Mipcom 2017 news 1

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DAY Monday 16 October 2017

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CATHERINE ZETA-JONES

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The Hollywood star speaks at the Women In Global Entertainment Power Lunch today

COUNTERPART

26 Sony Pictures Entertainment’s drama series premiered in Cannes yesterday

WORLD PREMIERE

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Sky and Amazon US coproduction Britannia is tonight’s World Premiere TV Screening

MIPJUNIOR KEYNOTE

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Netflix head of global kids content Andy Yeatman spoke at MIPJunior yesterday

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PREMIERES 3 November 2017 FRANCE 3 in primetime

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Amazing superstar performances Heart-warming stories Unforgettable moments

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mipcom

CONTENTS NEWS 8 What happened at MIPJunior?; early MIPCOM deals; screenings in Cannes; interviews with leading on- and off-screen talent

DAVID LYLE AND ANNIE WEGELIUS

MEDIA MASTERMIND KEYNOTES

In the run-up to MIPCOM the international TV industry lost two of its most popular and influential executives, reality-TV pioneers David Lyle and Annie Wegelius.

11.30-12.00, GRAND AUDITORIUM

Tributes, pages 61 and 63

DOMINGO CORRAL, HEAD OF ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING, MOVISTAR+

GORDON RAMSAY, AWARD-WINNING CHEF & TV HOST 12.05-12.45, GRAND AUDITORIUM

SPECIAL GUESTS INCLUDE: JAN MOJTO, CEO, BETA FILM JANE MILLICHIP, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SKY VISION

PRODUCT NEWS

16.15-16.45, GRAND AUDITORIUM

BENJAMIN SALINAS, CEO, TV AZTECA

67 A round-up of what’s for sale in Cannes

17.00-17.45, GRAND AUDITORIUM

VARIETY VANGUARD AWARD AT MIPCOM: RICHARD PLEPLER, CHAIRMAN - CEO, HBO

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FEATURES 93 Language no barrier Orthodox ideas about what content should play where are being challenged

105 Visions of the future Virtual and augmented reality are moving into the mainstream

117 Standing out from the crowd Marketing strategies that are making a difference

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The world’s most famous chef and television personality celebrates 25 years in the industry.

Gordon Ramsay’s Keynote @ Mipcom 2017

Monday 16th October, 11:30-12:00 Grand Auditorium, Palais des Festival, Cannes.

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NEWS BBC CHANGES MARK SHIFT OF EMPHASIS JACKIE Edwards used her Fireside Chat session to outline recent changes at the BBC, where the Children’s teams have been restructured away from linear TV, to make cross-platform digital creation easier. “Some colleagues will be missed, but the CBeebies flame will still be burning,” she said.

The extra money allocated to BBC Children’s budgets would, she said, help the corporation “do more on our other platforms”. She added: “We’re going to be supersizing our brands and making sure we are where our audiences are.”

Edwards said this would bring more flexibility and more entry points for producers: “There will be more opportunities for smaller producers, and for existing producers there will be opportunities to extend their brands.”

On CBeebies, Edwards’ priority is to pre-buy fantastic ideas for pre-school animations. And for CBBC, top of the shopping list is live-action comedy for nineto 12-year-olds. She was also looking for live-action shows skewing slightly older, including a girl-led ensemble comedy. “We want to see smart, funny girls,” she said.

The BBC’s Jackie Edwards

Keynoter Yeatman highlights creative possibilities of Netflix

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ETFLIX has been foremost among the SVOD providers disrupting the linear broadcast industry, so it was unsurprising that Andy Yeatman, its head of global kids content, gave his MIPJunior Keynote to a full house.

Netflix’s numbers are impressive: its kids international audience has grown 61% so far this year, and international kids’ viewing is up 90%. Almost half of Netflix content is produced outside US and, in 2017, it released 37 Netflix Original kids productions (including global Originals, which may have a traditional release in their home territory while Netflix owns other rights).

Yeatman was also keen to stress the creative possibilities Netflix offers producers: freedom from the standard episodic structures and programme lengths, and the chance to experiment with interactive storytelling. “We’re looking for a specific creative vi-

Netflix’s Andy Yeatman

sion,” he said. “The platform can conform to that vision and not the other way around.”

To add to the wealth of content, Yeatman announced two firsts: Mighty Little Bheem, Netflix’s first Original produced in India, which is an animation based on the popular Chhota Bheem character; and Yoohoo & Friends, a

3D CG animation based on kids toys, the first Original produced in South Korea.

Yeatman finished with the most important question: how does he stop his own kids — three daughters — from watching too much Netflix? “They only watch on an iPad and I keep it way up high on the shelf,” he said.

Creatives ‘must be entrepreneurs’ “WE HAVE to work together to create new models to help get content together, faster,” said Cartoon Network’s Adina Pitt in her Fireside Chat MIPJunior session.

Her point was that, with so many platforms to manage on top of linear TV and the need to aggregate content, supply and demand are becoming ever more tricky to manage. And she acknowledged the challenge for everyone in the supply chain of creating more when collecting revenues was becoming harder.

She called on creatives to become more entrepreneurial in securing funding or production support before approaching Cartoon Network — perhaps from games or toy companies — to speed the process up: “Come to us when you‘ve done some of your home-

Cartoon Network’s Adina Pitt

work, so that we can activate faster,” she said.

She also called for big ideas and pledged to collaborate to make things work: “Think about this when you’re pitching: have I

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taken into account all these screens, and will it travel?” she said. “Don’t be afraid to ask how it will work in the US, or EMEA. We’ll try to find you the answer because we want you to succeed.”

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mipcom

NEWS The audience is the only thing that really counts, says Seibert

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N E OF the things that’s both exciting and frightening about what we do is that we have no idea what’s going on,” said Frederator Studios’ founder and CEO Fred Seibert in his MIPJunior Keynote. He did not prognosticate on what direction the kids TV business would take in 10 years, or even 10 months. For him, there was only one focus: “For the last 100 years in the business, and for the next 100 years, the only thing that counts is the audience.”

He views the incredible data now available from digital platforms on who watches content — and

Frederator Studios’ Fred Seibert

GURU STUDIO’s executive vice-president Mary Bredin and president and executive creative director Frank Falcone stand underneath the Canadian company’s giant rainbow installation at MIPJunior. The rainbow marked their Netflix pre-school series True And The Rainbow Kingdom, which has been commissioned for a third season and features young True as the inspirational guardian of the magical Rainbow Kingdom. Guru Studio is based at the Canada Pavilion during MIPCOM.

how — as a tremendous boon to creativity. “I don’t believe that information and creative thought are the enemies of each other,” he said “The challenge, I think, for most of us producers, is this feeling that the information and the math is frightening and antithetical to the way we think. I don’t think that’s the case.”

Maybe the data was sourced from different screens, and therefore not directly applicable to linear TV, but Seibert said TV now had to see itself as part of a bigger whole – and open itself up to influences from, for example, Twitch or Minecraft (global kids’ most searched-for word).

“The TV business is not the most important part of the puzzle any more,” he said. “Digital delivery systems are much more important.” That did not mean he didn’t see a future for it: “The future is everything, it is all one thing”.

IN THE run-up to Saturday’s MIPJunior World Premiere TV Screening of the new series Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!, globally-famous train Thomas the Tank Engine made an appearance on the Croisette. Thomas offered a ride to Fisher-Price/Mattel executives Christopher Keenan (left), Ian McCue, Michaela Winter, Michael Pisors, and Kate Schlomann. Thomas features in Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures! The Movie, plus the TV series Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!. Both the movie and the series feature new locations, new female characters, fasterpaced stories, a collaboration with the United Nations for input on sustainability, and a new narrator in the form of Thomas himself.

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NEWS

Grizzy And The Lemmings set to screen on Mango in China

I Eurodata’s Avril Blondelot

BUGS, RABBITS AND DRAGONS WORK FOR KIDS “DISCOVERY, family, imagination and fun are the four key trends in children’s programming in 2017,” Avril Blondelot, head of content insight at Eurodata TV Worldwide, told Saturday’s Binge Watching Session: Kids’ Success Across The Globe.

Blondelot alerted buyers to new shows such as Best Bugs (Je suis bien content, France), Digby Dragon (Blue Zoo, UK), and the androgynous lead Will in Will Vs The Future (Amazon Studios).

Russia’s favourite rabbit has joined forces with China’s iconic panda in Krash & Hehe, a Sino-Russian co-production for 2019. And the latest game to be adapted for television is Fruit Ninja: Frenzy Force (Halfbrick Studios, Australia).

Blondelot also announced the launch of NoTa Kids, Eurodata TV’s new monitoring service focusing on content for younger audiences. “The speed with which new programmes are finding their audience makes daily monitoring of these series very useful,” she said.

NDEPENDENT French production company Studio Hari has signed a deal with Chinese broadcaster Hunan TV to show its animation series Grizzy And The Lemmings.

The series was the most-viewed show at last year’s MIPJunior Screenings, where it made its world debut. It will be broadcast on Mango TV, an online platform operated by Hunan Television.

The show tells the slapstick stories of a grizzly bear who occupies a forest ranger’s lodge in the Canadian Rockies while he is away, only to find he is sharing his new home with a mischievous gang of lemmings.

Grizzy the lazy bear and the lemmings fight it out for the home and all the luxuries inside — including a sauna, home cinema and a popcorn maker — each trying devious tactics to get the lodge all to themselves.

Hunan became interested in the show during last year’s MIPCOM and MIPJunior screenings.

The deal marks the first time Stu-

Hari International’s Adeline Tormo

dio Hari has collaborated with a Chinese broadcaster. The 3D animation is the creation of Paris-based Studio Hari’s Antoine Rodelet and Josselin Charier. It runs over 78 seven-minute episodes, directed by Victor Moulin, with art direction by Edouard Cellura.

Adeline Tormo, head of sales at Hari International, said: “We are thrilled to announce that Grizzy

And The Lemmings will arrive very soon in China thanks to our partnership with Mango TV. This new step is very exciting for the development of the property.

“The first place of the series at the last MIPJunior Screenings was a sign of the profession’s passion for our programme and we are pleased to see that this enthusiasm is confirmed with this Chinese collaboration.”

WeKids aims to incubate new talent SEAN Chu, founder and CEO of WeKids, welcomed the global kids community to MIPJunior at the WeKids-sponsored MIPJunior Networking Lunch. He thanked the “more than 220 producers and distributors who believed in us and licensed their

properties to us”. He added: “We welcome more opportunities to work with you, from acquisition to pre-buying, gap financing and co-productions.”

WeKids specialises in the distribution and brand management of high-quality animation in China,

Xiaomi’s Cindy Lee (left), with WeKids’ Sean Chu and Daniel Victor

and has offices in Beijing, Shenzhen and New York.

It is now, alongside Canadian producers Nelvana and Toon Boom Animation, embarking on a fresh adventure: an animation incubator competition to discover innovative Chinese talent making creative properties for the global market. Submissions of animated shorts will be accepted from January 2018 and the winners will secure development deals with Nelvana, WeKids and Toon Boom.

Chu also thanked Xiaomi, a Beijing-based tech company that is a major investor in, and partner of, WeKids. It has sold more than 160 million smartphones and 70 million smart-TV and OTT boxes in China.

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mipcom

NEWS TOP PITCH THINKS INSIDE THE BOX BOXWARS, an unscripted comedy game show from Australia’s Bogan Entertainment, emerged victorious at the MIPJunior International Pitch this week after a presentation delivered in a full-size Roman legionnaire’s costume made of cardboard.

Boxwars sees teams compete to build large scale structures out of cardboard, fight with them and then recycle them. Juror Jackie Edwards, head of BBC Children’s acquisition and independent animation, called it “innovative and with lots of potential”.

The four other finalists were stop-motion series Big Five from Tak Toon Enterprises (South Korea), pre-school animation Catcha! from Untref Media (Argentina), app adaptation Dr Panda from Dr Panda Productions (US) and animated buddy series Stinky Dog from Dandaloo (France).

Edwards’ fellow jurors were Alexi Wheeler, senior director international production and development, Nickelodeon, Tiphaine de Raguenel of France 4, Janine Weigold of Super RTL Disney, and Annalisa Liberi of RAI Ragazzi Acquisitions.

Bogan Entertainment’s Bruce Kane and Judy Whittle

Disney chiefs reveal strategies for making dreams come true

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SALE to Disney can seem like an impossible dream, but when a troika of senior company executives set out their content strategy, it makes anything appear within reach.

“Our brand pillars are community, storytelling, fun, innovation, optimism, decency and quality,” said Karen Miller, vice-president worldwide programming strategy, acquisitions and co-productions, Disney Channels Worldwide. “That plays out differently around the world, but the pillars themselves are constant.”

Disney Junior targets two- to seven-year-olds with feeling and character. Disney Channel is for six- to 14-year-olds, and skews female. Disney XD is boy-skewing and targets six- to 14-year-olds.

But demos can change, and

Disney Channels’ Karen Miller

Disney Channel’s sweet spot is getting closer to six- to nineyear-olds, Miller said. “Kids are growing up faster, and they move

on to other channels younger.”

Sensibilities change too. “This generation has more of a social conscience, and what we call ‘diversity’ comes naturally to them,” said David Levine, vicepresident programming, production and strategic development Disney Channels, EMEA. Leslie Lee is executive director multiplatform content for South East Asia. “Some cultures are more paternalistic than others, so shows with strong female role models are really important for us,” he said. “And non-dialogue comedy travels, so Animasia’s Harry And Bunny has done very well.”

Miller acknowledged that the group’s size and complexity makes for a long acquisition process. “But we do pick up shows that we see at markets, and we do look at all the flyers.”

Home-grown kids content is the key “THE TIME is coming when streaming services will have to do more than just offer shelves and shelves of videos,” said Patricia Hidalgo, chief content and creative officer at Turner UK. “They will have to evolve a relationship with their viewers.”

Children’s channels have been doing just that for years, according to panelists at the View From The Top session.

Michael Carrington, head of children’s and education at ABC TV, puts his channel’s success down to local content, made from a child’s perspective. “Kids want to see themselves on TV,” he said. And that means all children.

“We are working with national and state bodies to promote indigenous and immigrant stories on screen,” he said. “And we’re setting up craft and talent internships too.”

Gloob’s head of content and programming Paula Taborda dos

Turner’s Patricia Hidalgo (left) receives her World Screen Trendsetter Award from Reed MIDEM’s Lucy Smith

Guaranys says close to 50% of the channel’s output is locally produced. But that doesn’t mean it can’t sell. “Our aim is to produce content that resonates with kids everywhere.”

And Gloob is branching out: “We turned five this year, and we are launching our new pre-school channel, Gloobinho,” she said.

Janine Weigold, head of chil-

dren’s content at Super RTL in Germany, talked of the need to be everywhere that kids are. “Our linear channel is still crucial,” she said. “But once our viewers engage with a character, they go looking for it on other platforms.”

All four panelists received World Screen Kids’ Trendsetter Awards for their services to children’s programming.

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mipcom

NEWS

Nickelodeon seeking production partners from outside of the US

Nickelodeon’s Nina Hahn

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I C K E L O D E O N ’s Nina Hahn and Layla Lewis revealed how the kids network develops content in local

markets for global audiences, at a MIPJunior session on Saturday.

“Reaching producers outside the US is important to us,” said Hahn, pointing to Irish produc-

tion Becca’s Bunch and USoriginated and Irish-made Butterbean’s Cafe, both on Nick Jr. In live action, on Nick, Hunter Street was a pioneering pro-

Strong bonds fuel rapid growth for CGS SINCE its launch 12 years ago, French animation studio Cyber Group Studios (CGS) has become one of the most in-demand players in the market, creating 1,200 half-hours of high-quality kids content. The studio is now busier than ever, said CGS chairman and CEO Pierre Sissmann: “2017 has been our most prolific year so far, with seven series in production and a lot more in development. Our Paris office is so busy that we have just opened a new state-of-the-art facility in Lille,” he said.

In part, CGS’s rapid growth has been built on strong relationships with French broadcasters such as TF1 and France Televisions. But the company also enjoys success outside its home market. “Our new pre-school CGI series Gigantosaurus will air on Disney

CGS chairman and CEO Pierre Sissmann

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Junior Worldwide and has also been picked up

by France Televisions and Super RTL in Germany,” said Sissmann.

“We also have strong relationships with the likes of KiKA (Germany), TV3 (Spain), RAI (Italy) and Turner. We are producing a groundbrea k ing pre-school animation series called Taffy for Turner channel Boomerang.”

CGS also has strong ties in the SVOD arena, having licensed preschool show Zou to Hulu, The Long Long Holiday to Netflix and 300 half-hours of content to Amazon India.

It recently sealed a deal

duction that used the same sets, scripts, crew and sometimes actors for local Dutch and global English-language versions of the same show.

Nick’s I Am Frankie used this same model, but in Latin America. “Latin America is a big place for us to produce, both from a live action and animation perspective,” said Lewis, adding that the company had 14 studios across the region.

Whether on acquisitions or original productions, Nickelodeon preferred to be involved early in a show’s development, providing the vision chimed with the brand’s values. “Think of us as your partners, not your boss,” Hahn said. “Whatever you bring to the table we have the patches to make the quilt work.”

Global kids’ passions remained traditional — time with friends and family, and watching TV — but their viewing habits were undoubtedly changing. YouTube star JoJo Siwa was helping to futureproof Nickelodeon, Hahn said. “None of us know what the future is for linear television, but the brand is the guiding light.”

with Groupe PVP that will see its animation series Zorro The Chronicles reimagined for gaming platforms.

At the heart of the company’s success has been a commitment to talent and creativity, said Sissmann. He explained that the next phase of CGS’s growth would not just be about increased production, but strategic expansion.

“We are making our first animated feature film and opened a US office under former Henson executive Richard Goldman,” he said. “Also, we have an important new shareholder, L-Gam. With this foundation, we are looking at company acquisitions.

“I’m looking for talented teams at profitable companies. It’s not important whether they have a catalogue already — but they need to be complementary to CGS. Our core objective is to keep creating as many great ideas as we can for our clients.”

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NEWS CANNESERIES joins MIPTV for ‘biggest week in global TV’

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ANNESERIES, the new international series festival, will today unveil further details about its inaugural edition — scheduled to take place in parallel with MIPTV 2018. The event, which has the co-operation and support of both the city of Cannes and MIP organiser Reed MIDEM, will, among other things, announce a high-profile patron.

Explaining the rationale for the event, CANNESERIES director general Benoit Louvet said: “There is no international series festival right now. So this is a fantastic opportunity to create the best festival in the world dedicated to series. Cannes is a great city to host this kind of event and it is exciting to launch it alongside MIPTV.” According to CANNESERIES artistic director Albin Lewi, the

event will include public screenings, an international competition, a focus on digital content and a creative forum called In Development, organised with MIPTV. “For the competition element, a diverse jury will look at a lot of series, but only 10 will be selected. There will be no quotas by region — all that matters is the quality and innovation.

Shows w i l l need to have a local f l avo u r but be ac-

cessible to international audiences.”

There will be awards at the CANNESERIES international competition, but Louvet stresses that the selection process is so rigorous that only the best series will have been acknowledged by this stage of the festival.

There will, he added, be a gala awards closing ceremony held in the Palais des Festivals’ Lumiere Theatre and televised by Canal +.

Re e d M I DE M television division director Laurine Garaude said “M I P T V, a long with CA N N ESERIES, will beAlbin Lewi

Benoit Louvet

come the biggest week in global TV”, the two events bringing together the entire industry in one place and at one time. She added that CANNESERIES will add to the MIPTV experience, bringing more media coverage, glamour and deal potential.

