30506A Local and Global

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305-06A Local and Global

• Week 6 The Format Trade and Runaway Productions

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new ways of

• producing and distributing global cultural
  products - Formats
• producing cultural products in sites of
  economic advantage - Runaway productions

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I. The Format Trade

• What is a format? The term originates from the
  printing industry (refers to page size) now
  applied to the radio (eg talk radio or classic
  hits formats), and television industries. In
  television, it refers to the particular genre and
  organisation of a television programme. Formats
  are imitated and traded internationally.
  (Horrocks,2004)
• Examples of television formats Pop Idol, DIY
  Rescue, Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, 60
  Minutes, Dancing With the Stars, Wife Swap

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The television format is a complex entity
(Moran, 2004) Purchase of the necessary licence
fee provides

• The programme idea and primary ingredients
• The format bible. Detailed information on
  format content, studio plans, scheduling, target
  audience etc
• Scripts from earlier productions
• Consultants or programme advisors

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Why not just import a finished programme?

• Imported programmes are generally cheaper than
  making local programmes
• Nevertheless
• as far as local populations are concerned,
  locally produced programmes, whether based on
  formats or not, are likely to attract larger
  audiences than imported programmes.
• (Moran, 2004)
• OHT Top New Zealand programmes 2005

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• local broadcasters will prefer a formal adapted
  programme over an original concept. An original
  concept is exactly that untried, untested and
  therefore offering a broadcaster little in the
  way of insurance against possible ratings
  failure. By contrast, formats are almost
  invariably based on programmes that were
  successful in other national territories and are
  therefore likely to repeat this success in the
  new territory. (Moran, 2004)

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In defence of formats

• Imitation is the sincerest form of television.
• Fred Allen, American comedian

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Television flows

• Over the past 50 years, television flows around
  the world have been measured by the volume sales
  of programmes. World trade in television
  programming (as with film), has long been
  dominated by US producers (and, to a lesser
  extent, UK producers), due to
• The early development of TV in the USA, and
  programme stockpiling
• Size of the domestic market (networks,
  syndication etc)
• Collusion in price-fixing and overseas sales
  coordination
• The international popularity of US genres
• Absence of trade/cultural/language barriers
• OHT Listener schedule

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Television flows (cont)

• US domination of world TV markets generated
  important critical responses through 1960s-1990s
  eg
• Development of trade barriers (France) or local
  content quotas (Australia)
• Academic critiques eg Varis (1984) The
  International Flow of Television Programmes
  Schiller (1969), Mass Communications and American
  Empire Tunstall (1977), The Media Are American

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Television flows (cont)

• Such government interventions and critiques were
  shaped by assumptions of cultural imperialism and
  its variation, media imperialism--characterised
  by claims of cultural homogenity, American
  hegemony threats to local cultures and identity

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Television flows (cont)

• More recently, cruder models of all-powerful
  American television vs passive, subjugated global
  audiences have been challenged by
• Development of counter-flows, or
  multi-directional flows in TV programming (eg
  Mexico Brazil to Latin America Hong Kong
  India to Asia), or production autonomy (eg China)
• Audience studies (eg Ang, 1985 Liebes Katz,
  1993), which point to active local resistance or
  specific cultural reception of US programming
• The persistent domination of local programming,
  in viewer choices
• Media diversification and channel proliferation
• Intensification of the processes of globalisation
  and global culture

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Tunstall (2001), Media Built Nations The Media
Were American

• Increasingly, we may be seeing a world map
  which--from a media export/import stance--has
  four categories of countries
• 1. The USA still a big net exporter but
  increasingly having to share its leadership.
• 2. Europe, especially a wider Europe
  increasingly the worlds co-leader with the USA

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Tunstall (2)

• 3. The population Big Ten, including more than
  half the worlds population and broadly
  self-sufficient im media (includes China, India,
  Pakistan, Indonesia, Nigeria)
• 4. The remaining 200 hundred countries--mostly
  with populations between one million and 30
  million. includes NZ. Continue to be net media
  importers, often importing mainly from one
  regional big brother NZAustralia, and from
  the USA and Europe
• cf. Tunstall (1977), The Media Are American

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Television flows in 20061

• Academic attention has shifted away from simple
  flow models, to more complex relationships eg
  Sinclair, Jacka Cunningham (1996) point out
  that the influence of the USA in world TV is more
  closely connected to the global spread of the
  commercial model of TV, rather than the supposed
  ideological influence of American programmes. Ang
  (1996) notes that US commercial television has
  been the prime source of TV genres and scheduling
  practices.

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Television flows in 20062

• Attention has also shifted away from the trade in
  programmes, to the trade in formats. The USA
  still accounts for the bulk of TV fiction exports
  (up to 75 of this trade in 2001) but strong
  competition is developing in other formats eg
  games shows and variations of reality TV--and
  from other sources!

