Exclusive Interview: OTT platforms are more in vogue than ever before, says Prashanti Malisetti, the Founder and CEO of Pixel Pictures
Hailing from an entrepreneurial family, Prashanti Malisetti initially chose the corporate way and paved her way into the financial sector. She spent almost a decade as a corporate banker before turning into a full-time entrepreneur in 2010.
During a conversation with her longtime Director friend, Prashanti shared some ideas which made her realize how their thoughts aligned, and volunteered to intern with him on a few projects. This gave her an opportunity to explore the sets and watched people creating magic out of literally nothing. She observed how driven and tireless every individual is, to make a show happen, which inspired her to initiate something exciting and intriguing, what we today know as Pixel Pictures Private Limited.
Founded in 2013, the company believes that the sustainability of any format is its biggest success while bringing in licenses to adapt shows for the vernacular viewers is its USP.
So far, Pixel Pictures has produced over 1000 hours of content with hit shows such as Super Minute, the Kannada adaptation of Endemol Shine’s Minute to Win It; Dancing Star, an adaptation of BBC’s Dancing with the Stars; Family Power, Takadhimitha, Super talk time, Made for each other, etc.; for the Kannada and Malayalam television viewers, under Prashanti’s leadership. The production house has also actively evolved and created original content, crystalizing its position as the preferred content producer in the South Indian television industry.
We had an exclusive conversation with Prashanti Malisetti, the Founder and CEO of Pixel Pictures recently. Here are the excerpts.
Describe the ‘New Normal’ after the resumption of work in the production houses post the lockdown period.
The expression ‘Health is wealth’ has never been more in focus than now. The manner in which all our lives are displaced is beyond belief. As an industry, the revival process has begun but with a lot of precautions, and uncertainties. The risk appetite has definitely come down. But the need of the hour is safety, frugality, and adapting to this change.
COVID-19 has impacted all aspects of life and the business and entertainment industry is no exception. However, the industry could not take advantage of work from home option, and hence, was almost shut.
Advertising spends have sharply dropped in the last quarter. While box office and event management companies have faced a huge blow, OTT platforms are more in vogue than ever before. But as it is said the show must go on, we all are slowly and gradually adapting to the ‘New Normal’.
The government may have given a green signal for restart shootings, with a list of guidelines. Many production houses believe that it has increased their overall cost of production. Moreover, the industry has already expressed concern about facing huge losses during the unexpected long lockdown. In such circumstances, how is Pixel Pictures and the overall television industry trying to cope up with the losses?
The entertainment industry is the industry with one of the highest numbers of daily wage workers. On-set members like light boys, spot boys, set assistants, drivers, make up assistants, costume assistants, etc. usually get paid between ₹200 to ₹1200 per day for their work. But because of the lockdown, all these workers were basically unemployed, leading to very bad living conditions.
Similarly, big-budget non-fiction shows, like reality shows, with the larger crew haven’t resumed yet. But eventually, they must resume and once they start working, they would require the whole crew back, however this time with protective gear, sanitization, and insurance, which will lead to an increase in costs. It would also be unfair to deduct such costs from the crew members. Therefore, all of this becomes an additional cost for the producer.
With the government’s new guidelines, we aren’t operating full-fledged. The number of crew members has been reduced, hence leading to a delay in production. The delay eventually leads to less output with more investment.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, a lot of things have changed in the entertainment industry, including the quality and the quantity of work to be received by the actors in the media and entertainment industry as many are in dire need of work. To what extent is it true that actors and production houses are compromising on quality and money?
The professionals - both - on-screen and off-screen in the media and entertainment industry are wired to create better with every creative work they do. Being in a creative industry, no one can compromise with the quality of their work of art. Unlike an automobile/FMCG/Aviation industry for example, where one focuses on churning out the exact product, M&E’s sole focus is “Not to do the same creative”. The main aim of everyone in showbiz is to create unique content and keep the audience glued to it.
The professionals that work on the ground, actors, technicians, writers, producers, etc., work in close quarters, for one goal i.e. ‘the end creative result’.
Over a period of time, there is a familial atmosphere, the culture in most of the cases is ‘Community over commerce’. It is very rare to hear that someone rejected an exciting project because of money. So, I am sure people are taking pay cuts for a better tomorrow.
Drugs have been associated with the entertainment industry, including the television industry. Television is an integral part of Indian homes, and people not just related to the TV characters, but also idolize them. In such circumstances, how do TV actors being associated with drugs affect the reputation of the industry? Does it affect the business as well?
The whole entertainment industry has been badly affected by the drug association. I wouldn’t say that it will affect the business but yes, it might affect the credibility of an actor. As you said that the audience relates to the actors and then idolizes them, after the whole drug issue the trust of the audience in the actor might go down. Moreover, it also affects the actor’s family and friends, as they are directly connected to the particular actor.
Pixel Pictures plans for production in the Telugu market. Tell us something about it.
India is known for its diversity in culture, traditions, languages, and food. It is said that almost every 200 km, the culture, and traditions differ. Understanding the viewer's sensibilities is a critical research phase, that requires hardcore knowledge of the culture, likes/dislikes, previous viewership patterns amongst others. It is important to have local talent that understands such aspects.
Our main focus is to develop gripping stories in the fiction/scripted segment that may be adapted in different languages within India and leave an evergreen mark in the minds of the audience.
We went on the floor for a non-fiction show in the Telugu market, due to lockdown we were not able to shoot the episodes. Especially, when it comes to kids’ shows, we cannot shoot in the present situation, so we had to pause. Most of the investment is lost, but we should be able to resume operations by Jan-Feb 2021.
Share some interesting details about the upcoming shows by Pixel Pictures.
Our current focus is on Under-12 Kids content, we see immense potential in that space, with the growing popularity of the OTT platforms and catch up TV, the need of the day is to create disruptive content that makes appointment viewing exciting for the TV viewer.
Owing to our learning during the multiple adaptations of International formats, we are presently working on creating original formats (Scripted and Unscripted) with International standards for the Indian viewer, with immense faith, that this content will be adapted by other countries in the near future.
