Heroes producer looks to strike European co-pro deals

The producer of hit US drama Heroes has called out to the international television community to help produce and finance big budget dramas to give them a more global feel.

Tim Kring, creator and executive producer of the NBC series, is looking to tie up production deals with European creatives who could be involved with future series of Heroes as well as new projects further down the line.

"TV wants to go where the money is and the fact that these shows are selling so well internationally means that there’s a real hunger to learn how to create this content elsewhere. There’s relationships to be had with producers in the UK and companies in Germany and France," Kring told TBIvision.

The second season of Heroes launched in the US in September but the current writer’s strike could force the producers to end the season after the 11th episode. The strike has already had a big impact on the show – spinoff Heroes: Origins has been postponed until summer 2008.

Heroes was a breakout hit when it was launched last year and it has sold well across the globe. Kring says the success of shows such as Lost, created by Kring’s former protégé Damon Lindeloff, paved the way for Heroes.

"NBC didn’t have any large serialised ensemble shows like Lost. That had not been a viable format until shows like 24 and Lost came about and with the sudden increase in DVD and foreign sales, meant that the model for such serialised shows that traditionally didn’t syndicate well, are suddenly the new model," he says.

A regime change at the network saw Ben Silverman take control, which Kring hopes will enhance the show’s worldwide potential. "A show like Heroes is really shielded from the new regime and obviously no one wants to come in and shake up a show that’s working," he says. "Ben [Silverman] was a huge fan of the show, he was a fawning fan. The one thing that has been a difference is that his interested is in the international market. I see the future of TV as global, opening up to creative partnerships."