By Laura Madden, Contributing Reporter
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Rio Content Market, the largest event for TV, web and mobile production in Latin America will bring together 1,500 players from the entertainment business in Rio to discuss the market starting Wednesday, February 29th. Professionals from 23 countries, including the U.S., the UK and Canada are coming to the event with Jack Bender, executive producer and director of the global hit series “Lost” and “The Sopranos” to give the keynote speech.
The first edition of the Rio Content Market was in 2011, and was organized by the Brazilian Association of Independent TV Producers (ABPI-TV). The intention was to bring producers and buyers together, and after a successful debut, the event is back in 2012.
Panels and case studies are planned to foster the exchange of information and ideas about the latest audiovisual production technologies and trends. Executives from Ryan Seacrest Productions and Microsoft Bing will do a case study analyzing branded entertainment.
Twitter’s director of business development, Glenn Brown will talk about whether Twitter and social media is an effective promotion tool for TV.
Canal Futura’s manager of programming, journalism and engineering, João Alegria, will be mediating a panel on television, education and the advancement of new technology. “Events like Rio Content Market are evidence that the audiovisual market in Brazil has become very developed in recent years,” says Alegria.
“There was a swift process of professionalization of the sector, with every effort to regulate it and the different ways of promoting and encouraging domestic production already defined. The trend in Brazil is growing and expanding to other countries,” he explains.
Other workshops at the event include The Transmedia Lab and business rounds – sort of like speed-dating, but twenty minutes in duration instead of two – will put independent producers face-to-face with network executives and commissioning editors.
“The business rounds have everything to do with Futura which historically is a network where the majority of the content is provided by independent producers,” explains Alegria.
“However,” he says, “the Futura team will also have a strong presence at the Transmedia Lab, where providers will have the chance to get feedback on projects which they present to Brazilian and international buyers. Our team is directly involved with exploring new ways of distributing content, such as apps, web platforms and other similar packages.”
Jan Roldanus, of GreenGo Films, a Rio production company tells The Rio Times: “The Rio Content Market is very important to the independent production sector here in Rio. It provides exposure for local independent production companies to professionals from countries with properly evolved independent sectors.”
“This market (independent TV production) in Brazil is still very young and [The Rio Film Market] shows producers here what possible models and futures exist for them should Brazil develop a healthy domestic TV market.” Roldanus explains, “It also provides foreign companies who are desperate to get a foothold in the Brazilian market and opening and the opportunity to understand how the market here is evolving.”
The President of Brazil’s National Cinema Agency (Ancine), Manoel Rangel, will break down the primary changes brought about by the recent approval of Brazilian law 12.485.
Implementation of the new law establishes quotas for Brazilian programming on paid channels. The law also includes quotas for Brazilian channels and networks to be included in cable and satellite packages, which will increase the demand for programming on subscriber-based operators like cable and satellite TV.
The Rio Content Market is an event produced by the Brazilian Association of Independent TV Producers (ABPI-TV). Representing providers in many political discussions at the state and federal levels, more than 150 member companies make up ABPI-TV today, working in various genres like animation, documentary and fiction/narrative.