In Development set to speed-up productions

MIPCOM and MIPTV organiser Reed MIDEM and Cannes international series festival CANNESERIES have unveiled details of In Development, a creative forum dedicated to fast-tracking new drama productions. Held on Tuesday, 10 and Wednesday, 11 April, 2018 alongside MIPTV and CANNESERIES, In Development will be an accelerator for writers and producers to pitch, connect and greenlight projects.

The forum, taking place next to the Palais des Festivals in the Gare Maritime, will facilitate access to a range of decisionmakers and financing partners, including commissioning editors, distributors, and talent agencies.

Benoit L ouvet, CA N N E SERIES director general, said

In Development will be a very selective forum, with around 12 projects pitched. “The partnership between CANNESERIES and MIPTV to launch In Development reflects our joint desire to provide content creators with the opportunities and networks they require to bring programmes to all screens and platforms. It will bring together the individuals and companies capable of turning an idea into a programming reality.”

Rola Bauer, managing director, Studiocanal TV is on a highpowered advisory board for In Development. She said she was looking forward to lending her experience to producers and writers involved in the process: “Broadcasters and platforms are more open to international partnerships than at any time in

my career. The important thing to remember, though, is that it is still all about the story, finding emotions, worlds and characters with universal appeal.”

Others on the advisory board include: Ozge Bulut Marasli, CEO, Kanal D & Production Companies; Jimmy Desmarais, co-managing director, Atlantique Productions; Ben Donald, executive producer, international drama, BBC Worldwide; Jane Gogan, head of drama, RTE; Serge Hayat, financier, Cinemage & Capucines Investment Funds; Marie Jacobson, executive vice-president, programming and production, networks, Sony Pictures Television Networks; Claire Lemarechal, screenwriter; Katie O’Connell, CEO, Platform One Media; Philipp Steffens, head of fic-

Rola Bauer

tion, RTL Television; Christian Wikander, director co-production, Pinewood Television; and Anna Winger, creator of Deutschland83/86.

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NEWS Azteca chief Salinas offers vision for a modern media company

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ELEBRATING its 25th anniversary this year, Mexican broadcast er a nd producer TV Azteca partnered with MIPCOM for last night’s Pre-Opening Gala Dinner at the Majestic hotel.

Alongside that, company CEO Benjamin Salinas will be offering his vision of how a modern media company should operate, as well as his vision of the future of television, at the Media Mastermind Keynote today at 16.15 in the Grand Auditorium.

Salinas is widely credited with radically transforming the company, one of the largest producers of Spanish-speaking content in the world operating across four South American countries, by introducing new efficiencies, and

TV Azteca CEO Benjamin Salinas

Lifetime Achievement win for Jennings

CHRISTINA Jennings, chairman, CEO and founder of Canadian multiplatform content powerhouse Shaftsbury, was honoured at last night’s Content Innovation Awards with the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award.

Jennings, who founded Shaftesbury in 1987, has successfully negotiated 30 years of industry disruption. The company started out making feature films, before moving into TV movies. Around 10 years ago, it expanded into digital content; four years ago, it entered the branded-entertainment space. Today, it is turning its attention to VR experiences and live events as it seeks to deliver deeper engagement to a new generation of viewers.

“We’ve always been slightly ahead of the curve in terms of our willingness to explore new technologies, platforms and opportunities,” Jennings said. “But

Shaftesbury’s Christina Jennings: “We’ve always been slightly ahead of the curve”

the one thing that’s remained constant is our focus on scripted storytelling. The one thing I know is that people are always going to want content, whether

it’s delivered on a mobile phone or a TV set.”

Shaftesbury’s award-winning TV shows include Canada’s number-one drama Murdoch

reinventing TV Azteca’s creative culture by supporting and encouraging a more audacious approach. This has resulted in a wave of content that has brought the company closer to its audience and revitalised the creative DNA at Azteca.

“I wanted to renovate Azteca’s work culture and introduce a renewed focus on gender equality, career development, and new work environments that improve teamwork and creativity. Today, I’m very proud to say that TV Azteca is an agile organisation in tune with cultural, technological and market changes in Mexico and around the world,” he said.

But Salinas is far from finished with expansion plans and changes: “TV Azteca has an ambitious plan to keep on growing. The company is producing more content with original stories that truly connect with the viewers, and operating an open-door policy that keeps fresh, new ideas coming to the table.”

Mysteries, now in its 11th season on CBC, and digital hit Carmilla, a modern retelling of Le Fanu’s gothic vampire novella, which is fully funded by U by Kotex.

Jennings said another change in the last 30 years is that Shaftesbury now considers its hit properties as 360-degree brands rather than pure content. “We now look to connect with our viewers via live events, VR experiences, games and merchandising,” she added. “Today, the fans of shows like Murdoch Mysteries and Carmilla are looking for more than just a passing, passive experience.”

On her Lifetime Achievement Award, Jennings said it was partly a recognition of survival and partly a tribute to Shaftesbury’s willingness to embrace change and take risks. “We’re in a period of huge disruption,” she added. “But for me, digital and branded content and VR aren’t frightening, because they’re all connected to telling stories.”

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NEWS Stage set for world premiere of Sky and Amazon’s epic

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HE WORLD Premiere TV Screening of Britannia, a ninepart scripted co-production between Sky and Amazon US, takes place in Cannes tonight.

Set in 43A D, Br itannia is the story of ancient Britain, a country ruled by powerful druids and warrior queens.

David Morrissey plays Roman general Aulus Plautius, who is determined to conquer this mythical land at the edge of the empire. Standing in his way are Kerra, the daughter of the king of the Cantii, and Queen Antedia, who join forces to battle the invaders.

Jane Millichip, managing director of the show’s distributor Sky Vision, said: “Britannia is a fantastically cinematic drama, and its scale and quality will transfer brilliantly to the big screen.

Britannia (Sky/Amazon US)

It is Sky’s most ambitious drama ever, taking 5,500 hours to produce, and we look forward to sharing it with our partners.”

Britannia was shot on location in Prague and Wales and will air on Sky Atlantic in the UK, Ireland, Italy, Germany, Austria and will be available on Amazon Prime Video in the US in 2018. Sky head of drama Anne Mensah said: “The show has big action scenes, kings, queens, gods, monsters, love, sex and revenge — all universal themes that appeal to audiences. But it also has that specificity of place that often marks out great drama. Scale can’t replace stories and characters, and this is fundamentally a story centred on three families.

“There’s lots of great drama on free-to-air TV and OTT, so we need to ensure anything we invest in stands out,” she added.

“Writer Jez Butterworth’s visceral storytelling will make Britannia stand out from other shows in the period genre.”

Tonight’s premiere is at 18.30 in the Palais des Festivals’ Grand Auditorium.

CJ E&M drama deal breaks new ground

JAPANESE broadcast giant Nippon TV and Korean media conglomerate CJ E&M are at MIPCOM unveiling a unprecedented deal centred on a Japanese hit drama called Mother.

CJ E&M has commissioned a Korean version of the awardwinning 11-part series, whose main theme is child abuse. The show will premiere on its general entertainment channel tvN next January.

Although Seoul-headquartered CJ E&M is known internationally for its original TV and movie dramas, this is first time it has agreed to remake a Nippon TV drama.

“In addition to being a hit in

Japan, Mother’s storyline was unique. The theme is universal but also powerful, which will be a change for Korea, where drama shows are mostly light and not so serious,” said Tony Kim, CJ E&M’s manager, international sales and acquisitions.

“The Japanese are also known for their creativity, which we liked very much,” added Jang Ho Seo, CJ E&M’s general manager, global contents business department.

Explaining why Nippon TV sold the Mother format rights to CJ E&M, Keisuke Miyata, sales and licensing, international business development, said: “Koreans are so committed to

CJ E&M’s Tony Kim (left) and Jang Ho Seo; with Nippon TV’s Keisuke Miyata

global success, we felt it would benefit from that.”

CJ E&M’s adaptation of Mother will be the second international version after a Turkish produc-

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tion was announced by MF Yapim at MIPCOM last year.

“We plan to take the format to many other countries,” Miyata added.

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Cannes hosts premiere of Sony thriller Counterpart

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P OW E R F U L new supernatural th r iller was last night’s MIPCOM World Premiere TV Screening. The show, Counterpart, stars JK Simmons in the lead role as Howard Silk, a low-ranking member of a bureaucratic UN agency which, he discovers, is secretly charged with protecting a portal into a parallel dimension in which alternate versions of each character exist.

Howard becomes embroiled in a tense and mysterious intrigue,

during which he makes contact with his ‘counterpart’ in the parallel dimension and realises that his own wife, played by Olivia Williams, is harbouring secrets of her own.

The story, which is set in modern times but includes nods to the classic espionage film and novel genres from the Cold War era, explores the differences between divided societies and cultures, and the impacts of man-made borders between people.

Speaking to MIPCOM News, Williams said: “These are the

things we are all beginning to face; the idea of building walls and border controls.”

Cable channel Starz commissioned the show in 2015, to be broadcast in two 10-episode seasons in the US. The creative team behind the show is in Cannes, with Sony Pictures Entertainment, which is leading the global distribution.

Last night’s screening, which was followed by a panel discussion involving members of the cast and crew, was the culmination of a two-year collaboration

between the show’s co-writers Justin Marks and Amy Berg, with a trio of production companies — MRC, Anonymous Content and Gilbert Films — and led by the executive producer Morten Tyldum.

It is the first major TV project for Marks, who is noted for his Disney live-action imagining of classic children’s story The Jungle Book, which premiered last year. Marks said that moving to television had given him the “opportunity to tell an original story and work with characters and actors for a long time”.

“We don’t have to thumbnail or shorthand the story,” he said.

“We can explore it as the story goes along. The show really is a piece of me. It comes from a very personal inspiration.”

Harry Lloyd (left), Olivia Williams, Sony Pictures Entertainment’s Keith Le Goy, JK Simmons and Counterpart writer Justin Marks

The MIPCOM Newsroom is located on the first floor of the Palais

mipcom neWs 1 ®

The official MIPCOM daily newspaper Monday 16 October 2017

Director of Publications Paul Zilk EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor in Chief Julian Newby Deputy Editor Debbie Lincoln Sub Editors Neil Churchman, Neil Crossley, Nigel Wilmott Reporters Kristine Clifford, Ben Cooper, Andy Fry, Emelia Jones, Juliana Koranteng, Max Leonard, Rachel Murrell, Gary Smith, Joanna Stephens, David Wood Editorial Management Boutique Editions Head of Graphic Studio Herve Traisnel Graphic Studio Manager Frederic Beauseigneur Graphic Designers Muriel Betrancourt, Veronique Duthille, Carole Peres Head of Photographers Yann Coatsaliou / 360 Medias Photographers Christian Alminana, Patrick Frega, Phyrass Haidar, Michel Johner.

PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Publishing Director Martin Screpel Publishing Manager Amrane Lamiri Printer Riccobono Imprimeurs, Le Muy (France).

ADVERTISING CONTACT IN CANNES Silvia Ferreira: +33 7 78 35 43 99 Reed MIDEM, a joint stock company (SAS), with a capital of €310.000, 662 003 557 R.C.S. NANTERRE, having offices located at 27-33 Quai Alphonse Le Gallo - 92100 BOULOGNEBILLANCOURT (FRANCE), VAT number FR91 662 003 557. Contents © 2017, Reed MIDEM Market Publications. Publication registered 4th quarter 2017. Printed on FSC certified paper.

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mipcom

NEWS CRIME DOC CHARTS RACE TO SAVE MAN ON DEATH ROW A RACE-against-time true-crime series, 20 Years On Death Row, has been acquired by UKTV channel Really. BBC Worldwide has also taken worldwide distribution rights outside of France and the UK. The 4 x 60 mins documentary publicises the case of Keith Doolin, a long-distance truck driver with no previous convictions who was sentenced to death for the murder of two women in 1995.

Despite bizarre irregularities, including his original lawyer (now disbarred and deceased) gambling away his defence fund, and crucial information later being revealed by a witness when she herself was convicted of murder, Doolin faces an expedited execution and is still appealing his case.

The series was commissioned

by French pay-TV channel 13eme Rue, from Pernel Media, and was filmed on location in the US.

Keith Doolin

Return of eOne’s Ice shows big-budget drama is still hot

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HE ARRIVAL in Cannes of Jeremy Sisto to promote the second 10-part series of eOne TV’s diamond-trade crime drama Ice proves that the big-budget drama bubble of 2016 is still afloat at MIPCOM 2017.

Following hard on series one, which focused on the treacherous world of diamond traders in downtown Los Angeles, the sequel takes the narrative to new locations, with new showrunner Ed Bernero (Criminal Minds) at the helm.

Series two finds the Green brothers with both their finances and reputations in tatters. The discovery of a magnificent rough diamond brings both a promise of new fortune — and a struggle with their inner demons.

Fresh from filming the first five episodes in and around Vancouver, Sisto (Six Feet Under, Law & Order), who plays Freddy Green, said he couldn’t be more excited about the next two months filming in South Africa alongside a star-studded cast including Ray Winstone (Cam Rose) and Audrey Marie Anderson (Ava Green).

“We were able to find dramati-

John Morayniss, CEO of eOne Television (left), Jeremy Sisto and Stuart Baxter, president, eOne Television International

cally alternative terrains in Vancouver, but I think South Africa will provide a fantastic backdrop to the storyline.

“We are really in the Golden Age of TV and I do think there is an unprecedented boom in demand for great drama. In terms of entertainment, this show is it; Ice

Lineup rings up deals for Emergency Call format DISTRIBUTION company Lineup Industries has scored commissions in Europe and Australia for the documentary format Emergency Call.

Seven Network in Australia, Germany’s Vox, EO/NPO1 in the Netherlands, Italy’s RAI2 and C8 in France (via Coyote Productions) are set to make local versions of a format.

The series follows the ups and downs of regular shifts in an emergency call centre through the ears and eyes of the people who work there.

“This is an unprecedented real-

is fast-moving, high-intensity.

Weaving different storylines and multi-layered themes of organised crime, I think it is very much a cross-border show that will appeal to audiences worldwide. We have certainly raised the game with some great narrative and character developments.” life look behind the scenes of frontline services,” Julian Curtis, co-founder of Lineup Industries, said.

“The operators who field calls to the emergency services literally have no idea what they will face each time they answer.

From the crank caller to the major incident — they are the first responding team and it is their presence of mind that dictates what happens.”

Emergency Call (Lineup Industries)

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13/10/2017 15:27 13/10/2017 15:27

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NEWS

Sony UHD Theatre presents the crystal-clear future of TV

A Lost World: Deeper Into The Black Sea (Drive)

4K TECHNOLOGY REVEALS A LOST UNDERSEA WORLD THE WORLD’s biggest-ever maritime expedition has been filmed for a 4K documentary. Drive, a production-funding and distribution agency, has been appointed by the Black Sea Marine Archaeology Project to pre-sell and distribute a record of this exploration of the Black Sea underwater environment, Lost World: Deeper Into The Black Sea (1 x 120 mins).

Thanks to the unusual water chemistry, the rate of disintegration of shipwrecks in the Black Sea is extremely slow, and the Black Sea MAP, led by British professor Jon Adams, discovered dozens of well-preserved ships dating back into antiquity. There are Ottoman, Byzantine and Roman wrecks, and the oldest remains so far found date from the Classical period, around the 4th-5th century BCE. BAFTA-winning filmmakers David Belton and Andy Byatt (The Blue Planet) filmed in 4K over a period of three years.

glimpse into the future of broadcast TV’s image and sound can be found at the Sony UHD Theatre during MIPCOM. In the digital age, content distributors and sellers need the ultra-high-quality sound and images offered by 4K Ultra HD technology. Add high dynamic range (HDR) techniques, and 4K UHD videos bring audiences crystal-clear vision.

Although the sector is at the early stages, MIPCOM features a host of expert panel speakers, who will explain the technology’s progress and its practical application to TV entertainment.

“Platform operators are looking towards 4K with HDR. And although there is much less content available in HDR and some of the technical issues are still being worked through, we are being asked for more,” US-based Stuart Smitherman, president of UHD content provider Vivicast Media, said.

“Happily, we were anticipating this change and have been able to license many hours of 4K HDR content this year,” Smitherman said. He is scheduled to speak at one of many sessions about the industry.

Gary Davey, managing director at Sky Europe, will discuss his company’s 4K UHD ambitions.

And executives from UK public broadcaster BBC will unveil footage from Planet Earth II, the sequel to the original Planet Earth that demonstrated 4K UHD’s state-of-the-art production.

Other related topics to be discussed this week include predictions of 4K UHD’s global penetration, the rate of consumer adoption, content production, screening and distribution.

MIPCOM will also examine regional developments in the UK and Spain. In Japan, the technology has developed so quickly, it is already offering TV content in 8K, with an incrementally superior image resolution.

WhalesOf The Deep, a co-production by Marseille-based Saint Thomas Productions, with ARTE and National Geographic Channels International

Diversify TV continues push for inclusivity on and off the screen

Sir Lenny Henry

AFTER the inaugural summit at MIPCOM last year, Diversify TV is in higher profile at MIPCOM 2017, and is launching an awards event and presenting a keynote speech.

Diversify TV is an organisation aiming to champion diversity, equality and inclusivity on the small screen, and improve representation of racial and ethnic minorities, LGBTQ people and people with disabilities across the industry.

The comedian, writer and awardwinning actor Sir Lenny Henry will give the inaugural Diversify TV Keynote (Wednesday, 10.50, Grand Auditorium).

Before that there is a network-

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ing event (Tuesday, 13.00, Verriere Grand Auditorium, invitation only), and on Tuesday night the first Diversity TV Excellence Awards will take place at the Carlton hotel.

These will recognise programmes that fairly and accurately represent all people in both scripted and unscripted categories.

The judges include GADIM (Global Alliance For Disability In Media), UK disability charity Scope, and Minority Rights Group International. Diversify TV 2017 partners are A+E Networks, EbonyLife TV, Sonar Entertainment and Viacom International Media Networks.

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NEWS

Catherine’s gender agenda

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OLLYWOOD actor Catherine Zeta-Jones is in Cannes to speak at today’s Women In Global Entertainment Power Lunch, presented by MIPCOM in partnership with A+E Networks and Lifetime. She will address the international audience on issues affecting women in the industry, and discuss her most recent film project, Cocaine Godmother, produced by Asylum Entertainment for Lifetime.

“Forget about pay, I’m not going into that, but I’m certainly going to go into women in the industry and how powerful we are on screen, behind the camera, in the boardrooms and also demographically as an audience,” Zeta-Jones told Julian Newby. “This industry has been a white man’s game since its inception — it’s white men ruling the roost. The fact that we actually go ‘Wow! Wonderwoman made all that money and was directed by a woman!’ — it’s flat-out bizarre.”

She will also speak about how women should support each other in the industry. “Women don’t usually applaud other women when they succeed. It’s been such a scarce commodity for so long, that the woman who is the chairman of the boardroom doesn’t necessarily want another woman at her right hand. It’s like ‘I’ve got it, it’s mine’. And that is some-

thing that women can change.

We should applaud, support and protect women in powerful positions. Not get jealous, not try to knock them off their pedestal, not call them a ‘bitch’ because they’re rich and successful.”

Rich, successful — but evil — is how one might describe the late Griselda Blanco, the subject of Cocaine Godmother, Zeta-Jones’ new movie for Lifetime. At 14 she ran away from home to escape sexual abuse by her mother’s boyfriend, and resorted to theft and prostitution. She married young and had two boys, but left her abusive husband for a drug trafficker whose business she took to a whole new level by using glamorous women to smuggle cocaine in their underwear.

