Deadline profiles some of the

When you’re deep in among the cocktail parties and dinners or meeting up with much missed contacts at Mipcom, it might be easy to forget why we’re all here: the shows. To help you remember, we bring you Deadline’s The Hot Ones, our guide to some of the best TV being sold in Cannes in 2022. You may hear whispers along the Croisette about the next big global hit, and The Hot Ones is our pick of a wealth of programing, featuring some of the biggest names in television, from the top players in distribution. From a Tim Roth-starring Australian drama about a clubbing kingpin, to cheeky mystery formats and one of the most powerful tell-all docs of our generation, featuring Olympic star Mo Farah, the next few pages will ensure you have your finger on the pulse when sniffing out the big deals at the market.

SCRIPTED

The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies

BBC Studios Length: 5 x 60’ Producer: Sister As the cameras were preparing to roll for BBC drama The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies, a plethora of jaw-dropping conman docs dropped on Netflix to much acclaim.

The timing of the release of the likes of The Tinder Swindler, The Puppet Master and Inventing Anna was purely coincidental, says Following Events exec Alice Tyler, but should lend the five-part series a lot of interest from audiences when it debuts next year.

“The pathology and psychopathy of conmen is out there in all shapes and sizes,” she says. “We’re all just so interested in what makes someone do it and in what makes someone fall for it. We have all encountered one of these people or we have been conned in some way before.”

This “universal experience” gives Tyler hope that the show will perform well outside of the UK and she is particularly confident that buyers in the U.S. will bite. Along with Blue Lights, Six Four and The Consul, distributor BBC Studios is pushing The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies hard at this year’s Mipcom.

From the minds of playwright Penelope Skinner and her sister, the graphic novelist Ginny Skinner, the show stars Sex Education’s Alistair Petrie as Rob, a conman who traps two women, Cheryl (Marianne Jean-Baptiste) and Alice (Rebekah Staton), in a triangle of epic proportions.

The show is produced by Chernobyl and The Power outfit Sister and it

The Following Events Are Based on a Pack of Lies

exhibits themes of lying, weakness and the rapid ascent of the modern fraudster, amongst others.

Scripts arrived at Petrie’s house just an hour after he’d finished watching Netflix’s The Puppet Master, about British conman Robert Hendy-Freegard. Petrie says that doc “opened up this world of identifying individuals and spotting whether they had appeared in one’s own life at some point.”

He also read Minna Lyons’ The Dark Triad of Personality: Narcissism, Machiavellianism, and Psychopathy in Everyday Life to prepare and was given an enormous background document penned by the Skinners on his character’s past.

Having worked on an eclectic mix of Sister projects, the show came about through the company’s desire to work with the Skinners, says Tyler, and their image-driven, graphic novel-led approach comes at a time when similar shows such as Netflix’s Heartstopper are garnering worldwide acclaim.

“So much of what you see on screen is visual and that all started in the writing process,” adds Tyler. “We’re constantly looking for new sources and amazing shows come from these worlds. A visual world can really set uniqueness and tone.”

The writers and producers also looked to the thrillers of the 1980s and 1990s for inspiration, as well as playfully skewering the genre for introducing colorful terms such as ‘bunny boiler’ into the everyday lexicon. —Max Goldbart

The Rookie: Feds

Entertainment One Length: 13 x 60’ Producers: Entertainment One and ABC Signature Entertainment One (eOne) is taking The Rookie: Feds to Mipcom, the latest instalment from The Rookie universe, starring Niecy Nash-Betts.

The 13-part series follows Simone Clark (Nash-Betts), who has traded in her job as a guidance counselor in Washington D.C. to become a Special Agent in the FBI. Simone sets her sights on joining a new special unit being created by Supervisory Special Agent Matthew Garza (Felix Solis), a band of so-called ‘misfit toys’ who will break from the Bureau’s rigid tradition to take on unique cases and solve them with unorthodox methods.

“Like its predecessor, this new instalment in the franchise was introduced as a two-part event during the fourth season of The Rookie,” explains Spyro Markesinis, eOne’s EVP and Head of Sales, EMEA and Asia. He adds that the show will see NashBetts “help solve high-profile crimes all around the United States, and will include some enjoyable crossover moments with Nathan Fillion’s Nolan [from the main Rookie series] when her investigations take her to LA.”

The Rookie: Feds was created by Terence Paul and Alexi Hawley, who also serve as co-showrunners. Executive producers are Mark Gordon, Fillion, Nash-Betts, Michelle Chapman, Corey Miller, and Bill Norcross. eOne owns all rights to the series excluding those initially granted to ABC in the U.S., and is therefore pushing the show with gusto at Mipcom.

Running for five seasons, the original Rookie series has become one of eOne’s most successful titles, selling in more than 180 territories, a large audience that Markesinis believes will help propel Feds to global success.

“With a similar broad appeal, The Rookie: Feds has a built-in audience in those same territories,” he says. “We anticipate it traveling every bit as well, so we’re pushing it for everywhere.”

And as with the original series, eOne is aiming to land the show on both linear and SVoD clients.

“Given the volume of episodes, the show leans towards pay TV and SVoD slightly more than free TV, but it does appeal to broadcasters and platforms alike,” he adds.

“With every year that passes, more linear services are building in VoD, so we can imagine plenty of clients would look to take a mix of rights.” —Zac Ntim

El Hijo Zurdo (The Left-Handed Son)

Movistar Plus+ Internacional Length: 6 x 30’ Producers: Movistar Plus+; Atípica Films Spanish SVoD operator Movistar Plus+’s international arm is heading to its first Mipcom with the Seville-set drama El Hijo Zurdo (The Left-Handed Son). Based on the novel by Rosario Izquierdo, the show follows Lola, an upper-class mother who impotently watches the drift of her youngest child, Lorenzo, towards the darkness of a neo-Nazi group. In an attempt to understand and

help her son, Lola befriends Maru, another mother of a different social class, whose situation is similar to her own.

