How is “Netflix” changing the rules of the production game in the Arab world?

Enab Baladi – Yamen from Morocco

The entry of the American network “Netflix” into the Arab production market has posed a challenge to producers of Arab series, with the high level of works produced by the American company and offered exclusively through its digital platform, and its dependence on specific production models.

The challenge lies in the capacity of Arab production companies, accustomed to a certain way of working and production, to cope with series for which the network allocates a huge budget, and enjoys a margin of freedom that goes beyond societal barriers. .

The entry of the controversial American company opened the door to a discussion about the ability of the Syrian and Arab series to take advantage of it to expand its business and broadcast it beyond the borders of the Arab world.

Entry affects Arab production market

The entry of “Netflix” into the Arab market came as a surprise for two reasons: American society did not resort to the Syrian or Egyptian drama, which has been the cornerstone of the Arab drama in recent years, that either through individual works or even in their joint works, the company having produced its first Arabic series in Jordan. 2019, and was named “Jin”.

The second reason is that “Jinn” aroused great controversy among the followers who crossed the borders of the producing country, Jordan, and moved to various Arab countries, because of the words in it which the followers regard as ” shamelessly ”, in addition to the scenes classified as“ hot ”scenes among the young heroes of the work.

Despite the controversy, the company did not stop production and in 2019 announced the production of another series called “Al-Rawabi School for Girls”, followed by the Lebanese series “Dollar” the same year, then announced l the following year on the “Beyond Nature” series. From a famous series of the same name by the late Egyptian writer Ahmed Khaled Tawfiq, starring Egyptian actor Ahmed Amin and directed by Omar Salama, both of Egypt’s leading artists today.

In an interview with Enab Baladi, the Egyptian film critic Amir Al-Omari believes that the entry of the American company will undoubtedly increase the competition with the Arab production, and thus improve the productions of the latter, which Al-Omari judge positive.

Syrian director Hisham Zaouki stressed that it makes sense, in principle, for production to improve in form and content, since the American network has a fixed form and conditions of production linked to the script, dialogue, filming. and interest in all elements of the series industry, which leads to the formation of a challenge to Arab dramas and Arab producers that motivates them to work on this topic. level.

However, Hisham Zaouki said in his speech to Enab Baladi that the production model of Arab drama is different from any other production in the world, and that it has its financial conditions in addition to the viewer’s opinion, of censorship and the topics it raises, and that part of these conditions, methods and privacy are subordinate to the logic of the Arab market and viewer, and this is where the main challenge for Arab production companies lies .

Meanwhile, Syrian director Delir Youssef has indicated that the entry on “Netflix” could push drama producers to move away from the Ramadan season and feature series with 30 episodes full of silliness, just to keep the scene busy. time, and thus produce intense and high-quality series.

Arab countries produce dozens of drama series each year for the representation of what is called the “Ramadan season”.

The Syrian drama as a model … to overcome crises?

With the entry of “Netflix” on the Arab market, and recently hired by a number of Syrian actors, notably in its latest series, entitled “Al-Mina”, and in which Maxim Khalil, Saloum Haddad, Samer played. Ismail and Lynn Gurra, the question arises of the possibility of benefiting the Syrian drama in A major crisis on the production and technical fronts of the existence of “Netflix”.

Netflix previously hired Syrian director Samer Barqawi to lead the “Dollar” series with Adel Karam and Amal Bouchoucha in 2019.

The channel also showed on its platform the same year the series “The Writer”, starring Basil Khayyat and directed by Rami Hanna.

Director Hisham Zaouki believes that the Syrian drama cannot benefit from the “Netflix” network, because the crisis that the Syrian drama is going through in the first place is not just a crisis of production.

Zaouki added that the Syrian drama suffers from a crisis in society and political reality, and a crisis in artistic work, directors and writers, and although there are good literal directors in Syria, directing needs a complete strategy, as well as artistic work.

The Syrian director added that “in Syria, the actors converse in front of the camera in three known soulless shots. This case is due to the fact that the directors in Syria are working on the principle of craftsmanship, not science, knowledge and methodology required, and the drama has become just a literal application of the script. ” However, he does not deny it. There are good series, according to him.

For the first time since the flow of money from the Gulf to invest in Syrian drama in the 1990s, only ten Syrian series aired in the Ramadan run for the final 2020 season, and this small number, compared to years ago. previous ones, reflects certain aspects of this crisis facing the Syrian drama industry.

Art companies in Syria have already produced a large number in terms of quantity, as the year 2007 saw the production of 37 series and in 2009 30 dramas and 22 series were shown in 2011.

In a previous interview with Enab Baladi, Syrian director Ayham Salman said that the Syrian drama is going through a “ different and real ” crisis today, as it has lost the artistic energies of writers, actors and technicians. be it those who took a stand in favor of the Syrian revolution or those who left Syria to have better employment opportunities in Arab countries. In addition to the productive crisis, the lack of financial resources to invest in fiction, the absence of a local poster market and the inability to shoot soap operas in Syria for a long time.

Hisham Zaouki linked the current dramatic crisis in Syria to the absence of an “integrated and real team”, because there are only good actors who need directors who know what they want and who have the capacity. to lead the art team, adding that based on this absence, “I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw works reproduced from (Netflix) or others, such as stories, atmospheres and method of staging.”

“Netflix” opens the door to the creation of Arab platforms

With the wide spread of the American network in the Arab world, the Arab platforms began to enter the Arab market, so the Saudi platform “Shahid” changed course and Egypt launched the platform. “Watch It”.

The “Watch” application was launched in 2011, and was the start of a website belonging to the “MBC” group, before the platform launched an application for tablets and mobile phones.

The app includes a wide range of Arab series and films, and has recently started producing its original and exclusive works, which are mainly Egyptian and Gulf series and films, while the platform has not launched any Syrian series until today.

As for the application “Watch It”, it belongs to the company “Egyptian Media”, owner of the Egyptian television channel “CBC”, “ON TV” and “Al Hayat”. The company also owns the newspaper “Youm Al Sabea”, in addition to several online media sites.

And the company launched it to show through it the latest dramas and motion pictures, in May 2019.

Egyptian film critic Amir Al-Omari believes that the lesson of the competition is not only to create Arab platforms, but to be able to produce, control huge budgets and use known talents, whether they are directors, technicians or actors, and not just buying and showing series.

Al-Omari pointed out that in general, competition can lead to the emergence of new forms and other independent experiences.

For his part, director Hisham Zaouki said the Arab world should give the opportunity to those who truly deserve it, so that it can succeed and have a local and international impact, citing an example of Israeli works produced by “Netflix “.

Zaouki believes that Israel produced his works in a very elaborate and dangerous manner, documenting the story from his point of view, adding: “If someone came to watch documentary films about Palestine and Israeli works appeared for him, he would be completely convinced of his story.

“Netflix” has produced dozens of Israeli works that tell the latter’s point of view in the conflict with the Arabs, which has aroused the ire of followers in Arab countries.

Zaouki added that the role of “Netflix” in the world today is the role of Hollywood before. He decides for the people what to do and can set the mood for the viewer, and if the Arabs don’t join in, they will leave the race early by putting specialists from directors, writers and the like into the mix. highly professional teams that work and create a spirit. Compete with each other and be successful in the end.

While the Syrian director, Delir Youssef, believes that Arab platforms will emerge in the coming days, discussing why the whole world is moving towards alternative platforms for TV channels, and that Arab companies will also change their plans to keep pace with this development, and the “witness” platform is the best proof of this.