Pixel Pictures, one of the leading content producers in the South Indian television industry is headed by Prashanti Malisetti, she hails from an entrepreneurial family, initially chose the corporate way and established herself in the financial sector, as a corporate banker for over a decade before turning into a full-time entrepreneur.
Pixel Pictures, was established in 2013, today its one of the leading media production and content creation studio in the South Indian television industry. It was established with the aim of creating exclusive content for regional audiences in India. The production house was one of the earliest companies in the industry to adapt international game shows for the Indian market, creating a new trend in reality television.
In her Straight Talk Ms. Prashanti Malisetti, Founder & CEO, Pixel Pictures, talks about her learnings and as her Linkedin Profile states, “The energy of an entrepreneur was always simmering in the background and when opportunity came in the form of handling the numbers and propelling the passage forward of Pixel’s creativity, the flow came in naturally. With a singular mantra that “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts”, the focus for Pixel has always been on consistent performance, calculated risks and building positive growth that sustains over time. A huge part of Pixel’s success comes from the personal work ethic, discipline and the zest to constantly upgrade”
Excerpts:
You quit a high profile Corporate Banking job to get into Television Production, Why?
The financial sector is very well organized in comparison to the media Industry, career growth and opportunities available are predictable too. But, after being in the financial sector for nearly a decade, I felt that my job was getting monotonous and wanted new challenges. I took a break for almost a year to reinvent myself and unlearn a lot of things. While discussing ideas in a conversation with long-time friend Director Sanjeev K Kumar, I realized how my thoughts aligned with his and I volunteered to intern on a few projects. It was then that I understood how fascinating the entire process is, as I watched people create magic out of literally nothing; I also observed how passionate, driven and tireless every individual is, to make a show happen. I finally realized that I may have stumbled upon something really exciting and intriguing and got to working on founding Pixel Pictures Private Limited.
The evolution of Pixel Pictures
Pixel was founded with a small team and a big dream – To emerge as one of the most celebrated entertainment providers globally. True to this vision, in a short span of 6 years, we have created programs that can be adapted for different languages and markets within India and Internationally. Popular for our expertise in adapting International formats for vernacular viewers, we have made our mark in Kannada and Malayalam television industry as the preferred production house for nonfiction programming and televised events. The 1000 hours of content production is a good milestone to celebrate the team’s passion towards the growth of Pixel.
The thought of wanting to get International reality shows for South TV
The thought of bringing international reality shows to the regional television market was inspired by our desire to create high-quality content and engage with tried and tested formats that have gained success all over the world. The increasing exposure to world trends has resulted in more evolved audiences who expect more refined content both in terms of look & feel as well as dramatic storytelling.
The maximum body of work is for Kannada TV, why not the other south languages? Any plans to venture into Hindi, Bangla?
The Kannada and Malayalam TV broadcasters have been pioneers in adapting world-renowned non-fiction formats, like Minute to win it (Super Minute), Dancing with the Stars (Dancing stars) and Big Brother (Biggboss), much before other south regionals like Tamil and Telugu, resulting in more matured TV viewers in these markets, ready for experimental content like Interactive (APP based) gaming and Short series in Fiction. After achieving great success in Kannada and Malayalam markets, we are now in the process of venturing into the Telugu and Tamil markets. India is such a diverse country that, culture/food/dialect differs almost every 200 kilometres and understanding the viewer sensibilities is a critical research phase that requires hard-core knowledge of the cultural, likes/dislikes, previous viewership patterns amongst others. It is important to have local talent that understands such aspects, and we have begun sourcing to find the right talent and making connections based on similar work ethics.
The company recently celebrated 1000 hours of content, your thoughts. Also you have diversified to Events, Award Shows?
It is a great milestone for any company to create such a volume of successful content. Our vision is to produce 6500 hours of content production by 2025, in multiple regional languages for TV and OTT platforms. We have been producing events and award shows since 2014 and are the preferred production house to some of our clients for their flagship properties.
Your expansion plans in 2020
The aim for 2020 is to hire local, region-specific talent, drive them to create disruptive and relevant content in both scripted and unscripted segments, for TV and OTT platforms, while focusing on what I believe would be the next big trend – content that is designed specifically for Indian children. Content that will be not just entertaining but also informative and can help develop various skill sets. In today’s bleeding-edge, virtually dominant world, it is a necessity to create a safe and secure space for children with regard to their viewing habits and to give them the right perspective. Pixel Pictures will also be entering this space, creating a VoD platform focusing on kids. Our OTT Platform is designed specially to give children under 12 an immersive experience which is both entertaining and educational as well as gives parents the comfort and security of a safe space to explore the content for their children is the next venture, we are most excited about it. It’s a space where we encourage children to dream with their eyes open and we can’t wait to weave those dreams with them!
