History premieres mega-drama Roots in Asia in May, scheduling the epic four two-hour episodes across four nights from Tuesday, 31 May.
The Asia release follows a red carpet world premiere screening at Mip TV in Cannes on 4 April.
The eight-hour event series from A+E Studios for History tells the story of one family and their will to survive against harsh odds. Laurence Fishburne stars as author Alex Haley, whose book Roots: The Saga of an American Family about race and slavery was the source of this year’s mini series as well as the 1970s version that aired on ABC in the U.S. Forest Whitaker plays Fiddler and Anna Paquin stars as Nancy Holt.
The event series is part of A+E Networks’ bid to own its content future. “Roots is one of our biggest undertakings,” says Sean Cohan, A+E Networks’ president international and digital media.
“We launched Studios to better control our destiny – to produce and own our premium content,” Cohan says, adding that the mini series “embodies the type of ambitious storytelling that A+E Studios is bringing to the global marketplace”.
Owning its own IP is a big deal for A+E Networks, which has seen much of the halo effect of productions such as Vikings slip through its fingers.
Two years into his role as A+E Networks’ president, brand strategy, business development and A+E Studios, Bob DeBitetto, talks about the benefits of developing global stories that make the investment in premium drama worthwhile.
DeBitetto says A+E is “getting better at the big events and the big stories that have applications around the world”. Roots, he adds, was an “enormous undertaking”, involving 1,000 people on two continents and four months of photography.
A+E Studio’s reason for being also hinges on DeBitetto pulling it off. A+E’s plan to own rights outright will allow the company to sidestep traditional acquisition/licensing models for its channels, and avoid “not so great situations where we don’t own, distribute or have control over where the show ends up,” DeBitetto says. That includes no control over digital and SVOD, which are “very important today”.
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History premieres mega-drama Roots in Asia in May, scheduling the epic four two-hour episodes across four nights from Tuesday, 31 May.
The Asia release follows a red carpet world premiere screening at Mip TV in Cannes on 4 April.
The eight-hour event series from A+E Studios for History tells the story of one family and their will to survive against harsh odds. Laurence Fishburne stars as author Alex Haley, whose book Roots: The Saga of an American Family about race and slavery was the source of this year’s mini series as well as the 1970s version that aired on ABC in the U.S. Forest Whitaker plays Fiddler and Anna Paquin stars as Nancy Holt.
The event series is part of A+E Networks’ bid to own its content future. “Roots is one of our biggest undertakings,” says Sean Cohan, A+E Networks’ president international and digital media.
“We launched Studios to better control our destiny – to produce and own our premium content,” Cohan says, adding that the mini series “embodies the type of ambitious storytelling that A+E Studios is bringing to the global marketplace”.
Owning its own IP is a big deal for A+E Networks, which has seen much of the halo effect of productions such as Vikings slip through its fingers.
Two years into his role as A+E Networks’ president, brand strategy, business development and A+E Studios, Bob DeBitetto, talks about the benefits of developing global stories that make the investment in premium drama worthwhile.
DeBitetto says A+E is “getting better at the big events and the big stories that have applications around the world”. Roots, he adds, was an “enormous undertaking”, involving 1,000 people on two continents and four months of photography.
A+E Studio’s reason for being also hinges on DeBitetto pulling it off. A+E’s plan to own rights outright will allow the company to sidestep traditional acquisition/licensing models for its channels, and avoid “not so great situations where we don’t own, distribute or have control over where the show ends up,” DeBitetto says. That includes no control over digital and SVOD, which are “very important today”.
If Roots’ appeal seems highest in the U.S. and Africa, DeBitetto says the theme – race relations – is timely globally.
“We asked ourselves whether this story has global relevance. All our research is that while Roots certainly is an African and American story, the themes it addresses are global – the themes of identity, who am I?, where do I come from? and does that matter?... it says something profound about family and survival – instincts that people can relate to and be moved by regardless of where they are from,” DeBitetto says.
“There are dynamics playing out all over the world every day. We felt confident that if there was ever a time to undertake this, it’s now,” he adds.
Roots, he says, “is not just a remake” of the original, which premiered on ABC in the U.S. almost 40 years ago and was seen live by 60% of the American population. The new Roots has been “reimagined for a new generation in a new world”, DeBitetto says.
Original source material was mined for the mini-series’ four parts, each of which is presented as a two-hour feature film with a narrative connection but a different director and “its own personality... Each night is a satisfying experience in and of itself”.
DeBitetto says the decision to schedule the series for four nights running was on some level shaped by binge-viewing trends. But more so by creating a groundswell for a “rare, must-see event”.
Edited from ContentAsia’s print/online issue, distributed at Mip Doc (2-3 April), Mip TV (4-7 April), APOS (26-28 April) & Busan Contents Market (11-13 May)
Published on 21 March 2016