Fiction
Without grandeur, audiences will focus on the storyline: Full House Films’ Amir Jaffer
MUMBAI: It has been close to one month since the state government allowed film and television shooting in Maharashtra. This was a sigh of relief to several new shows that were left in the lurch due to the lockdown including Zee TV’s Qurbaan Hua, which had just started on 25 February.
In a special chat with indiantelevision.com, Full House Films founder and Tujhse Hai Raabta, Qurbaan Hua producer Amir Jaffer says, “We are implementing the guidelines laid by the state government and TV channels. We have insured everybody on the set against Covid2019. Everybody is working with face masks and face shields. Apart from that, make up artists and camerapersons are using PPE kits. As a smaller number of people are allowed on the set, we are planning our shooting on that basis. To showcase a greater number of people in the scene we are using separate footages and cuts of people.”
To maintain social distancing and safety Jaffer is ensuring cast and crew members are carrying their own meal while only tea is served on the set. Food cost is being incurred by the production house itself. The studio is currently working with 60 members and no junior artists are called on the set.
For Jaffer the biggest concern is to safeguard the health of cast and crew. As a practice, the studio is recording the temperature of cast and crew when they arrive and after the pack up.
He also mentions that outdoor shoots are not happening currently, as it will require permission from district collectors and state authorities. The scenes are being shot with different camera angles. Family gathering, weddings and crowd scenes are not happening at all.
Jaffer thinks that the look of the show will be compromised because there will be no grandeur. Special episodes of parties, weddings and dancing used to garner more traction which is not possible now. The stories are designed only considering the main actors. However, it will allow audiences to concentrate more on the storyline.
He also points out that there is no lag in the output of shows. Time-consuming scenes are avoided to meet the deadline. “We are also incorporating pandemic situations in our scripts. We also did a lockdown show with our actors. Everybody did the shooting by themselves in their own home.”
Meanwhile, Jaffer has reopened his office with just four to five people. Instead of calling people at the office for auditions, the casting is happening online.
The working hour shift remains the same. Considering the curfew rule in Maharashtra, shift timings are 7 am to 7 pm so that cast and crew members can reach home before 9 pm. A 12-hour shift for the production unit and actors are called on the set only when required.
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.
