FICCI-FRAMES 2015 set to start on March 25

Thought leaders to focus on ‘Making India the Global Entertainment Superpower’

Come March 25 and all roads will lead to Hotel Renaissance in Mumbai where thought leaders, entrepreneurs, creative artists and visionaries, government officials, industry leaders and diplomats will congregate for three days at FICCI FRAMES 2015, Asia’s annual global convention on the entertainment and media business.

The Union Finance and Information & Broadcasting Minister Mr. Arun Jaitley, is expected to inaugurate the convention, which will also be addressed by Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Devendra Fadnavis, Union Ministers of State, Col. Rajyavardhan Rathore and Gen. V K Singh, Chairman TRAI, the Secretaries of I&B, Telecom and Commerce Ministries, besides stalwarts of the Indian and foreign cinema and media.

The theme of this year’s FICCI-FRAMES 2015, keeping with the nation’s ‘Make in India’ campaign, will aptly focus on ‘Making India the Global Entertainment Superpower’. At the industry’s annual Mecca, thought leaders will deliberate upon the fastest and most efficient routes to making this a reality.

Over 3000 Indian and 800 foreign delegates representing the who’s who of the world’s media & entertainment industry will discuss the nuts and bolts of the business and the creative thought processes of this unique industry. There will be keynotes, plenary and parallel sessions on a broad spectrum of issues covering the entire gamut of media & entertainment like Films, Broadcast (TV & Radio), Digital Entertainment, Animation, Gaming & Visual Effects over a period of three days.

At FICCI-FRAMES 2015, first FICCI Women in Media Forum at an exclusive power lunch and a heart-to-heart with TV news personality Barkha Dutt will be launched. FICCI has worked diligently towards facilitating communication and exchange between key industry figures, influencers and policy makers, working towards gender equality and ridding the industry of gender biases. To crystallize this thought into action, FICCI Women in Media Forum under the guidance of Ms. Jagi Mangat Panda, MD, Ortel Communications will be launched. The Forum will be a platform for exchange of knowledge and ideas and would aim to represent women to relevant policy-makers on issues pertaining to employment terms and practices in the media and entertainment sector.

Day one will also feature the release of the much anticipated FICCI-KPMG report. This year’s report promises to be an interesting read, analyzing some key developments and trends from 2014 and making projections for the next 5 years. 2014 was a watershed year, with advertising bouncing back with a growth rate of over 15%, the promise of digitization in the cable industry finally beginning to take hold with some pricing changes and ARPU’s rising, the government committing to Phase III radio auctions, and the film industry seeing the need to redefine some business models and practices after a challenging year.

Says Dr. Jyotsyna Suri, President of FICCI, “We are now on the cusp of a galloping change with the digital age opening up a world of boundless opportunity, bringing creative minds, industry, government, entrepreneurs, research, and all other stakeholders together.”

Jehil Thakkar, Head of Media and Entertainment at KPMG in India, says, “Overall, a return to optimism for the industry – a clear path of double digit growth is ahead. Digital finally came of age and powered ahead – it will continue to grow at close to 30% in the foreseeable future. Digital and mobile are already starting to change industry dynamics. Digitization in cable is still to fulfill its promise – but with some changes in industry practice, hope continues. Radio was a strong performer – with close to 18% growth. All in all, a year in which the foundation was laid for a robust performance ahead.”

Renowned Hollywood studio Relativity’s founder/CEO Ryan Kavananugh will address on ‘Make in India: A revolutionary new model for Hollywood and Bollywood’ setting the tone for the making of India as the global entertainment nerve centre on the first day of FICCI FRAMES. He will be joined by one of India’s finest exports to Hollywood, Irrfan Khan, at a discussion thereafter.

An entrepreneurship track on the second day of the convention will deal with funding and bringing angel investors, VCs and mentoring to industry professionals and aspirants on a one -on-one basis. A unique initiative called ‘FrameUrIdea’ will help well thought out scripts get face-time with key decision makers. The initiative would enable idea owners and producers/co-Producers/commissioners/studios/networks to have a face to face interaction encouraging original IP creation in the areas of films, TV series, documentaries, games, experiential entertainment, mobisodes etc.

An interesting conundrum now emerging in the space between the telecom and broadcast industries will be focused upon on in the opening session of day two. To enhance skills, some important workshops such as Screenwriting with the award-winning President of the Writers’ Guild of America Christopher Adam Keyser; Transmedia with John Heinsen who heads new media at the Producers Guild of America; Producing documentaries with the celebrated creative director of BBC Worldwide Mike Gunton, will bring the best of international knowledge experts to Indian industry.

The future of M&E industry lies essentially in the power of the digital. With this view, the third day of FRAMES is being celebrated as ‘Digital Media Day’ with a line-up of interesting sessions such as A Founder’s Tale with M&E veteran Raghav Bahl; Digital Disruption: Trends, Analysis, Insights And Projections; Making money off the digital native: Sustainable revenue models; Brand building and engagement in the digital world. Digital spearheading companies such as MGo, Vimeo, Jabong.com, Yahoo, YouTube, apart from industry leaders – Star, ZEE, Viacom, Disney, agencies such as GroupM, Dentsu, would be sharing their perspectives in these sessions.

A tribute to creative imagination will be paid at the Director’s Masterclass with RajKumar Hirani and Sudhir Mishra; new edgy Bollywood will be discussed at a session with the likes of Arjun Kapoor, Ayushmann Khurana and Vikas Bahl while the burning ethical issue of the day – freedom of speech for the fourth estate – will be debated on by Sonia Singh NDTV, Matthew Amroliwala BBC, Rajat Sharma India TV and Suhel Seth.

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