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Companies specialising in formats include

• Endemol (The Netherlands) Big Brother and Endomol
  UK Ready, Steady, Cook/Changing Rooms/Ground
  Force
• Freemantle Media (BMG, Germany) The Price Is
  Right/Family Feud, Pop Idol/American Idol (also
  Neighbours)
• BBC Worldwide The Weakest Link, Dancing With the
  Stars OHT Why the future is bright Which
  millionaire..?
• Target/Screentime (UK/Aust) Popstars originated
  in NZ!
• Touchdown Television (NZ) The Chair/City
  Celebrity,CountryNobody www.touchdowntv.com/

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From The Global Trade in Television Formats
(Screen Digest Format Recognition and
Protection Association, April 2005)

• The global format trade was worth 2.4bn euros in
  2004
• The number of format hours broadcast has
  increased by 22 since 2002
• The USA is the single most important format
  market in terms of production value, followed by
  Germany and France
• The UK is the biggest exporter of formats 32 of
  all format hours broadcast originate in the UK
• Endemol dominates the format business. It is the
  largest originator, distributor and production of
  formats in the world
• Game shows represent 50 of global formats
• Reality is the single most important genre in
  terms of production value
• www.screendigest.com/publications/reports/tv.and_b
  roadband/the_global_trade_in_television_formats/re
  admore/view

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II. Runaway Productions

• A runaway production is a term used in the
  American film industry. Australians, New
  Zealanders and Canadians prefer the terms
  offshore or foreign production Runaway film
  productions have a long history Mexico, Italy
  but have intensified as American film companies
  seek the cheaper location and production
  advantages of a globalised economy

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The Directors Guild of America (DGA) defines two
types of runaway

• creative runaways, which depart from the USA
  because their story/plot take place in a setting
  that cannot be duplicated in the USA, or for
  other creative considerations
• economic runways which leave the USA for lower
  production costs (location costs labour costs
  tax or exchange advantages)

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economic losses ..

• The Screen Actors Guild and the Directors Guild
  of America issued a report showing that the
  total economic impact as a result of US economic
  runaway film and TV production was US10.3bn in
  1998, up more than fivefold since the beginning
  of the decade.
• Runaway production is probably the most
  important issue facing the state of California
  today Ben Affleck, CBC Arts 28/7/04

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economic gains

• Cheaper production costs for US film companies
• Between union rates, production expenses and
  star salaries, the cost of making a big-budget
  film in California has doubled every four years
  or so since the mid1980s Runaway strain in
  Hollywood National Post 21/9/02
• Employment opportunities continuity for local
  film workers (actors, producers, crew)
  infrastructure flow-ons (eg accommodation,
  catering

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cultural benefits

• international attention and publicity
• tourism (cultural tourism site tours)
• associated cultural production (eg publishing)
• impact on government policy (emphasis on
  creative industries in New Zealand the LOTR
  effect)
• national pride/ feel-good social climate

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Runaway productions are greatly assisted by .

• desirable locations (diversity of geography,
  ease of access, infrastructural supports)
• favourable economic regimes (tax breaks,
  exchange rates)
• favourable labour conditions (skilled labour,
  low pay rates)
• stable political conditions
• reliable climate
• See FilmFactory New Zealand www.filmfactory.co.n
  z

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• Waitakere tele-movie airs on CBS
• Redhead The Lucille Ball Story, filmed at the
  Henderson Valley Studios in Waitakere, was aired
  in the United States on CBS on May 16. Of the 60
  cast actors, 57 were New Zealanders. Over 90 of
  the 250 crew were also New Zealanders.
• Enterprise Waitakere 23 May 2003

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Paul Carran, FilmFactory NZ

• We can fake America better than anyone else. We
  faked 50 years of American history for Redhead
  in Auckland--which included Los Angeles and New
  York
• (interview with GL, 29/5/03)

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Kevin Sorbo as Hercules

• What a funny old world. Heres a Norwegian,
  playing a mythical Greek hero in an American
  production, made in New Zealand
• (Herrick, 1996)

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The strange paradoxes of a globalised economy

• Hollywood is under siege and we have to come to
  their rescue (Gray Davis, former Governor of
  California
• America is under attack. Not from Osama bin Laden
  but from our peaceful neighbours to the north
  (Joel Joseph, Made in USA Foundation)
• For most non-Americans, the idea of Hollywood
  suffering from globalization may rightly sound
  insane. Many countries, Canada especially, are
  worried their domestic film industry and culture
  will soon be swallowed whole by the crude
  California juggernaut. National Post 21/9/02

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Fragile local economy Canada?

• Canada is getting very very nervous. If youre
  following the currency rates, youre seeing that
  Canadas currency advantage is fading very
  rapidly and theyre also getting a little touchy
  about all the claims about runaway productions in
  Canada. (George McQuade, Runaway film production
  is changing at the Canadian border,
  www.enewsbuilder.net, 1/11/04)
• .Through the 1990s, Canada was Hollywoods
  location of choice..shooting there can reduce a
  films budget by up to 25...Canada faces
  increased competition from countries offering
  even cheaper workers and facilities, like China
  and Brazil Christina Klein, YaleGlobal 30/4/04

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Fragile local economy NZ?

• Michael Cullen, Minister of Finance, on the
  estimated NZ30-36 million of tax incentives
  provided to The Fellowship of the Rings and the
  other two films in the LOTR trilogy,
• Everyone in New Zealand should get twelve free
  tickets to the film. They paid for it, after
  all. (Maharey, 2002)

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The NZ film economy

• They financially supported usEach citizen of New
  Zealand paid a tax, without which the movies
  would not have been made.. Tax credits, but also
  literally for the week-long party and the
  refurbishing of the major theatre in Wellington,
  that was paid for by Wellingtonians ans New
  Zealanders as a whole.. Theres a real nobility
  of it. Viggo Mortensen www.viggophile.net/ff15dec
  2003.html. Accessed 9/12/05
• OHT Taxpayer wrung out by Lord of the Rings,
  NBR 24/3/06

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Questions

• Would LOTR have been made somewhere else if there
  had not been NZ tax breaks?
• What short-term and/or long-term effects for the
  NZ film industry (and NZ generally) have followed
  in wake of LOTR?
• How has been the impact of LOTR on the global
  film industry?
• Why do people refer to the LOTR trilogy as New
  Zealand films?