, Republic Pictures; “The Darkness” star Lena Olin; Lisa Kramer, president, International Content Licensing, Paramount Global Content Distribution; Lunch break on the lot at the Paramount screenings. At the Disney party we met RAI Fiction’s Maria Pia Ammirati and ITTV International Forum’s Valentina Martelli. At the Disney screenings, the LATAM team, headed by Fernando Barbosa, came out for a group photo.
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