Mediawan, Sony, UIS Execs Predict A European TV Project Will Soon Be Same Quality As American But For Half The Cost – MIA Market

deadline.com:

A European TV project will soon be on the same quality level as American but for half the cost, predicted Mediawan, Sony and Universal International Studios (UIS) execs today.

As the TV world gets set to emerge from the dual U.S. labor strikes, Mediawan CEO Elisabeth D’Arvieu said European production now has a “big competitive advantage” over America, pointing to tax credits across the continent during a panel at the MIA Market. “We have a very favorable environment in terms of cost in places like Spain, Italy, Greece and Belgium,” she added. “The combination of a very cost-effective system and pool of talent is an incredible competitive advantage for European studios such as ours.” Brendan Fitzgerald, Sony Pictures Television’s SVP International Co-Productions in Spain, pointed to shows from Sony labels Bad Wolf, Left Bank and Eleven shooting in CEE and Greece, which “work well in terms of location, crew, talent and tax credit.” “All the skills are there to make Europe an equal pole in this business and start to export in the other direction to the U.S.,” he added.

Fitzgerald predicted that “at some point soon Europe will be able to pioneer a series for 55% of the costs of a U.S. show and achieve 90% of the quality,” with D’Arvieu saying she would dial the latter figure up to 100%.

Tesha Crawford, UIS’ SVP Global Scripted Series, went even further by stating that the European industry has achieved this parity already. “The barrier was tech, language and making sure people were able to consume that type of programing, but I think we’re there,” she said.