Scott Kirkpatrick: "From day one, we’ve been thinking out of the box”

Nicely Entertainment attended Mipcom last month after reaching the 100 film library milestone. During 2024, the company continued producing and releasing content, including our Great American Media originals “The Christmas Post,” starring Merrit Patterson, and “A Christmas Castle Proposal: A Royal in Paradise 2,” with Rhiannon Fish, the sequel to the 2022 global hit “A Royal in Paradise.” Nicely Entertainment also brokered a great deal with Hulu for the “Christmas on the Ranch” film. Señal News spoke with Scott Kirkpatrick, EVP, Co-Productions and Distribution, to describe the company’s growth path.

As Nicely Entertainment approaches its fifth year, what are its most significant accomplishments and challenges?
"We're not quite at the fifth anniversary just yet; we'll certainly make some noise in early 2025. But it's amazing how much Vanessa Shapiro, Nicely's Founder and CEO, has accomplished in such a short period of time. She started Nicely in January 2020; the first year is tough for any new company, but the Covid-19 pandemic was certainly a unique challenge. From day one, we've been thinking out of the box, persevering, and growing the company successfully."

The 2024 marketplace has been challenging globally; what are some of the moves Nicely has made to navigate these challenging times?
"It's a quagmire: the market needs more content, yet license fees are dropping. Rather than wait around, we decided to go all in on Nicely Productions, our in-house production arm. We produced six original Nicely Entertainment films on spec, which will be showcased at Mipcom: our fun romance 'Technically Yours,' 'Heartstrings Attached,' and 'A Country Music Christmas.' The three will be available in 2025, being released at MIP London. We've also just finished our latest romance movie, ' A Wedding for Belle,' starring Ella Cannon, which premiered at Mipcom."

How important is it to constantly reinforce the catalog in this challenging context?
"We've put a major emphasis on acquiring new content, which has helped our catalog grow. In addition, we're putting a major effort into dubbing our library into critical international languages, namely French and neutral Latin American Spanish. We're seeing massive growth in the VOD space, including Latin America, so we're taking this unique market opportunity to get a foothold into some critical regions. International sales have shifted recently, but we're still going strong. Rachel Siegenthaler, our VP of International Sales, based in Paris, has brokered some solid deals, including securing several Nicely titles with Sky UK, ITV, RTL, TV2, C8, and FTV Prima."

Have the 2023 Union Strikes significantly impacted Nicely's business model?
"Yes, but more so in the sense that the strikes had a massive impact at the studio level, which inevitably rippled across independent space and the international market. Most indie distributors and prod-cos are dealing with very similar issues across the board: fewer commissions from broadcasters and streamers, increased production costs and a rapidly changing distribution verticals. Nicely's undoubtedly experienced all of these marketplace realities, but because Vanessa Shapiro has always kept Nicely independent, we've been able to pivot nimbly whenever new opportunities arise. We're growing our library, production capacity, and digital reach. The market will constantly change from one year to the next, but our growth curve will continue as long as we have a solid catalog and keep our programs in front of consumers and clients."

FAST, AVOD, and cord-cutting continue to dominate, overtaking traditional linear TV sectors in several critical territories; how has Nicely changed its business models in relation to the digital space?
"We've embraced AVOD. I've always been very bullish about the ad-supported market, and it's really booming in the United States. Internationally, however, the numbers fluctuate greatly from one region to the next. In the United States, we're in a position to produce original films specifically for the VOD market, as we did for QVC+ with our Nicely Production, 'The Christmas Recipe Files,' starring Asley Simpson. When we broker an exclusive deal with a broadcaster, we're much more focused on windowing the VOD rights for maximum exposure. What's great about the TV movie business is that by and large, they're a more economical content format to develop and produce, and they retain a solid shelf-life, especially for Holiday movies. For new distribution verticals, such as FAST and AVOD, we can experiment with new channels and platforms more freely. We're also excited about where the space is heading. Consolidation will cause a few FAST channels to spike. I can only foresee that we'll be in a very structured programming world in relation to FAST (as we were back in, say, the 1990s on the traditional linear side) within the next few years. Also, with AI dubbing, once a few years pass and the quality improves, we'll play in an entirely new arena."

How is Nicely preparing for 2025 and beyond?
"In truth, we're simply keeping our eyes and ears as wide open as possible. The media distribution business has evolved so much in the past 10 years, and yet again in just the past two or three, that there's no telling where we'll be this time next year. That said, Nicely Entertainment really just focuses on producing high-quality, feel-good entertainment that delivers great stories. Don't forget we have our edgier genre vertical, Darkly Entertainment, where we get to dabble in alternative genres as well, like our disaster movies 'Super Cyclone' and 'Horror Slasher Bad Connection.' Technology and means by which audiences consume media will change forever, but audiences will still need great romance films and uplifting, feel-good stories. I'm just going to go out on a limb and say that the Christmas season will come again next year, and Nicely Entertainment will be ready to deliver a new slate of Christmas romance titles."