Wattpad Webtoon Studios’ David Madden Says Buyers Remain “Skittish” After Market Troubles: “It’s About 60% Back”

Jesse Whittock
·3 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

It’s been a nightmare year for the entertainment business, and veteran industry exec David Madden has said it has still got a way to go to find its feet again.

The Global Head of Entertainment for Korean-owned content giant Wattpad Webtoon Studios told a Content London audience that some buyers remain “a little skittish and awkward” about budgets ahead of 2024.

More from Deadline

This was due to the combined factors of the writers strikes, the TV ad market downturn and streamers switching to profit-focused business models. “Companies are still reeling from everything that’s been in the news reports over the last year,” said Madden.

The former AMC, Fox and Berlanti Productions content chief pointed to Disney as one buyer that was still “fragile in terms of knowing what to spend,” though some others were “more aggressive.”

“It isn’t as doom and gloom as it could have been but [the market] is probably 60% back. I don’t think it will be 100% back until the beginning of next year,” he added.

For Wattpad Webtoon Studios, the strikes were less impactful than others as it has a major animation business that allowed its execs to remain in business with toon writers. “While animation writers were not crossing the picket lines to pitch to networks, they were developing so we could work with them,” said Madden.

Furthermore, as Wattpad Webtoon sits on a gigantic repository of stories due to its business model of allowing writers to publish on its platforms, it had many scripts to offer that were not from “big talent agencies or writers.” These might not normally hit the desks of decision makers but Madden said: “Over the past five months, we’ve got ourselves into business with really amazing partners.”

In recent months, we’ve revealed Wattpad Webtoon projects such as a feature adaptation of Isabelle Ronin’s YA novel Chasing Red with Stampede Ventures, an adaptation of comic Love Advice from the Great Duke of Hell with Ron Howard and Brian Grazer’s Imagine Entertainment and Sigue Mi Voz, a feature version of Ariana Godoy’s web novel of the same name.

Madden revealed the company, which is owned by Korean giant Naver, has been “aggressively” seeking to find projects for “hungry” writers who have come out of the WGA action “feeling like they really wanted to land something quickly that was going to be as attractive to buyers as possible.” The data and analytics from Wattpad and Webtoon’s content platforms has helped close out agreements, he added.

Elsewhere in the interview, Madden said streamers such as Netflix and Prime Video had indicated they were looking for “broadcast-plus” projects — effectively those titles that elevate their broadly mainstream premises through scripting, visuals or another element of production.

Madden joined Wattpad Webtoon Studios in June last year, after a spell as President of Berlanti Productions. That came a year after Naver acquired social storytelling platform Wattpad by South Korean internet conglom Naver. Wattpad’s studio operations were then combined with another acquisition, digital comics platform Webtoon, to create Wattpad Webtoon Studios, with $100M committed to development and production financing. Wattpad and Webtoon’s platforms continue to operate separately.

Best of Deadline

Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.