“It was a character I’ve been wanting to play for some years,” ZetaJones said. “This film finally gave me the chance to do it — with the wonder-

ful director Guillermo Navarro (Pan’s Labyrinth, Narcos), whom I adore.” Playing the role was “some kind of exorcism, because she’s not the sweetest woman to be carrying around for years and years in your head”.

“There had been six or seven scripts about Griselda knocking around the place, and one of them was by David McKenna and I loved how he’d worked it,” she said. “But I needed to get some more work done on it so we put it out to some directors. But first of all I had a meeting with Tanya Lopez at Lifetime, and she said to me, ‘What do you want to do?

And I said I wa nted to do this, and that’s how we’re here.”

A n d t el evision was t he r ig ht choice for distribution of the film.

“It doesn’t f it i nto what the cor po rate

world of our industry considers a money-making movie for women,” Zeta-Jones said.

“Budget wise, if it was a $100m movie I would have had a better chance at getting it made, or if it was a hand-held student film that we showed at Sundance for $500,000 I’d probably get a handle on it being released in a cinema. But the fact that this is a female playing a not necessarily identifiable woman is a hard sell. Right now it’s really, really tough to get these made.

If this was a sequel to a comicbook franchise, then yes. But it’s not. And the press and advertising takes so much money out of your budget to put it on the big screen, that to be able to do what I wanted to do — I wanted the best cinematographer, which is Guillermo to shoot it, I wanted everything on the screen, and this is the way I could do it. And Lifetime jumped at it and it was really admirable.”

• Cocaine Godmother is produced by Asylum Entertainment for Lifetime with Steven Michaels, Jonathan Koch, Joan Harrison and Alisa Tager executive producing. Guillermo Navarro directs from a script written by David McKenna.

A+E Networks holds worldwide distribution rights.

Catherine Zeta-Jones stars in Cocaine Godmother

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NEWS

Grisoni adapts a weird and Lapidus: laying down the wonderful tale of two cities law on new Nordic Noir

Jens Lapidus David Morrissey in The City And The City

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CREENWRITER Tony Grisoni (The Young Pope, Southcliffe, The Red Riding Trilogy) has adapted China Mieville’s mind-bending novel The City And The City into a fourpart genre-busting thriller, produced by Mammoth Screen for BBC2. David Morrissey, who will play Inspector Tyador Borlu, heads a cast which includes Lara Pulver as Borlu’s wife Katrynia, Mandeep Dhillon as Constable Corwi and Maria Schrader as Senior Detective Dhatt of the Ul Qoma Militsya.

The body of a foreign student is discovered in the streets of the city of Beszel. Cases like this are routine for Inspector Tyador Borlu — until his investigations uncover evidence that the dead girl had come from another city called Ul Qoma. But the relationship between the two cities defies comprehension and will challenge everything Borlu holds dear.

So how does an established writer like Grisoni feel about adapting someone else’s work? “I wouldn’t have taken it on unless I loved the book, which I very much do,” he

said. “But the mechanics are very much an act of faith because you have to approach the project as if you are a foreigner, and then set about learning all the rules by asking a lot of questions.”

The process is, Grisoni said, made easier by the quality of the writing: “Someone else has done the spade work and so you have great characters and great runs of dialogue, and the contrasts between the two cities are really important, with Beszel a crumbling and down-at-heel place that makes things seem possible, and Ul Qoma very mono-cultural, a place where there is no dissent, which I see as a metaphor for how societies are heading today.”

Grisoni, who spent three years on The City And The City, has finally seen The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, a project that started 17 years ago with Terry Gilliam, come to fruition. “We have re-written the script multiple times and we’re pretty happy with where it is now, plus we have Jonathan Price as Quixote and Adam Driver as Sancho Panza, we could not have asked for better casting.”

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JENS Lapidus, criminal defence lawyer, best-selling author and the creator of Studiocanal’s new 10-part drama The Lawyer, knows what he’s talking about when it comes to the dark underbelly of Swedish society.

“My inspiration comes from the courtroom,” he said, remembering the case 12 years ago that pushed him from young lawyer to author of international best-seller Easy Money. Three young men were being tried for violent assault and robbery. At the summing up, one turned on the judge, accusing her of not understanding that crime was his job. “It made me realise that, for some people, crime is natural. It’s what they do, like being a lawyer is what I do,” he said. “I went home and started writing for the first time in my life, but from the perspective of the criminal, which had never been done before in Sweden. I haven’t stopped since.”

In The Lawyer, produced by SF Studios for Viaplay, Lapidus has shifted his focus to tell the story of a young defence lawyer caught up in deadly vendetta as

he seeks to avenge his parents’ murder in a car bombing. “It’s a new take on Nordic Noir,” he added. “It’s a hybrid between an action thriller and a legal thriller, which hasn’t been done before in Scandinavian drama.”

The Lawyer, which launches this morning at a MIPCOM International Screening, is based on a concept created

by Lapidus and screenwriters Hans Rosenfeldt (The Bridge) and Michael Hjorth (Sebastian Bergman). It is produced

by Academy Award nominees Nicklas Wikstrom Nicastro and Joakim Hansson.

As to the enduring popularity of Nordic Noir, Lapidus believes it is partly down to the calibre of crime writing in Scandinavia, where crime is not considered to be a second-class literary genre, and partly the intriguing juxtaposition between savagery and civilisation. “You expect bad things to happen in a war zone or somewhere like Mexico City, but not in one of the safest, most secure societies in the world. That conflict and contradiction is much more exciting and shocking.”

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NEWS FIRST TIME AT MIPCOM

NHK to sharpen vision of TV’s future with Cannes 8K debut

Kazunari Kubo Manager, Tokyo branch Yamaguchi Broadcasting Co Ltd, Japan

What brings you to Cannes?

I wish to globalise for the first time our strong content overseas. We are exploring the different opportunities in the international market.

What are you bringing to MIPCOM? We have a very strong award-winning documentary called An Eden For Two. The series, which can be adapted as a feature film, portrays a couple, and their supportive family, who over 25 years have lived a self-sufficient life deep in the mountains of the Chugoku region. The documentary takes place in Iwakuni City, Yamaguchi Prefecture. Having lost their home through damage from the war, Tanaka Toru and his wife Fusako began growing their own food and living deep in the mountains where there is no water or electricity.

Though they did at one time leave for the city for their children’s sake, they returned to the mountain after reaching their sixties.

What type of people/professionals are you hoping to meet at MIPCOM? We wish to meet as many professionals as possible, especially the broadcasters of the world.

What are your goals for MIPCOM? What would you like to have achieved by the end of the market?

We would like to watch international programming and learn about the trends in the marketplace. And of course we want to make sales.

NHK’s Akihiko Chigono (left) and Yukinori Kida

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APAN’s public broadcaster, NHK, is at MIPCOM to present its new 8K broadcasting technology. 8K roughly describes the picture resolution of the new format, since it utilises 7,640 horizontal pixels, four times the definition of standard HD TVs. But why is NHK promoting 8K when Japanese TV stations other than NHK have not even started airing content in 4K? “Of course, 4K is itself of exceptional high quality,” said Yukinori Kida, NHK executive director in charge of broadcasting, during an interview at the company’s headquarters in Tokyo. “But with the emergence of 8K technology, we will be able to further enhance images to a quality that the human eye has not yet experienced.”

8K is something NHK has been working on for many years, according to Akihiko Chigono, executive director in charge of engineering, and it makes sense to promote the technology as soon as it is ready.

“We had already developed the digital technology for the high definition 2K format and started airing it in 2000 on our satellite channel,” he said. “In 2003 it was adopted for terrestrial digital broadcasts, but by that time we had already embarked on next-generation TVs.” This development, as Chigono explained, advanced by “leaps and bounds” to the point where 8K was already in the works even as 4K technology was being developed.

“Even at a time when 4K TV didn’t exist, we decided to jump from 2K to 8K,” Chigono added. “In our scenario, we would deliver 8K by 2025, a significant year for us, since it will

42

be the centennial of our beginning as a radio and then a television broadcaster.”

This scenario had to be adjusted when Tokyo won the right to host the 2020 Olympic Games. Now, NHK is determined to deliver 8K five years earlier than initially planned.

Kida added that 8K meant more than just pretty pictures. “The application is far broader than 4K,” he said. “You can project clear images on very large screens and capture minute objects with amazing fidelity.”

Such applications go beyond broadcasting, encompassing education, commercial cinema, and even medicine.

“We will screen a variety of content at MIPCOM,” Kida said. “And by seeing this content with your own eyes you will get a better idea of what I am talking about. It’s difficult to express in words, but while the screen remains flat, you will experience a depth of image you’ve never imagined before.”

NHK’s hope is that producers and creators from all over the world will understand and appreciate the potential for such technology, when it displays its 8K content in Auditorium D on Wednesday at 18:00. “We want them to share their ideas with NHK so that we can work together,” Kida added.

Chigono insisted it wasn’t useful to compare 4K to 8K, that the important consideration is what 8K has to offer in the long run. “Eventually, the cost will come down,” he said.

“And then everyone will see that 8K delivers images that 4K can’t come close to. We want everyone at MIPCOM to think of what such technology means for the future, and to dream on.”

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NEWS Portrait of two artists T OMORROW morning, Japanese broadcaster NHK will present the Asian World Premiere TV Screening of Kurara: The Dazzling Life Of Hokusai’s Daughter, a spectacular 89-minute drama special shot in 4K. Kurara is an adaptation by scriptwriter Mika Ohmori of a book by Makate Asai. Set in 19th-century Edo — the old name for Tokyo — it tells the story of O-Ei, the daughter of master-painter Katsushika Hokusai. O-Ei developed a passion for painting at an early age, while observing her father at work. She married a local painter by the name of Kichinosuke but, missing the inspiration of her father, divorced and returned to the family home to assist and learn from her mentor. As Hokusai aged, she became an essential collaborator in his work.

The role of O-Ei is played by Japanese actress Aoi Miyazaki (pictured), who is in Cannes for the World Premiere. Speaking to the MIPCOM Daily News, she said: “I knew Hokusai and his great works very well, but I had no knowledge about his daughter O-Ei. I was surprised that such an amazing woman was behind Hokusai’s works. It is fun to think what if this was also painted by O-Ei. Now I have come to look at his U k iyo- e pictures in a different way t ha n before.”

Miyaza k i said that part

of her research involved visiting the British Museum in London, where she had the opportunity to take a closer look at Hokusai’s works and learn

more about him: “This experience inspired me to vividly imagine his personality, as well as what he was thinking while painting his pictures.”

According to M iya z a k i,

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playing historic figures like O-Ei is different to playing fictitious characters: “When I play an actual historic figure, I feel a responsibility, different from what I feel for a fictitious character. I also feel a sort of reassurance, as if the person might be watching me playing her role. The strength of purpose is special, too, as I feel I have to play up to O-Ei’s reputation.”

Motohiko Sano, executive producer at NHK Enterprises, said the drama special is more than just a biopic: “This is a family drama centring on the father and daughter relationship. As in any family of the Edo era, the daughter tries to outperform her father.

However, in this family, because the father is the genius artist Katsushika Hokusai, the drama becomes a story about talent.”

Although Kurara is a period piece, NHK believes it is the perfect vehicle for showcasing its capabilities. “NHK is honoured to host the first-ever official premiere 4K screening at MIPCOM,” said Hidenobu Miyazaki, a producer in NHK’s global content development division. “And we think Kurara is perfect for the occasion. The beauty of Hokusai’s art is in the detail and startling use of colour, both of which come out vividly in the 4K format.”

Miyaza k i added that NHK has le a r n e d a lo t f rom previous 4K screenings in Cannes: “A certain level of brightness is essential to deliver 4K images in high resolution and high definition.”

In addition, a documentary about Hokusai’s works is being shot by NHK in the 8K format.

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NEWS DEALS • RIGHTS collection agency 560 Media has signed a secondaryrights management deal with BBC Worldwide. Under the deal 560 Media will administer the distributor’s total global secondary collections, including those for the US and Canada. 560 Media will also manage the collection of the international revenues accrued through the secondary television rights exploitation of BBC Worldwide’s content, including retransmission, educational off-air recording and private-copy levies.

“John O’Sullivan and his team [560 Media] are extremely knowledgeable in this sector and we were very impressed by the passion and commitment they demonstrated during our rigorous tender process. We are in no doubt that this dynamic company is best placed to manage our rights globally,” said Nikki Touchard, global director of rights at BBCWW. • CANADA’s True Gravity Productions and Ireland’s Sideline Productions sign a deal today which will generate a slate of new scripted and unscripted shows for the global market.

The agreement follows the new bilateral co-production treaty signed last year between the Canadian and Irish governments covering film, TV and digitalcontent production.

The first three projects to be developed under the pact are Cemetery Cop, billed as a comedy drama about a graveyard night-security officer; factual adventure series Dying To Fly, about the early aviation races; and fish-out-of-water sitcom Bellevue Country Club.

Billy McGrath, Sideline founder and chief creative officer, said he and True Gravity president Warren Campbell “shared a passion for great new ideas, especially in scripted comedy”.

Campbell added: “Our plan is to create and deliver several new projects in 2018 and, on the back of that success, grow a strong team with even stronger projects for years to come.”

Glee’s music man calls the tune in new Nickelodeon telenovela

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DAM Anders, executive music producer of Fox’s Glee, knows the score when it comes to hit musical shows. And he is confident that his new teen telenovela, Kally’s MashUp, will capture some of that lightning in a bottle for Nickelodeon Latin America when it debuts next week.

“The great gift of Glee was that, for six seasons, I got to test my musical taste on the world,” Anders said. Eight hundred-plus songs, 200 hits and 280 million downloads later and it was clear the world loved what it was hearing. “What I learned on Glee was that, if I like a song, most people will like it too,” he added. “That, and working with Ryan Murphy (Glee producer and co-creator), who taught me how to make great TV, gave me the confidence to create a show based on a bit of my own life story.”

Kally’s MashUp (75 x 60 mins), co-produced by Anders Media and 360 Powwow for Nick Latam and Telefe, tells the story

360 Powwow’s Daniel Gutman (left), Adam Anders and B&R360’s Ignacio Orive

of a 13-year-old musical prodigy who wins a place at a prestigious music school. Kally has a brilliant future as a concert pianist ahead of her — the only trouble is, she also wants to be a pop star.

“When I was 13, I won a place at the University of South Florida to study music,” said Anders. “I was the only kid in a world of big kids and adults, which was both exciting and scary. Those experiences helped shape the storyline

and creation of Kally’s MashUp.” Ignacio Orive, founder and CEO of Madrid-based distributor B&R360, is in no doubt that Kally’s MashUp will be “the next big ride” in teen telenovelas.

“When we first saw it, we got butterflies,” he said. “Powwow has done a great job on the production, the cast is amazing and the music is unbelievable. You listen to Adam’s songs once and they stay in your head for a week.”

A-listers line up for The Launch THE LAUNCH is a new music competition format, offering an authentic, behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to break a new artist and bring a song to life. In each hour-long episode, five unsigned emerging artists compete for the opportunity to record and perform, mentored by music industry legends — from discovery to stardom in just 48 hours.

Each episode kicks off with the introduction of a new original song from a well-known songwriter. Artists then audition for mentors, including president and CEO of Big Machine Label Group, Scott Borchetta, for the chance to record the song. A roster of musical A-listers joined Borchetta as mentors in the Ca-

nadian version of The Launch, including Shania Twain, Boy George, Fergie, Alessia Cara, Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx, Julia Michaels and Jennifer Nettles.

Jane Rimer, head of international business and creative development at Insight Productions, is at MIPCOM representing the new show: “My main goal is to find the right partner for us, and that is a company that can provide global distribution, and that has the same passion for the series as us,” she said. “There has been a lot of interest and we could have sold the format several times already. But we want to offer the maximum number of potential partners a chance to check out the show before we make a decision.”

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Insight Productions’ Jane Rimer

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NEWS MOVING STORIES WIN MEGA DEAL QUINTUS Media has secured sales in Poland with content from independent German TV production company Maximus Film. The company has sold the factual series Mega Transports to commercial network TVN and the documentary series Ultimate Vehicles to public broadcaster Polsat.

Each episode of Mega Transports follows a highly complex operation involving pinpoint planning and large teams. Moves can take weeks and even months, via complicated routes such as icy roads, or cold and rough seas. The series focuses on amazing logistic feats, including mega yachts carried around the world on even larger vessels, to whole villages being moved under immense time pressure from one place to another.

Mega Transports (Quintus Media)

Dynamic and Nexiko partner to bring Little Old Lady to screen

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YNAMIC Television and Nexiko are to coproduce The Little Old Lady Who Broke All The Rules for Sweden’s SVT. Nexiko will produce the 8 x 45 mins adaptation of the best-selling Swedish novel by Catharina Ingelman-Sundberg, while Dynamic will handle the worldwide distribution. Production on the feel-good drama is expected to begin next year in Sweden and France.

French actor, singer and AIDS activist Line Renaud will play the lead role of Martha, who is stuck in a badly-run nursing home with

a group of equally disgruntled senior citizens. Determined to open their own five-star retirement facility, the group turn to white-colour crime to raise funds.

A succession of elaborate and hilarious heists follows, as Martha’s League of Pensioners set out to prove that they not so much old as awesome.

“Book fans around the world have already found The Little Old Lady to be irresistible — and soon television audiences will too,” said Dynamic’s managing partner, Klaus Zimmermann.

Lars Beckung, CEO of Nexiko, added: “We are excited to bring

Nexiko’s Lars Beckung (left) and Dynamic’s Klaus Zimmermann

Yoram Chertok

in addition to the four languages dubbed at The Kitchen Miami for the past 16 years: US English, Neutral/Latin Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese and Parisian French.

“Our objective is to identify existing studios with great professional skills and strong local teams, make them part of The Kitchen family and develop Kitchenowned capabilities worldwide in order to offer aggressive pricing while adding efficiencies,” said Yoram Chertok, managing director of The Kitchen EMEA.

Catharina Ingelman-Sunberg’s novel to life. We believe our collaboration with SVT and Dynamic will serve the series to its best.”

More Kitchens open for business

EMMY Award-winning language translation, dubbing and subtitling studios The Kitchen, is at MIPCOM celebrating a major expansion.

Six new regional Kitchens have been launched in Spain, Germany, Italy, South Africa, Morocco and Turkey. Between them they offer services in more than a dozen languages, including the native languages of each studio location plus Arabic, and many of the major sub-Saharan African languages. The new capabilities are

Fashion format for role models A DISRUPTIVE fashion TV format and series has announced a string of new broadcast and streaming partners at MIPCOM. The Fashion Hero celebrates diversity, and features contestants competing before a panel of renowned fashion designers to become role models in global campaigns. It has become a social media movement, with more than a million Facebook followers.

Hungarian cable channel RTL2 will air the original series (8 x 60

mins), while in the US it will be available on Tubi TV and Vudu VOD services, streaming on iOS and Android devices and many popular OTT platforms.

In addition, Amazon Prime Video viewers in New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the Nordics, South Africa and multiple other territories will be able to access the show — bringing the number of Amazon Prime Video territories up to 19.

The Fashion Hero is made by Canadian production company Beauty World Search.

Brooke Hogan (centre) fronts The Fashion Hero

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NEWS

Animaccord positioning Masha for more multiplatform success

A scene from Shame

EURO REMAKES FOR NRK TEEN DRAMA NRK NORWAY’s cult teen drama Shame is being remade for broadcasters in Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the Netherlands, according to the show’s international distributor Beta Film.

Unveiling the news at MIPCOM, Beta Film said Banijay Studios France is preparing scripts in partnership with France Televisions for production while Bantry Bay is working on a version for Germany’s ZDF/funk.

