NEWS
Jessica Kam-Engle joins Deepak Dhar to head Banijay Asia’s Southeast Asia expansion under new CreAsia Studio shingle
07 February 2024
Asia programming veterans Jessica Kam-Engle and Deepak Dhar have joined forces to drive Banijay Asia’s expansion in Southeast Asia under the newly established CreAsia Studio shingle.
Based in Hong Kong, Kam-Engle will lead the regional initiative as executive vice president and business head of CreAsia Studio, reporting to Dhar, founder and group chief executive of Banijay Asia and EndemolShine India.
CreAsia Studio will produce local originals as well as Banijay format adaptations.
The new arrangement, announced this morning out of Mumbai, focuses on local originals for Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Banijay Asia alliance follows Kam-Engle’s 20+-year involvement with multi-national brands in Asia, including Disney+, HBO Asia, Warner Media Entertainment Networks, MTV Networks/Viacom, MGM Gold Network, Dow Jones Newswires and Celestial Pictures.
She was most recently head of content and development for Disney+ in APAC, commissioning more than 60 scripted and non-scripted original series, including Korean dramas “Moving”, “Big Bet”, “Connect”; Japanese live action “Gannibal; Chinese series “Taiwan Crime Stories” and “Delicacies Destiny”; and Bahasa series, “Wedding Agreement”, “Mendua”, “Call My Agent” and “Teluh Darah”.
Dhar’s plans to build out Southeast Asia originals run alongside a robust Indian production business as well as Banijay Rights’ regional distribution business, which handles finished tape and format licensing.
Banijay is Asia’s largest formats distributor, with a market share of approx 20%, according to ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook 2023. The company accounted for 33 formats of the total 165 commissioned/aired between Jan 2023 and 7 Dec 2023.
Seventeen of these were game shows and cooking formats.
Banijay Asia’s upcoming scripted adaptations include “Monk”, “House” and “Suits”.
These follow Indian adaptations of “The Night Manager”, “Call My Agent Bollywood”, “The Trial” (“The Good Wife”), “Hostages” and “Fall”. On the non-scripted front, Banijay Asia is behind “Temptation Island”, “The Kapil Sharma Show”, “The Voice” and “Into The Wild with Bear Grylls”. Originals include “Dahan”, “Matsya Kaand”, “Undekhi” and “Tribh...
Asia programming veterans Jessica Kam-Engle and Deepak Dhar have joined forces to drive Banijay Asia’s expansion in Southeast Asia under the newly established CreAsia Studio shingle.
Based in Hong Kong, Kam-Engle will lead the regional initiative as executive vice president and business head of CreAsia Studio, reporting to Dhar, founder and group chief executive of Banijay Asia and EndemolShine India.
CreAsia Studio will produce local originals as well as Banijay format adaptations.
The new arrangement, announced this morning out of Mumbai, focuses on local originals for Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Hong Kong, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Banijay Asia alliance follows Kam-Engle’s 20+-year involvement with multi-national brands in Asia, including Disney+, HBO Asia, Warner Media Entertainment Networks, MTV Networks/Viacom, MGM Gold Network, Dow Jones Newswires and Celestial Pictures.
She was most recently head of content and development for Disney+ in APAC, commissioning more than 60 scripted and non-scripted original series, including Korean dramas “Moving”, “Big Bet”, “Connect”; Japanese live action “Gannibal; Chinese series “Taiwan Crime Stories” and “Delicacies Destiny”; and Bahasa series, “Wedding Agreement”, “Mendua”, “Call My Agent” and “Teluh Darah”.
Dhar’s plans to build out Southeast Asia originals run alongside a robust Indian production business as well as Banijay Rights’ regional distribution business, which handles finished tape and format licensing.
Banijay is Asia’s largest formats distributor, with a market share of approx 20%, according to ContentAsia’s Formats Outlook 2023. The company accounted for 33 formats of the total 165 commissioned/aired between Jan 2023 and 7 Dec 2023.
Seventeen of these were game shows and cooking formats.
Banijay Asia’s upcoming scripted adaptations include “Monk”, “House” and “Suits”.
These follow Indian adaptations of “The Night Manager”, “Call My Agent Bollywood”, “The Trial” (“The Good Wife”), “Hostages” and “Fall”. On the non-scripted front, Banijay Asia is behind “Temptation Island”, “The Kapil Sharma Show”, “The Voice” and “Into The Wild with Bear Grylls”. Originals include “Dahan”, “Matsya Kaand”, “Undekhi” and “Tribhanga”, as well as “Bigg Boss”, “MasterChef India” and “Deal or No Deal” under the Endemol Shine India banner.
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