CANNES, France — “The future began 100 years ago,” proclaimed a three-minute clip shown at a Globo Showcase Cocktail on Sunday evening at Mipcom, chronicling the Brazilian communications giant’s evolution from newspaper, launched in 1925, to radio and Rede Globo TV network.
The welter of Globo international partnerships and deals confirmed on stage on Sunday at Cannes Carlton Hotel by Angela Colla, Globo Head of International Business and Co-productions, did much to suggest that for Globo the future is beginning again.
A country the size of a continent, Brazil’s battle this century has been to reach out to the rest of the world and Globo’s challenge to consolidate the broadening of its portfolio from telenovelas – while ensuring that they continue to travel – to other forms of entertainment and business models, joining the global mainstream.
One way to achieve that is format deals. “This year was key in marking our consolidation in the format sales business,” Colla said in Cannes.
The Others
Credit: Paulo Belote
In one unannounced pact, Globoplay has pacted with Anonymous Content for a U.S. version of “The Others,” Colla announced. Created by Lucas Paraizo (“Under Pressure”) and charting the current build of intolerance, he has told Variety, “The Others” is set in a gated community in Rio’s suburbs where a scuffle between two teens escalates into a bloody confrontation between their parents. The format has already sold to Germany (ndF) and Greece (produced by Primavisione, broadcast by Alpha).
In further deals unveiled by Colla, partnering with Turkey’s Ay Yapim, Globo has seen revenge saga “Leyla,” the Turkish adaptation of telenovela phenomenon “Brazil Avenue,” go global, selling to date to more than 20 countries.
Globo has sold the format for “All the Flowers,” about a visually impaired perfumer’s battle for freedom and love, to Greece’s Primavisione and Alpha. It has also clinched a format deal with Portugal’s SIC broadcast network on “Pages of Life,” a 2006 modern classic telenovela from Manoel Carlos.
All the Flowers
Courtesy of Globo
Globo’s Ron Leshem, Fox, BBC Studios Co-Productions
Another way to join the global conversation: international co-production with key “A” List creatives and companies. Announced just before the Showcase, via his prodco label Crossing Oceans, Ron Leshem, creator of the original “Euphoria,” will be joining forces with Koby Gal Raday and Ilda Santiago’s Janeiro Studios and Globoplay, the leading Brazilian streaming platform, to produce “Paranoia.”
To be co-developed by Leshem and Claudia Jouvin, who broke out this summer as head writer of Globoplay smash hit “Perfect Days,” “Paranoia” was described to Variety by its producers as “‘Black Swan’ and ‘Whiplash’ mixed with the feel-good vibes and payoffs of the ‘Queen’s Gambit’ and the generation-defining impact of ‘Euphoria.’”
Unveiled on Saturday, Globo and Fox Entertainment Studios – the world’s leading producer of Christmas movies – announced they were partnering to develop and produce an original English-language Christmas movie set and filmed in Brazil. Aiming to ensure cultural authenticity, Globo will provide creative guidance to accurately reflect Brazilian culture and traditions, including the country’s unique celebration of Christmas, which takes place during Brazil’s summer.
Late last week, BBC Studios and Brazilian Globo signed a landmark first co-production deal for a doc series that will “transport audiences to the heart” of Brazil’s sprawling Amazon rainforest.” The series, whose details are still being kept under wraps, will be produced by BBC Studios Specialist Factual Productions and Globo, with a story that innately comes from Brazil,” Janet Brown, president of Global Content Sales at BBC Studios, told Variety.
Alex Medeiros, Globoplay Director of Drama, Documentaries and Films drilled down at the Showcase on other co-production arrangements: with Telemundo Studios, a first title to be announced shortly; with Beta Film, announced last year at Mipcom; with Fremantle on the series “Crime Inc,” and with Gaumont USA on “Deluxe,” about the rise and fall of Brazil’s high-fashion icon Eliana Tranchesi, which goes into production this week.
Anything Goes
New Globo Shows Catch Fire
In straight sales, Globo has licensed to top Argentine network Telefe both “All the Flowers” and “Xuxa, the Documentary,” on Brazil’s biggest pop star.
Its trailer shown at the Showcase, Globoplay’s latest release, series “Perfect Days” – a stylish but rapidly unsettling abduction thriller chosen by Variety among its Must-See TV titles for Mipcom – has become the most-watched original series on Globoplay of any nationality since its premiere in the Summer, Colla announced, calling the Anonymous Content Brazil production “a thrilling series which still has an impact on me” and which “shows a different side of our audiovisual work.”
A second Mipcom title, “Anything Goes,” a plush, fast-paced remake of one of Brazil’s biggest telenovela 1980s hits, hit a 56% audience share at the moment of the murder of the arch villainess, while the production is Globo’s top-grossing primetime telenovela in Brazil, with 16 brands, including BYD, Corona, Uber, Amazon, Paramount, and L’Oréal, participating in 76 branded content actions.
“We are storytellers, and our greatest triumph is our commitment to quality and to representing the best of our people — happiness, hard work, creativity, strength, and optimism, among other core values,” Colla said at the Mipcom Showcase.
“We always tell stories in a responsible way, stories that move and connect with all kinds of audiences,” she added. “And diversity is not only within the content or genres, such as telenovelas, series, or documentaries, but also in the business models, including finished content, scripted formats, unscripted formats, and co-productions.”
More to come.
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