“If you’re looking for something unique and different, this is the one for you,” says Domingo Corral, Director of Original Fiction at Movistar Plus+. “We don’t like formulas, so we don’t do formulaic stuff, but at the same time, our approach to storytelling is really very universal.”

Written, created, and co-directed by La Peste scribe Rafael Cobos, the show began production in Seville in July and wrapped shooting last month. Paco Baños (The Plague) directed four episodes, Daniela Cajías (Schoolgirls) is the series cinematographer, and María León (The Sleeping Voice) stars.

Movistar Plus+ Internacional, the streamer’s in-house global sales division, is handling international distribution on the project. Corral says that despite the show’s local scope, he believes it will prove popular with international audiences thanks to its high production value and performances. “You’re going to see a Seville that you would never see if you visited like a tourist,” he says.

However, Corral adds that while pre-sales are important, he will be most focused on finding an international partner that he believes compliments Movistar Plus+’s creative ambitions.

“We want to do business with people who share the same vision and understand what we are trying to achieve—that’s the most important thing,” he says, citing HBO, Canal+, Arte and Sky as ambitious companies that make “high-quality” television.

“Business is important, but I’d rather make less money and be in the right place than make more money and not be in the right place,” he adds. “If you’re in the right place, then your show is going to be treated in a different way. It’s going to get more love.”

Movistar Internacional Plus+ GM Maria Valenzuela adds that the Spanish company’s growing reputation as a highend content creator will help aid sales.

“Six years ago, people did not have the storyline references they do now from us,” she says. “It’s been a beautiful trip and now it’s easy to communicate what we’re doing.” —ZN

As Long As We Live

Eccho Rights Length: 6 x 60’ Producer: Glassriver It’s a sign of the times that Mr. Robot actor Martin Wallström has taken on a role in a thoughtful, dramatic Icelandic drama series. The actor will star opposite creator Aníta Briem in As Long As We Live, which Iceland-based producer Glassriver is making for local broadcaster Stod 2 and Swedish streamer C More. Production began in the summer.

Another Swedish partner, Eccho Rights, will be in Cannes with early rushes of episode one for buyers. Its participation in the series comes through its London-based Director of Co-Productions, Acquisitions and Development, Adam Barth.

“Even though it’s loosely based on Aníta’s life and experiences, it’s quite an international story,” he says.

With her writing variously described as “immaculate and sensual”, “outstanding” and “engaging” by the program bosses behind As Long As We Live’s order, Briem has penned a script that describes the condition of Beta, a former pop queen who is now struggling in a stale marriage and longing for the thrills of her previous life. Unhappily married, she and husband Thomas (Wallström) are introduced to dangerous sexually-charged games when a young man enters their home. Though their relationship is rekindled, it is placed under great strain.

Eccho Rights’ recently retired Managing Partner Nicola Söderlund has taken to calling the genre Briem has created ‘Nordic Love’, as companies in the region try to shake off the ‘Nordic Noir’ association that has both helped and hindered shows launched over the past decade.

Barth explains Söderlund was referring to the liberal and straighttalking sensibilities of Scandinavian broadcasters and streamers that mean the show is quite unlike romantic or relationship stories available from other parts of Europe and the U.S.

“Anita’s script asks what drives us to make the choices we make,” he adds. “Martin caught that when he met her. This is her story and it’s from a place of self-reflection, looking at gender roles but not through the usual Nordic prism of a murder or a conspiracy plot.”

The international version includes more English than the Icelandic version, with the split coming out at about 70/30 thanks to wide use of internal monologue that’s easily recorded in both languages. As such, several buyers are understood to be in the closing stages of deals, though Barth assures buyers there will be still plenty to discuss in Cannes. —Jesse Whittock

The Gymnasts

All3Media International Length: 6 x 60’ Producer: Indigo Film Oscar-nominated producer Indigo Film and All3Media International were seeking a zeitgeisty young adult show to hit the market and the world of gymnastics sprung out at them.

Coming-of-age thriller The Gymnasts centers on a team of elite teenage athletes as they compete at an international tournament high up in the snowy, atmospheric Italian mountains. So far so good, but as tensions and obsessions begin to escalate within a team desperate for victory, a competitor suddenly dies, and the police suspect murder.

The Gymnasts’ director is Cosima Spender (Palio, SanPa: Sins of the Savior) and the writing team includes Chiara Barzini (Arianna), Ilaria Bernardini and Ludovica Rampoldi (Exterior Night, The Traitor, Gomorrah), the author of the novel from which the show is adapted.

The thriller comes just a few months after a translated version of the book is due to be released in the UK and this will no doubt help drum up interest.

Stephen Driscoll, All3Media International EVP, EMEA, compares the tone of The Gymnasts to popular young adult dramas including Skins and BBC Three’s Clique, and says All3 felt the young adult market was underserved, especially in local broadcasting.

“We felt the focus on the experiences of young women in the gymnastics sporting arena would have broad appeal,” he adds.

Women’s gymnastics has hit the headlines in recent years for all the wrong reasons after U.S. team doctor Larry Nassar was convicted of sexually assaulting hundreds of children and young women, but Driscoll says the focus is more on young women competing in sport, which has also been popular of late.

“People are incredibly interested in power dynamics and these will play out in the drama.”

The show has an interesting coproduction model, having been financed by Paramount+ for territories including Italy, France, Canada, South Korea, Australia and Latin America, along with public broadcasters Rai and ZDFneo, who take second window.

“The SVoDs have been great on YA but traditional broadcasters have been caught on the backfoot, so it’s great that we’ve managed this funding model,” says Driscoll.

As Paramount+ already holds rights in numerous territories, All3 is mainly targeting the U.S., Scandinavia and Iberia, with buyers set to be shown the first two episodes at Mipcom.

Given its co-production model, Driscoll believes the show will work equally well on a linear broadcaster, SVoD platform or pay-TV network.

