Colombia. On November 16 and 17, the 2016 - Everything to WATCH Content Fair was held, organized by the National Television Authority, ANTV. There a group of international experts from the audiovisual sector met with national producers and filmmakers, who through several conferences, a content laboratory and a business roundtable deepened spaces of creativity and offering knowledge to all stakeholders in the audiovisual production sector.
We worked throughout the day under the following objectives:
• Provide a look at the highlights in quality television and public television in the world. Its function is to open the creative spectrum of the sector and demonstrate successful international trends for the production and promotion of quality content.
• Demonstrate the potential to establish ties with the world, from knowledge, audiences and strategies, for the exchange and-or co-production of experiences in the realization of quality content.
• Expose new and successful ways to produce high quality content with austere budgets, to promote (advertise) through new technologies and new forms of programming in search of loyalty and capture of new audiences.
• Carry out a laboratory – pitches to co-producers and international project financiers (applies exclusively to projects produced or selected by public channels – previously determined).
• Carry out a business round of finished productions selected for their potential and international quality (applies exclusively to projects produced or selected by public channels – previously determined).
Gabriel Levy, who was in charge of this initiative by the ANTV, commented:
Luis Pinto: Why develop this Content Fair?
Gabriel Levy: The ANTV is clear that many things have changed in the sector due to issues of convergence, transmedia narratives, new platforms, new media, there is something that continues to be the most important active value constant of the audiovisual industry chain and that is content, content is the KING and make content regardless of whether you show it on Youtube or Netflix, or for a free-to-air or closed TV channel, where you do, people see it's the content, people aren't going to see a platform because of the platform itself, they see it because of the content.
In these measures what we want to promote is that Colombia is a leading country as an industry without chimneys, orange industry, service industry in the production, creation, design, co-production of audiovisual content, that is why we hold this fair and bring international experts to tell experiences and tell us about their learning curves, the models they have developed and in that way we can replicate those experiences, promote alliances, networks, exchanges and collaborative work to make productions, that is basically what is sought.
L.P.: Would the ANTV be supporting some of the projects presented here with economic resources?
G.L.: There was a selection and some pitches. Obviously the idea of bringing international experts is to help them improve the quality of their proposals and their projects to qualify them, many of these proposals will be presented to the channels with money that can come from the Fund for the Development of Public TV or it is even possible that later they will be presented to one of the direct calls of the ANTV.
What interests us is to guarantee diversity, plurality, quality of access and transparency in the processes and calls, but also to accompany all producers, independent filmmakers in the most plural way possible in the qualification of their proposals, what we want is to qualify the industry, to improve in its processes, to be technified, are standardized based on international models and standards so that we are highly competitive, we do not want an industry that is so dependent on the State, nor do we want to leave the market alone, we want a balance between the two things, that is, to qualify so that the resources that are given of public money are invested in the most efficient way possible, but at the same time that the market tends to balance itself and be able to produce itself.
L.P.: What were the figures for the event?
G.L.: This event was attended by approximately 220 people, it was a very objective audience, very focused, people who belong to the value chain of the audiovisual industry.
L.P.: What can we expect next year?
G.L.: For next year the ANTV plans to work very the transmedia issue, start stimulating new formats, new audiovisual screens and at the same time finish the development of DTT, which is also an engine for the implementation of all these contents, we will open a direct call for content of 1,700 million pesos, plus the almost 50 million dollars that the Fund gives through regional channels, that is, we are going to inject a lot of resources with a much closer accompaniment to each of these contents, to regional channels and to public television.
Text written by Luis Pinto, advisor of the magazine TVyVideo+Radio.
