Latest news with #Erdos
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Paprika Studios and Seefood TV Execs Talk Formats — and No, This Is (Mostly) Not About Cooking Shows
I know, I know. When you hear Paprika, Seefood and TV, you may be thinking that this is all about cooking shows … and that the writer of these lines doesn't know how to spell 'seafood' correctly. But no, this is all about the final session of Wednesday's NATPE Budapest events schedule. 'Format Futures: How to make a splash on the global stage' was its title. And the speakers — this is where the food puns come in — were Ákos Erdos, CEO of Hungary-headquartered Eastern and Central European production company Paprika Studios Group, and Aleksander Herresthal, chief content officer of Norway's Seefood TV.'While massive franchises like Survivor and Big Brother dominate global screens, emerging formats making waves and securing international adaptations often come from smaller but highly creative players,' a description of the session said. More from The Hollywood Reporter 'Stranger Things,' Video Games and French Comics to Light Up Lucca Emma Forrest's Upcoming Novel 'Father Figure' Set for See-Saw Films Adaptation Sarajevo Film Fest to Open With Dark Retirement Home Comedy 'The Pavilion,' Lidija Kordic to Host Opening Ceremony So how do these companies succeed in the age of deep-pocketed global streaming and technology giants? 'Creativity has always been at the center of the focus of our attention,' said Erdos, touting original programming as the focus of his team at the 17-year-old company that produces in seven countries. But he also emphasized that while commissioners typically ask for fresh content that they have never seen before, they often also highlight the contradictory hope for proven concepts. Paprika's strategy to serve clients well is to develop a format and adapt it for various markets where that makes sense. For example, its first big hit was a culinary format called Fish on the Cake, which has yielded 700-plus episodes across more than a dozen countries. 'Each week, five celebrities invite each other to dinner at their own home, one by one. There, they compete to make a perfect evening for the three other guests and collect as many points as possible to be crowned host of the week,' explains a show description. Dramedy Tiger Daddy has also traveled. Started in Hungary, it has been followed by a Czech version, the executive highlighted. The show is about a single father who has dedicated his whole life to raising three girls as a stepfather. Now that they are starting out independent lives with their partners, he begins, in the spirit of '50 is the new 30,' a search for a partner. Erdos also touted drama Murderesses, about 'a young and ambitious community police officer trying to locate her father, who has been missing for a year. She's investigating a seemingly mundane murder in a booze-den and enters a dangerous relationship with a teenage suspect.' The Paprika boss mentioned that it has traveled to different markets in a different way. Netflix is streaming the show in Poland, with other streaming deals in the likes of Japan, New Zealand and other countries. 'Reality is definitely on the uprise,' Erdos said about current market trends, calling that a reversal of the previous focus on dramas. 'A few years ago, I would have said the same for fiction, but the trend is now changing, and people want relevant content,' the Paprika CEO said. In that context, he talked about The Traitors, one of the big worldwide hit formats of today. 'I am a big fan of The Traitors,' Erdos shared. 'We are producing it in Hungary, now in Romania, actually in a production hub, back-to-back, which is unique.' But big reality shows with dozens of episodes are 'getting tired and fading away from commissioners' eyes, because they start not performing,' Erdos argued. 'The ones that can fill a TV slot for 30, 40 episodes these days are hard to find.' Paprika's work and status in the broader region has clearly been getting noticed. This week, ITV Studios struck a deal with Paprika, which became independent from Scandinavia's Viaplay in January 2024 and has been working to further strengthen its reputation. Under the deal, Paprika is exclusively representing six of ITV Studios' nonscripted formats across seven key markets, namely Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Meanwhile, Herresthal on Wednesday touted Seefood's hit Norwegian adventure reality format The Box, which has been licensed to such territories as the U.K., France and Denmark. The show features 12 celebrity contestants who are placed in separate containers and put in the middle of challenges they know nothing about, meaning they must work out what to do when the box opens to accomplish the mission at hand. Seefood's other shows include the likes of Celebrity Task Force, in which celebs join the army, relationship formats Still Looking and Couples Therapy, as well as Santas in the Barn, whose description reads, 'On the very first day of December, 24 excited contestants enter a barn where they will live together as Santas for 24 days.' Herresthal was asked what works best, for consumers and commissioners, in Norway, and he didn't have to think about his answer. 'In Norway, celebrity competition reality is the only thing that they want,' he shared. 'I guess it's a major trend overall everywhere, but especially in Norway. It's interesting, because in Norway, 70 percent of the viewing is on VOD, so that kind of changed the whole media landscape and what kind of format can work in Norway.' Continued the executive: 'We don't have any talk shows anymore, and most of our studio-based formats are also not performing that well. And scripted has also been down since the streamers lowered their ambitions on the scripted side. So, that's the situation.' What does all that mean for Seefod? 'For us, it's back to the same thing. We are driven by passion,' Herresthal said. 'So for us, it's all about just trying to develop something that we really believe in. And I think we are able to persuade someone, if it's just a good enough concept.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 'The Studio': 30 Famous Faces Who Play (a Version of) Themselves in the Hollywood-Based Series 22 of the Most Shocking Character Deaths in Television History A 'Star Wars' Timeline: All the Movies and TV Shows in the Franchise
Euronews
06-02-2025
- Business
- Euronews
What are the data privacy issues plaguing Chinese AI DeepSeek in the EU?