All3 is set for a busy Mipcom and is also taking high-end Emily Bluntstarring Hugo Blick Western The English and psychological adventure reality The Unknown to the Croisette. —MG

The Gymnasts

Dark Hearts

Dark Hearts

Newen Connect Length: 5 x 52’ Producer: Mandarin Télévision Action-thriller Dark Hearts follows the exploits of French Special Forces deployed to Iraq on the eve of the 2016 Battle of Mosul, in which Iraqi government troops and Kurdish fighters supported by an international coalition took back control of the city from the Islamic State.

Nicolas Duvauchelle stars as the leader of an elite French commando unit who captures a high-ranking jihadi in the build-up to the campaign.

The latter cuts a deal offering intelligence in return for the safe passage of his daughter and grandson. The catch is that her location is unknown, leading to a dangerous reconnaissance and extraction mission with an open-ended conclusion that leaves the door open for more seasons of the show.

Dang Thai Duong and Corinne Garfin, whose credits include The Bureau, co-created the six-part drama, which is lead-produced by Paris-based Mandarin Television, a subsidiary of Eric and Nicolas Altmayer’s cinema-focused company Mandarin.

Lebanese filmmaker Ziad Doueiri directs. He began his career in feature film with award-winning, Arab-language classics such as West Beirut and The Insult and has successfully branched into serialized drama in recent years, with credits including Canal+’s Baron Noir and Arte’s Inhuman Resources.

Leona Connell, EVP of Distribution at Newen Connect, suggests the combination of Doueiri’s sensitivity to Arab culture and the different operational style of France’s Special Forces makes for a fresh take.

“There are lots of shows about elite units operating in the field, but this is the first time there has been a series specifically about French Special Forces,” she says. “They have a more immersive approach, which connects them to the local people. There’s also the fact that Ziad understands both French and Arab culture.”

Prior to the shoot in Morocco, the cast spent a week living with a Special Forces unit and Connell says this “anchors” the show in reality. “You can see a tremendous amount of research has been done,” she adds.

The show marks the first collaboration between Prime Video and state French broadcaster France Télévisions. Under this structure, the platform will launch in France as well as Belgium, Switzerland and Luxembourg later this year and France Télévisions will premiere nine months later in France.

Newen Connect is handling world rights excluding France and is also selling the second window in French-speaking Belgium and Switzerland after the Amazon launch but has not revealed the window duration for those territories.

Connell believes the show has broad worldwide appeal but deals out of the UK and the U.S. are high on the priority list.

Ahead of Mipcom, recent Newen hire Phil Sequeira was due to shop Dark Hearts in New York and LA and, heading into the market, Connell expects to have one episode available in English for buyers. —Melanie Goodfellow

Cristo y Rey

Mediawan/All3Media Length: 8 x 52’ Producer: Good Mood for Atresmedia Studios Spanish drama Cristo y Rey explores the marriage of real-life circus impresario Angel Cristo, a flamboyant figure who lived life in the fast lane, and his second wife Bárbara Rey, a former Miss Spain who went on to carve a career as a popular film and TV actress.

Their showy lifestyle and turbulent relationship regularly made it onto the pages of the local Spanish tabloid papers throughout their eight-year marriage, which spanned most of the 1980s.

The eight-episode drama packs star power with Money Heist cast members Jaime Lorente and Belén Cuesta in the titular lead roles.

Daniel Écija at Madrid-based Mediawan subsidiary Good Mood— whose credits include supernatural crime drama Estoy Vivo—is the creator and showrunner on the drama, which has been commissioned by the production arm of Spanish media group Atresmedia for Antena 3. Écija also takes executive producer credits on the show alongside Montse Garcia, head of fiction at Atresmedia Studios. David Molina Encinas (Paradise, Paco’s Men, Estoy Vivo) and Manu Gomez (Once Upon A Time In Euskadi) co-direct.

Écija says the initial idea had been to focus on Cristo, until a close associate of the circus owner highlighted the importance of Rey in his life. “An assistant director brought us a lot of documentation on Ángel Cristo and we soon discovered how fascinating his life was. We started to work and having talked to his close friend, Payasito, we realized that Bárbara Rey was also an extraordinary character in the story.”

After traveling to meet Rey in Marbella, the producers were convinced they needed to show both characters.

Cristo was not high profile outside of Spain, although he was well known in France where he travelled with his show, but Écija still believes the Spanish-language drama has strong international potential.

“Cristo y Rey is a story about love, violence, sex, drugs, and the king of Spain,” he says. “I really think it has the perfect ingredients to travel. We hope it will resonate with Lat-Am audiences and those who are close to our understanding of the story, but the series has the intention of reaching an international audience.”

The show is already generating considerable buzz back home where a teaser was released in early September. A launch date has yet to be set, with the shoot only just wrapping in the middle of last month.

“We are very pleased with the expectation it sparked. It’s a true story, related to the recent culture of our country, and we’re extremely lucky to feature two of the most important actors in Spain,” says Écija. —Melanie Goodfellow

The Swarm

ZDF Studios/Beta Length: 8 x 45’ Producers: Schwarm TV Productions (JV of Intaglio Film & ndF International Production), Bravado (co-producer), in association with Viola Film Two German distributors are headed to Cannes with one major European drama project: Indie vendor Beta and ZDF Studios, part of public broadcaster ZDF, have pooled resources on The Swarm, the first project from Game of Thrones executive producer and director Frank Doelger and his Intaglio Film, which is co-producing with Eric Welbers’ ndF International via a joint venture, Schwarm TV. (Intaglio itself is a JV between Beta and ZDF Studios.)

Doelger created the English-language eco-thriller series with Oscarnominated producer Mark Huffam (The Martian, Saving Private Ryan) and Ute Leonhardt (Killing Eve). It stars Cecile de France, Alexander Karim and Leonie Benesch, is directed by Barbara Eder, Luke Watson and Philipp Stolzl and is based on Frank Schätzing’s book.

A host of overseas broadcasters and streamers have already snapped up local rights as pre-buying coproducers but Oliver Bachert, Beta’s Chief Distribution Officer, says this won’t impact the editorial: “There’s a big advantage here, in fact: we have preset IP, not an original storyline for TV, and Frank as the key showrunner with a creative vision everyone supports.”

