Sandra Coulibaly Camara holds a Master's degree in "Marketing and Innovation in the Consumer Goods Industry" from ECM in Tours (France).
She has gained international experience in various sectors (communications, marketing, sales, audiovisual, etc.) during her 15 years abroad (France, Dubai, Hong Kong, Mexico, etc.).
After four years at Radiodiffusion Télévision Ivoirienne (RTI), where she created the RTI Distribution department specializing in the production and marketing of Ivorian content worldwide, she joined Côte Ouest Audiovisuel as the Group's Marketing and Sales Director.
Then, in September 2018, she joined Nouvelle Chaîne Ivoirienne (NCI) as Marketing and Sales Director, where she was involved in all aspects of the organization. Since 2021, Sandra Coulibaly has been at the helm of her own marketing and audiovisual production consulting firm. She is the producer of the feature film directed by Owell Brown, DANS LA PEAU D’UN CAID, which was released in theaters in 2023 and attracted more than 22,000 admissions.
In March 2024, she was called back by NCI to create a department dedicated to fiction, of which she is the Director.
You have been Head of Fiction at NCI for several months now. What is your vision for the development of fiction programs?
Indeed, I have now been Director of Fiction for three months, a position that covers both acquisitions and production.
In terms of acquisitions, I want to diversify and, above all, increase the number of distributors and producers we work with, with the aim of gaining access to a broader and higher-quality catalog of series and films. We will also increase our presence in content markets in order to meet the first objective stated above and to be able to continuously monitor what is happening in the African and international markets in terms of fiction.
On the other hand, the acquisition strategy will be more long-term, in order to anticipate all the needs of the fiction schedule.
And in terms of production?
In terms of production, we will mainly co-produce series developed by Ivorian producers, directors, or screenwriters. The selection process will involve a thorough analysis of project proposals and script readings. This will enable us to identify high-potential projects led by producers and directors who have already proven themselves on the local and/or African market, but we will also give young talents the opportunity to have their projects financed by NCI. All this will be possible thanks to the teams that have been recruited and who will rigorously monitor all the projects we are going to co-produce, from reading and validating scripts to post-production, including pre-production and filming. Our teams will work closely with the producers with whom we have signed co-production contracts. In this way, we will control the entire manufacturing process and production chain.
Our goal is to expand our fiction programming while supporting and developing local production in Côte d'Ivoire.
What type of fiction would you like to develop as a priority?
The priority is on 26-minute series, which correspond to the formats in our schedule. We have a strong female target audience, which means we focus primarily on romance and drama. The thriller/crime/action genre also has a place in our schedule, but to a lesser extent.
As for comedy, we have a section dedicated to shortcoms (3- to 5-minute comedy sketches).
Can you tell us what proportion of the schedule is taken up by fiction programs?
Fiction accounts for around 35 to 40% of the schedule, representing a significant proportion of our programming. This is why we needed to create this Fiction Department, in order to structure our fiction strategy.
Which time slots are affected, and which programs or types of programs?
We have a daily afternoon slot dedicated to women, featuring Ivorian and/or African series: family sagas, dramas, romances, etc.
Then we have another daily slot for popular youth series where we broadcast classics such as Teenagers or Class'A, followed by the shortcoms slot.
On a weekly basis, we have African feature films, Ivorian series, international series, and American blockbusters in prime time.
You work with producers in Côte d'Ivoire. How do you choose them?
The goal is to support local production. I recently signed my first co-production contracts with Franck Vléhi from Lully Grâce Production (Les coups de la vie), Jean-Hubert Nankam from Martika Production (Class’A, Teenagers…), and Kadhy Touré from Brown Angel (L’interprète, Marabout Chéri…). We select them according to the process I described above. After analyzing the file and reading the scripts, we evaluate the potential for the channel in relation to our editorial line and our needs, but also in terms of its appeal to the public (innovation, twists and turns in the plot, interesting casting, etc.). We will then be involved in the entire production process to ensure that the finished product meets our expectations.
Do you have any co-production projects involving other channels from other countries?
For the moment, we are focused on Côte d'Ivoire and local producers, and I can say that it is brimming with talent. We receive dozens and dozens of projects to analyze every day.