Going local
By : Anna Kocinska
Violetta Furmaniuk-Zaorska started her first job in 1991 as an independent TV producer of "Spacer w lesie" (A walk in the woods), which she prepared for Telewizja Polska (TVP), the country's only television broadcaster at the time.
"In 1991, TVP's doors opened to let in people like myself," she said. "I could have become an assistant to directors of movies produced in one of the state-owned studios (had the system not changed). Instead I do what I want and I have a sense of fulfillment in my job."
Furmaniuk-Zaorska is the owner of Vilm Production, a TV production company she founded in 1992. The "Polish Zoo," a satirical program made for TVP, was her first real success. "It ran for two years in prime time and served as a reference for my future assignments," she said. TVP has remained Vilm Production's best customer. "It's because TVP is a stable and reliable partner and unlike commercial broadcasters, it doesn't fight for viewers at all costs. It accepts much more ambitious projects."
One of Vilm Production's more recent projects for TVP, "W sieci"(Inside the Internet), featured the country's first virtual television program host. "And I wasn't going to present my two new program ideas to other stations either," Furmaniuk-Zaorska said. "I would never get such a wide range of viewers and so much trust at other stations."
Searching for a patron
Not only do TVP's two channels guarantee an audience for domestic TV producers, but they also provide plenty of work for them. In accordance with media law, 10% of TVP's yearly broadcasting time should be filled with programs made by outside producers. In 1999, 12% of TVP1's broadcasting time and 16% of TVP2's was allocated to outside productions, estimated TVP's Programming Coordination and Policy Office.
"It's TVP that has a real impact on the TV production market in Poland, since it's obliged by law to invest in local production," said Dariusz Jablonski, chairman of the Association of Independent TV and Film Producers and owner of Apple Film Production.
Today, TVP cooperates with 173 outside TV producers, allowing it to fill at least 60% of its broadcasting time with Polish-made programs. Thirty of these work with TVP on a regular basis. According to Pawel Sosnowski, head of TVP's press office, the company spent zl. 70 million ($17.9 million) on film production (including serials) in 1999. "'Outside producers' profit hit zl. 2.1 million ($538,000) last year," he said.
But Jablonski said that the existing 150-200 domestic TV and film production studios might not be able to survive competition against international TV corporations.
"Commercial stations have no legal obligation to invest in Polish production, so they get their programming the cheaper way and use programs made from the same mold as international TV concerns, but with Polish voice-overs," Jablonski said. "It's how the money continues to flow out of the Polish market. Without TVP, domestic TV producers would cease to exist."
TV broadcasters, however, took a different view of the market situation. According to Ryszard Sibilski, a member of private broadcaster tvn's board of directors, every station has the problem of matching its programming plans with an adequate production base. "It doesn't exist yet," he said. "Wielki brat," the Polish version of "Big Brother," a popular TV program that was first produced in Netherlands and is now run on Spanish and German TV stations, will not air in Poland until next January. Sibilski said the delay was caused by problems in finding enough professionals capable of producing the television program. "Such a base will start to appear when TV becomes the final goal of artists (film professionals), who now work only for TV temporarily and sometimes even despise their jobs there," he said.
Jablonski added that tvn's problems have nothing to do with the quality or lack of TV production companies in Poland. "Polish producers are up to top European standards, it's the TV stations that might not be professional," Jablonski said. "For many broadcasters, it's definitely easier to buy a ready-to-use product than to create something."
Viewership vs. the arts
Like many other commercial stations, tvn invests in the production of game shows, such as "Milionerzy" ("Who Wants To Be A Millionaire") or "Co bylo grane" hosted by local pop singer star Kayah. Most of such shows are based on foreign formats, and tvn bought its programs from Endemol, a Netherlands-based TV producer. Endemol, along with ITI capital group (which owns, among others, tvn and ITI Film Studio) established Endemol Neovision, a production company that has the right to produce all the programs for which it holds licences, including "Wielki brat."
Vilm's Furmaniuk-Zaorska isn't surprised by the flood of licensed TV programs. "It all started with "Wheel of Fortune" on TVP, which proved that programs already tested abroad provide a guarantee of profit," she said. "We have to wait until our market stabilizes, only then can we think about exporting our own ideas."
Meanwhile, the game show "Milionerzy" broke a viewership record on March 5 with 17.8%, according to AGB Polska, a market research agency. Also on that day, the 3-year-old station had a 35.1% market share, beating records set earlier by the public broadcaster while improving its ad revenue. Thirty-second ad spots are now priced at zl. 25,300 before and zl. 38,200 after "Milionerzy."
"It's our own programs that makes tvn's 15% market share possible," Sibilski said. "And I bet we will reach 17% by January 2000."
The domestic television market has changed considerably since the days when TVP monopolized viewers' time. Now, the public broadcaster has to fight with commercial broadcasters for its share of the viewership pie. And they've all promised to strengthen their offering of homespun programs. Viewers, after nearly a decade-long interest in anything foreign, are starting to expect more domestic-made programs. Broadcasters have responded rapidly to those expectations. On April 17, for instance, RTL7 introduced a new programming format focused on a Polish audience and based on local productions. The station plans to invest zl. 20 million ($4.54 million) in local production this year. HBO Polska plans to invest $10 million in Polish productions and has already been producing two programs, "Na stojaka" and "Gadaniec." Canal+Polska has spent zl. 60 million ($13.63 million) on Polish film productions since 1995. Last year, the company decided to include documentaries in its local production budget of $5 million. This year, the company will also spend $5 million on Polish productions.
