'Sinetron' and the television industry

'Sinetron' and the television industry

By Marselli Sumarno

JAKARTA (JP): Sinetron, the Indonesian acronym for sinema
electronik which includes television dramas and mini-series,
debuted in Indonesia in 1980.

The term is often misused to encompass non-cinematic TV
programs like situation comedies.

This explains why Indonesian film directors like the late
Arifin C. Noer do not agree with the title sinetron for TV movies
or serial. They prefer lakon televisi (television drama).

Aside from terminology, sinetron is drawing negative
attention. It first drew criticism from the selection committee
of the 1994/1995 Indonesian Sinetron Festival, which claimed that
the local productions could not meet stiff competition from
imported products.

Despite the criticism, local sinetron productions have become
immensely popular in Indonesia. In 1990, Indonesians produced 122
television dramas, which increased to 730 last year. This year
the number is expected to exceed 1,000 since Indosiar, the newest
Indonesian TV station, went on air last January.

Indonesian television made rapid progress in the past five
years. Based on advertisement revenue projections in 1989, the
government issued operating permits to five private TV stations.
The state-owned TVRI took more than 30 years to fill 18 hours of
airtime as it does now. The private stations did the same in just
a few years.

More airtime resulted in a sharp increase in the number of TV
programs. The easiest and cheapest way for broadcasters to
satisfy public demand was to import programs. The MIPCOM TV fair
in Cannes, France, is the favored market for Indonesian
broadcasters to buy television and video programs.

According to a private TV program manager who has made
repeated visits to MIPCOM, wide-screen films are available for
between US$7,000 and $16,000; TV features are priced at $1,500 to
$5,000. An one-hour TV feature, including TV serials, costs from
$1,000 to $2,000 an episode. Prices range between $500 and $800
an episode for telenovellas and half-hour programs.

These prices are obviously cheaper than producing the programs
in Indonesia. An half-hour sinetron, for example, cost Rp 25
million ($12,000) and an one-hour sinetron episode would absorb
about Rp 40 million.

The government wants 80 percent of the programs shown on
television to be locally produced.

Only TVRI, which subsists on viewers' subscription fees,
claims that it acted on the government's appeal. One private TV
station went so far as screening imported programs dubbed in
Indonesian to make them seem local.

Compared with the impotent national film industry, the TV
industry is in good shape. Indonesian television is backed by
conglomerates allowing broadcasters and production houses to use
the most sophisticated equipment available.

The sale of TV sets increased with the advent of private
television stations and was estimated to be 18 million sets in
1994 compared to between seven and eight million in 1990.

No less important is the fact that the number of TV
commercials increases every year. The amazing growth makes the
sluggish sinetron business an anomaly.

Poor human resources and a lack of communication between TV
stations and the production houses which produce the sinetron is
the core of the problem.

Some film makers have been lured into television, but how many
are really ready for the change? The new recruits must master the
skills overnight to meet demand.

To overcome the shortage of professional writers, copying
foreign TV programs or buying foreign manuscripts and then
Indonesianizing them is standard practice. The production crew
and actors remain Indonesian, but the story is never really
Indonesian.

There are more than 300 production houses in Indonesia, but
only 30 of them are active and even less are capable of
developing the business.

Production houses suffer from weak bargaining power with
television station managers. Most production houses can only
market their products by sharing the proceeds from commercials.
The television stations usually get 60 percent of the commercial
revenue, making it very hard for production houses to fund their
productions let alone make a profit.

Indonesian sinetron production might meet the same fate as the
local film industry, with Indonesian audiences abandoning them
for better imported programs. This would kill any hope of
establishing a national film industry base.

Sinetron production is an industry so broadcasters must help
production houses make higher quality local products.

Local programs must be high quality in order to be marketable
overseas and increase the production houses' income. Only a few
houses have succeeded in doing so, because marketing demands
industrial management and smooth communication with distributors
-- something totally foreign to Indonesians.

If the development of Indonesian sinetron production is
stunted at an early stage, it might be because the industry is
not prepared to enter the realm of private television.