Tom Stewart: “Physical DVD still represent 80% of our business”


How has the UK audience for ‘Nordic noir’ changed since 2012 when you launched the Nordic Noir DVD label in the UK?
Tom Stewart: The audience’s taste has matured. People have become very selective, just like us. Because of SVOD platforms that have emerged, there is an overwhelming selection of good TV shows, so viewers are even choosier about what they want to watch. 

Over the last five years, Arrow Films’ business model has relied mostly on the success of Nordic crime TV drama on DVD/BluRay. With people’s viewing habits moving to digital, how has this affected your turnover and acquisition strategy?
TS: DVD has always been a key part of our business, but two years ago we decided to enter the all-rights part of the business to get a better control of windows. We started with The Legacy that we sold to Sky Arts. Then we bought the German TV drama Generation War and negotiated a deal with the BBC. The Italian series Gomorra was then sold to Sky Atlantic and the Norwegian series The Heavy Water War [known as The Saboteurs in the UK] will premiere on More4 on June 19.
Basically with all those series, we achieve income from TV sales and are able to maximise revenues through the different platforms by controlling the windows.

What is the weight of DVD today in your annual turnover?
TS: In percentage, physical DVD still represents around 80% of our business.

With stronger competition from different players –including ITV, Netflix -to acquire the best TV dramas, you must feel pressured to take more risks and to enter projects at an earlier stage…
TS: With Gomorra and The Legacy for instance, we took some risks and acquired them at script stage. As a company we intend to continue growth in this area but at the same time we will be very selective in the future.

1864 was acquired directly by the BBC. Did you acquire all remaining rights for the UK?
TS: I’ve followed 1864 for the last three years and absolutely love everything about the production. I acquired all rights excluding free TV within the UK and all rights in Eire. That includes all DVD, digital, airlines, SVOD rights. We have just made and agreement directly with RTE in Ireland for both 1864 and The Heavy Water War.

What’s the share of Nordic TV series in your overall line-up and what were your most successful shows?
TS: Today Nordic TV series still represent 70% of our line-up. The Killing, The Bridge and Borgen were the most successful series for us, thanks partly to the great ratings on BBC Four and high level of awareness among the audience. The Legacy Season 1 was Sky Arts’ most successful foreign language TV drama with over 100,000 viewers, and we sold about 10,000 box sets. That’s what The Bridge sold in its first week, but crime is more commercial as a genre.

What are your latest Scandi TV drama acquisitions?
TS: We’ve Just acquired the Icelandic crime series Trapped, all rights excluding free TV. BBC Four will air it later this year. Many series I’m currently assessing so watch this space!

How is the theatrical market for foreign language films in the UK?
TS: We have become very careful with foreign language films because of the overwhelming saturation of arthouse films being released into the UK and not having the space to be shown. The UK’s two main  cinema chains Curzon and Picture House also acquire their own films and together with their pressures of showing non-arthouse films,  screen space is greatly minimised which represents a very big challenge. Going forward, we will be incredibly selective in this area.

In Cannes this year, there was very little foreign language that I wanted to touch. I looked mostly at English language films.

So are the days when you put on UK screens Hijacking, The Hunt, Love is All You Need or A Thousand Times Good Night gone forever?
TS: If films like Hijacking or The Hunt comes along, I will still seriously look at them because of the quality of cast/production team and subject matter. We need unique genre films or dramas, but these don’t come along every year. Again that’s why I focus even more on TV drama. Theatrical for foreign language has become just too difficult in the UK. It’s worth noting that I constantly see good foreign language films that I see far more potential in as a TV series format, maybe Producers should look at these opportunities more. 

Any advice you’d like to give Nordic producers and creators?
TS: At the Nordic Vision TV seminar in Gothenburg last January, the name Netflix was used a lot. They are unquestionably a great platform but producers should remember that Netflix can’t support every single TV drama and fully utilise all commercial platforms which is so important. In key territories like the UK, physical DVD is still a very healthy platform. VOD and SVOD are only emerging and represent a small percentage of our business.