26/11/2003

The advent of the Euro hasn’t led to any major new developments as far as drama is concerned: there hasn’t been the expected expansion in co-productions between European countries after the introduction of the single currency. And when companies do join forces, it’s for a major drama production. The latest facts and figures from the sector have been outlined during the presentation of Eurofiction 2003, in Rome. This paper gathers together a series of comparative research on the state of TV drama in Europe. It’s the 6th report of its kind and is overseen by Milly Buonanno. It’s an excellent opportunity to have an overview of the drama markets in Italy, France, Britain, Germany and Spain. In 2002, these 5 countries produced 5,713 hours worth of drama, 170 fewer than the previous year. Germany and Britain are the leading producers of TV drama, with 1,826 and 1,471 respectively. Italy (RAI and Mediaset) produced a total of 761 hours, figures that were virtually the same as 2001.

As far as the relationship between public and private TV is concerned, public TV production is dominant in all the countries apart from Britain. In Italy the figures for 2002 show RAI in the lead (with 438 hours as opposed to 323) and it’s worth mentioning that the public TV network produces 80% of Italian drama shown in prime time. If you look at the titles presented in the report, last year saw Germany producing 391 dramas, France 194, Britain 159, Italy 64 and Spain 63.

France has always chosen to produce one-off dramas rather than serials and this has meant that its drama production has been more or less stable over the years. However, things are now changing and France is now increasing its co-productions with American partners. Spanish drama is on the upturn, an improvement that is also thanks to some successful series that will soon be turned into exportable formats (like 'Quentame', which will become 'Raccontami' in Italy). The situation is stable in Germany and Britain, countries with the largest scale of production.
As far as formats are concerned, it’s interesting to note that in the main, in Germany most of the works are TV films, in France it’s mini-series (two or three episodes), in Britain and Spain the majority of drama is shown in series format , while in Italy drama is equally spread between miniseries, series and TV films.