Movistar+ is developing the Spanish remake while in the Netherlands the show will be produced by NTR and broadcasted by NRT/NPO. Romebased Cross Productions has partnered with Italian media house Timvision, with shooting planned to start this year in the Italian capital.

Shame follows a group of teenagers throughout their high-school days and party nights. The story takes place in real time and is published through web-specific storytelling elements, texts, images, and grabs, as well as live-action drama scenes. It runs daily online on its exclusive website in the style of a blog.

All the partners were handpicked by NRK executives and Beta to ensure the authenticity of the remakes. Beta Film manager, international sales and business affairs, Justus Riesenkampff said: “Shame is a highly authentic programme, which zigzags between web and traditional TV. Its ability to connect to the young target group fascinates broadcasters and platforms all over the world.”

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NIMACCORD Animation Studios’ Masha And The Bear f r a nch ise, wh ich centres on a little girl and her big bear pal, has been sold around the world, from Italy to Indonesia. The brand has also gained almost 26.8bn YouTube views worldwide.

“But nowadays, Masha And The Bear is far from being limited to television and online platforms,” said Animaccord media manager Olga Khabibullina. “There’s a whole universe of products, from theatrical movies, live shows and merchandise to apps and games featuring VR technology. The games industry in particular is one of the most promising and fast-growing, which is why we are planning to increase our presence in this field.”

Animaccord, which is currently in production on the third season of Russia’s most popular anima-

tion export, is also “very inspired by the idea of creating content that is not only entertaining, but also educational,” Khabibullina said, pointing to educational apps featuring Masha And The Bear characters.

The series is partially based on a Russian folk tale, but the storylines and characters were created by Animaccord artistic director Oleg Kuzovkov. “During a vacation, he saw a little girl who was so lively, active and charming that she inspired him to create Masha,” Khabibullina said, describing the creative origins of the brand.

According to Khabibullina, Masha And The Bear’s ability “to connect with children all over the world” is down to emotional appeal, first-class animation and comical storylines. “Our plans include the development, distribution and promotion of more high-quality animation brands,” she added. “We

Animaccord Animation’s Olga Khabibullina

are always open to new ideas and projects, and the implementation of new technologies.”

Buyers switched on by The Button THE BUTTON, a new project from the team behind comedy game show Taskmaster, has been causing a stir almost from the moment it was announced.

Jon Thorday, who executive produces the BBC-commissioned family game show for Avalon, says enquiries about its availability began almost immediately. “That’s something that never happened with Taskmaster,” he said. “The interest already shown from various territories is very gratifying as the intention was to reinvent the game show in the same way that talent shows have been. We will be looking to connect with producers who are genuinely excited by the format at MIPCOM.” The show (8 x 30 mins) visits families or groups of friends in their homes, installing a talk:ing

Avalon’s Jon Thoday: “the intention was to reinvent the game show”

button through which they are set spontaneous challenges against the clock to try to win a cash prize: “Challenges include things like getting as many people in your front room as possible within 30 minutes,” Thoday

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said. “The winner of each episode gets the chance to stay on for the next episode and win a mystery bonus. If they don’t win, they lose the original cash prize but have the option to stay on for the following episode.

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NEWS Radiant deal sets up TV Asahi scripted drama series in China

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V ASAHI has signed a deal with Beijing-based producer Radiant Pictures for the format rights to one of its scripted drama series. Radiant Pictures has acquired the rights to TV Asahi’s series A Family Goes Job-Hunting, which it will broadcast on Chinese television.

The show tells the story of a family that finds itself in hard times, in desperate need of work. Their joint hunt for new work leads them to a search for new meaning and direction, and reveals truths about the family’s internal dynamics.

The deal marks the first time that TV Asahi has sold one of its scripted drama series to the Chinese market.

TV Asahi business division managing director Yasuo Kawashima said: “The importance of family bonds transcends time and place and is truly a globally relatable topic. I trust that the adaptation of this drama will be widely viewed in China and I sincerely hope that we will see more adaptations of our drama series in China.”

Radiant Pictures will adapt the show into a 36-episode Chinese-

TV Asahi’s Yasuo Kawashima

ety. China is rapidly developing socio-economically, and on one hand many people are increasingly becoming dedicated to their job, but on the other hand going back home is becoming a luxury.”

language series, working in collaboration with TV Asahi.

Radiant Pictures executive producer Zidan Liu said: “The adaptation of A Family Goes Job-Hunting is relevant to current Chinese soci-

Talpa claims first global reality format

FORMATS pioneer Talpa is introducing what it says is the first ever global reality format at MIPCOM. Lost In Translation is described as a “social experiment” that involves one production with local adaptations for each participating country.

The format sees 12 contestants from different parts of the world left stranded on a remote island with one objective. They must build a seaworthy boat to leave the island for the mainland, find a hidden treasure and win a massive cash prize.

However, the participants do not speak each other’s language and

cannot understand what the others say. So will their offers to contribute to the boat’s construction get lost in translation?

According to Talpa: “This is not just about surviving, but about finding ways of overcoming the language barriers and cultural differences to deal with real and dangerous challenges.”

Maarten Meijs, Talpa Global’s managing director, added: “In today’s market it’s increasingly important to develop formats that are strong, creative and different. This is a true experiment of which we can’t predict the outcome yet.”

Talpa’s Maarten Meijs

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MEDIA RANCH HAS RECIPE FOR FORMAT DEALS CANADIAN TV production and distribution company Media Ranch has announced a series of format deals with international producers.

Brussels-based De Mensen has bought the Belgian rights to Verdict On Demand, a Dutch format created by Vincent TV in which a well-known judge and TV personality solves neighbourly disputes and legal conflicts in just 12 hours.

Legal House Call is a spin-off in which legal experts visit people at home to help them with their issues. German format rights have been sold to Tresor TV Produktions, the Keshet International-owned production company based in Munich.

Media Ranch also announced deals for a third property.

Format rights to the controversial drunk cooking show Tipsy Recipes have been acquired

by Vincent TV Producties in the Netherlands and Nice Entertainment Group in Sweden. The show, which is presented by Eric Salvail, combines a celebrity cooking contest and drinking game and has been a three-season success for Vtélé in France.

Verdict On Demand (Media Ranch)

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NEWS

Studio 100 and m4e debut joint family slate in a ‘move to scale’

H Laura Esquivel, star of Love, Divina

POP TEEN STAR GETS GALLIC BOOST FROM MUSIC INDUSTRY GIANT FEDERATION Kids & Family has sealed a major deal with industry giant Universal Music France for its premium teen series Love, Divina.

The agreement sees Love, Divina represented across all key platforms in France with the leading players in each industry. Broadcasting rights are held by France Televisions, CPLG represents the licensing rights and now Universal Music’s MCA label is on board to develop the crucial, central element of music in the series.

“We are really looking forward to work with Federation, France Televisions and CPLG, dynamic partners who are 100% behind Love, Divina, and totally committed to making this brand a success,” Romain Delnaud, managing director, MCA France, said.

“This exciting synergy, together with the popular, record-selling star of the show Laura Esquivel, we are sure to create another pop teen phenomena in France, and the rest of Europe.”

OT ON the heels of an acquisition deal announcement at MIPTV, Belgium’s Studio 100 and Germany’s m4e have arrived in Cannes to debut a newly combined family entertainment programming slate, boasting 380 episodes of new animation series currently in production.

The acquisition bolsters Studio 100 Group’s distribution network, which now delivers children’s programmes to 160 countries.

Studio 100 also has six theme parks across Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany that help to bring its franchises alive.

With an impressive independent catalogue of content — including characters such as Maya The Bee, Vicky The Viking, Heidi, Lassie and Pippi Longstocking — Studio 100 has used its own in-house studio competences to revitalise these international characters.

Studio 100 Media represents the

Joining forces: Studio 100 Media / m4e’s Hans Ulrich Stoef (left) and Studio 100 Group’s Hans Bourlon

new-look programming catalogue worldwide, with special focus this MIPCOM on North American territories and PanAsia markets.

“Our strength was in our classic catalogue but we realised that we would benefit hugely from working with m4e, which has a great track record of evolving new brands from a blank sheet of paper, like Mia And Me,” said Hans Bourlon, CEO and founder of Studio 100 Group.

Also Studio 100’s ownership of

animation studios worldwide was an attractive prospect for m4e.

“We are delighted to celebrate a one-year anniversary since our first-step agreement last MIPCOM,” said Hans Ulrich Stoef, CEO of Studio 100 Media and m4e. “It was always clear that our assets were complementary. For us, the chance to develop, finance and produce series and feature films ‘in-house’ was a strategic move to scale. Together, we are in a much stronger position to tackle the global market.”

GAUMONT has signed an agreement with Studiocanal at MIPCOM to co-distribute crime serial Nox (6 x 60 mins).

A Canal+ original, Nox is a pacy thriller that takes place in the underground tunnels beneath Paris. The deal was struck by Studiocanal executive managing director TV series Francoise Guyonnet (pictured centre) and Gaumont president worldwide TV distribution and co-production Vanessa Shapiro (right). Pictured left is StudioCanal head of international sales, Beatriz Campos.

Story Lab and Youngest target digital-first THE STORY LAB and independent studio Youngest Media have unveiled a deal to invest in the production of digital-first entertainment formats. The collaboration launches with dating format Date Or Dump, challenge show Skills To Pay The Bills and game show Human Timer, all created by Youngest Media and funded and distributed by The Story Lab globally.

Date Or Dump, which will broadcast on digital platform Unilad, will see two singletons who have

never met before stand face-toface with a screen of glass between them. Without knowing a thing about the other person they will have to predict details about them.

Get it right and they win money for a date. Get it wrong and they leave empty handed and single.

Robbie Ashcroft, lab director of The Story Lab UK said: “With digital-content viewing and consumption choice at an all-time high, we are delighted to work with Youngest Media and partners like Unilad to develop, create and distribute en-

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tertainment that can engage mass audiences online before translating into longer form broadcast shows.”

David Flynn, co-founder of Youngest Media added: “We’ve always known a hit format can come from anywhere in the world and now it can come from any platform.

“We believe there’s a new generation of formats coming, which can become viral hits as short-form content as well as capture a mass television audience as long-form shows.”

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NEWS PIMP MY RIDE SET FOR UK MAKOVER Whizz Kid’s chief executive, Malcolm Gerrie

TAC Studios deal brings Nate’s big African adventure to the US Nathan Fluellen

WHIZZ Kid Entertainment has struck a deal via its US agent partner WME to option the format rights to Pimp My Ride from Breakfast Anytime Inc, the US-based originators of the format. The original series of Pimp My Ride launched in 2004 to a weekly average audience of five million viewers on MTV USA. Since then it has been seen by 1.6 billion people worldwide and the format was sold to 171 territories.

“I’ve always loved Pimp My Ride and between Whizz Kid and format originators Rick Hurvitz and Ari Shofet, we’re going to give this classic brand its own unique makeover,” Whizz Kid’s chief executive, Malcolm Gerrie said.

“We are thrilled to be bringing it back to the UK and have exciting plans for its relaunch.”

3DD AND SKY DUET ON OPERA DOCS 3DD PRODUCTIONS and Sky Arts are co-producing a new series of opera documentaries for the summer of 2018. Currently in pre-production, The Legends Of Opera will feature 12 of the world’s greatest opera stars, including Luciano Pavarotti, Maria Callas, Joan Sutherland and Placido Domingo, performing in some of the world’s greatest opera houses, including Milan’s La Scala and London’s Royal Opera House. The series (12 x 60 mins) will also include contributions from leading critics, producers and directors.

3DD’s executive producer Dominic Saville said the series would “celebrate timeless and iconic artists” whose music and stories continued to captivate worldwide audiences.

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AC STUDIOS, a production arm of The Africa Channel cable network, has made its first original series sale in the US, with Urban Movie Channel (UMC) acquiring SVOD rights for the 13-episode World Wide Nate: African Adventures. Described as “extreme travel tourism”, the series is in production at locations across

Africa. It follows Nathan Fluellen, a thrill-seeker from Chicago with a magnetic personality and a penchant for pushing himself beyond his comfort zone.

The international travel vlogger hikes mountains in the Democratic Republic of Congo to reach the world’s largest lava lake, descends a 600-foot-tall waterfall in Lesotho, and treks through the Rwandan

jungle alongside silverback gorillas.

“We are very excited to work with TAC Studios and launch this new series which we hope will be seen as a thrilling passport to the beautiful and rich continent of Africa.

We look forward to premiering this exciting lifestyle show on UMC,” said Angela Northington, general manager and senior vice-president of content acquisitions for UMC.

Magnify to represent CNN Vision MAGNIFY MEDIA, the UKbased distribution and rightsmanagement specialist, has closed a three-year representation deal with CNN Vision, the UKbased global production business that makes CNN International’s premium lifestyle content, documentaries and specials.

The deal, which was brokered by Andrea Jackson, Magnify Media’s founder and CEO, and CNN Vision development executive Sean Kierkegaard, will start with imme-

diate effect. Included in the agreement is all the non-news content, which totals more than 100 hours, and all future content that will be produced for the CNN International channel.

Jackson said: “CNN is one of the most recognised global brands and we are proud to be working with its content. This deal adds a rich seam of quality non-scripted content to Magnify’s pipeline.”

Programme highlights include In 24 Hours and Culinary Journeys.

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In 24 Hours (Magnify Media)

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There’s plenty of fresh and exciting content across TV, film and animation at this year’s Singapore Pavilion. Be captivated and enthralled by the latest offerings from Asia and meet the minds behind them.

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NEWS First-timers with attitude can reach for the sky in Cannes

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I P C O M 2 017 kicked off its programme of network i ng opportunities yesterday evening with the traditional Cannes first-timers presentation by the “Pitch Doctor” Paul Boross.

“We’re all of us in this room among the luckiest people in the world,” Boross told his audience of MIPCOM newcomers.

“Some people think it’s cool to moan about coming to Cannes, but it’s not like we’re dodging bombs in a war zone.

“The reality is we’re in a great city, surrounded by great people and amazing opportunities.

The right mindset is all you need to do to turn this week Pitch Doctor Paul Boross: “attitude dictates altitude” into a success.

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“As the Americans say, it’s your attitude that dictates your altitude.”

The “How To MIPCOM” presentation — which was followed-up by a tour of the Palais des Festivals and a cocktail reception — is intended to help first-time delegates to make the most of their visit to Cannes.

“Your first time at MIPCOM can be a daunting experience,” said Boross, speaking to the MIPCOM News after his presentation. “My job is to give people the confidence to go out there and shine.

“Very often, the only opponent you ever have to worry about is the person looking back at you from the mirror,” he added.

Boross is at MIPCOM fresh from the launch of his latest book, Leader On The Pitch, co-written with British Lions r ugby hero Scott Quinnell.

The book uses the tactics and resilience found on the rugby field as a guide to business leadership.

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NEWS

Ancient Games gets the green light as Zig Zag and 3C Media ink deal

BGM’s Julie Bristow

Attraction Images’ Marleen Beaulieu

BGM AND ATTRACTION TO CREATE SLATE FOR THE GLOBAL MARKET CANADIAN production group Bristow Global Media (BGM) has joined forces with Attraction Images, producer of Francophone film and TV content, to create a slate of English-language scripted series for the global market.

The partnership is already working on three projects in active development and the first one is scheduled to go into production in the coming months.

Toronto-based BMG — part of Kew Media Group — is a multi-genre production specialist that has created a variety of shows, from scripted to sports.

“Attraction Images is at the forefront of creating and producing the best-in-class dramatic series and feature films,” said Julie Bristow, BGM’s president/CEO. “This partnership allows us to accelerate our growth by expanding into scripted content.”

Productions of Montreal-based Attraction Images, a subsidiary of the Attraction Media entertainment group, have appeared on a variety of French-speaking broadcast platforms, including ARTE France and Radio-Canada.

“We’re thrilled to be joining forces with the talented team at BGM and to produce content that will be seen in the English market in Canada and enjoyed around the world,” said Attraction Images president Marleen Beaulieu.

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IG Z AG PRODUCTIONS and Chinese TV production and distribution business 3C Media have sealed a codevelopment agreement for Zig Zag’s game show format Ancient Games.

Following the format winning the China Original TV Formats competition at the Shanghai TV festival, 3C Media and Zig Zag have agreed to co-develop and co-produce Ancient Games for China, the UK and international markets. The aim is to construct an ancient-style coliseum in China that will serve as the set for the Chinese production and as the hub for international productions.

“We have been discussing this format for three years, but it was during a PACT event in London that the project really came together,” said Danny Fenton, CEO of Zig Zag Productions. “Thanks

3C Media’s Xichen Liu (left) and Danny Fenton of Zig Zag

to the input about structural changes from 3C, we now have a format that has limitless international potential because we can include any historical/cultural element from any country.”

3C Media CEO and founder Xichen Liu, said that the adapta-

tion of formats for the Chinese audience is a specialism at 3C Media. “I’m happy that we were able to both broaden the international potential of the format and also introduce the sort of rhythm and variety that Chinese audiences expect,” he said.

Propagate experiences rapid expansion

Propagate International’s Cyrus Farrokh

LA-BASED production company and distributor Propagate International is in expansion mode after a year of rapid growth through industry tie-ups and deals while developing and ac-

quiring new formats and content.

With co-chief executives Ben Silverman and Howard T Owens at the helm, Propagate was formed in 2015 with backing from A+E Networks. Since then the company has embarked on an aggressive expansion of its operations and content, signing a number of major co-production deals and distribution partnerships as well as acquiring new formats and shows from overseas.

In the past year Propagate has inked a number of international deals including a partnership with Sreda — the production company of renowned Russian producer Alexander Tsekalo — and collaborations with Brazilian producer Formata and Istanbul-based Sera Films.

Propagate International president Cyrus Farrokh said: “Over

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the past year, Propagate has been aggressively developing our own original formats and forming new production and distribution partnerships with some of the most renowned producers and platforms in the world.

“As a result, we have a growing catalogue of top-quality finished programmes and formats that will meet the needs of international broadcasters. I am looking forward to meeting with our clients to present our exciting new slate.”

Among the content being showcased by Propagate at MIPCOM this year is comedy game-show format My Partner Knows Best; dating show with a twist For Love Or Money; and Girl Starter, which follows a group of young women as they take their first steps in business.

David Lyle

1950 - 2017

mipcom

NEWS

Fred Rogers’ spirit lives on in Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood

Limonero Films’ Pamela Martinez

TIME TO GET FIGHTING FIT THE UK’s Limonero Films has signed a deal with Nomad TV Media, under which it will distribute two seasons of Fighting Fit Dubai. At MIPCOM, Limonero is shopping the reality show, which has aired on OSN Sports and South Africa’s Econet and is now in its third season.

Fighting Fit Dubai transforms the lives of 24 members of the public, who compete to become fitter and healthier versions of themselves. The show deconstructs and rebuilds the contestants into more powerful human beings, both mentally and physically.

“As an independent and progressive international distributor of factual content, Limonero Films represents the perfect partner for us on one of our flagship shows,” said Tim Swain, managing director of Nomad.

Limonero is also showcasing Canadian web series The Amazing Gayl Pile, an award-wining comedy about the Shop-At-Home Channel’s most unappreciated on-air personality and his misguided dream to become the king of TV pitching.

“The Amazing Gayl Pile has won two Canadian Screen Awards and three Indie Series Awards. It features Jon Hamm [Mad Men], Paul Scheer [The League] and Jon Daly [Kroll Show],” said Limonero founder Pamela Martinez.

