APRIL 2019: The Asian conversation at this year’s Mip TV programming market in Cannes earlier in April was dominated by China, Korea and Japan, mostly pitching homegrown formats to global buyers, but also talking about co-development, co-production and co-operation, and putting their best dating faces on to attract partners.

Essentially, rights holders and creators in Asia are obsessed with hitting the big time in the U.S. And western companies – and especially newbies – still love the sound of Asia and its 2.something billion people, mostly until they get stuck in and realise how complicated their lives have just become. Meanwhile, governments/official bodies continue to pile in with a lot of talking in circles and a little commercial success.

The big questions are: How two-way is this street? And what, seriously, is the reality in and about Asia beyond bright and shiny country showcases pitching everything from gyrating silliness and crazy contests to high-end scripted drama by way of worthy social reality and singing competitions?

The answer: It all depends really. None of it is simple, and all of it requires someone getting their hands dirty, navigate vastly different operating environments, production processes and expectations. But who will do that? And for how much money? And therein lies a lot of the problem.

That said, the international outreach from Asia to the world is working – somewhat. The success of Korea’s The King of Masked Singer’s in the U.S. gives the property from Korean free-TV broadcaster MBC special status among Asian formats and keeps hopes alive that if there’s one breakout hit, there will be another.

Japan’s scripted drama, Mother, has steadily gained ground on the back of Turkish success; the latest deal for a French adaptation of the Nippon TV drama follows a Korean version widely aired across Asia.

A local version of Tokyo Broadcasting System’s Takeshi’s Castle premiered early this year in Saudi Arabia as part of a deal with the General Sports Authority (GSA).

China’s Hunan TV has its eyes turned heavenwards and hoping fervently for good news after U.S. shop, Vainglorious Productions (Southern Charm), optioned its pop-opera singing format Super-Vocal. There's other activity coming up at Hunan TV that will be worth watching.

Hunan TV president, Cheng Ding, was very clear, when he spoke in Cannes during the Super-Vocal showcase. “We want to lead, not to follow,” he said, adding that original content was a crucial part of the broadcaster’s commitment. “We need to come out of China and forge more international co-operations,” he added.

Hunan TV was among at least 19 formats creators/rights holders that participated in showcases from China, Japan and Korea during the TV market, presenting a wide range of genres, from the lunatic (Endless Pranks from Japan’s Fuji TV) and the cognitively challenged (Korean public broadcaster KBS’ Oops! We forgot Your Order, set in a restaurant staffed by people with dementia) to drama format, Sky Castle (presented by Korean cable broadcaster/producer, JTBC), about parents who will do almost anything to get their children into top schools.

In the current mix too is a dose of cultural correctness in The New Arrival of the Palace Museum from Beijing Satellite TV, a format that promises to bring “cultural relics back to life” and be the “key to opening the door of time”. Oh, and let’s not forget the format's hard-nosed e-commerce angle in online sales of replica relics that are part of each episode. Apparently, the Changxin Royal Pajama set earned more than RMB10 million/US$1.5 million in online sales. Any takers for that format so far? Not that we know of, but we’ll let you know as soon as we hear anything.

Meanwhile, we asked production veterans what they thought the secret sauce to new cross-border co-production/development challenges might be. The simple and unanimous answer is that there isn’t one.

Published in April 2019 in ContentAsia print+online magazine for APOS 2019