House of Experts Ep8: Vibha Kagzi in Conversation with Tanuj Garg
We are ReachIvy.com, a premium study abroad and career consultancy headed by our CEO, Vibha Kagzi. House of Experts is an Insta-Live series that we kick-started to provide an insight into a wide range of career choices from people who have made it big in the industry. Through this, we aim to cover the experience of the person and how aspiring youngsters can work their way up to be successful in the field.
On Episode 8 of House of Experts, we had with us renowned film producer, Tanuj Garg. Tanuj is the Managing Partner of Ellipsis Entertainment, a new-age content creation company in the films and series space. Ellipsis produced acclaimed features like “Neerja”, “Tumhari Sulu” and “Why Cheat India” recently. Before setting up Ellipsis, Tanuj was the CEO of Balaji Motion Pictures in Mumbai, and previously heading the international marketing and distribution business for Viacom 18 Motion Pictures and UTV (now Disney) based out of London.
Excerpts from the Live Interaction between Vibha Kagzi and Tanuj Garg
1. How did you figure out your passion and why did you top it up with an MBA?
I began my journey at the Cathedral school. After my education at Cathedral, I proceeded to go to Sydenham in Mumbai. I always knew that I wanted to do an MBA, but I understood that I needed some work experience to go abroad and fulfil that dream. I started working briefly in Mumbai, and believe it or not, I started working in an IT company that specialized in end-to-end solutions for the pharmaceutical sector. I was thoroughly bored doing that, and that is when I realized that this is not my passion. I began writing for print media. One thing led to another and eventually, I realized that there was something I want to do in the entertainment sector. I was not clear at that point about what that would be, but I knew that this industry had to be my calling. Getting an MBA was an immediate priority for me because I was certain that I wanted to educate myself. It was not just about getting a job, but about educating oneself which is crucial regardless of which sector you plan on working in.
I went to the UK and did my MBA, I briefly interned for British Airways while I was there and came back to Mumbai and began my career with Mr Kumar Mangalam Birla’s company Applause Entertainment which had just started back then with a film called Black directed by Sanjay Bhansali. Meanwhile, Ronnie Screwvala had just started UTV, and I made my way into UTV. We did some exciting projects, and soon my bosses asked me to relocate to London. When I asked them why I was chosen for the job they said that they wanted to take UTV to the international level and they could trust me to do the job well. I was taken aback since I knew nothing about international distribution, but I took it up as a challenge. I had to travel back and forth from Dubai, London, and Mumbai nearly twice a month for 10 months. There was no Wi-Fi in those days, and I used to work from cyber cafes. Eventually, I was asked to join TV18 Which is now Viacom 18. I was with them for four and a half years. Then Ekta called me up to relocate to Mumbai and head Balaji Entertainment.
2. Why media and entertainment?
I think the myth that the people working in the media and entertainment industry are all Bohemian and licentious or are people who are otherwise not intelligent, needs to be debunked. It is as demanding as any other business. It really should just be about a human being converting his passion into his profession. I tried pursuing my Chartered Accountancy course, and I realized that I was not cut out for it. I was thoroughly bored with my choices. The opportunity of working at Birla’s came as a breakthrough as I realized that this was my calling.
3. What do you think it takes to make it in the industry? What happens behind the screen?
Whether it’s for better or for worse, some people only see what is on the screen. What is on the screen is white glamorous, bright, and colourful. However, what happens behind the screen is a different story altogether. It’s all about Excel sheets, number crunching, creating databases, sales calls, marketing calls, just like in any other office. The glamorous side of the business is only done by a portion of the demographic in the industry. We need to be in the loop of what the audiences want and the changing time to create relevant content and quality. I think we need to make the outsiders understand that the media and entertainment industry is only glamorous on the outside, and is just like any other business on the inside.
4. What is the toughest part of your job?
The toughest part of my job is to pick and choose the right content. We need to be able to spot the relevant talent that has a sustainable nature is creatively exciting. We need to be magnets for talent. The audience today is evolved and educated. We run the risk of becoming obsolete very soon, so we need to be on our toes. We have to think about who we are making the film for and the financial viability. We need to do an extensive amount of market research. The industry at large does a lot of market research at every stage of the film by conducting sample research to see if the script resonates with people. We cannot be blinded by our personal biases and prejudices. We need to be a people’s industry.
5. Getting to the financial aspect of the business, can you give us a walk-through of what is on the expense side and what is the revenue side?
For starters on the expense side, we have the production cost, marketing cost, actor cost, talent cost and distribution cost. On the revenue side, we have streams of revenue like cinema revenue, television revenues, digital revenue, theatrical revenue, revenue from international markets, music revenues, in-film branding revenues, revenues from ancillary rights among many others. In our industry, the key revenue drivers keep changing every year. As uncertain as it sounds, in my opinion, this makes our industry exciting and dynamic. Up until a couple of years ago, television revenue was our primary source but in the last five years, we have seen that with the advent of OTT we have seen platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar, etc. coming to the forefront.
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