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HE FRED Rogers Company is embarking on a fourth series of its hit show Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood for PBS. Production is under way on the latest season of the animated kids’ series, which is due to air in the third quarter next year. The show, which was first launched in 2012, is based on a character from the iconic Mister Roger’s Neighborhood series, which ran in the 1960s on PBS, starring Fred Rogers. The original series, which featured Rogers and a host of puppet characters, ran for 31 seasons over more than 1,000 episodes.

Since the death of Rogers in 2003, the company that bears his name has continued to create a number of shows in the spirit of

childhood development and education that marked his career.

The Fred Rogers Company’s chief operating officer, Kevin Morrison, said that, in 2003, the company had the choice to either “turn off the lights” or continue to make children’s TV content, reborn for the modern era. “We have carried on the work of Fred Rogers with the same values that he had,” Morrison said. “We think what we are doing is true to what he set out to do.”

Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, which is aimed primarily at twoto four-year-olds, is currently the most popular children’s series on PBS. It is based on one of the characters from the 1960s series, adapted into a cartoon format.

The company has also developed a smartphone and tablet app,

Fred Rogers Company’s Kevin Morrison: “life’s little lessons”

which offers parents tools and tips for child development and runs in parallel with the on-air content. “It teaches them life’s little lessons,” Morrison said.

MIPCOM delegates are being invited to get in touch with their inner child outside the Majestic Hotel, with the help of felt-tip pens and a giant colouring-in board. Participants can stop outside the famous Cannes hotel and add their own touch to a poster of kids’ TV series Dream Street, which is currently in production. The pre-school show from Platinum Films is a re-imagining of the hit show of the same name that ran in the UK between 1999 and 2002. The series, distributed by MarVista Entertainment, is being showcased at MIPCOM for the first time in its new form — a hybrid CG and real-life 3D animation that Nigel Stone, chief executive of Platinum Films (left), said was “really unique”. Stone is pictured with MarVista CEO Fernando Szew.

MoMedia secures global deals

Babar And The Adventures Of Badou (MoMedia)

MOMEDIA has signed new deals that will see several traditional and digital-first animation brands

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break into new territories. Canadian animation giant Nelvana has signed its first deal with MoMedia, under which the distributor will represent the first series of Babar And The Adventures Of Badou and Little Charmers for distribution on both local and worldwide SVOD streaming platforms. MoMedia has already placed both series on Scandinavian SVOD service Viaplay Nordic.

Africa’s MTN Group, meanwhile, has acquired a package of kids’ brands for its 230 million subscribers in 20 countries. Among the titles covered are Outfit7’s Talking Tom And Friends and Zinkia Entertainment’s Pocoyo, Hasbro’s Transformers, language-education platform Badanamu and CMP’s HD CG animated comedy series Sinbad & The 7 Galaxies.

Photo Š: Erik Esbjornsson/Resume

Annie Wegelius 1959 - 2017

mipcom

NEWS

Vice teams with Econet Media to launch big move into Africa

DCD Rights’ James Anderson (left), DR’s Kaare Schmidt and Saffron’s Siobhan Bourke

DR DENMARK TAKES ACCEPTABLE RISK DR DENMARK has acquired RTE’s contemporary thriller Acceptable Risk from UK distributor DCD Rights.

The six-part drama, produced

by Saffron Pictures and Facet4 Media in association with Acorn Media Enterprises, is played out in Dublin and Montreal. Written by Emmy Award-winner Ron Hutchinson (Traffic), it stars Elaine Cassidy (No Offence, The Paradise, Harper’s Island) as Sarah Manning, who discovers after her husband is murdered while on a business trip to Montreal that she knows nothing about his past.

Coping with her grief at home in Dublin, Sarah’s world unravels as a dark conspiracy emerges in which her own family may be complicit.

“The great thing about Acceptable Risk is that it keeps surprising you,” said DR’s Kaare Schmidt, DR’s acquisitions executive for fiction. “All the way through, you’re never sure who’s good and who’s bad.”

Producer Siobhan Bourke added: “For an Irish producer to sell a thriller to Denmark is a real coup, given the strength of Nordic Noir. Usually, it’s the other way around.”

James Anderson, DCD Rights’ senior sales executive, pointed to the drama’s “amazing acting, characters and locations”. He added: “At heart, it’s a great conspiracy story, which always has universal appeal.”

V

ICE Media, the youthfocused media conglomerate backed

by The Walt Disney Company and A+E Networks, is expanding into Africa following a joint venture with Econet Media, which owns panAfrican TV network Kwese TV. Called Kwese Vice and scheduled to launch next year, it will have its headquarters in Johannesburg with satellite offices in Nairobi and Lagos.

Additionally, Vice and Econet will open up a production studio dedicated to developing, creating and distributing original local content

aimed at sub-Saharan Africa’s digitally connected millennials.

The content, centred on lifestyle and culture programming, will be distributed round-the-clock on digital platforms, TV networks and other media outlets. These will include Kwese Vice’s own channels and third-party platforms.

The new partnership extends an existing deal, in which Kwese TV also transmits Vice’s original TV network Viceland in Africa as well.

“Continuing to build on what’s been a flourishing partnership with Econet over the past year, we’re excited to be fully launch-

ing Vice across the region,” said Matt Elek, Vice Media, EMEA’s CEO. “Pairing Econet’s extensive local knowledge and innovative distribution with Vice’s creative powerhouse and storytelling expertise, we’re committed to delivering a fresh new voice for Africa’s diverse youth audiences.”

“We’ve announced a number of landmark partnerships for the continent and this venture is particularly exciting as it adds to our offering for the youth demographic across the continent,”added Joseph Hundah, Econet Media’s president and group CEO.

Deal boosts Ovation’s arts portfolio

Ovation’s Scott Woodward and Sky Vision’s Gillian Rose

US ARTS network Ovation has ramped up its international drama offering with the acquisition of US broadcast and digital rights to 37 hours of drama and documentaries from Sky Vision.

The deal includes: thriller Riviera (10 x 60 mins), starring Julia Stiles; historical docu-drama

Elizabeth And Her Enemies (3 x 60 mins), with Lily Cole; and two series of the European talent-competition show Masters Of Photography (16 x 60 mins), hosted by Isabella Rossellini.

Riviera, created by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game, The Borgias) and co-written by Jordan

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and John Banville (The Sea), was a recent ratings blockbuster on Sky Atlantic with over 15 million downloads in the UK alone. The series follows a midwestern art curator whose life is turned upside down after she discovers a world of criminality and hidden truths surrounding the death of her billionaire husband.

Elizabeth And Her Enemies features Lily Cole as the formidable monarch from young princess to mature queen, and is presented by historians Dr Suzannah Lipscomb and Dan Jones.

“This programming package really hits on a lot of our targets,” said Scott Woodward, Ovation’s executive vice-president, programming. “The documentaries are also top-notch and firmly in the realm of art and culture.”

Gillian Rose, senior vice-president, US sales and acquisitions, Sky Vision, said: “We are delighted to be working with Ovation to bring their viewers to such a wide range of great new entertainment. From Riviera to Whiskey Business, there is something in the new line-up for everyone to enjoy.”

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SEE YOU AT MIPCOM STAND C16.B

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NEWS FIRST TIME AT MIPCOM

FilmRise expands reach with global and digital content deals

Ovation’s Scott Woodward (left) with FilmRise’s Melissa Wohl and Danny Fisher

Sandra Torres Head of business development GymBoCo, Spain What brought you to Cannes?

We’ve developed a product that doesn’t exist yet on TV. GymBoCo will help users embark on a journey towards a healthier lifestyle. Until now, TV viewers haven’t had access to a SVOD service like this, which allows them to exercise where and when they want, choosing the discipline and the level of intensity.

MIPCOM is one of the most important global markets, so it’s the ideal place for us to showcase our product.

What are you bringing to MIPCOM? We are launching our programme with 100 4K videos of 15, 30 and 45 minutes. These provide classes in 19 disciplines, from traditional activities like yoga and tai-chi to cross fit, HIT and animal flow, as well as different genres of dance. It provides something all of the family can enjoy.

Who are you hoping to meet?

Given that the content has been filmed in Spanish, our primary markets are Spain and Latin America. Nonetheless, the next phase involves dubbing the content into English, French and German.

What would you like to have achieved by the end of MIPCOM? We’re hoping to sell our products to as many platforms as we can, converting GymBoCo into a brand that is known across the globe.

What appeals to us most about Cannes is that sellers, purchasers, channels, producers, distributors and individuals from the worldwide audiovisual sector are here.

F

IVE years ago, Danny Fisher was running film and TV distribution company FilmRise as a shoestring operation from his basement. Today, his company has secured $110m in capital investment, employs 50 people and has grown its library to 15,000 hours of content.

“I think, if we have a key differentiator, it is that we are good at identifying content that over-performs against expectations,” Fisher said.

So far, the company has focused on acquiring the rights to feature films, documentary films

and classic series. Titles on the FilmRise slate include Manifesto, Marjorie Prime, The Glass Menagerie and The Secret Life Of Lance Letscher, all of which have just been sold to Ovation for its linear channel and Ovation NOW app. Ovation executive vice-president of programming, Scott Woodward, said: “With our expansion into digital, we are seeking content that can be showcased on our linear network and our app. The FilmRise package is a great example of what we are looking for.”

To date, FilmRise has focused its energies on the US, working with partners such as Kew Media on international distribution. At MIPCOM, Fisher also announced the company has entered into an agreement with Incendo, which will become FilmRise’s exclusive sales agents in Canada.

FilmRise has particular expertise in digital. “We do a lot of work with Amazon Prime and recently licensed Carsey-Werner titles Roseanne and 3rd Rock From The Sun to them,” says head of sales Melissa Wohl.

CANAL+ has acquired two of FremantleMedia’s latest dramas following a deal with FremantleMedia International. The French pay-TV channel has picked up the rights to Hard Sun, produced

by FremantleMedia UK’s Euston Films, and Picnic At Hanging Rock, produced by FremantleMedia Australia. “Despite being very different stories — a Neil Cross thriller and spellbinding adaptation of a classic novel — I’m confident that both Hard Sun and Picnic At Hanging Rock will make a lasting impression on Canal+ audiences across France,” said Al De Azpiazu, FremantleMedia International’s vice-president of sales and distribution, Western Europe

Sideways hails ‘golden age of docs’

Sideway’s Juan Solera (left) and Kazz Basma

SIDEWAYS Film comes to MIPCOM on the back of deals for several of its documentaries, including Body Language Decoded, a voyage into the mysterious world of non-verbal communication, which has been acquired by UR in Sweden and YES in Israel; and The End Of Truth, an investigation into the global enterprise of kidnapping for financial or political gain, which

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has been sold to Spain’s RTVE, Croatia’s HRT, Lithuania’s LRT and Portugal’s SIC. “This is a golden age for docs,” said Sideways founder Kazz Basma. “There is a real appetite for well-made, intelligent shows and there are more distribution platforms than ever available to doc-makers. Added to that, camera technology and drones mean that making a documentary has never been cheaper.”

Sideways is also showcasing Undercover Jihadi, Desert Coffee and The Coming War On China.

“Here at MIPCOM, we’re confident that our mainstream titles, such as Body Language Decoded and Body A La Carte, will perform well,” said international sales and acquisitions manager Juan Solera. “I also think that Journey To Space, which was shot in 4K and features narration by Patrick Stewart, will be a hit with broadcasters.”

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PRODUCT NEWS A+E NETWORKS

TV MOVIE highlights from A+E include Michael Jackson: Searching For Neverland (1 x 120 mins), which dramatises intimate moments between Jackson and his children, professional turbulence and financial troubles that led Jackson into rehearsals for the This Is It tour. Other movies include: Story Of A Girl (1 x 120 mins), about the destructive power of a teenage sex tape; and Cocaine Godmother (1 x 120 mins), starring Catherine Zeta-Jones. Highlights from the scripted catalogue include: historical drama Nightfall (10 x 60 mins); military drama Six (10 x 60 mins), and Blue Book (10 x 60 mins), about the US Air Forces’ investigation into UFOs. A+E also brings a vast slate of formats and factual titles.

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MARVISTA ENTERTAINMENT

MARVISTA is debuting pre-school series Dream Street (65 x 10 mins) in Cannes. Dream Street incorporates core learning principles that encourage independence, social interaction, respect and empowerment. The gentle pace and narrated storytelling is developed to appeal to pre-schoolers.

Dream Street follows the toy-box friends as they embrace everyday challenges in a brightly coloured world filled with edible treats, toys, games and fantastic gadgets.

Dream Street (MarVista Entertainment)

CANAMEDIA

Michael Jackson: Searching For Neverland (A+E Networks)

Ghost Dimension Flying Solo (Canamedia)

CANAMEDIA is at MIPCOM with Ghost Dimension - Flying Solo (10 x 60 mins/ HD), a new paranormal series from the producers of the original Ghost Dimension series. Paranormal expert Sean Reynolds investigates the UK’s most haunted paranormal locations — which include witches, demons and lost souls — with dramatic results.

GAD

FRANCE’s GAD brings a catalogue of factual programming to MIPCOM. Priorities include: Canned Sardines, A Well-Oiled Network (1 x 52 mins), which follows the process from catch to plate; Legendary Roads (1 x 60 mins), an exploration of three routes with amazing landscapes in France, Argentina and the Himalayas; and Easter Island: The Truth Revealed (1 x 90 mins). Music titles cover Sonar Festival, Keys N Krates, Derrick Carter, Nice Jazz Festival, Becca Stevens Band, Ravel’s Sheherazade, Strauss’ Salome, Dance Of The Seven Veils, the LSO conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and a range of operas.

KVARTEL 95

THE SECOND season of Ukrainian political-comedy series Servant Of The People is brought to MIPCOM by Kvartel 95.The series follows the honest and humble school teacher who unexpectedly became the President of Ukraine. Having arrested his enemy — the prime minister — new problems hit the President and his team. The company also highlights the seventh season of format The InLaws (16 x 53 mins), a warm-hearted family-comedy series.

Servant Of The People (Kvartel 95)

CYBER GROUP STUDIOS

Tom Sawyer (Cyber Group Studios)

TOM SAWYER (26 x 22 mins/2D/HD), aimed at six- to 10-year-olds, is a new animated adaptation of the classic Mark Twain adventure story that aims to teach kids independence and help them mature. Other shows from France’s Cyber Group Studios include: Pirates (52 x 11 mins/2D/HD), about a family of pirates that moves to DullOn-Sea; Zack Jinks (52 x 11 mins/2D/HD), about an optimistic and imaginative kid; and a second season on MNJ (104 x 11 mins), based on a video game and app.

3C MEDIA

Legendary Roads (GAD)

NEW FORMAT Ancient Games is a co-development from China’s 3C Media with the UK’s ZigZag. In a recreation of ancient sports eight contestants compete in a variety of games from all over the world.

Ancient Games uses CGI-augmented reality for the backgrounds, and props, tents, weapons and other personnel are authentic reproductions. Another entertainment format from 3C Media is technology-focused Future Games, in which 12 competitors compete in futuristic games.

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PRODUCT NEWS 41 ENTERTAINMENT (41E)

US-HEADQUARTERED 41E heads its MIPCOM animation line-up with three seasons of a series based on a game franchise. Skylanders Academy (1 x 44 mins/37 x 22 mins) follows young warriors who are trained to protect the universe from evil-doers.

Produced by Activision Blizzard Studios, the series is available in 25 languages. Other priorities include: Shooting Star (13 x 22 mins), about a 13-year-old girl who is struck by a sentient star while playing soccer and is unwittingly transformed into a superhero; The Mini Musketeers (26 x 11 mins), following the young French heroes as sixyear-olds; Super Monsters (20 x 11 mins); and two seasons each of Kong King Of The Apes (26 x 22 mins), Tarzan And Jane (13 x 22 mins) and Pacman And The Ghostly Adventures.

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GUTSY ANIMATIONS

FINNISH producer Gutsy Animations, is bringing the well-known Moomin stories to life in a new family series. The first tranche of cast voices confirmed includes Taron Egerton as Moomintroll, Rosamund Pike as Moominmamma, Matt Berry as Moominpappa, Akiya Henry, Kate Winslet, Will Self, Warwick Davis and Richard Ayoade. Based on the creation of novelist, painter, illustrator and comic-book artist Tove Jansson, Moominvalley is being made using a 2D/3D hybrid technique, where characters are rendered in 3D in an environment with some 2D illustrative or painterly elements. Two series of 13 x 22 mins are slated to air in 2019.

Moominvalley (Gutsy Animations)

Skylanders Academy (41E)

MUSE DISTRIBUTION INTERNATIONAL

MOVIE franchise — Fixer Upper Mysteries (6 x 120 mins) — is launched at MIPCOM by Canada’s Muse Distribution International. Grammy Award-winner Jewel plays a home renovator who uncovers mysteries about the house she is restoring, including a human skull in the basement. She becomes an unlikely detective as she discovers the house’s secret past.

Fixer Upper Mysteries (Muse Distribution International)

GLOBO

TELENOVELAS brought to Cannes by Brazil’s Globo include: Rock Story (135 x 60 mins), about a former rock star who struggles to reinvent himself after another artist steals his fame and girlfriend; Total Dreamer (130 x 60 mins), a romantic comedy about a homeless girl who enters a modelling contest; Time After Time (100 x 60 mins), a love story doomed to end tragically; Wounded Past (130 x 60 mins), a drama about a couple who meet 20 years after they first fell in love; Lady Revolution (45 x 60 mins), set in the 19th century; Burning Hearts (100 x 60 mins); and Rising Sun (120 x 60 mins). Feature films include: Magal And The Ants, The Eternal Son, Under Pressure, Alone Man and The Moving Forest.

INCENDO

PINKFONG

CANADA’s Incendo produces and distributes movies, series and documentaries. This year the company has produced five made-for-television movies and co-produced the second season of Versailles with Capa Drama and Zodiak Fiction.

Incendo’s priorities for MIPCOM include: limited drama series Los Juniors and Echo (both in development); TV movies Love Blossoms and Love On Safari; drama series Versailles (seasons 1 and 2) and thrillers Sometimes The Good Kill, Separated At Birth, Sleeper and Second Opinion.

PRE-SCHOOL specialist Pinkfong — with offices in LA, Shanghai and Seoul — brings a library including more than 2,200 songs, stories and apps to Cannes.

A priority is Pinkfong Wonderstar (26 x 11 mins), which features Pinkfong, a prince from the planet Staria, who crashes into the roof of a house in Wonderville, where he finds the perfect best friend and problem-solving partner, Hogi. Pinkfong’s magic and enthusiasm and Hogi’s encyclopedic knowledge inspires them to open Wonderstar, a problemsolving service. Production is scheduled to complete by the end of 2018.

Sleeper (Incendo)

Pinkfong Wonderstar (Pinkfong)

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FAMILY—INTRIGUE—LEGACY—DESIRE—TRADITION—MYSTERY

Get an exclusive preview of the first drama series from Servus TV at our booth Riviera R7.N1

PRODUCT NEWS CINEFLIX RIGHTS

THE UK’s Cineflix Rights brings a new factual slate to MIPCOM. Predator Pets (13 x 60 mins) explores the lives of people who keep unconventional and sometimes deadly pets – including alligators, bison, chimpanzees and wolves. Homicide: Hours To Kill (26 x 60 mins) is a true-crime series that follows investigators as they reconstruct the final hours in the victim’s life in order to solve the case. Rocky Mountain Railroad (8 x 60 mins) follows the crews who battle weather, terrain and dangerous wildlife to keep Canada’s trains rolling.

