'Franchises' are money machines for Americans.

Talk to a European about a show he's involved in and the line goes something like: "I'd rather keep it low key." Talk to an American about a new show and the line most likely will be: "I'm building a possible franchise here!"

Guess who's gonna make a bundle!

Apart from the sales, what does "building a franchise" mean? In simple terms, it is a product that goes into every possible form of exploitation (windows). Now, "product" and "exploitation" are words that tend to horrify intellectual Europeans, but, for the sake of the argument, please stick with it. A product can originate as a toy, a book or a theatrical film that subsequently becomes a TV series. Lately, however, the trend has been old TV series turning into theatrical movies and merchandising phenomenon.

American companies also use products to build up their names (i.e., LCA Family Specials, E! Features, Samuel Goldwyn Theatre, Worldvision Dramatic Specials). A TV franchise, in the case of The Fugitive, Maverick, The Untouchables, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, can be worth millions in the movie theaters.

When Hearst Entertainment advertises its Phantom 2040 as "The franchise of the future" it means, in the company's words that "it opens other opportunities for the buyer." In addition to the usual six television windows, a product has franchise potential in games (including 3DO technology), CD technology, merchandising, sponsorship, books and audio products. In building a franchise, Americans are careful in nurturing their "creatures".

Rule number one: Avoid festivals. For U.S. product it is a potential handicap when shown in a competition. No one needs negative publicity.

Rule number two: Hire a publicist, shape a market booth as a set of the show, give press conferences, bring journalists and buyers on the set, give cocktail parties. Rule number three: Promote the hell out of it. Blanket the trades with ads, get the sales staff into the swing of things with lapel pins and bring in the talent, i.e., the shows' stars. Things to avoid: Airplane promotion, sales staff in T-shirts, scantily clad models (not even Playboy does it).

All this should be a matter of serious consideration for Europeans who traditionally, shy away from creating franchises through promotion and publicity.

Just as the Europeans have become more open in learning from the Americans, the former haven't always been successful in applying that lesson. The simple explanation could be that Europeans tend to miss their own proprieties' cross-promotion values. When alerted to a product's potential, Europeans fail to exploit the momentum by giving it little, if any, promotional backing. Conversely, when the full potential is realized, usually the Europeans tend to sell remake rights to the Americans.

Creativity, for most Americans doesn't stop at the drawing board, at script writing stage, or at the acquisition stage. Indeed, American creativity is flamboyantly shown at the sales floor. This is one spot where European creativity stops dead!

Americans have learned that step one -- the making of a product -- might be followed by step two, involving the skillful marketing and selling of the show.

"Franchise" also means a firmly anchored concept in the public's mind, a deliberately and firmly shaped enterprise to which the public can and will gyrate naturally simply because it is made to look, sound and feel like something they want to see, or own. To accomplish that in terms of a large number of people, is an art, a science that is being discovered and re-discovered by men and women who use ever more sophisticated ways to achieve their aim.