Frames 2003 to focus on branding

If 2002 was the year when corporatisation of the Indian entertainment industry reached a new high with the announcement of a Rs 100-crore corpus by financial institution IDBI, 2003 will concentrate on the global marketing, branding and distribution of the Indian entertainment product. This declaration was made by Yash Chopra, chairman, FICCI Entertainment Committee at a press conference in Mumbai on January 29, 2003, organised as a curtain raiser to Frames 2003, the global convention on the business of entertainment.

Into its fourth year, Frames 2003 will tackle crucial issues dogging the industry (including television, radio and the Internet, apart from films) through 26 structured sessions spread over three days, beginning March 14.

Also to feature prominently will be a one-day seminar on Technology for Media and Entertainment Industry or TIME on March 13. To be conducted under the aegis of e-Entertainment alliance, a three-way tie-up between FICCI, TiE and NASSCOM, this seminar will feature entrepreneurs and experts from the industry discussing the importance of technology and how it can be leveraged across the media and entertainment value chain. "The idea is to discuss how one can make money from technology today rather than one year down the line," said Vijay Mukhi, president, TiE, Mumbai, on the occasion.

At a time when the Indian film industry especially the Hindi film segment has registered massive losses (analysts peg the amount at a whopping Rs 290 crore for the year 2002), Amit Khanna, chairman e-entertainment alliance was categorical that "there is no crisis". "We believe the industry is going through a change, a paradigm shift, which will settle down," he stated.

Frames 2003 has a strong line-up of international speakers including Chris Cramer, president, CNN International Networks, Michael Grindon, president, Columbia Tristar International Television and Steve Marcopoto, president and managing director, Turner International, Asia Pacific.

A high point of the current edition will be the participation of Tessa Jowell MP, Secretary of State (Cabinet Rank), Department for Culture, Media and Sports, Government of the UK on the opening day with the event being inaugurated by erstwhile Information & Broadcasting Minister, Sushma Swaraj. Also present will be Maharashtra CM Sushilkumar Shinde and BJP honcho and erstwhile minister of IT & Communications Pramod Mahajan.

Interestingly, Frames will discuss critical issues such as the Conditional Access System, Financing of the Media and Entertainment Industry and the business of filmmaking.

It will highlight possibilities for branding across platforms, exhibition and distribution and trace the emergence of regional media. © 2002 agencyfaqs!