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DW TRANSTEL

DOCUMENTARY series Faster, Higher, Stronger – Tomorrow’s Technology (5 x 30 mins), brought to MIPCOM by Germany’s DW Transtel, is available in English, Arabic and Spanish. Looking at cutting-edge developments the series profiles projects including constructing new Airbus aircraft, how drones will be moving from hobbyists and the military to having a place in everyday life, and how sports cars can run by batteries and high-tech trucks by computers.

Faster, Higher, Stronger – Tomorrow’s Technology (DW Transtel)

ONZA DISTRIBUTION

THE MIPCOM slate for Barcelona-based Onza Distribution includes: The Quest (4 x 54 mins), featuring explorer Diego Cortijo as he travels the world taking ancient myths and legends as inspiration, meeting experts and local communities; Payback (110 x 50 mins), a drama about a man seeking revenge for the death of his family, only to fall in love with the daughter of the man responsible; and Jungle Planet (26 x 26 mins), a 4K journey into the most valuable ecosystems of the earth.

The Quest (Onza Distribution) Predator Pets (Cineflix Rights)

FRANCETV DISTRIBUTION

MINI-series They Had A Dream (4 x 45 mins/2 x 90 mins) heads the drama slate from francetv distribution. The story concerns immigrants from the French West Indies and Reunion Island who escaped poverty by pursuing their dreams in France, with differing results.

Factual titles include: Putin, Master Of The Game (1 x 50 mins/70 mins), exploring how a FSB agent rose to become one of the world’s most influential leaders; Population (1 x 70 mins), which uses India as an example of the issues around population growth; and La Miss & The General (1 x 52 mins), about the only woman to have officially served in the Foreign Legion, who had a passionate love affair with General Koenig.

TRACE CONTENT DISTRIBUTION (TCD)

FRANCE-based TCD is launching a selection of original TV series’ in Cannes including Crazy Lovely Cool (10 x 50 mins) a co-production between Trace Studios and Nollywood Factory depicting the day-to-day life of students in a Nigerian university. Other scripted content includes feature film The Gang Of The French Caribbean, set in the 1970s, following the struggle of French Caribbean citizens in Paris. From the documentary slate comes: Generation Papa Wemba (1 x 77 mins), about the late Congolese music superstar Papa Wemba; Afrobeats, From Nigeria To The World; and Salomon Kalou, L’Elephant Cheri. TCD also brings an animation series from Gabonbased Mbindouzou Divertissement, Rac & Kino (24 x 3 mins), about two young friends living at Koula-Moutou City. Through their adventures, children learn about brotherhood and ways to stay active and clever.

Crazy Lovely Cool (TCD)

SMALL WORLD IFT

They Had A Dream (francetv distribution)

NEW FORMAT Win Your Country! is a studio-based quiz show where contestants win if they know their country well. Players compete over three rounds covering geography, sports, culture, science, entertainment and current events. Each contestant starts with a chosen territory and must conquer neighbouring regions by answering questions about that specific territory. The original format, Win Romania!, has been renewed for a second season.

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Win Your Country! (Small World IFT)

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MIPCOM 2017

Indigenous Content That Speaks to the World

Monday, October 16 3:30 - 4:00 PM Palais des Festivals – Level 5 Verrière Californie Lounge & Rooftop

SEE BIG.

Eric Myre

A showcase of successful drama series that convey unique stories.

Mohawk Girls

Season 5, 33 x 22 minutes Production Rezolution Pictures (Canada) International Sales GRB Entertainment

The Warriors

Season 1, 8 x 30 minutes Production Arenamedia (Australia) International Sales eOne

PRODUCT NEWS Juda (Banijay Rights)

BANIJAY RIGHTS

JUDA (8 x 45 mins) is a new thriller series from United Studios in Israel, brought to Cannes by Banijay Rights. Juda is hustling a living in the criminal underworld, and borrows money from the French mafia for a seat at a high-stakes Romanian poker game. He wins big, only for his luck to run out when he is robbed and bitten by a seductive vampire, who has unknowingly broken the rule of her forefathers by drinking Jewish blood and begun her own path to mortality. What follows is a tale of an unwilling hero’s journey to redemption, true friendship and forbidden love as Juda is hunted by Romanian vampires, Israeli cops and French mobsters.

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BOAT ROCKER RIGHTS

THE SIXTH season of The Next Step is brought to MIPCOM by Boat Rocker Rights. The half-hour, single-camera tween drama features an elite group of dancers as they attempt to succeed in this competitive world. The Canadian distributor also brings: The Polos (26 x 11 mins), about a quirky group of friends who take road trips to experience the wonders of the natural world; The Great Northern Candy Drop (1 x 30 mins), an animated holiday special; Hiccup & Sneeze (120 x 30 mins), another kids series about lovable forest monsters, a roving monster reporter Ellard, and their friend Bibi; documentary series History In The Making (13 x 30 mins); Late Nite Eats (13 x 30 mins), a cookery show exploring cities; makeover series Reno Set Go! (14 x 30 mins/1 x 60 mins); Cursed Bloodlines (13 x 30 mins); Mysterious Earth (13 x 30 mins); and Science Uncovered (13 x 30 mins).

ICONIX

A TOP MIPCOM priority for Korean company Iconix is their much-loved franchise Pororo The Little Penguin.

Distributed to more than 160 countries, Poporo The Little Penguin is also placed on various digital platforms including YouTube, Dailymotion, Hulu and Netflix.

Recently Pororo filters have successfully launched on Snapchat.

Pororo The Little Penguin (Iconix)

The Next Step (Boat Rocker Rights) WOODCUT MEDIA

KEW MEDIA

SPLASH ENTERTAINMENT

DEBUTING at MIPCOM is comedy series Crawford (12 x 30 mins), from the creator of Trailer Park Boys.

The series features a not-so-typical family as they navigate fractured relationships, financial troubles, old resentments and new enemies. Storylines include raccoon whispering, open relationships, breakups, hillbilly hipsters, clingy U2-obsessed boyfriends and shady lawyers. Produced by Rabbit Square Productions for CBC, the cast includes Jill Hennessy, John Carroll Lynch and Kyle Mac.

CALIFORNIA-based Splash Entertainment brings worldwide audio visual rights (excluding Asia and Africa) to MIPCOM for Chinese animator Dazzling Star’s Jing-Ju Cats (80 x 13 mins). Combining elements of Kung-Fu and Beijing Opera, Jing-Ju Cats, which debuted in China on Toonmax and has broadcast on multiple channels throughout the region, is currently available in English and Mandarin and is aimed at kids six to 12.

Crawford (Kew Media)

Jing-Ju Cats (Splash Entertainment)

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TRUE-crime specialist Woodcut Media has just finished production on new documentary series Jo Frost On Killer Kids (4 x 60 mins), commissioned by A+E Networks UK for Crime + Investigation (CI). The series, presented by parenting expert Jo Frost (Supernanny), looks into the subject of children who have committed murder. Tackling thought-provoking questions about nature vs nurture, and whether some children are simply born with a certain disposition, Frost examines cases that have left the public shocked. The international distributor is Keshet International.

Jo Frost On Killer Kids (Woodcut Media)

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PRODUCT NEWS TRAVEL TIME WITH LINDA TV

TRAVEL Time With Linda sees host Linda Cooper travel the Caribbean to profile hotels, culture, local products and attractions in range of locations, including: Costa Rica, Anguilla, Turks & Caicos, Bermuda, Barbados, Belize, Jamaica, St Kitts, Nevis, Dominica, The Bahamas and St Lucia. There is also an episode, Best Of Caribbean Dreaming, in which Cooper showcases her favourite elements from each episode, including bloopers.

GUESSWORK DISTRIBUTION

TOP TITLES for Canada’s 9 Story Media include: new family film The Samuel Project (1 x 90 mins), about a high-school student who enters an animation competition by telling the story of his ageing grandfather; new animation Luo Bao Bei (52 x 11 mins), about a curious little girl and her friends; holiday animation special Angela’s Christmas (1 x 26 mins); comedy series Monica Chef (40 x 22 mins), set in in an haute cuisine school; Grace Beside Me (13 x 26 mins), a new comedy drama featuring Fuzzy Mac, whose life is turned upside down on her 13th birthday, when she discovers she can communicate with spirits; and animation series Vivi (52 x 11 mins), Guess How Much I Love You – The Adventures Of Little Nutbrown Hare (2 x 26 mins), Garfield And Friends (121 x 22 mins), 3 Amigonauts (52 x 11 mins) and Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood (170 x 11 mins/ new season, 40 x 11 mins).

Get Krack!n (Guesswork Distribution)

The Samuel Project (9 Story Media)

JETSEN HUASHI KIDS

IX MEDIA is a Chinese company focusing on overseas distribution of Chinese content, including dramas, films, documentaries, variety shows and animation.A high priority for the company at MIPCOM is TV series Game Of Hunting, a drama set in the business world, which stars Hu Ge (Nirvana In Fire).

ABC COMMERCIAL

ABC COMMERCIAL brings a range of drama, factual and children’s content to Cannes, including: Pulse (8 x 60 mins), a medical drama based on a true story, with a cast including Owen Teale (Game Of Thrones) and Claire van der Boom (Hawaii Five-0); Catalyst (12 x 60 mins), Australia’s flagship science documentary series; 35 Serial Killers: The World Wants To Forget (13 x 60 mins), examining the world’s most infamous killers; Ta Da! (15 x 7 mins), starring children’s entertainer Justine Clarke, an energetic exploration of music, dance and performance; and Wiggle Wiggle Wiggle! (26 x 22 mins), featuring The Wiggles group, with over 100 new and classic songs.

9 STORY MEDIA

GUESSWORK Distribution is at MIPCOM for the first time, and is highlighting Get Krack!n (8 x 30 mins), a new series from the stars of digital series The Katering Show, a satirical cooking-show spoof.

Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan turn their attention to morning lifestyle television in the series produced for ABC (Australia) and SeeSo (US). The ABC’s streaming of the short form series, The Katering Show on their iView platform was their most watched original programme ever.

Guesswork Television is the production arm of Australia’s biggest comedy talent management business, Token Artists. Guesswork Distribution has recently launched to handle exploitation of Guesswork Television’s slate of original series, formats and stand-up.

IX MEDIA

Travel Time With Linda (Travel Time With Linda TV)

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Game Of Hunting (IX Media)

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CHINESE distributor Jetsen Huashi Kids brings a catalogue of more than 400 titles to Cannes.

Representing international producers and distributors including Sony, Dandelooo, Newen, France TV, KBS, Iconix, GFX, Dalgona, DHX, Zee-TV, SE-MA-FOR, the company places content from brands including Pocoyo, Paddington Bear, Gaspard & Lisa, Badanamu and Back Kom, on all TV and digital outlets.

Paddington Bear (Jetsen Huashi Kids)

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PRODUCT NEWS DRG

THE RIVER (8 x 60 mins), produced for TV3 by Arctic Wonder, is brought to MIPCOM by DRG. Based on actual events, it is set in a long dark winter in Norway, close to the Russian border. During a NATO exercise a local Sami girl discovers the body of a young boy in a river. The local police officer starts investigating despite warnings from his superiors.

But then, the Sami girl disappears and is later found murdered. He and fellow officer Mia work together to search for the truth. The River is the story of an outsider who slowly understands that the locals are willing to do anything to prevent the truth from coming out.

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FREMANTLEMEDIA INTERNATIONAL

THE ARTISAN is a new format that follows six artisans as they search for the perfect apprentice. The French version featured a carpenter who creates bespoke wooden furniture and trophies, a ceramist whose 300-yearold family business produces roof decorations, a Parisienne glassmaking expert and a homemade sweet maker, among others. As the training draws to a close, the experts decide between their contestants. FMI is also launching drama series Sunshine Kings (4 x 60 mins) at MIPCOM. The series is a sports-crime drama filled with heart and humour. Jacob is a young South Sudanese-Australian basketball player who is on the cusp of being picked by US scouts when he is caught up in a police investigation involving a teenage girl from one of Melbourne’s affluent suburbs.

The River (DRG)

IGMAR

A MIPCOM priority for Russia’s Igmar is new feature film Graphomafia, billed as an entertaining journey into the world of contemporary literature.

The series follows successful publisher Nadia who devises a plan to hire a gang to kill a famous writer, steal his last manuscript and claim her son to be its author so that he can become famous.

Graphomafia (Igmar)

K7 MEDIA

MANCHESTER-based K7 Media is a consultancy providing research for the TV industry on global content. The company offers a subscription offer and through an international network of stringers provides intelligence on content and trends. Earlier this year K7 Media launched the Chinese Quicklist, a showreel of interesting global entertainment formats, created specifically for buyers in the Chinese market.

The Artisan (FMI)

DCD RIGHTS

UK-BASED distributor DCD Rights is showcasing the new second season of legal drama Striking Out (6 x 60 mins) at MIPCOM, a Bl!nder Films Production for Ireland’s RTE. Maria Doyle Kennedy and Moe Dunford join the cast alongside Amy Huberman, returning as solicitor Tara Rafferty. Now her own boss at her Dublin-based law firm, Tara faces more morally challenging scenarios that push her and her team in their personal and professional lives.

Striking Out (DCD Rights)

PASSION DISTRIBUTION

PASSION Distribution brings 300 hours of new content to MIPCOM. Headlining the factual entertainment slate is format The Class Next Door (4 x 60 mins) which pits parents against their kids at school, working through the same curriculum and sitting the same exams. Entertainment programming includes Japandemonium (6 x 30 mins), featuring clips of Japanese game shows. Headlining the format slate, Emogenius, is a half-hour comedic game show that taps into the popularity of emojis. Documentaries include: Pompeii: Countdown To Disaster (3 x 60 mins); The People’s Vet (20 x 60 mins); SOS: How To Survive (6 x 60 mins); Barbie: The Most Famous Doll In The World (1 x 60 mins); Ryan Gander: The Idea Of Japan (1 x 60 mins); The Internet, Cancer And Me (1 x 60 mins); Stuck On You (1 x 60 mins); The Sex Bots Are Coming (1x 60 mins); and Trust Me, I’m A Robot (1 x 60 mins).

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The Class Next Door (Passion Distribution)

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PRODUCT NEWS PORTFOLIO ENTERTAINMENT

ARMOZA FORMATS

INCLUDED in Armoza Formats’ MIPCOM slate are two new dramas, both available as formats, from Canadian broadcaster TVA Group. Eclipse (12 x 60 mins) features Anne-Sophie, who after the death of her son leaves her home and family with the hope of starting a new life. Her husband is left behind with their daughter and the family business. As they try to uncover who is to blame the tension grows. The storyline of Refuge (24 x 60 mins) features Brigitte, who years after abandoning her daughter and leaving her hometown returns for her daughter’s wedding.

What should have been a celebration then becomes a mysterious murder case.

PORTFOLIO is launching Bubu And The Little Owls (26 x 11 mins/13 x 30 mins), a new animated preschool series, and the new comedy animated series Addison (20 x 11 mins), and is re-launching PBS Kids series Cyberchase in Cannes. Also on the slate is: Fast Indian Cooking With Sapna (6 x 30 mins); new millennial-geared reality series following an electronic music festival on a cruise liner, The Gig Guys (6 x 30 mins); Small Town Big Mayor (10 x 30 mins); Sailing Chef (30 x 30 mins); Cafe Maria (30 x 30 mins); a second season of kids factual series Do You Know (25 x 15 mins); and the science and STEM-based new season of The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About That! (20 x 30 mins/40 x 15 mins).

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OASIS ANIMATION

QUEBEC’s Oasis Animation is currently developing three animation series for which they are seeking co-producers, distributors and broadcasters at MIPCOM. Daphne And The Sweeties, aimed at preschoolers, is about an inquisitive five-year-old girl and her stuffed animal friends. Billy Stuart, aimed at six- to nine-year-olds, is the story of a raccoon who has extraordinary adventures with his friends as they travel through time.

The UMG’s (unmanageables), aimed at the over-12s, is a satirical comedy about a rock band on the verge of making it big.

Billy Stuart (Oasis Animation) Refuge (Armoza Formats

Addison (Portfolio Entertainment)

TERRANOA

DOCUMENTARIES from Paris-based Terranoa include: Josephine Baker, The Story Of An Awakening (1 x 52 mins), due for delivery next year and commissioned by ARTE; Tailored Humanity, a science special revealing the DNA-editing revolution in biotechnology, including leading scientists in the US, UK, Germany and unprecedented access to Chinese research labs; and Super Juniors: Ready To Shake The Planet (3 x 52 mins/30 x 8 mins), a family series about teenagers determined to take local initiatives and have a positive impact on the world.

FOX NETWORKS GROUP CONTENT DISTRIBUTION

FOX NETWORKS Group Content Distribution leads its new drama slate with Deep State (8 x 60 mins), an international espionage thriller starring Mark Strong as Max Easton, an ex-spy brought back into the field to avenge the death of his son who had followed in his footsteps, only to find himself at the heart of a covert intelligence war and a conspiracy to profit from the spread of chaos throughout the Middle East. The storyline unfolds across the UK, US, Iran, Lebanon and France.

Deep State (Fox Networks Group Content Distribution)

TECHNICOLOR

TECHNICOLOR brings Mythfits (52 x 11 mins) to MIPCOM, a series in development featuring the extraordinary offspring of famous mythological creatures and beloved animals. In the series, aimed at children four to seven, they live on Mythfit Island, a magical ecosystem. Pigasus and Donkeycorn have adventures of self-discovery, fuelled by their friendship and their dream of meeting every Mythfit on their seemingly endless island.

Mythfits (Technicolor)

Josephine Baker, The Story Of An Awakening (Terranoa)

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PRODUCT NEWS FZ ENTERTAINMENT

CONABLUE (52 x 13 mins), an original animation from China’s FZ Entertainment, is due for delivery in 2019 and the company is at MIPCOM to negotiate with international broadcasters, channels and buyers. The stories concern little dolphin Columbus and his friends as they explore and protect their ecosystem. CoNaBLUE has already received investment from Tencent, a deal which includes the utilisation of Tencent’s promotion resources and mobile platform.

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EBS

KOREA’s EBS returns to MIPCOM with a new wildlife documentary series, Livestock (4 x 50 mins). Livestock explores the impact of animal domestication on human history and investigates the most desirable humanlivestock relationships. It explores the diversity of roles played by livestock in the lives of humans, from a historical, anthropological and archeological point of view.

Livestock (EBS)

CAKE

HONG DANG MOO

AS A sister series to the WotWots franchise, Kiddets (32 x 11 mins), introduces five new WotWot characters, young space cadets in training at a play-school space academy on planet WotWot. Under the watchful eye of SpottyWot and DottyWot who are based on Earth, Patches, Dapper, Bounce, Stripes and Luna learn skills they need to embark on their mission to a new world. Kiddets is coproduced by Pukeko Pictures and Guangdong Huawen Century Animation Company and Cake has worldwide distribution rights excluding Australia, New Zealand and Greater China.

ANIMAL RESCUE (52 x 11 mins) is brought to Cannes by Korea’s Hong Dang Moo. The new 3D series is a story about animal heroes and one adolescent girl working to help the animals as well as the environment. Targeted at ages six to 10, delivery is scheduled for the end of 2018.

Kiddets (Cake)

Animal Rescue (Hong Dang Moo)

CoNaBLUE (FZ Entertainment)

ITV STUDIOS (ITVS)

ITV STUDIOS’ (ITVS) unscripted slate for MIPCOM is headlined by its dating format, Love Island. This year series three aired on ITV2 in the UK, and the show recently launched on RTL2 in Germany. Other new formats include: Big Star Bigger Star, in which parents of famous faces reveal what they were really like growing up, while the celebrities try to work out which embarrassing stories have been revealed; CelebAbility, in which a team of five friends go head-to-head with five celebrities across five rounds; comedy panel quiz show Cram; Dress To Impress, in which a singleton chooses a partner by their style; Eat, Shop, Save, where a team of experts help a family change their lifestyle habits without breaking the bank; Eighteen, following a group of young adults; Keep It Or Cash It; valuation game show Name Your Price; and Made In… in which a celebrity is stripped of everything they own that has not been made in their home nation. They are then challenged to go on a shopping trip to find the best of their home nation’s products.

