International Breakers: ITV Studios’ Lisa Perrin Talks About the Explosion of Foreign Drama, Top Talent, and the Global Skills Crisis

Welcome to International Disruptors, a service where we focus on top executives and companies outside of the United States that are improving the offshore market. This week Lisa Perrin, MD, MD of ITV Studios International Production talks about some of the biggest topics of the moment. Lisa is responsible for numerous respected record labels outside the US and the UK who are willing to take advantage of her current penchant for foreign language drama. They met two years ago and are finally able to get out and back after a trip shortened by the pandemic.

So far, the year has been a non-English dramatic year and ITV Studios’ Lisa Perrin is perfectly ready to enjoy it.

Perin oversees ITV Studios’ global strategy and daily hosting of international record labels as managing director of UK international production in ITV’s production and sales division. . ენი Include Gomora The producer of Cattleya by Moritz Polter a night in heaven Indie Windlight Pictures and Danish Apple Tree Productions behind Netflix’s upcoming comedy-drama infantile fever And it was founded by the respected Piv Burnett.

Former Endemol Shine Group Creative Networks CEO and UKTV Commissioner Perrin couldn’t have done it at a more exciting and carefree time, and he watched with glee and admiration as programs in other languages ​​dominated the landscape.

At the events of the latest television series Mania and Mip TV, all the anticipation for the English drama continued, and last week LA Screenings dominated these programs with international flair, according to the latest insight from Deadline. “Who would have thought two years ago that the love of drama in a non-English language would disappear like this,” he told Deadline when we met in late May at ITV Studios’ offices in Soho House in the west. from London.

“You’re talking about networks like [France’s] TF1 or [Germany’s] RTL and they say that the non-English language request is done from the roof and happens in the areas where we have the tags. “

Perrin attributes this primarily to the COVID-19 pandemic, which he describes as a “tipping point” when viewers spent months at home realizing that “if the show is good, it doesn’t matter what language it is,” specifically. To the most important young generations. Dubbing and subtitling have improved, he adds, and streamers are realizing that “beautifully crafted shows” can be made outside of the United States, sometimes for a quarter the cost of a Hollywood blockbuster. .

Also, Perrin, an energetic but doesn’t take himself too seriously British television veteran, talks passionately about Netflix’s influence. squid game (“My 18-year-old son was obsessed.”) And also points to developments in Australia, where the hunt for talent has been created by around 20 local and global broadcasters vying for the green light for the best shows.

“Feeling isolated”

He is well involved with ITV Studios, but the first two years were simple.

He joined the then Endemol Shine Group (now Banijay) in May 2020, with an almost total closure in almost all areas, with television production almost completely suspended. “For a long time I felt very isolated,” he explains. “I couldn’t travel and I couldn’t meet anyone. I’ve had a new job for two years and I’m only meeting people for the first time. “

Once travel restrictions are lifted, Perrin makes up for lost time by embarking on trips to Italy, France and the Netherlands, stamping the company.

Covid may have delayed its first two years, but it commends some of the pandemic-inspired innovations and describes the “large-scale” collaboration between labels housed in production centers like ITV Studios.

When production resumed after the first lockdown, the producers returned to Cattleya gomorrah, One of the first shows to launch shared the technology with other ITV Studios labels. The same thing happened with British soap operas emerdale Y Way of the Coronation Its cameras are back in business, bringing innovations such as Perspex screens to the fore.

“COVID went from east to west and hit Italy first [in Europe]So the Italians developed this sophisticated protocol to keep Gomora “They would have shared what they shared,” Perrin said. “Communication and sharing have increased and the playing field has been leveled.”

Now these tags are sharing ideas more often than ever. In fact, Perrin has just returned from an internal “drama swap” meeting, a day of panels, sessions and networking events that bring the labels of ITV Studios together. “Script formats are moving like never before,” he added. “He sees [It’s a Sin exec and Quay Street Studios founder] Nicola Schindler, who talks to the guys at ITV Studios Finland about the procedural crime drama, shows how addicted we have become.

Perrin is likely to predict and indicate success of similar releases by sharing multiple script formats in this regard. ᲮიდიProduced by Apple Tree founder Piv Burnt in the early 2010s when he was working for the Danish public broadcaster DR.

Having worked on the creative side for three decades, Perrin’s current position is the most financially focused for him, and while he was initially sad that he had lost the creative side (“I miss him,” he says), he has begun to enjoy the. Trying to balance the talent of writers and producers with the need to make a profit. Dr. Julian Bellamy of ITV Studios has put together a five-year growth plan that includes revenue growth of 5% annually, and Perrin’s team is at the heart of that, “Big profits and losses are on my shoulders.”

