INDIE PROFILE - Chinese exchange.

There was a time when you'd think of independent producer Lion TV and you'd think of Castaway 2000. Times change, however, and so has Lion.Set up by former BBC producers Richard Bradley, Jeremy Mills and Nick Catliff in 1997 with docu-soaps Hotel and Paddington Green as early commissions, the producers have now cracked China.A series of epic biographies about China's greatest emperors will be the first project made through an unusual collaboration agreement between Hong Kong-based Phoenix Satellite Television, China's leading satellite broadcaster, and Lion TV. But Lion's move into the notoriously difficult Chinese market is more than opportunism - it illustrates an international focus evident since the indie's launch.In one sense, the Phoenix deal came out of the blue. "We got approached by Phoenix last year," joint managing director Richard Bradley readily admits."They'd heard about us through the international sale of a number of our history series, such as Egypt's Golden Empire and Journey through the Valley of the Kings, and they wondered why so much TV history focuses on countries like Egypt and so little on China," he explains. "There was a clear appetite within (China's) government to make available many places and people who had not previously been easily accessible. The question was 'how?'."During a visit to China in February, Bradley was introduced to senior officials including the curator of the Great Wall and the chief custodian of the Terracotta Army."There was clearly a fantastic opportunity, both to produce programmes for the Chinese market and about China for other markets elsewhere," he says. So Lion and Phoenix struck an agreement to co-operate on future productions - initially on history and cultural programmes, eventually in other genres - and share rights, with Phoenix retaining those for the Chinese market and Lion for the rest of the world."We see this very much as the first step," Bradley adds. "It's been all too easy for the west to be obsessed by the weirder aspects of Chinese society and miss the central, fascinating stories that are there - and to make assumptions about local tastes that are 40 years out of date. With both B&Q and Ikea now open in Beijing, home interest programmes are just one future possibility."If all goes to plan, Lion hopes to open an office in China some time next year. It will be Lion's fifth: the indie already has headquarters in London and offices in Glasgow, Los Angeles and New York. Lion has also forged close links with a number of continental European broadcasters including those with which it has just completed production of its largest pan-European project, Fashion House, an advertiser-funded reality show aired in the UK by Channel 4 under its T4 strand. Not bad for an indie that is just six years old.Lion has fostered international relations, both on the continent and America's east coast from the outset. Initially, this was driven by necessity."At launch, our priority was to find work from anywhere," joint managing director Jeremy Mills explains. Subsequently, the approach grew more strategic.In 2000, Lion opened an office in New York to develop factual output.To date, it has worked for numerous cable stations, including A&E, Discovery and WGBH. Among its biggest commissions has been History Detectives, which has just been commissioned for a second series by PBS. Then, earlier this year, it opened in LA where it is developing entertainment programming.The key to establishing the US business has been employing and retaining the best American creative talent, Mills says. But it's also been about sustaining a firm commitment to diversity, both in terms of programming, geographical market, broadcast relationships and programme funding."Not so long ago, I'd have said that a business strategy based on returning series and reliable formats was the only model to follow," he states."But I now believe diversity of programming, broadcasters and methods of finance is key. Creative talent is excited by the range and diversity of productions we have here and the opportunities they provide."What has changed, he believes, is that projects previously viewed as having no commercial value are now deemed useful for creating those unforeseen opportunities. He uses Lion's recent Cutting Edge documentary about a girl with behavioural difficulties as an example. "Take Bad Behaviour, creatively it was obviously worthwhile, but as a one-off it had less obvious business worth," Mills says. "Yet lots of directors knocked on our door as a result. And it's led to a three-part series."To date, growth of the business has been organic. Increasingly, however, Lion is attempting to create its own luck by developing strategies to capitalise more effectively on current productions and associated rights."The challenge now is to grow the business while staying small and retaining a distinctive sense of identity," Catliff says. "Achieving this will come down to investing in the right people. About two years ago, we focused on recruiting top talent at an executive producer level to broaden the structure of the business and make it less reliant on the three founders." Mills says the appointment last year of former BBC scheduler Adam MacDonald as head of development was also key.For the time being, retaining Lion's "smallness" is about effective internal communications and regular and open communication between its different directors as they work around the world. And as a result, the boundary between Lion's international and domestic work is blurring.Weekly development discussions between London and the US have created an invaluable free-flow of ideas for all markets, says Lion director of production Shahana Meer, who oversees all staff and productions. "It's only a matter of time before shows we have created for overseas broadcasters come back to the UK as bought formats," she adds.As with any rapidly expanding business, managing both day-to-day matters and a burgeoning international production slate remains a challenge. Lion's response has been for the company's four directors to retain overall control while establishing and overseeing a solid second tier of senior management.But, Bradley, Catliff and Mills still share an office in Lion's west London headquarters."It means we can be across anything and everything that's going on. Meanwhile, Shahana provides a counter balance with her strong business perspective," says Bradley. "You can't beat a shared office for sharing ideas."LION TVBased: HQ in London, plus offices in Glasgow, New York, Los Angeles and - if all goes to plan - from next year in ChinaDirectors: Richard Bradley, Nick Catliff, Shahana Meer, Jeremy Mills Staff: 250-300, including freelancers employed on current productionsTurnover:£11.8m (2002);£20.1m is projected for 20032002 pre-tax profits:£493,000.