Data authorities across Europe are investigating the data policy collection of DeepSeek, the Chinese artificial intelligence (AI) company taking the technology sector by storm. Information requests launched in Italy, Ireland,Belgium, the Netherlands, and France want to know whether the AI company's collection of information breaches Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by transferring personal data to China. These concerns have already led to the app's blocking in Italy while authorities there i nvestigate what data is collected, for what purpose, where it's being stored, and whether it has been used to train its latest AI model. The Chinese start-up launched its chatbot R1 in January, claiming the model is cheaper to operate and uses less energy than OpenAI's ChatGPT. So, why is it causing Europe's data authorities so much angst? What information does the app record? DeepSeek says in its terms of use that it collects three types of information from users: directly provided data like names and email addresses, automatically collected information like an IP address, and some from other sources such as Apple or Google logins. The agreement states that some of that information is collected through the direct monitoring of interactions and usage across devices, and that the app decides when it will need to protect the safety and well-being of its community. That information can be stored "for as long as possible," and used for various purposes. Any of the information provided can be sent to third parties, such as advertisers, analytics companies, law enforcement, public authorities, and copyright holders. We don't have any provision of essentially equivalent or adequate data protection. David Erdos Co-Director of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law, University of Cambridge This is not the only app to record these types of data; OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude do as well. Both apps, like DeepSeek, have faced criticism for their data privacy policies in the EU. GDPR gives Europeans some control over their data, like the right to erase or stop its processing. According to David Erdos, co-director of the Centre for Intellectual Property and Information Law at the University of Cambridge, DeepSeek has not guaranteed those rights would be met for EU app users. "We don't have any provision of essentially equivalent or adequate data protection," Erdos said. Where is the information stored? Much of the concern about the app stems from the fact that DeepSeek stores information on Chinese servers. DeepSeek says it maintains "commercially reasonable technical, administrative and physical security measures," to protect the data hosted in China and, when necessary, transfers user data by local laws. 'There isn't even… a legal provision given to why the data is fine to be stored in China and leaving the EU, it's just asserted that that is where the data is,' Erdos said. 'That itself would be a serious violation of the law'. A 2022 legal study paper from the European Data Protection Board (EDPB) found that the basis for Chinese privacy law is that "community stability should prevail over the needs of individual persons". The EDPB continued that "numerous exceptions" to personal data protection are made for the sake of national security or criminal investigations. The EDPB also doesn't know whether the data of foreign citizens is treated in the same way. According to a 2024 cybercrime index, China is also one of the world's most prone to cyber security attacks. A recent analysis from technology company Cisco found that DeepSeek was unable to block any jailbreak cybersecurity attacks, unlike other models that can at least partially block these attacks. "DeepSeek R1 lacks robust guardrails, making it highly susceptible to algorithmic jailbreaking and potential misuse," their analysis reads. If users still want to use the app, Erdos said they should be cautious of disclosing any personal information, including anything "that would be of an intimate nature". "People have got to make their judgement as to whether they're engaging with the service [while] it isn't necessarily giving people the rights which they would expect," Erdos said.
