Quick Takes: Natalie Gomez, Auditorium Films
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Quick Takes is a Q&A series designed to connect content companies with prospects while in-person events are postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lights, camera, action!
Natalie Gomez
International Content Distribution, Auditorium Films
Location: Paris
How has the pandemic affected your content slate or schedule?
As a distributor of performing arts audiovisual content working closely with producers in the sector, we’ve seen productions around music festivals be replaced with new formats (interviews with regular festival artists, for example), filmed without an audience or altogether cancelled.
However, we have started representing several new producers looking for help to distribute their content. We represent 30 producers today with a catalogue of hundreds of concerts that have not been distributed before, including artists such as Jamiroquai, Arctic Monkeys, Mika and more. This brings the full Auditorium Films catalog to over 1500 programs.
We also distribute the subscription video on demand (SVOD) music service Qwest TV by Quincy Jones, which has a continually expanding catalogue. We had started curating “Qwest TV corners” on airlines such as Emirates, but have not had the opportunity to renew airline content due to the pandemic.
What releases are you most looking forward to?
We are distributing an ongoing electro/pop series called Passengers in locations of travel and culture like Charles de Gaulle Airport and Musée d’Orsay.
We are also looking forward to co-productions with major concert venues such as the Teatro Real, Madrid, and a new series of original concerts with famous artists in iconic spaces around the world called The One.
What is your outlook on the state of the industry moving forward?
2020 has pushed the industry to be more creative. Producers are reinventing themselves and working around restrictions to bring new content and new formats. As long as this continues, we can expect a brighter future for content moving forward.
Do you find peoples’ viewing habits have shifted in terms of what they watch and how they watch it? How does your company’s content adapt to this new reality?
Peoples’ media consumption has grown, especially in the SVOD and free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) sectors. More and more new SVOD platforms are developing, and Auditoriums Films’ new client base is reflective of this.
Qwest TV has also adapted its offer and expanded to three new FAST music channels available on Samsung TV+: Qwest TV Jazz, Qwest TV Classical and Qwest TV Mix.
Theatrical windows have been all but eliminated, do you think this is temporary?
Depending on where and how cinemas reopen, as well as the type of content, theatrical windows will continually change to adapt to the current situation. There will be a before and after, and we expect these windows will be more flexible in the future.
Read more about the impact of coronavirus on the air travel industry, including APEX’s position on the matter, and subscribe to the APEX Daily Experience newsletter to stay up to date.