September 16 – 19, 2019 Hyatt Regency Kyiv, Ukraine
At the introductory conference of the sixth international forum KYIV MEDIA WEEK, the heads of major Ukrainian media groups and production studios, as well as representatives of state bodies in the sphere of television and radio, discussed the possibilities for the development of the national media business, shared the main achievements over the past year, and identified the main challenges currently faced by the industry.
Vladimir Borodiansky, the head of the StarLightMedia group, noted that in the current circumstances it is extremely important “to become a part of life of the viewer, and go beyond television”. That is why the group is implementing a number of projects that essentially are the off-air spin-offs of their on-air products. Recent statistics show that in the past year approximately 100 thousand people tuned in to the off-air shows of StarLightMedia group, and that means that, hopefully, the group is moving in the right direction.
The co-founder of FILM.UA Group Sergei Sozanovskiy also stressed upon the importance of “rolling out the media business at 360°”. “A year ago we began to tentatively raise the subject of 360°, but now, with all that is happening, we begin to understand that if we don’t take the media in all possible directions, in the future we can stay out of work,” he said. For example, over the last year FILM.UA confidently advanced the segment of Ukrainian feature filmmaking, launched a line of animated feature projects, and in the future hopes to release at least one animated film a year; they have launched their own television channels (by the way, FILMUA Drama is in considerable demand on cable networks, especially after many Russian channels were forced to leave the market), and have started actively developing their digital direction.
Vladimir Zelensky, artistic director of “Studio Kvartal 95”, is convinced that “it’s necessary to expand the product as much as possible, with the highest number of platforms involved, and do it successfully.” According to Zelensky, the main direction in which the company has engaged in recent years has finally “borne fruit”. Namely, the American corporation Fox acquired the rights to the format of the series “The Servant of Nation”, so that the representatives of “Kvartal” are hoping that “the Americans will produce the first season, and the main titles of it will say: based on a Ukrainian format”.
Marketing Director of Megogo Ivan Shestakov explained that, in recent years, the company has served not only as an online cinema, but also as a provider of television services. “We have been dreaming of starting our own production for a year and a half now – because that is very important for a service like ours. We have tried and realised that full-length feature and serial formats are a bit too challenging for us at this time, but we did try making a TV-like product, especially targeted at young people. We were successful in that, and we see a strong interest of the public to it – so we will continue to work at it”, said Shestakov.
Also present at the press-conference, executive director of the Motion Picture Association of Ukraine Victoria Yarmoshchuk and the head of the Expert Council of the Ukrainian Academy of Television Valentin Koval told the press about the activities of their organisations.
Deputy Head of the National Council of Ukraine on Television and Radio Broadcasting Uliana Feshchuk spoke about the upcoming changes to the rules of the relationship between the government and the industry, and also stressed on the importance of the #Kіnokraina initiative, which invokes a number of structural changes in the area of state support of Ukrainian film and TV production.
Anatoly Maksimchuk, deputy director general of the StarLightMedia group, elaborated on the initiative’s objectives. There will be two revolutionary innovations in the sphere of state support of the film industry: the possibility of state support for productions of serial content (up to 50% of eligible production expenses), as well as the introduction of the cash rebate system for producers (including foreign) of the funds spent on the territory of Ukraine. Over the past year, much has been achieved in this direction – not only was the bill registered, but it even passed Parliament in its first reading. So the whole industry is waiting for the Parliament to finally adopt the bill (the vote is scheduled for this Thursday).
VI International media forum KYIV MEDIA WEEK will be held from 19 to 23 of September 2016 at the Hyatt Regency Kyiv (Kyiv, Ukraine). The full program can be found on the forum’s official website, and on Facebook.
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