The story begins with a series of strange happenings around the world’s various oceans that culminate in a species of ice worms emerging from the sea. The United Nations decides to make a preemptive strike against whatever is conducting the occurrences deep in the water, though scientists

Last King of the Cross

believe it is a suicide mission.

“We’re always focused on quality and name alone doesn’t sell a show, but Frank Doelger gives us the whole package and we’ve been stunned by what we’ve received so far,” says ZDF Studios Vice President of Drama Robert Franke.

ZDF Studios and Beta are jointly distributing the show and have each taken on specific territories. Buyers have been tracking the slowlygestating show’s progress since its announcement in 2019, so a slew of deals are likely to follow soon. Both sides are working to maximize revenues and have unified their marketing efforts at Mipcom, but they have been careful not to work anti-competitively.

“On a production level, the partnership is about scale and translating that to international sales,” adds Bachert.

“It’s hands down the biggest package we’ve been involved in,” says Franke. “Buyers can expect a thrilling drama show that keeps you on your toes. It’s wrapped in a topical theme—climate change and the global ecosystem in danger—but this approaches it in an entertaining way that uses genre to make concepts about complex interconnected ecosystems digestible.” —JW

Last King of the Cross

Cineflix Length: 10 x 60’ Producer: Helium Pictures Paramount+ has made much of its international prowess and this buzzy Australian drama is testament to what the streamer is trying to do outside the U.S., with some serious star power to boot.

While landing on Paramount+ Australia soon, distributor Cineflix Rights has the rest of the world to pitch the gangster thriller to, in what looks set to appeal to a wide range of buyers.

Tim Roth recently replaced Ian McShane as lead Ezra Shipman for the show, which is inspired by John Ibrahim’s bestselling autobiography about how the author rose from being a poverty-stricken immigrant with no education to Australia’s most infamous nightclub mogul. Kieran Darcy-Smith is writer/director and Mark Fennessy is producer for Helium Pictures.

Last King of the Cross starts with the arrival in Australia of two Lebanese teenagers, John (Lincoln Younes) and Sam (Claude Jabbour).

They quickly enter an underworld and make a name for themselves as the cocaine wave hits Sydney’s Kings Cross nightclub scene, spinning the region into chaos. The brothers are forced to battle the reigning King of the Cross, Shipman, played by Academy Awardnominee Roth, along with motorcycle gangs and corrupt police, for control of Kings Cross.

James Durie, Cineflix Rights Head of Scripted, says the show’s global selling points include being “epic in scope and operatic in tone”.

“There are so many elements that make it an incredibly rich story,” he adds. “From the brilliantly diverse characters to the thrilling and multi-layered plotline, to the period its set in and the world... Kings Cross, a character in itself, is barely half a mile long but has every form of criminality on offer.”

Durie lists a plethora of other intriguing themes that will catch buyers’ eyes, including the ‘rags to riches’ nature of the tale, being a “classical crime story of gangs” and the bringing together of “crooked cops and a broken justice system.”

Cineflix is already pitching the script in certain key territories and “exciting deals” will be unveiled soon, adds Durie.

He believes the show, which “takes risks and is realistic in its depiction of gangster life”, would work best on an SVoD or pay-TV platform, as it is bingeable and could be converted into a franchise.

It fits neatly alongside a bulging Cineflix scripted catalog that includes the BritBox /ITVX adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s Crime, Apple TV+ hit Tehran and CBC’s Coroner. —MG

Colin From Accounts

Paramount Global Length: 8 x 30’ Producers: CBS Studios and Easy Tiger Svelte romcom Colin From Accounts arrives at Mipcom with the aim of offering a new slice of Aussie life.

Produced by CBS Studios in association with Easy Tiger Productions, the show follows Ashley and Gordon, two single(ish), complex people who are brought together by a nipple flash and a wounded dog.

The series was created by and stars Patrick Brammall (No Activity) and Harriet Dyer (Wakefield), and received funding from Screen Australia and Screen NSW. The real-life couple portrayed may have writing credits on the show, but the real inspiration came from a blindspot they identified within the Australian TV industry.

“I had this idea about an accident that brings two people together,” says Dyer, who is also exec producing the project. “[It’s] a sort of romantic comedy set up because Australia has zero romcoms.

“We sat and thought about it more and found that Australia is really good at drama, it’s pretty good at workplace stuff, but we just don't have a romcom culture. It makes us excited to create something of that ilk.”

Paramount Global Content Distribution is distributing the series outside Australia and New Zealand, and Dyer says the response from the global market has been incredibly positive, with some international sales already lined up.

She adds, “Everything is so international in the world right now. Shows like Fleabag and Derry Girls made such a splash. All these idiosyncratic pieces that belong to a non-American dialect seem to work but we felt like Australia didn't have that. The nation didn’t have a piece that was hitting a global market.”

Dyer said the response to ColinFrom Accounts has left her feeling “blessed and humbled”.

“We didn’t know if this would work, but we thought we’d give it a go. There are more sales coming and we’re just pinching ourselves because we truly made something that makes us laugh.”

Directors are Matt Moore and Madeleine Dyer with Trent O’Donnell, Alison Hurbert-Burns and Brian Walsh serving as exec producers.

Paramount is hoping for a busy Mipcom and is also taking Rian Johnson’s TV debut Poker Face starring Natasha Lyonne, Adrien Brody and Chloe Sevigny, which launches on Peacock next year, along with the Max Thieriot-starring Fire Country. —ZN

Gray

Lionsgate Length: 8 x 60’ Producers: AGC Television, Lionsgate Television

With Killing Eve having completed its final mission, buyers will be eager to see what the world of espionage might bring them next. Lionsgate is hoping Gray will be the answer as it brings the project to Cannes for the first time.

Producer AGC Television, which originated the project, is handling U.S. distribution, represented by CAA, in tandem with co-financier Lionsgate.

The drama represents a highquality coming together of partners, with Lionsgate known for the likes of Orange is the New Black and the Power companion series and AGC behind Epix’s War of the Worlds and Australian drama Troppo among others.

