Banff World Media Festival: Six key takeaways

This year’s Banff World Media Festival took place amid news that Warner Bros Discovery would be splitting its streaming and networks business, providing a suitable backdrop to industry far-reaching discussions focused on adapting to new realities.

Top commissioners from Netflix and local broadcaster CBC were among senior execs on hand to outline their wishlists in this fast-changing landscape, while chiefs at Fox streamer Tubi and Sony Pictures Television outlined how the industry is providing opportunity.

Sony’s call for action

Sony Pictures Television chair Keith Le Goy made early headlines by using his keynote to again bang the drum for commissioners to make “bolder, quicker creative decisions”, enabling a show’s momentum to be maintained.

“It’s got to the point with some streamers where you make eight episodes of a series, then you wait a year or 18 months for them to decide to pick up season two,” he told delegates. 

“Season two comes two or three years later and season three maybe two or three years after that. So over six years, you’ve made 24 episodes,” adding that such a process “loses the momentum” of the show for audiences.

Le Goy was in a generous mood however for the BBC, heaping praise on the “incredible bravery” it showed in commissioning Mr Loverman. But for the others,  he had some advice. 

“Start to make bolder decisions, quicker decisions. Don’t let the data get in the way of creative, bold decision-making. That’s going to produce a much healthier ecosystem all round,” said Le Goy, echoing the views of his Sony colleague, SPT Studios chief Katherine Pope, who raised the issue last year at MIA in Rome. 

Talking with Tubi

Quick decision making is not, one suspects, a problem for those working at Tubi, whose rapid growth has seen it become a “free Netflix” in the streaming space, according to chief exec Anjali Sud, who spoke to a packed Banff stage.

The former Vimeo boss, who took over just under two years ago at the Fox-owned company, said the AVoD platform’s expansion in North America – where it has 275,000 titles in its libraries – and internationally in Mexico, the UK and Australia is allowing it to muscle in on the bigger players in the streaming space.

“We’ve tried to be bold, and all we care about is engagement. The differentiators for us are in two key areas: one, having the breadth of storytelling personalised to you. We spend a lot of time getting really good at helping you discover content,” Sud told delegates during her keynote conversation.

Sud pointed to Tubi’s “unique” offering including its FAST originals and said she is “very focused” on exclusive, differentiated programming, such as animation Breaking Bear.

“You’re going to see us double down there and focus more on Gen Z content for young adult audiences that reflects the culture and talent they’re used to seeing in a digital world. You’re going to see us leverage creators more in our offering. It’s sort of like a free Netflix model: it’s premium, original programming but offered entirely for free.”

Bridging the gap with BritBox

Also in the rarefied mountain air of Banff was BritBox chief Robert Schildhouse, who was in town to talk up the BBC Studios-backed streamer’s ability to help ease the funding “crisis” in UK drama as it looks to “step up the calibre of shows”.

Schildhouse referenced the cadre of UK series that have been greenlit, principally by the BBC, but remain in funding limbo, and made a call to UK producers that BritBox could be the solution.

“Once upon a time, if you had a commission from a broadcaster in the UK, that show is getting made. That’s simply not the case anymore,” he said, adding that britBox could offer part of a solution.

“For us, not to downplay the challenges in that market, but it’s opening up a lot of opportunities because while we are a smaller player, we’re incredibly creative and don’t have a ton of rules or religion around how we bring content onto our service.”

He said that this has enabled the company to work with “very significant producers” on shows “a bit upstream”, citing upcoming dramas such as Left Bank Pictures’ The Lady, Bad Wolf’s The Other Bennet Sister, and Sally Wainwright’s Riot Women.

“We’ve got a pipeline full of ambitious shows and we’re taking swings. We’re excited about stepping up the calibre of shows on BritBox,” he added, with series such as Mitford sisters drama Outrageous set to debut next week.

Finding a blueprint

Netflix execs in Canada said they have been looking to the UK as a blueprint for growing its international reputation after the string of hits that have emerged from the market, following hits such as Adolescence, Baby Reindeer and One Day.

The shows were all held up by Danielle Woodrow, director of content at Netflix Canada, as prime illustrations of the streaming behemoth’s strategy for becoming the global content leader and she told delegates that a clear focus had driven the successes. 

“They really focused on working with the best-in-class writers and looking for the shows they thought audiences were hungry for and were saying something really interesting,” Woodrow said of her UK colleagues.

“They had a number of shows that played on international Netflix and really leaned into local specificity and great storytelling. We feel Canada is poised to do the same if we can find and tell great stories the audiences want to watch.”

Woodrow, who was joined on stage by fellow content director Tara Woodbury, also gave “a shoutout to the power of conceptual IP”, adding that local folktales could provide a way into shows for audiences.

CBC’s partner model

Netflix execs in Canada are not the only ones looking outside of their own borders, although for CBC’s scripted chief Trish Williams it was more a case of financial necessity than for creative strategy.

Williams outlined the reality of scripted budgets for the broadcaster during her Banff session, admitting the broadcaster could not solely finance projects.

The commissioner, who was joined by executive director of unscripted Jennifer Dettman on-stage, was also honest about the realities of needing to pitched projects that will be suitable for international sales.

“Will your project be financeable or attract another partner? Is it marketable in the international marketplace?” she asked producers in the crowd, citing CBC original Saint-Pierre, for which Fifth Season is distributor, noting it was “interesting to know that Fifth Season was on board already”, when making a greenlight decision.

Williams also outlined her wish-list, highlighting CBC’s desire for one-hour dramas, particularly in the procedural space, which she joked was “popular with the audience, not producers”. 

In unscripted, co-production and budgets was less of a hot-button issue with Dettman calling on producers to being her stories that celebrate and uphold the Canadian identity alongside “buzzy, bold premium docs”.

Bell buys into Blink49 

On the news front, distributors talked up a raft of regional sales but it was Canadian giant Bell Media’s investment in John Morayniss’s Blink49 Studios that got most attention (putting Warner Bros Discovery’s imminent break-up to one side, of course).

Bell joins Blink49’s other backer Fifth Season - with whom former eOne TV chief Morayniss set up the label in 2021 - as a strategic and production partner, and while financial details were not disclosed, the Canadian firm said it would aim to “further enhance Blink49’s capabilities as it grows its slate of scripted and unscripted content.” 

Blink49 Studios has built up an array of drama, reality and factual programming in its four years of operation, recently partnering with Bell on docuseries Queen of the Castle, dramas Don’t Even, Late Bloomer, Sight Unseen, The Trades and Yaga, and upcoming reality series Blue Collar.

Other programming on the label’s slate includes CBC’s Wild Cards, international reality show Beast Games, and an untitled Amazon Prime Video docuseries exploring high-profile female chief execs.

The deal was struck through Bell’s investment arm Bell Ventures, which supports Canadian entrepreneurship and aims to drive innovation and accelerate growth for its partners. The deal is set to close in the autumn.