LINEUP INDUSTRIES

Quiz Champion (Lineup Industries)

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DUTCH distributor Lineup Industries is at MIPCOM with new game show format Quiz Champion from ZDF Enterprises — one of three ZDF titles on the Lineup slate following the companies’ recent formats distribution agreement.

Quiz Champion sees challengers pitching themselves against five celebrities, each an expert in their field. Five different categories await them, chosen from topics including sports, literature, music, history and food.

Two further ZDF titles on its formats slate are 4 For Family and The Game Begins.

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empowering creativity worldwide

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PRODUCT NEWS ECCHO RIGHTS

AUTENTIC DISTRIBUTION

COLOGNE-based Authentic is launching a new selection of cutting-edge documentaries. 2077 — 10 Seconds To The Future, explores the impact of technological and scientific advancement. Secrets Of Arabia concerns the dilemma of the seven countries of the Arabian Peninsula stuck between antiquity and modernity, and the fascinating juxtaposition of progress and tradition. In The Egtved Girl archaeologists and scientists explore the lives of pre-historic beings. The Mara River is nature’s best-laid trap for migratory animals and sets the stage for a showdown between predator and prey in Masai Mara — The Big Hunt.

ECCHO Rights brings Cennet, Surec Film’s newest Turkish drama series, to MIPCOM. The series is a format adaptation based on Tears Of Heaven from CJ E&M, one of a number of scripts that Eccho Rights represent from Korea’s largest production house. The Turkish version (Cennet’in Gozyasları) is airing this season on ATV, starring Almida Ada and Berk Atan. Cennet is an ambitious young woman from a tough background. When the woman she longs to work for turns out to be the mother that abandoned her as a baby, her motivation turns.

Masai Mara — The Big Hunt (Autentic Distribution) Cennet (Eccho Rights)

COTE OUEST AUDIOVISUEL

MAURITIUS-based Cote Ouest brings a new film to Cannes after its successful festival appearances. Felicite, from director Alain Gomis, is a drama starring Mputu Vero Tshanda Beya in a frantic race against time in the bustling streets of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Another priority for the company is Mr Brau (29 x 52 mins), a Brazilian series starring Lazaro Ramos and Tais Araujo, about a rich Afro-Brazilian couple.

Mr Brau offers a glimpse into Brazil’s star system as well as a glimpse into its complex socioeconomic make-up, all served with a dose of humour. French and English versions are available.

QUIET MOTION

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ZED

Felicite (Cote Ouest Audiovisuel)

HAT TRICK INTERNATIONAL

MONTREAL-based Quiet Motion recently produced two documentary series for TV5. Rires Du Monde (seasons 1 and 2, 20 x 60 mins) and Parconaute (seasons 1 and 2, 16 x 60 mins). Two further documentary series are currently in production, La Vie En Quatre Temps and Champions Du Monde, due to air on TV5 in 2018. Quiet Motion is at MIPCOM looking for partners in co-production, distribution, pre-sales and sales.

THE UK’s Hat Trick debuts Emporium Productions’ Click For Murder (10 x 60 mins), presented by crime journalist Donal MacIntyre, at MIPCOM.The series reveals some of the most disturbing recent crimes where the internet has been used as a tool to trick, torture and kill innocent victims lured from a virtual world. Chance online encounters lead to obsession and murder, quests for companionship end in bloodshed, and spurned love escalates into a deadly game of lies and deceit.

La Vie En Quatre Temps (Quiet Motion)

Click For Murder (Hat Trick International)

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AMONG the 30 hours of new programming brought to MIPCOM by Zed is a boost to its science offer.

Top Science Stories, (1 x 52 mins) looks at some of the most recent breakthroughs, including dinosaurs, exoplanets, the solar eclipse, sea-level rise and an eighth continent. The Secret History Of Our Evolution (2 x 52 mins/4K) uses innovative technologies to show how our body evolved and adapted through time. 2019 marks the 500th anniversary of Leonardo Da Vinci’s death, and Zed is producing Leonardo: The Mystery Of A Lost Portrait (1 x 52/90 mins), a scientific investigation into a painting that might be an unknown self-portrait.

Leonardo: The Mystery Of A Lost Portrait (Zed)

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PRODUCT NEWS ALL3MEDIA INTERNATIONAL

ALL3MEDIA international is showcasing the fourth season of Matilda And The Ramsey Bunch (15 x 15 mins) at MIPCOM. Following a host of deals for the third season, the new series airs on CBBC later this year. Chef Gordon Ramsay’s daughter Matilda and the family spend their summers in Los Angeles, where Ramsay works for most of his year. Matilda combines recipes with an insight into life with a celebrity dad, as well as her family’s guide to Los Angeles.

AB INTERNATIONAL

NEW FROM France’s AB International is drama series Missions (20 x 26 mins) With a second season coming soon, the series is set in the not-too-distant future when eccentric Swiss billionaire William Meyer launches the first civilian mission to Mars. After a chaotic landing, the European squad finds a survivor. But he is not from the American mission. His name is Vladimir Komarov — a Russian who died in 1967.

Missions (AB International)

Matilda And The Ramsey Bunch (all3media international)

ANYZAC

KOTV

Playlist (KOTV)

QUEBEC’s KOTV leads its MIPCOM catalogue with two titles. The company produced and developed the format Playlist, which has recently been adapted for Lebanon. The show features two teams of three who defend their individual playlists against challenges. Each episode follows themes, including love, dancing and holidays. Plan B follows the story of a man who finds a way to go back in time to change his bad decisions. He uses this for the benefit of his law firm and himself, but this is not without consequences.

KOREAN 3D animation studio Anyzac brings the second season of Zombiedumb (52 x 3.30 mins) to Cannes. In the new season of the slapstick comedy a human girl becomes friends with Zombiedumb, and one day new enemies intrude into their peaceful life. They are a trio of Zombie Hunters who plan to drive out Hana and take over Skull City.

ELECTRIC CIRCUS

Zombiedumb (Anyzac)

MAGNIFY MEDIA

PRODUCED by Zone 3 for Canal Vie, and brought to Cannes by the UK’s Magnify Media, All For A Cottage (season 1/season 2/11 x 60 mins) is a renovation reality series in which six pairs of ordinary people compete to win their dream cottage. Through 20 days they compete while working together 24/7, even camping on site. Each episode begins with a challenge against the clock, earning the winning team three rewards: being the site boss, making a design choice and winning a comfort reward.

BASED on a Korean children’s comic book series, the new series of Jungle Survival (11 x 26 mins), subtitled Volcanic Adventure, is showcased at MIPCOM by Korean producer Electric Circus. In the new series Maru and friends’ exciting adventures include an emergency landing on Java island due to a sudden volcanic eruption. There they see many extinct animals, and while searching for the secret of this mystery, the kids find an ancient witch in the Great Volcano.

Jungle Survival (Electric Circus)

FEDERATION ENTERTAINMENT

TWO DRAMAS top the slate for Paris-based Federation Entertainment at MIPCOM. New series Bad Banks (8 x 60 mins) features Jana, a talented young investment banker, who is offered a dream job at an investment bank in Frankfurt. She realises too late that her former boss has secretly been manipulating Jana to her own advantage. Another launch is Unit 42 (10 x 60 mins), a drama about a team that works out of the basement of a Brussels Police station and tackles cyber-crime cases nationwide.

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PRODUCT NEWS GLOBAL SCREEN

GRB ENTERTAINMENT

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THE JIM HENSON COMPANY

TITLES from Global Screen’s catalogue include: Dementia (10 x 45 mins), a thriller about a woman who goes undercover in a psychiatric hospital to discover what malpractice her dying grandmother was trying to warn her about; the fourth season of The Weissensee Saga (6 x 48 mins), a family saga of love and betrayal set in the former East Germany; and family film Lotte & Luise: Twins On Board (1 x 90 mins), based on a novel by Erich Kastner about twins separated at a young age when their parents spilt up. One day, they meet again by accident at summer camp in Austria.

PROGRAMME highlights from GRB Entertainment include: Tech Toys 360 (26 x 30 mins), exploring cutting-edge technology around the world; drama The Bay (42 x 30 mins), set in an upmarket seaside town; The Stalker Files (10 x 60 mins), about stalkers of celebrities; #Murder (8 x 60 mins), following criminal cases that take root online; and It Happened Here (10 x 60 mins), which visits locations connected to pop-culture history, covering the murders, drug overdoses and accidental deaths of icons including Marilyn Monroe, Tupac and Marvin Gaye.

TWO SERIES produced using the Henson Digital Puppetry Studio, a proprietary CG-animation technology from Jim Henson’s Creature Shop, are the focus at MIPCOM for The Jim Henson Company.

Splash And Bubbles (80 x 11 mins), produced by The Jim Henson Company and Herschend Studios, has a focus on ocean science to encourage kids four to seven to explore the diversity of the undersea world. The series airs in the US on PBS Kids, and in Canada on TVO and Knowledge Network. Netflix has acquired global streaming rights, Fox Latin American Channels has secured rights for Nat Geo Kids and POD Worldwide has acquired free-TV rights for Thailand. Word Party (26 x 11 mins), is an early pre-school vocabulary acquisition show, a Netflix Original about four baby animals who sing, dance and play.

233_AVALON_N1&2_COM Lotte & Luise: Twins On Board (Global Screen)

Tech Toys 360 (GRB Entertainment)

Splash And Bubbles (The Jim Henson Company)

PROPAGATE CONTENT

PROPAGATE Content has formed a global production and distribution partnership with Nash Entertainment. At MIPCOM, Propagate is launching Nash formats, including For Love Or Money. In the series fifteen women compete for the attention of a handsome man. Unbeknownst to the guy, at the end of the show, the woman he chooses decides whether she wants love or $1m. Who Wants To Marry My Dad? follows the adult children of a single father who choose who should marry their dad. Propagate and Nash will also develop new scripted and unscripted properties, with Propagate producing and handling distribution. This strategy includes a new Stan Lee unscripted superhero competition, a children’s version of Nash’s Magic’s Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed and a dating show.

THE BUTTON IS COMING

XILAM

TO A COUNTRY NEAR YOU

FRENCH animation producer Xilam returns to MIPCOM with a catalogue including Oggy & The Cockroaches, which follows the prankish confrontations between a cat named Oggy and three roaches. New broadcast licensees for Oggy & The Cockroaches (Xilam) seasons five, six and seven include: Ukraine’s PlusPlus, Kanal 2 in Estonia and LNK in Lithuania. The company also highlights 2D series Zig & Sharko, a series that follows the comedy of a hungry hyena’s schemes to take a bite out of a naive and theoretically delicious mermaid, who is under the protection of a shark.

Visit us at MIPCOM - Stand R7 M.11 avalonuk.com/distribution

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PRODUCT NEWS CANAL 13 SUDMEDIA

CHILE’s 13 Sudmedia brings a range of programming to Cannes from Canal 13, including: Dear Grandfather (20 x 45 mins), a comedy series about an irreverent grandfather who stays in the house of his newly divorced daughter; Vertigo (14 x 60 mins), a game show where five celebrities compete; Irreversible (60 x 43 mins), a selfcontained episode series (based on real-life events) about common people who make a decision that changes their life forever — to commit a crime; and I Stand Alone (12 x 52 mins), about 14-year-old Manuela who discovers that her step-father, who has sexually abused her since marrying her mother, is actually her biological father.

CHALKBOARD TV

LONDON-based producer Chalkboard TV is presenting My Grandad Was Innocent (10 x 60 mins) at MIPCOM. Scheduled for BBC One in early 2018, the format sees two top criminal barristers, Sasha Wass and Jeremy Dein, investigate historical murders where the convicted went to the gallows pleading their innocence.

They join forces with a living member of the convicted criminal’s family to re-examine the case, employing modern forensic techniques, with medical, history and police experts, to ask whether the original conviction was safe.

My Grandad Was Innocent (Chalkboard TV)

TCB MEDIA RIGHTS

Dear Grandfather (Canal 13 Sudmedia)

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PRODUCED by ITN Productions for Channel 5 in the UK, new documentary series The Queen (8 x 60 mins) profiles the British monarch over the course of her nearly seven-decade rule. An unexpected twist of fate led to her becoming heir to the world’s largest empire. She married her first love at 21 and then inherited the throne at 25. She has been served by over a dozen prime ministers, met the world’s greatest leaders, and has seen her approval ratings plummet and later rebound, and now has become a great-grandmother.

www.cannesiget.com ADRESSES AND SPECIAL OFFERS IN CANNES

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TV PINGUIM

ISOLANI PICTURES

ISOLANI Pictures has announced its second drama co-production project to go into development. The Paris-based company has entered into a new co-development deal with Belgian producer Nexus Factory to produce an eight-part drama series entitled The Baker’s Son. Set in Antwerp and its port, it tells the story of a young man who returns to find a city divided not just down racial and religious lines, but one divided by competing drug cartels, and one in which he is immediately cast as both a victim and a perpetrator due to the sins of his father.

TF1 STUDIO

A NEW film tops the priority list for France’s TF1 Studio. Special Honors (1 x 96 mins) is based on the 2014 true story of Yasmine, a young woman in Morocco who, despite being afflicted with Down’s syndrome, successfully passed her high-school diploma with honours. Overcoming challenge after challenge and moving between emotion and laughter, Laura battles for every inch of an opportunity that life tries to keep from her. © Remy Grandroques

NEW MIXED-media pre-school series The Charlie Show, currently in development, introduces funny talk-show host Charlie the sheep, who loves asking questions. Each show is themed around one subject, including breakfast, bedtime, bathtime and toys, and also features a heated debate on the topic including: what’s best, a shower or a bath? and fruit or cookies for breakfast?. The show ends with a guest performance — including Sushi’s karate skills and Flip-flop’s tap-dance. The Brazilian company also brings the third series of Earth To Luna (52 x 11 mins), the science-focused pre-school series.

157_CEDARS_N1_COM The Charlie Show (TV PinGuim)

Special Honors (TF1 Studio)

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MONDAY 16 OCTOBER SNACK & SCREEN

SCREENINGS

4K ULTRA HD

9.15-10.15, VERRIERE CALIFORNIE

10.00-11.15, AUDITORIUM K

9.45-10.30, SONY 4K ULTRA HD THEATRE

HOT NORWEGIAN DRAMA

‘THE LAWYER’

UHD: MIPCOM’S GLOBAL UPDATE

By The Norwegian Producers’ Association and the Norwegian Film Institute Breakfast from 9.15

Presented by STUDIOCANAL and Viaplay

10.30-11.15, SONY 4K ULTRA HD THEATRE

IHS DELIVERS THE STATE OF THE UHD MARKET RUSSIAN CONTENT REVOLUTION

GLOBAL CONTENT TRENDS 9.30-11.15, AUDITORIUM A Breakfast served from 9.30 to 10.00

11.30-13.00, AUDITORIUM A

SUCCESSFUL CONTENT IN THE MIDDLE EAST

Presented by NTV Broadcasting Company

‘THE ROAD TO CALVARY’

11.15-12.30, SONY 4K ULTRA HD THEATRE

INSIGHT TV: MAKING UHD/HDR A GLOBAL SUCCESS SNACK & SCREEN

Presented by Sawa Media

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SNACK & SCREEN FROM ARGENTINA: DISCOVER NEW CONTENT FROM THE COUNTRY AT THE END OF THE WORLD

9.45-10.45, ESTEREL

DEFINING A HIT: NEW METRICS FOR SUCCESS 11.00-11.30, ESTEREL

By INCAA and the Argentine Investment & Trade Promotion Agency

OVER HERE! STANDING OUT IN THE CROWDED OTT SPACE

SUMMIT & EVENT

MEDIA MASTERMIND KEYNOTES 11.30-12.00, GRAND AUDITORIUM

12.30-14.30, MAJESTIC HOTEL

GORDON RAMSAY, AWARD-WINNING CHEF & TV HOST

Doors open at 12.00

12.05-12.45, GRAND AUDITORIUM

By invitation

DOMINGO CORRAL, HEAD OF ORIGINAL PROGRAMMING, MOVISTAR+

WOMEN IN GLOBAL ENTERTAINMENT POWER LUNCH

SPECIAL GUESTS INCLUDE: JAN MOJTO, CEO, BETA FILM JANE MILLICHIP, MANAGING DIRECTOR, SKY VISION

In Partnership with A+E Networks and Lifetime

SCREENINGS 13.15-14.15, GRAND AUDITORIUM & BALCONY

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14.30-15.15, ESTEREL

14.15-14.45, AUDITORIUM A

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POWER SHIFTS: WHO WILL TAKE THE THRONE OF DRAMA?

CINEMATIC VR: BUYING IT, SELLING IT AND FUNDING IT

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THE BEST MUSIC IN UHD

15.30-16.10, ESTEREL

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BEYOND COPRODUCTION: MAKING GLOBAL CREATIVE CONNECTIONS

THE BEST OF VR CONTENT

‘BLUE PLANET II’

Presented by Beta Film

Presented by BBC Worldwide

INDUSTRY SPOTLIGHT

15.45-17.00, AUDITORIUM K

15.30-16.00, VERRIERE CALIFORNIE

‘LIVING THE DREAM’

INDIGENOUS CONTENT THAT SPEAKS TO THE WORLD

Presented by ITV Studios Global Entertainment

By Canada Media Fund and Telefilm Canada

17.00-18.00, VERRIERE CALIFORNIE

15.30-16.30, SONY 4K ULTRA HD THEATRE

NHK: THE ROAD MAP FOR UHD 16.30-17.00, SONY 4K ULTRA HD THEATRE

TV ASAHI: CAPTURING BREATHTAKING UHD IN ANTARCTICA 17.00-17.30, SONY 4K ULTRA HD THEATRE

KANSAI TV: PRODUCING SUPERIOR QUALITY IN UHD

FROM HISTORY TO THE FUTURE THE BEAUTY OF WORKING WITH CHINA By 3C Media Cocktail served from 17.30

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mipcom

FEATURE

Language no barrier

GLOBAL CONTENT

Federation Entertainment’s thriller Bad Banks

Anglo-American series and formats have undoubtedly benefited from the global boom in the television business — but so, increasingly, are content and services from other parts of the world. Andy Fry looks at how content is crossing borders and blurring boundaries

W

HETHER it’s continental European drama airing in the US, North Asian formats breaking into Turkey, Hebrew shows on international pay-TV platforms or SVOD services targeting the African diaspora, orthodox notions about what content should play where are being challenged.

FremantleMedia, for example, has enjoyed a lot of

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success with non-English language European drama, notable examples including Germany’s Deutschland 83 (D83) and Sweden’s Modus. Rebecca Dundon, the company’s director of acquisitions, scripted, says two key things have happened: “Firstly, the growth in the number of platforms around the world has meant more outlets for content. Secondly, foreign-language producers have raised the bar creatively. They’re often still

mipcom

FEATURE telling local stories, but with a global scale that gives them impact in distribution.”

Foreign-language producers have raised the bar creatively.

They’re still telling local stories, but with a global scale that gives them impact in distribution Rebecca Dundon

There is also, Dundon says, a growing ambition in terms of story selection. “From UFA, the company behind D83, we now have Reformation, a period piece about the life of religious reformer Martin Luther. And from Italy’s Wildside, we are launching The Mafia Only Kills In The Summer, a comedy drama that really plays with the traditional Italian-mob genre.”

