MUMBAI: An attempt is being made to push three fiction drama shows from the Star India stable to global content creators. Eccho Rights, a global rights management company with offices in Stockholm, Istanbul, Madrid, Hong Kong, and Manila, has entered into an agreement with Star India, taking on an initial representation for three scripts - Tangled Sisters (Ek Hazaaron Mein Meri Behena - 515 x 30 min), Vera (Ek Veer Ki Ardaas…Veera - 282 x 30 min), and Unexpected Love (Diya Aur Baati Hum - 1118 x 30 min).
Eccho Rights will now represent the script rights worldwide exclusively outside of India.
"It is with great excitement that we are starting this cooperation with Star India. The globalization of drama is developing at a very interesting speed and one focus of Eccho Rights is to expand our partnership with leading producers to manage their script assets in new markets," says Nixon Yau Lim, head of Asia Pacific at Eccho Rights.
The three titles represent some of the most successful Indian drama series ever.
Stockholm headquartered Eccho Rights has in the last two years taken no less than 12 scripts into local versions including three versions of the Turkish series The End into Europe as well as Nurses from Finland into Sweden and The Clinic from Belgium into Spain. Just last month, it sold the remake rights of Ukraine’s top rated show – a political comedy on Kvartal 93 – titled Servant of the People to Fox Studios in the US. The same month saw it conclude a major deal for 450 hours of top notch Turkish dramas with Netflix. Among these figure Ezel, Karadayi, Kurt Seyit & Sura, The End, Can’t Run From Love, Kacak, Gonul, Mahmut & Meryem , Black Heart, and Winter Sun. In fact, it has been one of the prime drivers of the rapid uptake that Turkish shows have got worldwide.
Indian TV networks led by Zee TV, Star India, and Viacom18 and smaller players such as Grey Matter Entertainment and GoQuest have been slowly but steadily making efforts to make inroads into the format licensing business.
Eccho Rights works with independent producers to empower creativity worldwide. The distributor believes that producers deserve a better distribution service. Its experience of selling finished series, scripted and entertainment formats, plus its hands-on approach and global reach, makes it an ideal partner for Star India. Eccho ensures creators retain their rights, protect their brand and maintain quality whilst optimising the value of their products, it is stated on the Eccho company web site.
A media observer agrees that Star India’s alliance with Eccho Rights is a step in the right direction. “With the kind of reach and track record Eccho has one can expect a few deals to be struck,” says she.
