Evgeniy Drachov: "We are thinking outside the box"

The Ukrainian Group Film UA has overcome the pandemic's obstacles in a very intelligent way, and its series have crossed the European borders and have expanded to other continents. Evgeniy Drachov, International Sales at FILM.UA Distribution describes the Ukrainian successful series and anticipates the plans for 2022.

What are the current FIlm UA Distribution highlights?
"As for nowadays, our biggest highlight is the release of a new season of the series 'Love In Chains' – a period drama whose success went beyond the borders of Europe and has found its fans in Japan and South Korea. We also continue to reach new territories with the help of our famously known detective series 'The Sniffer'. It has recently aired in Germany on the SKY Krimi channel and very soon will be available for viewers in Brazil."

What are the main current demands do you observe from your clients?
"Living under conditions of a pandemic for almost two years now we can surely notice that the landscape of TV broadcasting and streaming has changed dramatically. Foreign partners have become much more open to working with relatively new territories. Channels have become bolder in choosing new non-conventional projects."

As a distribution company, do you believe that there are new distribution trends that the pandemic has created?
"I would say that now is a time for opportunities, experiments, a time for discoveries. Times are forcing us to think outside the box. Regarding the newest trends, as from my perspective, there is a high demand for historical period drama series, procedurals."

Last year, everybody was talking about the huge demand for content that the pandemic generated. How do you analyse the landscape now? Has this demand been decreased?
"Absolutely right – the need for content has increased during the pandemic and it continues to grow. During the lockdown, production in total has dropped significantly and those companies that managed to shoot during that period were forced to increase their production costs. Today, there is a strong need for premiere and premium content not only for domestic territories but also for the international market in general. Also, due to the lack of new product, TV channels were forced to buy out library projects, thanks to which distributors were able to get through the crisis period of the pandemic quite well."

What are your main goals for 2022?
"Our goal for the next year is to produce at least 2 high-budget premium series with international potential for distribution. Also, we aim at international co-production because in nowadays realities it is possible to produce expensive projects only in partnership. Now is the time for all kinds of collaborations. By continuing shooting alone production companies are risking remaining only local service."

By Romina Rodríguez