With the premise of How to Create an IP in a Changing World, a keynote was conducted with the presence of Manolo Cardona, actor, director, and executive producer of 11:11 Films & TV, and Jimena Rodríguez, head of LatAm at Wild Sheep Content, with Ríchard Izarra, Editor-in-Chief and founder of PRODU, in which they highlighted the importance of counting on preexisting IPs that have an emotional connection with the audience and can be transformed to take them to the next level.
“The current market situation is much more competitive; there is a lot of content for a more fragmented audience, where the importance and weight of an IP is that there is already a property that has an emotional connection with the audience and this same product can be transformed, to take something local to a global level” commented Rodriguez.
In this regard, Cardona agreed that there is a contraction in the market, reflected in content aimed at large IPs, so “it is currently more relevant to have an IP with large stories and talents for certain regions and audiences. According to statistics, 64% of the SVOD that is originally made in the US comes from well-known IPs, and only 44% is from original ideas; therefore, we must be relevant in this. We are the first story-building tool, the right arm of the platforms to create audiences, and we must be at the forefront of the market, looking for those IPs that are interesting for people”.
One of the key points of having proven IPs is data, which allows you to measure how many people viewed that content or read the book, and based on that, “you can see if it is a possible success because you have the numerical foundations that tell you more or less in which markets it can work. We are transforming a property because people want to take something they have an emotional connection with. So you transform it and create another content”.
However, and despite proven IPs can have greater possibilities of success, for both producers, being open to new stories is another one of their bets: “Not everything is a transformation of pre-existing ideas, but they do minimize risk”.
“At 11:11 Films & TV, we are open to original ideas and new talents, to these stories that connect and have transforming characters. Speaking of platforms and where we go out to sell, they do have to come with an interesting package of talent behind them. In our case, we conduct rooms with new people and others which are already established that allow us to have fresh dialogues and ideas that are transforming for the viewer”.
Finally, both Rodriguez and Cardona spoke about the challenges Latin America has in content topics: “One of them is the low level of reading that exists, which leads to a lack of knowledge about the properties that exist and the emotional connections that can be made, and on the other hand, it becomes an opportunity because there is a lot of room to grow as local producers, which is not the case in established markets”.
“A mistake we are making is to copy successful models because that can lead you to failure. It is necessary to become more creative in the financial business model we are bringing to the table” concluded Carmona.