Wayne Garvey, president of international production for Sony Pictures Television, said the scripted television landscape in the post-peak television era is like “Back to the Future” — especially with its successes on Netflix. the crown And Sex education It’s almost over.
During a keynote interview here at Series Mania in Lille, France, Garvey acknowledged that global drama production levels have declined, and that working with traditional networks and streaming companies on projects of all types will be crucial moving forward.
“The TV production environment is a very fragile thing,” he added. “The future will be more about collaboration,” he said, but he refuted the idea that the market was depressed. “Everyone knows that not as much drama is being commissioned as it used to be, but more drama is being commissioned now than ever before in human history.”
SPT itself is gearing up for a slate that will no longer contain new seasons of Netflix movies the crown And Sex educationand is preparing to launch a new list of dramas, such as the crime series shown by the BBC Girls drugsfrom Doctor Who Associate producer Bad Wolf, W Dear EnglandFrom pictures of the left bank.
As the economy changes, SPT will begin to expand in Europe, especially in Spain where it has an office, Garvey said. He also pointed to Germany, Italy and France as areas of interest, saying: “We’ve had some near misses in Europe and we’re willing to experiment.”
To date, SPT’s international written efforts have focused on the UK, where it has companies such as the crown Left bank photo maker and Sex education Producer Eleven Film, along with Australia where it owns The narrow road to the far north Producer of Correo, Latin America, where the likes are made La Reina del Flo And Rio connection.
“We’re at a really interesting stage with our brands, especially in the UK, because we’ve reached the end the crown, Sex education “And other shows that were true era-defining shows,” Garvey said. “We’ve built ourselves into a major British studio primarily through those shows, so when you get to the end of it, you have to think about what the next turn of the screw is going to look like. This comes at a time when there is change in the buying market.”
Garvey explained how international streaming services were demanding more shows similar to those of traditional television networks, and challenged broadcasters to turn the tables.
“We went through a period a few years ago, when you had an esoteric idea, you would take it to a streaming service and the broadcaster would take a more traditional idea,” he said. “Now we find that streamers are actually commissioning a lot of things that in the past used to be streamed for free.
“It’s time for traditional buyers to think a little differently about the mix and think more about what’s esoteric and different. That’s what’s going to get you noticed in a crowded landscape.”
Garvey added that SPT’s independence – which is the only one of the US studios not aligned to an owned-and-operated platform – meant it was well placed to work with all types of buyers, and that undertaking a wide range of work was crucial to its strategy.
“We need the stuff that the BBC bought as much as we need the stuff that Netflix bought,” he said. “As an international studio, we have to understand how to support traditional broadcasters.”