The DISCOP segment at CABSAT will include a screening room, where some of the pitches will take place.
DISCOP will be co-located with CABSAT this year, as part of a new arrangement between the two entities at the Dubai World Trade Centre from May 17-19. A special co-production area dedicated to Arabic content and Arabic co-productions, curated by Heba Korayem, Content Market and Distribution Specialist at HConsult, is gaining increasing traction in the industry, with close to 100 investors and buyers for Arabic content now confirmed. Korayem is confident that she will see 20 additional investors and buyers join each week until the event begins.
“So far, we have 25 requests from Arabic production houses to participate within the co-production salon, and each of them have around two to five pitch decks. These are ready-to-produce stories with casting, talent, location et al sorted and ready to be picked up, adapted and produced,” Korayem told BroadcastPro ME.
“The co-production salon gives them an opportunity to showcase their pitches to production partners, and based on how attractive their pitch is, they would look at four primary partnership models — commissioning, co-production, co-funding or independent investing for the purpose of ROI through distribution. We have Arab production houses from Egypt, Lebanon, the UAE, Morocco, Libya, KSA, Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Algeria pitching at the salon, and the pitches will include drama series, animations, feature films and international format adaptations.”
Roya TV from Jordan, Dubai’s S Productions, Cedars Art, Eagle Films, Pixitoon and Bright Lens Media from the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia are some of the participating companies. Some have co-productions to pitch as well as plans to invest in third-party productions. UAE-based S Productions, which specialises in format adaptations, will be on the look-out for international partnerships to localise and adapt formats for the region.
Interestingly, Majid Al Futtaim, a large Dubai-based conglomerate with a diverse portfolio of businesses and the owner of Vox Cinemas, will also participate, with the intention of partnering with producers on the creative side and developing its own in-house productions for distribution, as well as investing in productions.
Several buyers have also signed up to attend the event, including Saudi broadcaster SBC and international entities such as Disney, who are looking to penetrate the region and scouting for local production partners to commission for their originals, Korayem said.
“Essentially, you will see regional streamers looking to commission the development of more Arabic originals, participants who have taken a paid slot to showcase their projects and buyers who are shopping for new productions. HConsult is playing matchmaker and will bring these entities together. Our survey revealed that 70% of buyers attending the DISCOP Content Market are looking for Arabic-language content. The other top languages in demand are Western/European, Turkish, Hindi and Spanish. With the content market growing in this region, this co-production salon is dedicated to Arabic productions.”
The DISCOP segment at CABSAT will include a screening room, where some of the pitches will take place.
