Sports will be a big focus area for Friday Filmworks in 2023: Devendra Deshpande

Friday Filmworks has made a mark with its thrillers such as ‘Special 26’, ‘Baby’, ‘A Wednesday’, ‘Special OPS 1.5’, etc. “It’s been an exciting roller-coaster ride in the true sense. We have had five key releases, starting the year with,” says Devendra Deshpande, CEO, Friday Filmworks. Currently, he is responsible for the development and growth of Friday Filmworks and its other divisions (Friday Storytellers, Boot Room Idea Lab). Excerpts from his interview with Adgully...

What is your vision for Friday Filmworks? Where do you see it two years from now?

We are working towards creating global, scalable and sustainable assets (IPs) and moving towards it across our verticals movies such as series, documentaries and sports. Sports will be a big focus area in the coming years and we have some really exciting plans lined up on BootRoomSports.

How has 2022 been for the production company? What are your plans and outlook for 2023?
It’s been an exciting roller-coaster ride in the true sense. We have had five key releases. We started the year with:

‘Kaun Pravin Tambe?’, which was a direct-to-digital film that was aired on Disney+ Hotstar 

‘Operation Romeo’ - theatrical release and aired on Netflix

‘Bandon Mein Tha Dum’ - A four-part documentary released on Voot, which was based on the famous India-Australia test series of 2020-2021

‘Secrets of Kohinoor’ - A two-part docuseries with Discovery Plus, which is an ongoing part of the ‘Secrets’ franchise

‘Khakee - The Bihar Chapter - Currently streaming on Netflix

We officially launched BootRoom Sports with KPT and BMTD and will be announcing the upcoming slate on sports content shortly.

We are looking towards a challenging and eventful 2023.

What are your upcoming projects? Have you tied up with any streaming platforms yet? Any international tie-ups in the pipeline?

In the digital space, we have a thriller action coming in the Q2 of 2023, which has been shot abroad and is based on true events. We will have ‘Special Ops Season 2’ in the latter half of the year and the next in the ‘Secrets’ franchise (Discovery Plus) as well. We will be working on our next feature film and another web series, which should get into production. So, hopefully another busy year!

Our partner slate includes Disney+ Hotstar, Netflix, Discovery Plus, Viacom, etc., and it doesn’t get more international than that.

What are your innovative promotional and marketing campaigns?

In an environment of multiple launches and increasing clutter, one will always have to be disruptive and innovative. Looking at newer ways to engage with audiences without compromising on the scale is what we have tried to do on our release with our partners including focus on communication (creative)/ selection of media and leveraging digital for maximum impact. Our recent launches have been an endeavour towards that.

‘Khakee - The Bihar Chapter’ was marketed widely across metros and ‘B’ centres (credit to Netflix) and for the first time the show also had a vernacular logo to establish the connection. Creative suites were designed accordingly and disseminated as the medium beyond just reach and towards relevance.

The conventional notions of the box office have changed with the digital release of movies. What is your view on the hybrid release of movies? How can OTT and theatres co-exist?

Cinematic experience is a social necessity which everyone craves for and will be sought after as long as the experience is worth the time and money! In my view, I don’t think the OTT is a substitute for theatre and vice versa; there are enough opportunities for both to co-exist. It is validated by some of the recent releases.

The scourge of piracy still exists. What can be done to stem the tide of piracy? Is the industry united enough in this regard?

This is a key issue and impacts everyone...‘Khakee - The Bihar Chapter’ was available across Torrent and on Telegram within hours of its airing. There are technical teams which are working round the clock to stem it (50-plus sites have been flagged off so far). Unfortunately, the pirates always seem a step ahead. The industry is quite united to curb this.

OTT platforms have access to audience data, which enables them to understand the audience’s behaviour and trends. Will you be relying on market research or data to test the viability of your projects?

We believe in good stories and the fact that they will always have an audience. Trends are immediate and ever changing, whereas stories take more than a year to take shape, within which the trends would have changed multiple times; so, for us the stories define the trends and not the other way round. 

Data becomes critical in understanding audience’s habits and behaviour, especially when strategising on the marketing campaign and distribution approach. And we are always curious to understand and implement those learnings. We also collaborate with organisations like Vitrina A.I., who also help us understand global content trends and approaches, which enables us to focus on the bigger picture.