TORONTO – We don't usually see rival companies hire siblings to fill competing posts, but they have with Jonah Zalken (left) working as senior manager, programming at CraveTV, while Shomi has brother Wayde Zalken (right) on board as specialist, content planning and analysis.
Something so improbable became possible because the Zalken brothers learned the film and TV business at the feet of the master: their father, Randy Zalken, a veteran TV producer and distributor with Fremantle Corp.
"We started at the same place, with our father, watching movies and TV shows," Jonah Zalken told Cartt.ca in an interview. "It was part of growing up, our exposure to great content and exposure to the industry — meeting TV executives at poker games or family functions, or on business trips that we would go on," he added.
Back when their father distributed 16mm and 35mm films, the Zalkens gathered in front of a movie projector in the basement of their family home to view the latest Hollywood or foreign flicks.
"Some of my earlier memories include screening Enter the Dragon at my fourth or fifth birthday. Or I remember standing in line with Dad at the old University Theatre to see The Empire Strikes Back. It was magical weekends like that added up to this library of love and knowledge for films. My brother of course was part of that," Wayde Zalken recounted.
The irony is the Zalken brothers, inspired early on by their father's diverse tastes for classic and contemporary movies and TV shows, display that same evangelizing zeal at CraveTV and Shomi as content curators while the rival streamers fight off Netflix Canada (and gaining market share against each other).
"We're similar in that we love to talk about what we like and recommend programming to each other. That's what our jobs are, curating and championing series that we think are great and we want people to see," Jonah explained.
Of course, while working for Shomi and CraveTV pre-launch, simple Zalken family dinners were held in a shroud of secrecy so neither brother betrayed corporate plans. "We joke about it, having a firewall between us. There isn't much grey area. We just don't talk about business, and talk more about media and what we love," Wayde said.
“There isn't much grey area. We just don't talk about business, and talk more about media and what we love.” – Wayde Zalken, shomi
Brother Jonah agrees, as he explained: "As tempting as it would be to talk about our roles, we don't cross the line. When we get together, we'll talk about the shows we like, maybe on Netflix or TMN. We don't talk about our competing services."
Their respective curatorial jobs, where they find, group and share relevant content, is also complicated by the channel scarcity the Canadian TV industry once knew now replaced by digital abundance in an online world of catch-up TV and VOD.
Wayde insists he revels in Canadians consuming content at the time and on the device of their own choosing, which requires programming for on-demand viewing on online platforms. That contrasts with decades past when film buffs needed to know someone or prowl Sam the Record Man to find obscure titles.
"If you were a real cineaste, you knew the real places to go back in the day, before Suspect Video, before Queen Video," he recounted.
It also means working with a TV schedule rulebook rewritten for the digital age, added Jonah, which may involve scheduling a new show on a calendar day, rather than in a traditional primetime slot. An example of that is CraveTV debuting 18 seasons of South Park on Canada Day.
"Picking a date can help market and push the value of a series. It was a fun idea to launch (South Park) on Canada Day as they've mocked Canadians and Stephen Harper," said Jonah.
Despite industry debate over whether CraveTV and Shomi can fend off Netflix Canada and ultimately change how Canadians consume video content, the Zalken brothers insists their rival streamers are primed for success. "Shomi is trail-blazing and I think doing things that even our competitors aren't doing. You will see our competitors copying our curation strategies," Wayde said.
For brother Jonah, CraveTV represents next-generation viewing for Canadians wedded to their smartphones and tablets as digital distribution reaches ubiquity. "This a perfect marriage of content and technology," he added. "You can talk about the rise of serialized dramas and how The Sopranos or The Wire are better served on a VOD platform that allows you to view them like you read a book, flipping through episodes one after the other.”
