TOTAL LICENSING
The UK’s 2003 Communications Act
A License to print money?
By John Bullivant, Joint Managing Director, Fireback Entertainment
The 2003 Communications Act en- for a ‘superhero-led, boys and rock- something new and more lucrative if
sured that independent producers ets’ property amazingly still seems to it hasn’t taken off in twelve months?
had the opportunity to retain intel- exist. The challenge now is how best After all, time is money!
lectual property rights which was to handle the worldwide consumer Producers need to have realistic ex-
fundamental to us being able to grow products rights. pectations of both their property’s
our businesses. The challenge was al- To take a property into licensing and potential and the business dynamics
ways going to be how the indepen- deliver it successfully to retail is no of the consumer products world. A
dent producer should handle those small task. It’s hugely time consuming producer who either can’t find an
rights. and probably a way bigger task than agency to handle the rights or doesn’t
At the beginning of a television prop- producing the show in the first place. like the deals that are on offer but still
erty’s life, the value of L&M rights is Yes, if the property is a success then believes in the licensing value of the
often unclear. As much as television it can be financially very lucrative. Al- property is best advised to seek im-
producers like to believe that all our ternatively you can burn through a lot partial advice from a Licensing Con-
wonderful shows should automati- of money and end up with nothing sultant. Blind faith in your property’s
cally translate into toys and duvets, more than a pile of expensive mar- ability to generate millions at retail
the truth is that only a very small keting materials and a style guide that could cost you big time.
percentage of TV properties will ever nobody wants. We believe Captain Mack has the
make it to retail. One solution to handling the L&M right licensing DNA to work at retail
The world of television produc- but that guarantees nothing. If we
tion and its accordant mentality assume for a minute that Mack
is, in my experience, vastly differ- will have great ratings and that
ent to that of manufacturing and the show is a hit with viewers the
retail. TV producers are optimists, question is, can somebody make
inherent gamblers challenged with manufacturers and retailers be-
continually coming up with excit- lieve it’s worth gambling money
ing, new, groundbreaking ideas. For or shelf space on? Whether it’s
therein lies success and a potential us or an agent that makes that
franchise property. However the pitch is still undecided. Fireback
business of character licensing, in- is trying to grow its TV business
formed by exceptionally cautious and diversify into other genres,
retail buyers, is hugely risk averse. becoming the Captain Mack
It’s looking for guaranteed, sure brand and licensing manager
fire winners with huge awareness could easily compromise those
in place or promised. Neither at- ambitions. But then if nobody
titude is right or wrong but can sees the potential in the prop-
create something of a challenge erty we do, that’s exactly what
for the independent producer en- we may have to become.
gaging with licensing for the first The 2003 Communications Act
time. was right to ensure that indepen-
Captain Mack was conceived af-
rights is to see if an established li-
dent producers got to retain IP
ter an observation that nobody had
censing company is interested in
rights. However it wasn’t a license to
created a modern ‘boys and rockets’
representing the property. They cer-
print money. For producers working
franchise for pre-schoolers. More-
tainly should have the expertise, the
out what to do with those rights can
over there seemed to be a real lack
contacts and hopefully the necessary
sometimes be problematic and both
of a genuine, age appropriate super-
scale to support your property. The
time and cash consuming. Nonethe-
hero character for that demographic
question is, what happens if the prop-
less the problems are well worth hav-
as well. More than five years on, as
erty is a slow starter or a niche prop-
ing as without the rights the oppor-
Captain Mack begins its assault on
erty? Will they stick with it or nur-
tunity to maximize the value of our
retail with a 52 episode series as its
ture it or will they simply move on to
exciting, new, groundbreaking ideas is
platform, the gap in the retail market severely limited.
30
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