Comedy takes centre stage as twofour54 and MTVNI sign deal

Twofour54, the region's premier centre for content creation, and MTV Networks International (MTVNI), a division of Viacom, have announced a multi-year partnership to launch Comedy Central Studios Arabia, according to a top executive of the Abu Dhabi-based company.

"Comedy is serious business for any television network and we are confident that we will successfully, search, train and acquire local and regional talent to provide quality programming for MTV," said Tony Orsten, Chief Executive Officer of twofour54 in a telephone interview with Emirates Business.

Headquartered in twofour54's offices in Abu Dhabi, Comedy Central Studios Arabia will develop and produce comedy content in Arabic for broadcast and distribution across the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region and beyond. It will focus on innovative, original productions covering the full spectrum of the genre, from stand-up and sketch shows to sitcoms, aimed primarily at 18-49 year old Arab audiences, the company said in a statement. The new venture will also draw upon Comedy Central's rich library of international formats to produce localised versions for the Arabic market, it added.

In an official communiqué, Orsten said: "We are thrilled to be working with MTVNI on this venture. There is so much untapped creative potential in the region and this partnership will go a long way in helping create an Arabic comedy industry."

He said: "From individual stand-up talent right through to major comic productions, Comedy Central Studios Arabia will provide an opportunity for Arabic comics and comedy programming talent that simply never existed before. It is this type of partnership with trusted international brand names that forms such an important part of the media ecosystem we are building at twofour54. This ecosystem provides enormous benefit to the Arab World."

Commenting on the commercial viability of the project, Orsten said: "Content generated out of this initiative will certainly be productively useful to our other efforts that include film making."

Twofour54 has just announced its first film making project with Hyde Park Entertainment called Street Dancing, as part of their $75 million (Dh275.47m) partnership with the Hollywood-based film production company.

Elaborating on the partnership, Bhavneet Singh, Managing Director and Executive Vice-President, Emerging Markets, MTVNI, said: "Research shows that there is a significant appetite for local comedy content in the Middle East. About 500 comedy episodes are aired across the Mena region every month, the majority of which are original Arabic productions, and this number almost doubles during the month of Ramadan. Comedy Central is currently seen by 164 million households in 21 territories around the world.

"We feel that this desire for Arabic comedy content, combined with the globally-renowned Comedy Central brand, portfolio and know-how, affords us an opportunity to provide viewers and broadcasters alike with content that is relevant and funny to Arabs, in their own language. Working together with twofour54, we aim to make Abu Dhabi the home of Arabic comedy production."

Egyptian comedians so far dominate the comedy scene in the Middle East and production is broadly theatrical. Comedy Central intends to take this further without challenging the current status. "Egyptian theatre is a very good source of comedy acts and will in fact help us to understand the comical perspective of our audience," said Orsten. "But we will not restrain ourselves to that platform only and will in fact take it beyond the theatrical stage."

"The objective is to create an industry and use all the resources, along with all the production in all the genres," he said.

On the satirical nature of the comedy in the region, Orsten said: "Politics and political situations can be very cleverly conveyed with sensitivity and we don't intend to impose any kind of restrictions to obstruct creativity."

"We will not be producing comedy for the region as outsiders, but in fact as one of them, one of our viewers. Only then can you appeal to their sensitivity. Comedy cannot be translated or exported to different regions. With that intention, we will conduct very elaborate talent hunt for actors and script writers. Beyond that, we will also train them and develop them into a pool of resources," said Orsten.

Commenting on the comical perspective of the region, Orsten said: "Impressions of the Middle East are mainly formed from what we see in the western media and after living here for the last two years, I say that these impressions are totally incorrect and we need to give it a realistic image to every one in the world, especially the western world."

Comedy Central Studios Arabia will look to build a pool of Arab comedians and comedy programming talent. The new venture will leverage MTVNI's international media expertise, brand and formats along with twofour54's regional knowledge to support and produce Arabic comedy. Using the production, post production and broadcast facilities at twofour54 intaj, the new studios will be well-equipped to deliver high quality content for the region.

In addition to Comedy Central Studios Arabia, twofour54 will have 60 regional and international partners developing quality media content from its Khalifa Park campus by the end of 2009. This number is expected to grow significantly throughout 2010, said company officials.

Twofour54 is an Abu Dhabi government initiative and it's vision is to establish a sustainable Arabic media and entertainment content creation industry in Abu Dhabi, a regional centre of media production which is internationally renowned, the company statement said.

The company provides a collaborative and supportive ecosystem that will allow the establishment of a world-class media industry for the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, it said.

The Emerging Markets Group manages 30 television channels, 32 websites, one video portal and four mobile TV channels encompassing the MTV, VH1, Nickelodeon, VIVA and Comedy Central and Colors brands in Central & Eastern Europe, Russia, Africa, the Middle East and India. Additionally, the portfolio of Emerging Markets includes MTVNHD, MTVNI's first international high definition channel dedicated to music and children, which is operated by the group on behalf of MTVNI.


Centre of excellence

The name twofour54 is taken from Abu Dhabi's geographical co-ordinates, which are latitude 24 north, longitude 54 east. This name was chosen to symbolise Abu Dhabi's strategic position within the Middle East, which makes it an ideal location for the centre of excellence for content creation in the region.

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