Fiction
TV show production efficiency impacted by Covid2019: Swastik Productions’ Rahul Kumar Tewary
MUMBAI: A month since TV production resumed, the ride has been bumpy. With sets rigorously sanitised, makeup and hair artists wearing PPE kits, it’s still better than no shoots at all. Swastik Productions producer Rahul Kumar Tewary says that it took a lot of planning to resume shooting.
“Before beginning the shoot, the cast and crew members of Devi Aadi Parashakti and RadhaKrishn reached Umbergaon, Gujarat, on 8 and 10 June where they were quarantined. There was regular check-up conducted within premises. The labours and crew members are living at the studio itself while artists are living at nearby apartments,” he shares.
He highlights that the production has created a Covid2019 team that looks after sanitisation and fumigation of the entire set and the places where technicians, crew and artists are living. He clarifies that while shooting there is no contact from the outside world. There are multiple checkpoints on the set to ensure safety and security of people.
To maintain the grandeur and bring larger-than-life feel in the episodes, Tewary is relying more on VFX than having real people on the set.
Tewary elaborates, “It is a very difficult ride, the whole production planning, writing of episodes, consumes a lot of time. We are also focusing a lot on the VFX side to showcase more people in the story or a crowd scene. The script is written in a way that no body contact is involved. Massive sets are also avoided. So, all the departments, from the writers to creators, production, execution and technicians, are extremely careful.”
The production house is using two camera setups and for proper lighting, the DOP is responsible for creating the entire set-up a day or a night prior to save time. Post that only actors are available for the shot sans technicians and camerapersons. This move is to ensure that at any given time there are a smaller number of people available on the set. However, this is making it difficult to get episodes out in time. The production efficiency has been compromised due to the SOP measures.
Apart from that Tewary praises broadcasters for their constant support and encouragement. He says, “Broadcasters have been hugely impacted by this pandemic. The broadcasters worked hand in hand with producers to ensure we create a bank of episodes.”
He adds that as the shows are on air, banks are the main thing that will drive momentum on the floor. Every show will initially have the capsule of kahani ab tak to engage audiences.
The 12-hour shift timing remains the same as it was before the Covid2019. The studio also uses various tools to transmit data.
Tewary notes that during the pandemic, digital mediums have gained traction. But, he says that the market audience for television and digital are completely different. Both the mediums may overlap to a certain extent, but in the end these are two different market segments. “I believe the digital is growing, but TV will also remain the same. I don’t think there will be too much of an impact on TV programming. There is a certain age group of consumers for the digital content; there is a trend that the youth of India is moving towards the digital side,” he shares.
He is optimistic that as new content has started airing, TV audiences will be once again glued to the small screen.
Fiction
Banijay merges with All3Media in $6.65 billion deal
Marco Bassetti will lead the combined company as CEO
PARIS: Six years after acquiring Endemol Shine at the height of the pandemic, Banijay has struck again. The European production heavyweight is merging with All3Media in a deal that will create a television titan with $6.65 billion in revenue and redraw the contours of a fast-consolidating market.
The combined company will trade under the Banijay name and be owned 50 per cent each by Banijay Group and RedBird IMI, which acquired All3Media in 2024. The transaction is expected to close by autumn, subject to regulatory approvals.
Banijay Entertainment CEO Marco Bassetti, will take the top job at the enlarged group. All3Media CEO Jane Turton becomes deputy CEO. RedBird IMI CEO Jeff Zucker will serve as chairman.
The logic is scale. Broadcasters are commissioning less, streamers are tightening budgets and global buyers are fewer but bigger. Against that backdrop, heft matters. The merged entity will generate roughly $6.65 billion in revenues based on 2024 figures, giving it sharper elbows in rights negotiations and deeper pockets for franchise-building.
“Entrepreneurialism, ambition and creativity” remain core to Banijay’s DNA, Bassetti said, flagging plans to invest more heavily in new intellectual property, live events and emerging platforms. Turton struck a similarly bullish note, pointing to All3Media’s journey from a 2003 start-up to a global supplier of hit formats and high-end drama.
Between them, the two groups control a formidable slate. Banijay’s catalogue spans MasterChef, Big Brother, Survivor, Black Mirror, Peaky Blinders and Deal or No Deal. All3Media’s labels include Studio Lambert, producer of The Traitors and Squid Game: The Challenge; Two Brothers, behind The Tourist; and Neal Street, currently producing the forthcoming Beatles biopics directed by Sam Mendes for Sony.
The back catalogue is equally muscular. Banijay Rights holds some 220,000 hours, while All3Media International adds around 35,000 hours, forming one of the industry’s largest libraries.
Banijay, controlled by French entrepreneur Stéphane Courbit and listed in Amsterdam, counts more than 130 production companies across 25 territories. All3Media operates over 40 labels, with strong positions in the UK, US and Germany. The enlarged group will also lean into live entertainment, building on Banijay’s Balich Wonder Studio, which produced the opening ceremony of the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics, and the Independents.
The deal marks a shift in tone. As recently as October, Bassetti suggested that mergers and acquisitions were not a priority. But the drumbeat of consolidation has grown louder. Mediawan has moved for Peter Chernin’s North Road. David Ellison’s Paramount has agreed to a $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros, with plans to combine HBO Max and Paramount plus. ITV has explored selling its media and entertainment arm to Comcast-owned Sky, though talks have reportedly slowed.