Colin From Accounts

They’ll be selling the drama series starring Emmy winner and Oscar nominee Patricia Clarkson (The Station Agent, Sharp Objects) as CIA spy Cornelia Gray, who comes in from the cold when a mole in her former spy network is discovered, 20 years after she escaped from captivity when her peers wrongly accused her of a crime. It’s a Sin breakout Lydia West, who replaced Game of Thrones actress Nathalie Emmanuel due to scheduling clashes, and Rupert Everett (My Best Friend’s Wedding, My Policeman) will also star as part of what Lionsgate President of International Television and Digital Distribution Agapy Kapouranis calls a “diverse and fantastic cast of likeable characters”.

Wendy Crewson (Pretty Hard Cases), Shawn Doyle (Star Trek: Discovery), Tim Rozon (Wynonna Earp), Jamaal Grant (Chucky) and Benjamin Sutherland (Billy the Kid) are among that set, with John McLaughlin (Black Swan) writing, based on an idea from author David Baldacci.

Tonally, Lionsgate is positioning Gray as a “cat and mouse” format, with antihero and murder mystery undertones. Kapouranis adds it is “not as severe as traditional espionage; this is more fastpaced, almost like a Killing Eve.”

Herbert L. Kloiber’s Night Train Media was unveiled as a distribution partner earlier this year, but Deadline understands it has since stepped back. Production is now close to wrapping in Toronto and, as a result, Kapouranis says Mipcom comes just too soon for a pilot episode to be available, though she expects to have a sizzle. However, she says it will be “front and center in Cannes this year”.

“It’s going to be a premium, starstudded show,” she adds. “You want escapism that keeps you on the edge of your seat.” —JW

FORMATS

Le Plus Grand Karaoké de France

Banijay Rights Length: 2 x 120’ Producer: DMLS TV In these difficult times, fun, playalong formats are all the rave and Banijay Rights has tapped into the zeitgeist with this French event series.

Gray

M6’s Le Plus Grand Karaoké de France starts with a whopping 6,000 contestants, each of whom belt out a song at the same time, leading to some amusing moments.

Only 1,000 will be equipped with headsets and microphones and this is where it gets interesting, as behindthe-scenes experts judge the budding singers’ ability over four rounds.

The stakes get higher throughout, with finalists performing a duet on stage with a music star before one contestant is named the best karaoke singer.

Filmed by producer DMLS TV in France’s prestigious Roman Theatre of Orange, Le Plus Grand Karaoké de France recently debuted and won the slot for 25-49 year olds, becoming M6’s third best music entertainment show since January 2018 behind The Secret Song and Mystery Duets, according to Banijay Rights.

The distributor has worldwide rights outside of France and the show is one of its flagship Mipcom titles, with Banijay’s Global Head of Content Development James Townley saying it takes advantage of the renaissance for uplifting entertainment as audiences seek upbeat shows, and buyers strive to attract broad, co-viewing audiences.

“Le Plus Grand Karaoké de France taps into this trend as it is fun, highenergy, and sees audience members get on their feet and belt out songs beloved by the nation,” he says. “The sheer number of those joining together to sing creates a unifying atmosphere, which we certainly missed during the lockdowns.”

With its “warm tone, high energy and family-friendly” approach, Townley believes the format has international potential and can easily be adapted to a particular territory’s needs by choosing locally relevant songs and presenters.

Banijay is targeting Europe and Latin America in particular, with versions of Your Face Sounds Familiar and All Together Now (Canta Comigo) working well in the latter, and Townley believes the format could work on both linear broadcasters and streamers, serving the latter’s desire for entertainment content.

The distributor is also pushing Dutch balloon format Blow Up and ITV’s Stars in Their Eyes-style Starstruck.

On the scripted side, hopes are high for Canal+’s Marie Antoinette, Steven Knight’s British SAS drama Rogue Heroes and Australia’s Bali 2002, amongst others. —MG

Blowing LA

Fifth Season (Formerly Endeavor Content) Length 8 x 60’ Producers: Fulwell 73 in association with Fifth Season Blowing LA is part of the resurgence in interest in glossy reality TV typified by shows such as Selling Sunset. “Aspirational, glamorous and fun, with incredible talent in front of and behind the camera,” is how Liz Tang, Executive Director of Acquisitions at distributor Fifth Season, describes the concept.

The show follows the professional and personal lives of Ted Gibson and Kim Vo, two of LA’s best-known celebrity hairdressers. Their businesses thrive on styling the stars, where they can charge up to $2,500 per cut. Each of their stores comes with a cast of colorful characters adding value.

“The show is naturally full of jeopardy as it looks at two of California’s hottest rival salons—both home to the top stylists in LA—and they are very much aware of one another,” says Tang. “The rivalry is fierce and the desire to be on top is even fiercer.”

Blowing LA was commissioned out of Paramount+’s UK office, with British outfit Fulwell 73 (which counts James Corden as a co-owner), attached to create as part of a wider push into reality TV that also includes The Kardashians for Disney+. “Buyers know they’re in a safe pair of production hands,” says Tang.

The show, which also launches Fifth Season’s push into luxury lifestyle formats, has several key beats: jeopardy and drama between the stylists, big reveals of high-end beauty makeovers and sweeping drone shots of sunny LA adding glamor. “It’s the escapism everyone is currently seeking,” says Tang.

Buyers concerned the show is all drama and no heart shouldn’t worry either, she says. “Against this competitive backdrop, there’s a lovely element of comradery between the cast. They are competitors, but they are friends and peers, too.” She also notes Vo and Gibson’s real-life partners play significant roles, giving the content a “very warm, watchable and real angle”.

To boot, Tang says the concept is “very international,” adding: “LA is an obvious first choice because these two salons are iconic and the celebrity clientele is on tap, but we could totally envision Blowing London, Blowing Sydney and Blowing Dubai down the line.”

