Women and Entrepreneurship

SUCCESSFUL WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS  contd...

Ekta Kapoor also introduced the genre of family-based serials in India. She understood that the average Indian was very family oriented and loved to be surrounded by members of their extended families. She capitalized on this characteristic by making serials that showed the life of large joint families. People welcomed this theme as they were fed up with stories about extramarital affairs. They wanted feel-good serials with which they could identify, and Ekta Kapoor gave them what they wanted. Most of BTL's serials featured regularly in the top ten programs and, almost without exception, enjoyed high viewership ratings.

Since Ekta Kapoor was the creative head of BTL, most of the successes of the company could be traced back to her. She was a hands-on manager, closely involved with all aspects of the serials– from the concept, to the script, the actors and the sets. She believed she had a knack for choosing the right faces for the right parts. Since she felt she understood audience preferences, she maintained full control over the development of serials.

She paid a lot of attention to detail and monitored all aspects of BTL's serials for the first few episodes. After she was convinced that her creative team could manage on its own, she eased off. However, she still kept track of the ratings and responses. If there was a crisis, like a fall in ratings, she stepped in again. Ekta was constantly on the look out for new ideas for serials and claimed to source most of her stories from real life situations or people. She sourced the concept of KSBKBT from a short story she read in a magazine.

BTL productions were lavishly presented and slickly marketed. Most its new serials could easily sail through on the basis of its past successes, but Ekta Kapoor ensured that nothing was left to chance. She advertised constantly to create visibility. In fact, she even made some of the characters in her serials praise other serials. For instance, some of the characters in the serials are shown discussing her other serials or finishing housework quickly to catch up with them. Her unique style of naming the serials (all names started with K and all the titles were structured in a strange manner) also drew the attention of viewers. She was once advised by an astrologer that the letter ‘K'would be lucky for her. As a result, she started naming all her serials with K. According to Ekta, ninety percent of her serials beginning with that letter have been successful, so she does not see the need to change the practice.

 

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