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Peace Point Entertainment arrives in NATPE Budapest with an asorted content catalog full of premieres, as it also seeks to develop its new division, Peace Point Rights, recently launched at the last MIPTV.
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Les Tomlin, president and CEO of Peace Point Entertainment.
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Created in 2001, Canadian production company Peace Point Entertainment is growing fast. To this day, it has produced over 400 hours of content for the main programmers in North America, including CTV, Canwest Global, Rogers Media, Discovery Communications and Viacom, and its content can be seen in over 50 countries across the globe through TV networks and new platforms.
In fact, its products had a great performance at GoDigital in the US, securing deals with VuDu and RoxioNow. The company is also in negotiations with digital platforms such as iTunes and NetFlix.
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The Canadian company recently launched its new distribution division, Peace Point Rights, at MIPTV, and is now seeking to continue its success at NATPE Budapest.
"Business has been great since our successful launch at MIPTV. We have already closed four deals with international channels and have several more in negotiation. We are ramping up according to our expectations and look forward to our first attendance at NATPE Budapest," Les Tomlin, president and CEO of Peace Point Entertainment, told ttv.
According to Tomlin, one of the great advantages of the major benefits of having its own Rights division is the increased financing flexibility the company now has: "International pre-sales on new series that originate out of Canada make them easier to sell domestically. For example, we are producing a half hour Canada/UK co-production pilot for one of our Canadian channel partners. As our budgets for factual/lifestyle continues to grow, having multiple funding sources is going to be a key element in our continued production expansion and distribution success," he said.
In addition, the company is arriving at Budapest with new titles, most of which have already been successful in other territories: "Bake with Anna Olson, which was commissioned by Food Network Canada with an initial order of 40 half-hour episodes, is our top international seller. We had great success with chef Olson's previous series, Fresh with Anna Olson and we're continuing to build her brand worldwide," he said, while also highlighting other series with sales pending, such as BUMP!, Tanlines and Food Jammers.
The company thus continues to distribute Canadian content worldwide, which Tomlin described as "world-class" content: "The quality of the content coming out of Canada in linear television competes with any other country. Some very successful Canadian originating dramas (Flashpoint, for example) solidified our county's world-class reputation a few years ago. And, I think that the digital content (apps and online content) coming out of this country right now is some of the most advanced in the world," he said; and added: "There are several industry subsidies like the BELLFUND and Canadian Media Fund's Experimental Stream that are really driving digital content innovation here in Canada."
"The Canadian tax credit structure is fantastic, though a bit complex at times. However, once you have experience navigating it, it provides a significant portion of a series financial structure," he concluded.
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