The show will be sold in Cannes as part of Fifth Season’s first slate since rebranding from Endeavor Content last month. That followed South Korean firm CJ ENM acquiring 80% of Endeavor’s scripted business for $775 million. —JW

Now What

Warner Bros. International Length: 90 x 10’ Producer: Warner Bros. International Television Production Belgium Now What is social experiment TV for Gen-Z. Aimed at young adult audiences who’ve completely turned their backs on linear television, the show’s unusual format is “a trojan horse for getting those people on to streaming platforms at a very appealing price”, says Ed Levan, Warner Bros. International Television Production’s Vice President of Creative, Format Development and Production.

The concept is simple enough: seven people aged 18-22 will move in

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together for three months. However, unlike Big Brother and other reality series set in similar precincts, the characters are free to come and go as they choose, with cameras following them on the streets and in their lives away from the group. Only the communal living spaces will be rigged.

Furthermore, there is no competition element or prizes. Instead, personal stories create the narrative and the jeopardy necessary to hook the audience, whether they involve achieving a career goal or relationships with outsiders.

In Belgium, the series goes into production in late September, with 10-minute episodes releasing daily on broadcaster SBS’s GoPlay streaming platform for the following three months. The shows will lag about a week behind the actual date, providing a sense of familiarity and immediacy and creating what Tom De Baerdemaeker, Managing Director, WBITVP Belgium, calls a “feedback loop”.

“This is daily appointment TV on a non-linear platform, which is new,” adds co-creator De Baerdemaeker. “Co-habiting is very big for this generation, as it’s too expensive to live alone, and the only thing the characters get from us is accommodation. All other expenses are their own, so they continue to live their lives. It’s very far from Big Brother.”

De Baerdemaeker and Belgian indie Authentic Fiction developed the format through a scripted show, Thirtysomethings, which they created together for public broadcaster VRT. While it had been created for linear broadcast at 24 episodes, VRT chose to put it all online and carved out two distinctive audiences: what De Baerdemaeker calls an older “soap” base on TV and binge-watching younger viewers online. “This made us think there must be something we could do for 20-somethings,” says De Baerdemaeker. After initial development of a scripted series format was dropped, the producers turned their attention to a reality format and Now What (previously Eighteen+) emerged.

Levan says WBITVP will be targeting format sales to all streaming platforms, convinced the unusual format will provide a key USP. “If you have a hit— and I believe this will be a hit—people will find space for it on their platforms,” he says. “It’s a program budget sliced in 90 ways rather than nine. We have to show streamers what this can do.” —JW

Exchange

CJ ENM Length: 15 x 60’ Producer: CJ ENM South Korea pumps out formats faster than Squid Game kills off competitors, and this year’s Mipcom haul is no exception. The nation that brought the world the now globally-recognized Masked Singer and I Can See Your Voice will have a strong presence in Cannes this year, with CJ ENM’s Exchange leading the charge.

The 15-part show from Lee Jin-ju aired last year on the Korean broadcaster and is already attracting serious global attention.

Reminiscent of Big Brother but with a juicy twist, eight men and women with their own stories gather in a house to reunite with past lovers. Without revealing who their ex is, the contestants spend their days taking part in challenges, while hosts keep an eye on them from the studio.

As with the best reality shows, Exchange is part entertainment, part social experiment, posing questions to contestants and the public over whether they will find new love amongst old flames or reunite with ex-partners.

“Exchange is unique in its story and how it is told,” says CJ ENM Head of Format Sales Diane Min. “There have been dating shows where ex-couples meet but this is the first that tells the story by hiding who the ex-couples are.”

It is this uniqueness, believes Min, that has piqued global buyers’ interest since launch and already led to a number of deals being closed.

The show is in development with an as-yet-unannounced U.S. studio and is being developed in another 15 countries as part of a deal struck with Banijay, including the Nordics, Spain, Portugal, Germany, and Australia. It is therefore one of the more mature formats traveling to Cannes.

Min is also pleased with the way in which Exchange fits within the bulging CJ ENM catalog.

While this catalog is replete with singing and dancing formats, in which Korea specializes, it is rare for CJ to push a dating format and Min partly credits this expansion with the show’s early success in the market.

She believes Exchange will work best on OTT platforms, as this gifts producers the flexibility to play around with episode length, duration and how much they decide to include from the edit.

Elsewhere at Mipcom, CJ is shopping My Boyfriend is Better, a singing contest with a twist which is the latest format from Masked Singer creator Park Won-woo.

My Boyfriend is Better follows five girlfriends who want to show off their boyfriend’s singing skills, placing bets to see who is the best singer. —MG

Snake in the Grass

NBCUniversal Formats Length: 6 x 60’ Producer: Renegade 83 Espionage-themed reality shows are all the rage in global unscripted TV right now and NBCUniversal Formats brings another twist on the genre to Cannes this year. Snake in the Grass takes the athleticism and action of Ninja Warrior, the underhanded scheming of The Mole and social experiment isolationism of a Bear Grylls show and packages them up in a high-octane challenge to win $100,000 by surviving 36 hours in the wild.

In the USA Network format, four contestants are dropped in the middle of a Central American jungle, where they must face a series of gruelling and mindtwisting challenges, while trying to figure out which of them is the saboteur trying to undermine them every step of the way. ‘The Snake’ will attempt to hide their identity to win the cash, but each successful game provides the players with a clue to who the cheater is—if they’re not caught, they bag the cash. The games include retrieving game pieces suspended on high wires over a 500 ft canyon as well as scaling cliff faces and solving puzzles.

Ana Langenberg, Senior Vice President of Format Distribution and Production at distributor NBCUniversal Formats, says the show is “intense, action-packed and fast-paced, and not for the faint-hearted,” challenging viewers to find The Snake for themselves. Each episode provides a quick introduction to the contestants before the action immediately takes hold. “The obvious thing that sets this apart from other espionage and mystery formats is there is an episodic conclusion. There’s a pay-off for the viewers. This element of deceit is one that is fascinating.”

