WAWA held its Second Open Mic Proactive Financial Ideas for These Uncertain Times, with the participation of María Coronado, Cultural Manager at Triodos Bank in Spain; Verónica Guerrero, Finance Director of Star TV in Mexico, and Leonardo Bigott, General Manager of Panamericana TV from Peru.
Leonardo Bigott said that production without financial guidance makes no sense and recommends seeing these “expensive products” the same way soccer leagues see their investment in players. He recommended distributors set up a financing strategy and work with dynamic scenarios. “The most important thing is to continue selling, even if you collect later. On the other hand, it is no longer possible to charge the prices we had before the pandemic,” he said, after adding that at the moment, there is no room for big productions and they must work with cans.
Cynthia Hudson, SVP and general director of CNN en Español and Hispanic Strategy for CNN/US, said that this moment requires creativity, rethinking strategies with alternative screens such as the ones offered by social networks and repackaging content to find other ways to monetize it.
Verónica Guerrero explained that the pandemic highlighted the importance of telecommunications and made shortcomings visible. He states that it is necessary to take those shortcomings and work on them to talk about them as strengths in 2021.
Coronado explained that the bank she represents has as a business model the financing of sectors that, along with being profitable, are necessary for a better world. Culture is one of them. That is why they finance series, documentaries, and productions of all types, as long as they are European. “We not only bear in mind financial profitability but social profitability” he concluded.