Describing herself as a “brilliant plate turner with an amazing crew,” Perrin further describes the variation of her role, which sees her one day light the proverbial product fires and examine the extra side of ITV Studios. The following is a multi-year strategy. Creatively, she works closely with Mike Bill, an MD at ITV Studios Global Creative Network, who manages the IP-based creative “hidden gem hunt and cure”.

It is also important to maintain three or four positions in the areas where ITV Studios operates, although not so easy given the consolidation underway. Perrin says people like his former employer Banijai, who recently devoured Endemol Shine and now has an “incredible catalog that can be pulled out of the hat,” are struggling in many areas.

He wants to lift dramatic labels under his wing and talks passionately about projects like Cattleya’s. jango For Sky Italia and Canal + e fever of the child Netflix Romcom, due out next week about a fertility doctor who is drunk fertilizing with his ex-boyfriend’s sperm, causing havoc. It also pushes the self-proclaimed Scandi Noir fan Შ Avi water From the Swedish SVT and the German ARD Degeto, The series has already been previously sold on other Scandinavian broadcasters and TV2 Denmark. Mrs. America-I like Team girls.

“rare talent”

Ხმა Producer and distributor ITV Studios has a rich unscripted legacy, and Perrin is also looking to pave the way for the world’s next killer format in search of the best talent.

With that in mind, he beat several plaintiffs to secure the services of former Shine France founder Thierry Lachcar as the CEO of ITV Studios France late last year, and is now actively looking after them. voice of France And run Amazon’s next appointment format სიყვარული Osmotic love, With the streamer who wants to play in the dating space.

Perrin describes his efforts to secure Lachkar’s company as “an enduring love that lasted a long time” and praises him as “the rarest breed: the creative entrepreneur”.

Meanwhile, in Israel, Avi Armoza’s Armoza Formats just remodeled and became a production division of ITV Studios in the country, producing a new series. come to dinner with me For local publication Kan 11.

Armoza and Lachkar meet the talent brand Perrin wants to work with and says ITV Studios’ appetite hasn’t been dampened by talent deals, mergers and acquisitions, which recently took a majority stake in Apple Tree and was bound. Industry Director David P. Davis.

Perrin works closely with Bella to find “the great people and large companies that attract the group,” but stresses that it takes time and potential investment to achieve proper cultural adaptation. “You make a lot of money upfront when you buy a company and then you’re stuck in a relationship for five years, so if they’re not well it can be really annoying,” he adds.

But there is no doubt that the talent pool of high-quality European writers, directors and producers has expanded and Perrin is in a good position to fool the great French, Swedish or Italian authors who want to switch from film to television. they are finally recognized years later. Heavy transplant.

Much of the conversation about these deals lately has been based on talent preferring to connect with production centers over streamers with “golden handcuffs” arrangements, and Perrin can see the mood shift. “The people who made these deals have come out on the other side and don’t want to repeat them,” he said. “They recognize that you have more freedom when you are in the studio and can organize on any platform.”

Hard to answer, the denial of a $ 20 million deal for the likes of Phoebe Waller-Bridge is pending ahead of Amazon Prime Video. Lots of fleas Developer in 2019. “I’ll never judge the size of a talent check,” he says.

Perrin speaks for the best in business, but our conversation is set against the backdrop of a global skills deficit that has plagued manufacturing ecologies across the globe, from the UK to the US, continental Europe and Australia. . As the crisis deepens, more and more programs struggle to play crucial roles.

For Perrin, this is the biggest problem programmers face today; The “perfect storm” that “every company should think about”.

Following the delays caused by COVID, the shows returned to production at a rapid pace, with the talent of actors, directors and producers being stolen by streamers and often not enough people to compose a great script or entertainment product. . Increasingly, Perrin says, shows stall for lack of available talent, as inflation squeezes profit margins.

“There was a lot of content and sometimes people just weren’t there for the shows,” he continues. “How do we encourage people to come and stay in the industry?” These are huge questions that we think about and talk about almost every day. This is a topical issue for everyone ”.

In the long run, Perrin expects two factors to break the balance: the consolidation of the station, which will result in less exploitation, and the various training initiatives to be launched by ITV Studios, which will attract more qualified people.

It’s not even a quick fix and Perrin expects “crazy” years from now.

However, he faces a challenge, and due to the worst impact COVID has likely had in the past, this no-nonsense manager leads ITV Studios into one of the most exciting aspects of the evolving television landscape.