Langenberg says the competitors need to be “adventurous, up for a challenge, and physical,” but notes there’s no survivalist element, and that the format works better if there isn’t a male skew. “It can also lend itself to celebrity episodes,” she adds.

The show was USA Network’s biggest new launch in two years, according to Langenberg, whose company NBCUniversal developed the format alongside Naked & Afraid producer Renegade 83, which worked up the initial idea.

Structurally, the format uses fixed-rig cameras for certain games, with roving cameras following the contestants around the vast jungle area. USA’s show has been produced out of a hub two hours from where the action takes place in more luscious scenery. Cost-

Snake in the Grass

wise, Langenberg describes Snake in the Grass as “not ridiculously expensive but also not cheap”.

The format will be a big focus for NBCUniversal in Cannes, with Langenberg’s team already fielding several offers and many more buyers reaching out to learn more. —JW

DOCS

The Elon Musk Show

Fremantle Length: 3 x 60’ Producer: 72 Films Barely a week goes by without Elon Musk dominating the world’s media coverage.

The world’s richest man continues to intrigue the public and with The Elon Musk Show, 72 Films, the prolific producer behind the likes of The Trump Show and Netflix’s Jimmy Savile: A Very British Horror Story, has honed in on this fascination. BAFTA Craft-winning Defending Digga D director Marian Mohamed is directing with A&E in the War Zone’s Jeremy Llewellyn Jones.

Fremantle is distributing the threeparter, which promises to “get to the heart of who Elon Musk really is”. It’s set to air on the BBC next year, telling the intimate story of his journey to becoming the globe’s richest person... and one of its most controversial.

Revealed exclusively by Deadline earlier this year, The Elon Musk Show uses extensive and unseen archive from the Tesla founder’s time in Silicon Valley, analyzing key moments including, most recently, the botched Twitter buyout, a saga that the producers swiftly folded into the documentary.

Angela Neillis, Fremantle’s SVP, NonScripted Content, is bullish about the show’s prospects globally.

“Elon Musk is undeniably fascinating, and we know that he is someone who generates a lot of media attention,” she says. “There are so many perceptions about Musk: Is he a tech genius? A selfimportant provocateur? An internet pioneer? This film delves into who the real Elon Musk is and will encourage viewers to make up their own mind about the billionaire.”

Neillis is full of praise for 72 Films and thinks the indie’s involvement will be a boon when shopping the show to potential buyers.

Over the past few years, the company has nursed a reputation for producing thoughtful and awardwinning documentaries such as BBC’s Rise of the Murdoch Dynasty and A Dangerous Dynasty: House of Assad.

“Few producers make documentaries that are as authoritative and compelling as 72, who are also known for bringing a bit of fun to their shows,” she says.

Fremantle holds worldwide rights and has already struck an “armful of sales across Europe and Asia”, with the U.S. now the key focus, according to Neillis.

She believes the show’s “journalistic integrity and completely universal targets” will make it work on either linear or streaming platforms, many of whom will be aware of 72’s reputation.

Fremantle is also shopping CTV drama Sullivan’s Crossing and BBC celebrity reality show Unbreakable in Cannes. —MG

Selling Super Prime

ITV Studios Length: 6 x 60’ Producer: South Shore Fans of the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills are sure to be aware of British property tycoon Paul “PK” Kemsley and his wife—and main cast member— Dorit. The duo, who are well-known for their lavish lifestyle in the Golden State, are now turning their heads to a new UK-based, luxury space-meetscompetition program.

Selling Super Prime is a six-part series in which PK and his wife team up with Rokstone estate agent owner Becky Fatemi to open a London-based real estate agency. The trio will mentor eight wannabe brokers, who will compete against each other to juggle clients, utilize sales tactics and make deals in the world of multi-million pound property.

Dorit Kemsley, who is known on RHOBH for her bold and, at times, outlandish fashion sense, will style the brokers while PK will train them to handle some of the most exclusive properties in the UK.

PK is no stranger to the property space having built a $2 billion empire between 1995 and 2009, which spanned more than 750 buildings including The Ned Hotel and the Burberry Building in London.

“This is absolute escapism,” says Cecile Olsen, ITV Studios’ SVP of Global Content, Non-Scripted. “It’s aspirational television viewing at its very best with a sprinkling of Hollywood.”

London and Cardiff-based indie South Shore, the company behind non-scripted offerings such as Freddie Flintoff’s Field of Dreams and Worst House on the Street, is producing Selling Super Prime. The series is exec produced by Melanie Leach, Andrew Mackenzie and Caroline Davies and is set to air on Channel 4 in the UK next year.

Given the recent boom of luxury property shows such as Selling Sunset, Olsen is confident the project will sell “really well” in Mipcom. She’s keen to point out how different it is from a scripted reality show and notes “it’s got all the ingredients for success”. ITV even launched a promo last month to whet buyers’ appetites in advance of the market.

Olsen is holding out to sell the series on the Croisette, noting that this isn’t the kind of show that she would pre-sell too much ahead of time.

“People will want to see what it is first and now that we’re in production, we can talk about the fact that it’s happening, and we can talk about the characters and talk about them as a driving force,” she says. “This is so new and it’s coming up in a time where there seems to be this bubble of property shows in the ether.” —Diana Lodderhose

The Elon Musk Show

Porn King: The Rise & Fall of Ron Jeremy

Abacus Media Rights Length: 2 x 60’ (1 x 90’ feature also available) Producer: BriteSpark Films Following on from the global success of the Michael Jackson docuseries Leaving Neverland and the acclaim of political doc Four Hours at the Capitol, Abacus Media Rights is bringing a new two-part documentary series on the life, career and alleged misdemeanors of infamous porn star Ron Jeremy to Mipcom.

Titled Porn King: The Rise & Fall of Ron Jeremy, the docuseries charts the life of Jeremy, a former leading performer in the American porn industry who successfully crossed over into the mainstream. Despite his diminutive frame, he became a porn icon who rubbed shoulders with Hollywood stars and performed in over 2,500 films. In June 2020, however, Jeremy was arrested in Los Angeles and charged with 35 counts of rape and sexual assault against 23 women.

