TVP has not yet signed deals with ATM Grupa S.A. to renew Father Matthew and The Girls from Lviv, while Małgośka was dropped by a broadcaster with filming already underway. The company is developing a fictional show for TVN and a theatre version of The Pack. ‘We want to have something to offer to all broadcasters’, says ATM Grupa CEO Andrzej Muszyński for wirtualnemedia.pl.
Łukasz Brzezicki, wirtualnemedia.pl: ATM Grupa S.A. produces a number of popular series for Polish Television, including Father Matthew and The Girls from Lviv. Have you signed deals to continue production?
Andrzej Muszyński: We are currently filming a new season of Father Matthew following a deal signed last year. Filming will wrap up soon, new episodes are slated to air in the fall. We’ve also begun producing another season, set to air next year in the spring. So far, we’ve been working in-house, with no input from TVP1. I hope TVP1 doesn’t drop the series. As is good practice, we offer the right of first refusal to the current broadcaster. Whatever happens, the future of Father Matthew doesn’t seem in jeopardy.
Likewise, no deals have been signed for a new season of The Girls from Lviv. There are no plans to broadcast the series in the fall, as The Ranch is going to return on Sundays. We are currently in talks with Polish Television. The Girls from Lviv is one of those rare new series that have succeeded ratings-wise, so there is no doubt that the show will come back, I believe.
The second season of The Firefighters, which aired this spring, lost 850,000 viewers. How are you going to refresh the third season of the series to boost its ratings?
Everyone – including the creators, forum users, firefighters and TVP – agrees that the second season was much better than the first. We have tried to pinpoint the reasons for the fall in ratings. One of them is the general trend of TVP1 losing viewers. In fact, the decline in the series’ ratings was smaller than the fall in the channel’s overall ratings. Another key factor is the timeslot. The Sunday repeats of Saturday episodes fared only slightly worse than the premieres. The bottom line is that the series is attractive to viewers but did not sit well in its Saturday slot. TVN debuted its schedule two weeks earlier – Little Giants had succeeded in building a loyal following before the launch of The Firefighters. Polsat, in turn, was quick to drop Surprise, Surprise if favor of a highly rated animation.
The third factor is the profile of the viewers. Our client wanted a series with a mission, about people who risk their lives to save others, but one that would have a wide appeal. In this respect The Firefighters rose to the challenge drawing a much bigger proportion of young, well-heeled viewers. Notably, the advertising spending and GRPs generated in the 16-49 age group by the commercials that ran with 10 episodes of The Firefighters were almost the same as those for 10 episodes of the flagship Bodo series. I’m talking about the total amount including premiere episodes and first repeats. And please remember that Bodo was much more expensive and – as opposed to The Firefighters 2 – publicized. Will The Firefighters return? I would like it to happen. I believe that the series has potential.
Rumors pop up from time to time that The Ranch is going to be revived. The previous directors of TVP1 decided to drop the series. Is there any chance the series is going to come back? In a year or two perhaps?
Given how hard it is to launch a successful new series these days, it seems a mistake to drop a show that draws millions of viewers. I don’t think the future of The Ranch has been sealed. Or that this decision was taken by the previous directors of TV1. The situation is a complex one. Let’s wait and see what Studio A producers say when the dust settles.
Has ATM Grupa S.A. pitched any new shows to Polish Television? What was their reaction?
We pitch many shows to broadcasters, only some of them enter production. Sometimes the proposals rejected by one broadcaster are accepted by another. This is normal and happens ‘on a daily basis’. What is not a daily occurrence is a broadcaster going back on a deal, which has just happened with TVP. I’m talking about the series Małgośka, the pilot of which was shot last year. We started filming in April, but Polish Television went back on the deal.
It’s a shame because the show is great. It’s a warm comedy about a mother of an adolescent boy, in her quest for love. It is beautifully acted and visually arresting. It shows a world we long for, restoring faith in humanity and traditional values such as love, friendship and kindness. It has positive energy and can serve as an antidote to stress, rush, divisions, brutalized life and ubiquitous hate speech. The protagonist, Małgośka, who is inspired by Agnieszka Osiecka’s lyrics and lyrical optimism, is one of the highlights of the series.