"The market (for Polish productions) has grown to the point that sometimes we have problems with the casting," said Dariusz Pietrykowski, head of production at ITI Film Studio, producer of "Miasteczko," a tvn serial.
Crazy for Polish serials
But before broadcasters conducted surveys confirming that Polish audiences want Polish programs and then came up with their own production plans, it was once again TVP that led by example.
"It was from the moment TVP introduced 'Klan' to its programming that demand for Polish production really started," Pietrykowski said.
"Klan" a "telenovela" program that is aired three days a week on TVP1 and shot at more than a dozen locations costs about zl. 100,000 per half-hour episode, not a shocking price when compared with tvn's budgets, which run up to zl. 150,000 per episode. Nevertheless, "Klan" has been a spectacular success, breaking all viewership records. In April, nearly 8 million Poles watched "Klan," compared to the 7 million viewers who watched another TVP telenovela, "Zlotopolscy," according to AGB Polska. "The Bold and the Beautiful," a U.S.-made soap opera, the only foreign production that came close to "Klan," garnered 4.8 million viewers in April. In May, "Klan" grabbed a 25.2% viewership share while "The Bold and the Beautiful" nabbed just half of that figure, according to Osrodek Badania Opinii Publicznej (OBOP), a polling agency.
"After 'Klan' and 'Zlotopolscy,' Polish serials have become trendy," said Agata Jakobczak, a promotion and sponsoring consultant at ITI Film Studio. "It really is an obvious trend when people start talking about Polish serials at parties."
Serial mania is also reflected in advertising revenue. The best serials air from 4 p.m.-10 p.m., and with strong viewership ratings, this time slot attracts hungry advertisers. "If it's a good serial, one transmission can cover the costs of the episode's production," Pietrykowski said.
"Klan" easily pays for its production costs; a 30-second ad spot before the show airs may cost up to zl. 73,000 and afterward, up to zl. 52,000. By comparison, "The Bold and the Beautiful" attracts 30-second ad spots for zl. 30,000 before and zl. 22,000 after the program airs.
tvn's "Miasteczko," which has been on the air since March, also premiered in a grand style, attracting 3.5 million viewers in May, which translated into 30-second ad spots for zl. 25,600 before and zl. 31,700 after the show. Thus it broke records set by tvn's big gun, "Esmeralda," a Mexico-based series, which had an 8.6% viewership of 3 million people.
"Miasteczko" is produced by ITI Film Studio, which specializes in producing serials since it took up TV production in 1995. Earlier it dealt mostly with ad production. "We're planning another two series for 2001," Pietrykowski said.
One of the first stations to benefit from the trend was Polsat, the nation's largest private broadcaster. Its sitcom "Miodowe lata" ("The Honeymooners") is also high on the viewership list. In April, "Miodowe lata" had an 18% viewership share, coming very close to TVP's "Klan" and "Zlotopolscy." One-time popular Latin-American telenovelas pale beside Polsat's other series, "Rodzina zastepcza," "13 Posterunek" and "Graczykowie," which have a more than 14% viewership share.
The trend for domestic productions to take back the screens of TV viewers was so empowering that production companies, which earlier had specialized in film and documentaries or talk shows, couldn't resist responding to the challenge.
It was Studio A, a Warsaw-based production company that received several prizes for its feature films and documentaries, which produced "Miodowe lata" for Polsat.
"At the moment we're definitely more involved with private broadcasters," said Jan Dworak, director of Studio A. "Sometimes it's easier to convince them about our needs as producers." Studio A was established in 1994 by Dworak, Maciej Strzembosz and Alicja Resich-Modlinska, host of Poland's first TV talk show, "Wieczor z Alicja." One of Studio A's recent productions includes another talk show "Piekna i bestia," hosted by Resich-Modlinska, for private broadcaster RTL7. But, as Dworak admitted, the studio's greatest ambition is to produce more programs of real artistic value, which are at the same time more risky but also more satisfying if successful.
According to Furmaniuk-Zaorska, homegrown serials will not replace more ambitious productions. "The market is becoming Polsat-ized," she said. "Too many weak programs are coming into being as a result of the fight for a viewer."
Furmaniuk-Zaorska claimed she has already discovered how to get money for a more ambitious program, which doesn't necessarily guarantee immediate returns. "I base all my ideas on creative sponsoring," she said. Dream Factory, a Warsaw-based matchmaker for TV producers and companies wanting to promote their image via television, is the secret weapon of Furmaniuk-Zaorska. " 'W sieci' (aired by TVP) is sponsored by TP Internet, which pays more than 50% of the production costs," she said. TP Internet's logo appears before and after the program's transmission with the information that the company is an exclusive program sponsor. "Such sponsorship is only being born, but I think that it has already became a serious competitor to TV advertising."