As he awaits trial, the series digs deeper and reveals the inside story of Jeremy’s time in the industry with access to alleged victims, key players and archive footage.

“Porn King falls into this category of the shock doc space, looking at the dark side of a dark industry,” says Jonathan Ford, Managing Director at Abacus. “This is very much a story about a man who has walked across the boundaries of his industry and celebrity and become known as a major star: He’s appeared in everything from the Swedish Celebrity Big Brother to

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The Real Mo Farah

Hollywood films. And while you might already think porn is a dark industry, you learn about the further abuse that was going on.”

Through Jeremy’s story, the doc also charts how the internet has transformed the porn industry from the Boogie Nights era of the 1980s to the contemporary world of Pornhub and OnlyFans.

Abacus holds worldwide rights on the doc, which screened on Channel 4 in the UK in August and averaged 530,000 over two nights, with further viewing likely added through streaming service All4. Sales have already been struck in the U.S., Canada, Israel and the Nordics and Abacus is next targeting key European territories, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America. “The deals we've done so far have been a good mix of linear television, including some in the free environment and SVoD platforms,” says Ford. —ZN

The Real Mo Farah

Red Bull Studios Length: 1 x 60’ Producers: Atomized Studios; Red Bull Studios Most people will know the name Mo Farah, but virtually none will have heard of Hussein Abdi Kahin. They are, in fact, the same person, and this BBC and Red Bull Studios documentary tells the extraordinary story of how that’s the case.

Farah—among Britain’s finest ever long-distance runners, a knight of the realm and a multiple Olympic and World champion—will use the program to reveal how he was trafficked to the UK from Somaliland aged nine and forced into child labor, years before he became a beloved household name in the country.

After escaping, he had applied for British citizenship under a false name and then kept the shocking secret for more than 30 years.

“We immediately knew this would be the film to lead Red Bull Studios’ slate of feature documentaries and unscripted series, which we will be rolling out throughout 2022 and into 2023,” says Red Bull Media House Head of Partnerships and Commercial Strategy Sebastian Burkhardt.

The show documents the traumatic period when Farah, who spoke no English at the time, was forced into domestic servitude before being spotted for his incredible running talent. He visits his family village in Somaliland, where he bravely interviews his mother and twin brother.

Back in the UK, he meets several people who have kept his secret safe over the years, and returns to London’s Somali community.

Producing the film delicately, and keeping it a secret before broadcast, was objectively an incredible task, and Burkhardt notes only three people on his team knew of its content before it aired in July. BBC commissioner Emma Loach was forced to sign an NDA to just hear Atomized Studios’ original pitch, while Farah was talked through the potential legal ramifications of admitting his actions. Several contributors came forwards late in production, meaning editing continued until just weeks before it aired.

The resulting show performed well on BBC Two, taking 4.3 million (live +7), making it a top-five doc across all UK channels in the first half of the year. It attracted a healthy 370,000 16 to 34s and currently has 7 million views overall.

Red Bull has secured 36 deals in an initial batch of sales, meaning those interested at Mipcom should jump in quickly or risk missing out. —JW

EVEN MORE OF THE HOT ONES

So many great shows are heading to Mipcom this year that we thought it cruel to stop at 20. Below are even more of the best being pitched at the Croisette

CHARLES: THE NEW KING (Beyond Rights)

This timely doc series is being taken to Mipcom at an opportune moment for Beyond Rights, with global buyers seeking shows about Britain’s recently appointed King Charles III. The two-hour series is told through ITN Productions’ exclusive collection of royal archive footage, featuring interviews with those closest to the former Prince of Wales. It speaks to pivotal moments in his life that have shaped him from infant to King. Charles became king after Queen Elizabeth II’s death and her funeral has since become one of the biggest UK TV broadcasts of all time, making now the perfect time to sell docs on the monarch.

CLAIM TO FAME (Red Arrow Studios International)

ABC’s latest format asks intriguing questions about the nature of fame and people’s curiosity. In Claim to Fame, from Kinetic Content, 12 ‘ordinary’ people with famous relatives are challenged to keep their identities a secret while exposing others. They live together in a house, surrounded by hints and red herrings all over the place, giving the show a Big Brother feel with a twist. Guessing game shows are all the rave at present and this one will no doubt spark intrigue after the success of the likes of This House and Rat in the Kitchen.

FASTEST FINGER FIRST (Sony Pictures Television)

Who Wants to be a Millionaire? has consistently proved a hit for British broadcaster ITV over two decades and the network has come up with a way to showcase in full how contestants get to that hotseat. In Fastest Finger First, which is played at the start of all Millionaire rounds but now turned into a separate show, contestants face off in a general knowledge buzzer round. Whoever wins moves up the ladder, ending in a head-to-head before winning the ultimate prize, a place on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Stellify Media’s show-within-a-show format will no doubt be able to play off the success of its predecessor.

KRAPOPOLIS (Fox Entertainment Global)

Fox’s return to the international distribution game will no doubt be the talk of the market, with the new sales unit’s launch coming at Mipcom under MarVista Entertainment boss Fernando Szew after three years out. Fox is bringing three shows to Cannes, with Jon Hamm’s Grimsburg and midseason comedy Animal Control joining animated comedy Krapopolis, the latest big hitter from Rick and Morty creator Dan Harmon. Krapopolis follows King Tyrannis, who is trying to build one of the first cities from scratch. Set in mythical ancient Greece, the show is centered on a flawed family of humans, gods and monsters and will air next year. Certain to keep the Cannes crowd interested.

THE NIGHT LOGAN WOKE UP (Studiocanal)

Xavier Dolan’s debut TV series sits somewhere in between psychological thriller and drama and will likely turn heads on the Croisette. Canal+’s show is set 30 years after protagonist Mimi is raped by her best friend Logan, when she was just 14. She travels home to take care of her mother’s corpse and is sent on an unstoppable pursuit of reconciliation and truth. Dolan also stars, writes and produces this fiveparter, which comes from Productions Nanoby for the French streamer.