Has Małgośka been shopped to other broadcasters?
Yes, we’ve started doing this. I hope they appreciate the strengths of the series, so we’re able to bring it to viewers.
Second Chance 2 is slated to air on TVN in the fall. Do you anything else in the works for TVN?
We are very happy that Second Chance has been a success, and we highly appreciate our professional relationship with TVN, which includes writing support, production support and great publicity. We are currently developing a new drama for TVN. TTV aired some episodes of the series Betlejewski: Provocations this spring. What’s more, I hope our talks with other TVN Group channels about new productions will be successful too.
Will there be a second season of Say YES!?
We are not working on the continuation of the series. This show, which follows the lives of thirty-something urbanites, has proved too niche for the main Polsat channel.
Polsat Group wants to invest in feature movies and is launching a program called Cyfrowa Strefa Twórców (Digital Creators Zone). They will be working with external producers. Is ATM Grupa S.A. planning to strengthen its presence in theatres? One way of doing this would be to co-produce movies with Polsat Group.
We are happy to see this and other initiatives to support the growth and professionalism of Poland’s film industry. We hope to work together as we did in the past.
Is ATM Grupa S.A. working on any theatre movies at the moment?
We are interested in features more than ever. We have the required human resources, equipment, soundstages and funds. It is too early to share specifics, but we definitely will in the future.
After HBO cancelled The Pack, an idea surfaced to shoot a feature to solve the conundrum from the last scene of the series. What stage is the project at?
We are particularly proud of The Pack. The series has been an unqualified success in Poland and internationally – it is distributed in the HBO Europe territories and beyond. In tandem with HBO, we created an original show in the demanding conspiracy thriller genre, tracking the work of border guards in the scenic wilderness of the Bieszczady mountains. The Pack has full-blooded characters and addresses ‘hot topics’, such as borders and the war in Ukraine. We owe viewers a resolution. What form it takes will be revealed this winter in the Bieszczady mountains. I can only say we’ve teemed up with the largest Ukrainian production company.
Katarzyna Burzawa has recently become a producer of non-fictional formats for ATM Grupa S.A. Her role is to strengthen the ATM’s position on the entertainment front. Do you pitch new entertainment formats, unfamiliar in the Polish market?
Kasia has experience launching both entertainment formats and factual shows. She oversaw production of international formats and created new concepts – her credits include shows for TLC, TVN and Polsat. Now her focus is on offering tailor-made shows to smaller broadcasters. We are currently developing about 20 reality shows and observation documentaries. We are also interested in larger-scale entertainment. We want to have something to offer to all broadcasters: small players and heavyweights alike.
What entertainment formats are in production except for Undressed?
We are developing another show but I can’t divulge any details.
Are Polish audiences ready for a local version of Adam sucht Eva?
Hard to say. Poles are not ashamed of their bodies but they like to protect their privacy. The response of TLC viewers has been very good.
ATM Grupa S.A produced lock-up reality shows such as Bar and Big Brother in the past. Now, after 15 years, The Mole was brought back, and before that, we could watch Surprise, Surprise for a short while. Will the trend for filming people locked up in a house return to Poland?
Location shows are all the rage across the world now, but it’s not out of the question that the genre will return. Big Brother makes comebacks, The Bar was picked up in Lithuania. Let’s see how it fares now.
Which formats will thrive in the Polish market? What will we be watching next year?
I believe we will keep watching stories that address themes relevant to us all – emotional documentary formats that ordinary people can relate to. Social experiments, including experimental dating shows, will perhaps keep on trending up. In the entertainment space, we will want to see a different side of celebrities – not only their dancing or singing exploits. To be sure, we will expect television to be more fun and relaxing, unlike the reality that surrounds us. I won’t be surprised if cheaper studio formats such as game shows and talk shows make their comeback.
As far as fiction is concerned, I’m sure it will be the key factor defining major channels. I’m a believer in genre series. The question is what will ratings look like and what share of the ratings will be generated by television broadcasts. But investing in quality series is a must for broadcasters who need to keep up their reputation.
May 16, 2016