Dundon says the latter point has also helped the Nordic production community to stay ahead of the game: “They have been very smart about evolving the Nordic Noir genre. At MIPCOM, we have FLX Sweden’s The Simple

Deutschland 83, a non-English-language worldwide hit

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Heist, which follows two women who struggle with their family and financial problems and decide to rob a bank.

We also have Modus season two. We’re really excited about this one because it has Kim Cattrall in the cast and is much more a mix of English and Swedish.”

The profile of European drama has undoubtedly increased as a result of breaking into English-language markets. But Dundon says the genre’s success actually goes much further than that: “We’ve sold titles like Modus and D83 into Korea, Japan and across Latin America. What we’re finding is that great stories and characters resonate with audiences all around the world.”

One of the first companies to really get into the distribution of European drama was German distributor Beta Film, which has sold Spanish, Italian, Nordic and German drama to scores of territories. Managing director Moritz von Kruedener says another factor driving European drama is the emergence of the new pay-TV and SVOD players like Telefonica, Sky and Netflix, which are making big investments in the genre.

Telefonica, for example, is in the midst of a €70m-a-year investment in scripted series. The first results are available at MIPCOM, including La Zona and Velvet Collection, which are distributed by Beta Film. Sky Vision, meanwhile, is in Cannes with La Peste (The Plague) and About Premium Content (APC) with Gigantes.

Von Kreudener also argues that European broadcasters have begun shifting investment from US acquisitions towards local drama: “Partly this is because US shows are being commissioned with fewer episodes, but it is also because local shows are rating well. And as the quality of those local shows improves, buyers are more

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mipcom

FEATURE

Telefonica’s Velvet Collection, distributed by Beta Film

interested in acquiring them.”

He also argues that audiences are becoming more open-minded: “I don’t think we’ll see subtitled shows on mainstream English-language channels, but audiences are more open to subtitling and dubbing. And that means we can look further afield for drama. So we have titles like Professor T from Belgium [also adapted into German], The King’s Favourite from Portugal and Wasteland from HBO in Eastern Europe. The last is a visually powerful eight-hour drama set on the Czech/ Polish border.”

Federation Entertainment’s head of international, JeanMichel Ciszewski, says non-English drama is in the company’s DNA: “When we launched, we needed a distinctive position in the market and dramas from territories like France, Germany and Finland provided it.

Our experience is that a great story will sell anywhere, so we are on the look out for television content from all over the world.”

Our experience is that a great story will sell anywhere, so we are on the look out for television content from all over the world Jean-Michel Ciszewski

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A case in point is French drama The Bureau, now up to three seasons with a fourth at script stage. “That was the perfect drama for us, with a strong story, great characters and a unique scenario,” Ciszewski says. Other titles to have done well for Federation include Bordertown, a Finnish crime drama now in its second season.

Like Von Kreudener, Ciszewski says softening demand for US content has opened a door for European origination. “But I also think we’ve been helped by the improved infrastructure in Europe,” he adds. “Producers here used to find it difficult to make a new season of drama every year, which had a negative impact on a show’s momentum in distribution. But The Bureau has been coming back every year, which is good news for our sales.”

At MIPCOM, Federation is headlining with thriller Bad Banks, co-produced by Letterbox Filmproduktion and Iris Productions for ZDF and ARTE France. Directed

by Christian Schwochow (Paula; La Tour), the series explores the murkier side of big finance. Also on Federation’s MIPCOM slate is Unit 42, which tells the story of a Brussels-based police team that tackles cybercrime cases nationwide.

The patterns outlined above are evident in numerous European projects on the international circuit. Filming has just begun on Das Boot, for example, an ambitious German-language co-pro from Bavaria Fernsehproduktion, Sky Deutschland and Sonar Entertainment. Although Sonar typically distributes English-language drama, executive vice-president of television series, Jenna Santoianni, predicts it will have “tremendous global appeal”.

She adds: “The actors come from a cross-section of nations and cultures, and the immediacy and intensity they bring to their characters is genuine and unaffected. This will resonate deeply with audiences.”

Von Kreudener’s point about new content investors is also reinforced by Deutsche Telekom’s first foray into the content business with drama series Germanized for

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FEATURE

Globo’s Under Pressure, a co-production with Conspiracao

its new TV platform EntertainTV. A 10 x 30 mins comedy series from Bavaria Fernsehproduktion and Newen production company Telfrance, the show is a lighthearted, culture-clash comedy in which 200 Germans ‘invade’ a picturesque but bankrupt Basque village.

Extending beyond Europe, Russian scripted content is in high profile this week, and there are already signs that it is catching the attention of international buyers.

Julia Matiash, director of Sovtelexport Distribution Company, which represents Russian public broadcaster RTR, says Russian content is following in the footsteps of Turkish content by breaking into Latin America.

Mexico’s Canal 22, for example, has recently picked up Russian drama titles including Ekaterina, Anna Karenina and Life And Fate.

Israeli drama in its original Hebrew is also starting to have a big impact internationally. Federation has enjoyed success with the distribution of Channel 10’s Hostages, which has sold to BBC Four, Canal+ and RTL Crime, among others. Meanwhile, Wild Bunch TV comes to MIPCOM having just licensed Yes TV drama Mama’s Angel to Walter Presents in the UK and the US. This follows deals with SBS in Australia and Canal+ in Poland.

Mama’s Angel is a journey into the underbelly of wealthy Tel Aviv suburb that has been devastated by the brutal murder of a young boy. After the initial shock, the involvement in the case of the local inhabitants

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begins to reveal itself, and unsuspected traumas and prejudices are laid bare. “It’s a powerful thriller that exposes the shocking consequences of moral, political and social prejudice — a compelling story with a serious point to make”, says Walter Iuzzolino, co-founder of Walter Presents.

Keren Shahar, chief operating officer and president of distribution at Keshet International, says: “We have sold a number of our Hebrew-language dramas all over the world, as both formats and finished tape. Prisoners Of War has now sold to more than 60 territories as a finished tape, as well as being remade locally in India, Russia and, most notably, the US [Homeland].”

The Israeli romantic comedy series The Baker And The Beauty has also sold well. “We recently closed a global licensing deal for season one and two with Amazon Prime Video, which covers 200 countries,” Shahar says.

“Prior to this deal, the first episode of the series aired in the UK, as Channel Four’s first Hebrew-language TV drama, before it was made available on Walter Presents.”

Keshet International has also sold espionage thriller False Flag to Fox International Channels (FIC) The deal “marked FIC’s first-ever acquisition of a non-English language series on such a big global scale”, Shahar adds.

In Shahar’s view, non-English drama really started to become mainstream when Nordic Noir became more successful. Explaining why, she says: “Encouraged by

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FEATURE the increased export opportunities, production values have been raised in order to compete commercially with English-language drama. The emergence of the new SVOD platforms has given us a conduit to reach more consumers, whose tastes and demands have changed substantially over the years. But now we are selling more Hebrew-language drama to mainstream broadcasters.”

The emergence of SVOD platforms has given us a conduit to reach more consumers, whose tastes and demands have changed substantially over the years Keren Shahar

The growing influence of European drama is not an isolated example of boundaries being broken down. Latin America’s content powerhouses are also expanding the range of their activities internationally.

Guel Arraes, drama-series director at Brazil’s Globo, says: “We are constantly exploring new themes, languages and formats. In the case of the Above Justice series, we experimented with a completely new format: four protagonists and four intertwining stories. It was challenging to tell this story, to make the audience understand what was happening and engage them in each character’s dramas and conflicts. And we succeeded — Above Justice recorded a daily reach of approximately 41 million viewers.”

Arraes also points to Jailers as another example of an innovative format: “It offers a fresh take on the prison series by being told from the perspective of the jailer.”

The series made its world premiere at the MIPDrama Screenings at MIPTV in April.

Another innovative new title from Globo is Under Pressure, a co-production with Conspiracao. The series, which was shot in deactivated areas of a public hospital, is inspired by actual events. It recorded an average daily reach of 40.2 million viewers while it aired in Brazil.

“The above examples show how Brazilian series have matured,” Arraes adds. “Our new stories are refreshing and surprising. In both Jailers and Under Pressure, the audience is confronted with disturbing, quite realistic situations. It’s impossible not to get involved in these stories, which are also interesting because of their choice of locations. These help create the tone and add a realistic touch to the drama we wish to tell.”

Arraes says Globo is also developing It’s Your Call, an interactive fiction format that “enables the investigation of behavioural and social issues”.

Echoing the point made by FremantleMedia’s Dundon, Arraes says Brazilian drama is also finding new outlets on the emerging international platforms: “New exhibition platforms and changes in content-consumption

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habits are positive, and Globo content is created with this in mind. We do not produce just for open television — we envision possibilities in different platforms.”

An interesting development that feeds into Arraes’ creative vision is Casa dos Roteiristas (House of Screenwriters), a Rio de Janeiro-based initiative that “brings together renowned Globo screenwriters to come up with series and other short formats for local and foreign markets”. He adds: “I strongly believe in collective work.

With this in mind, we created Casa dos Roteiristas to facilitate creative work. It is a space where we explore ways of creating content for different platforms.”

He adds: “My goal is to produce relevant content within a classic format of drama, ushering in a new era for the series we produce, whether it’s a period drama, as in Nothing Remains The Same, or something like Under Pressure.”

South Korea is another market that is having increased success outside of its core export markets of Japan, China and South-East Asia. The success of Korean OTT service DramaFever and the number of Korean scripted formats being reinvented for the global market are evidence of this.

Jully Kim, an analyst in CJ E&M’s global content marketing department, says: “Most of our dramas are sold to South-East Asian countries, which share similar cultures and beliefs to us. But territories such as the US, Latin America, and Central and Eastern Europe are also showing growing interest in Korean scripts. In terms of finished drama, Guardian: The Lonely And Great God, Misaeng: Incomplete Life and the Reply anthology have been best-sellers for CJ E&M.” According to Kim, one particularly interesting new market for the company is Turkey. “One of our telenovelas, Tears Of Heaven, has been licenced to Turkey this year, and was remade into a series for Star TV. Turkish audiences enjoy dramas with a strong lead — sometimes even strong female leads — which is quite unconventional. We have other dramas on the way to becoming Turkish versions, which we can’t wait to share with audiences.”

In terms of MIPCOM, CJ E&M has high hopes for drama titles Stranger, Save Me, Duel and Dear My Friends. “The first three are relatively dark mystery series, while the last one is a soft family drama,” Kim adds. “Stranger is a legal thriller about a prosecutor who lost the ability to feel human emotions during a childhood surgery. Save Me is another thriller about a village swept into a cult led by a powerful leader. Duel deals with human cloning, while Dear My Friends takes family drama to a new level by having nine seniors as the main characters.”

One part of the world that has not been especially prominent in the global content debate until recently is Africa, but there are signs that this is changing. FremantleMedia’s Dundon says South Africa is on her radar as a source of new programming, while production powerhouse Nigeria is also starting to flex its muscles. Lagosbased VOD platform iROKO is using finance from the likes of Canal+ and Kinnevik to build its original slate.

At MIPCOM, delegates can gain an insight into the latest developments in the continent in tomorrow’s session

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FEATURE Global Drama: It’s Time For Africa. Moderated by Trace chief content officer Nathalie Morley, the session features a leading producer, a domestic broadcaster and executives from two of region’s pay-TV heavyweights, Canal+ and Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN).

Launched in 2015, Starz Play Arabia has established itself as a leading player in the Middle East and North African SVOD sector. Indeed, growth has been so rapid that the company has now expanded into Pakistan.

CEO Maaz Sheikh says: “When we launched two years ago, people said there wasn’t much potential for SVOD in MENA, but that has proved to be wrong. People are attracted by the option of paying $8 for premium content, instead of $60-$70 for pay TV.” Premium international scripted series including Power, Billions, Ray Donovan and Taboo are big draws for the service, but Sheik says the real differentiator is Starz Play’s range of content, which includes a large library of Bollywood series and Middle Eastern programming. “We’ve

We secure shows that reflect the widest possible taste among our audiences, which means sourcing them from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia Maaz Sheikh

made a point of securing shows that reflect the widest possible taste among our audiences, which means sourcing them from Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, the UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia,” Sheikh says. “The last three markets have become a lot stronger in recent years because of the Syrian war and Egypt revolution, both of which affected the volume of production from those countries.”

Starz Play faces competition from Netflix, but Sheikh believes the company’s local market expertise gives it a competitive advantage: “We have done a number of things to make our services more accessible. We have partnerships with 18 telcos that make payment more convenient [credit-card usage is low in parts of MENA].

We have also focused on local marketing initiatives and offer variable download speeds. This is important in North Africa, where 80% of consumption is via mobile, because it means we’re not clogging up bandwidth.”

Starz Play takes a bespoke approach to individual markets. “We understand differences within the region, such as the fact that customers in the Gulf want sub-titles whereas North Africa is a dubbing market,” Sheikh says. “We also buy French-language content with North Africa in mind.”

Selling SVOD to MENA isn’t easy, Sheikh admits, but it has set the company up for expansion outside the region: “We’ve developed skills and learnings that we can translate into other high-growth markets. There’ll be more news after Pakistan.”

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FEATURE VIRTUAL REALITY AND AUGMENTED REALITY

Fridtjof Nilsen, host of Lost In Time

Visions of the future Television companies and other entertainment service providers are diving deep into original, native VR, AR and other immersive content as their connection to mass audiences grows. Juliana Koranteng reports

A

S RECENTLY as last year, content in virtual reality (VR), augmented reality

(AR) and their sister mixed reality (MR) consisted mostly of clunky, low-budget experiments used as marketing tools by the media and entertainment sectors. This year, experts are convinced a significant turnaround is taking place.

They say more monetisable content is being produced.

And MIPCOM 2017 is on hand with a series of panels, presentations and meet-ups to immerse delegates in the ways they can exploit the next frontier of digital entertainment tech.

“We’re seeing major media companies investing in real-time scalable content linked to movies and TV shows. Mainstreaming is definitely where it’s going,” says Israel-based Ziv Rabinovich, head of gaming and interactive at Keshet International. “We’re content creators first and foremost and VR is another place for us to create. Now, we’re focusing on what’s financially viable as well. The industry now has enough data and experience to learn what’s working and what’s not.”

Wendy Bernfeld, managing director of Amsterdambased Rights Stuff, the international content strategy and licensing consultancy, believes the media and entertainment world and VR are ready for each other. “From last

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year to this one, there have been dramatic steps in terms of content quality and the technology used, as well as the consumer reached. When done properly, it’s magic.”

There have been dramatic steps in terms of content quality...

When done properly, it’s magic Wendy Bernfeld

Rabinovich points out that media and tech conglomerates’ commitment will help cement any developments made to date.

The Walt Disney Company has made extensive investments in VR and AR, both directly and with or for its subsidiaries, including animation studio Pixar, superhero giant Marvel Entertainment, and Star Wars maker Lucasfilm. Disney also has stakes in Jaunt VR and The Void, creators of native VR content.

mipcom

FEATURE

Digital Catapult’s Aurelien Simon

FremantleMedia’s Dug James

Keshet itself is working on getting its VR content ready for viewers. It has introduced VR Racket: NX, a VR sport that puts players in the middle of a virtual arcade game. Not only is it a hit, Rabinovich says, but Keshet will be developing a VR TV show in the next 18 months. “We’re in the pre-production stage,” he adds.

“Then, the next step will be to tackle scripted drama in VR — and do it right.”

After making an impact on fans with VR at its MTV Europe Music Awards (EMA), Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN) has also turned to AR for this year’s event in November. “With AR, we can literally set a mood within the fans’ physical space and allow them a real connection to the live-event space and

TILT Tilt is a VR entertainment game format, and the first TV format featuring VR and using MR production techniques in broadcast TV. It launched as a VR show in October 2016.

Creator: Reflect (Finland).

Tech developer: Reflect used off-the shelf VR equipment and adapted the software to accommodate the needs of the format.

How the VR content is used: Tilt is sold internationally by distributor Kabo International as a 30-minute VR game format.

Where consumers can access the content: Tilt can be accessed via broadcast TV, catch-up/VOD services, and eSports streaming platform Twitch.

performances. I think this could be really exciting for us as producers and storytellers, as well as for the fans that seek out experiences that are tied to artists,” says Karmelina Parouka, VIMN’s vice-president of content and engagement.

Aurelien Simon, head of immersive at UK governmentsupported innovative centre Digital Catapult, says that the big consumer-tech behemoths are gradually enticing the average smartphone user into VR and AR adoption. For example, Apple’s new ARKit platform will make it easier for app developers to create AR content for iPhone users. Something similar is happening with Microsoft and its wireless MR headset HoloLens,

#NEVERMORESURE #NeverMoreSure was launched in May 2017 as part of a branded content campaign.

Creator and tech developer: Laduma (UK/ South Africa).

How the VR content is used: Laduma teamed up with Unilever’s deodorant brand Sure to capture English Premier League professional footballer Ross Barkley in 360-degree action while perfecting his free kicks at the Everton Football Club training ground. It was part of a wider campaign by UK marketing agency Essentially Group.

Where consumers can access the content: #NeverMoreSure launched on Everton FC’s Facebook page, Sure’s YouTube and Twitter channels, and Google VR Cardboard via the YouTube app.

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VIMN’s Karmelina Parouka

SPACE DESCENT VR WITH TIM PEAKE Space Descent VR With Tim Peake is a 12-minute, 360-degree 3D VR experience that launched in March 2017 at London’s Science Museum.

Creator: British astronaut Tim Peake, the European Space Agency and NASA. Tech developer: Alchemy VR (UK).

How the VR content is used: It enables the museum’s visitors to experience what it felt like for Tim Peake inside the tiny Soyuz TMA-19M space capsule on his return to Earth at speeds of more than 27,000kph.

Where consumers can access the content: Space Descent can be seen at London’s Science Museum via Samsung Gear headsets.

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Create NSW’s Sophia Zachariou

GHOST IN THE SHELL The Ghost In The Shell VR experience was launched in March 2017.

Creator: Rewind, Here Be Dragons, Oculus, Paramount and DreamWorks Pictures.

Tech developer: Rewind (UK).

How the VR content is used: The VR experience helped raise awareness of and drive interest in Rupert Sanders’ Ghost In The Shell movie, which was released this year.

Where consumers can access the content: Available via Oculus Rift and Samsung Gear VR.

VIRTUAL REALITY: THE MYSTERY OF CREATIVITY Only just commissioned, Virtual Reality: The Mystery Of Creativity will consist of four VR experiences and a 60-minute Sky Arts TV documentary about four eminent UK artists, including Jonathan Yeo, whose works include paintings of supermodel Cara Delevingne and Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey. The VR experiences will form part of the Royal Academy of Arts’ 250th-anniversary celebrations in the UK next year.

Creator: Factory 42 (UK).

Tech developer: Sky VR and Google Arts & Culture.

How the VR content is used: It will explore how artists can create art in a VR environment.

Where consumers can access the content: Via Sky VR and Google Arts & Culture apps, and during From Life, the RAA’s 250th anniversary exhibition in 2018.

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Rights Stuff’s Wendy Bernfeld

and Magic Leap, the much-hyped AR venture that has raised $1bn-plus in investments and includes Google among its backers.

Facebook, which owns the pioneering Oculus Rift VR goggles and offers 360-degree videos on its website, has announced a new social VR app called Spaces. Currently in beta, it will enable smartphone owners to share VR content with friends instead of being isolated under individual headsets.

“We’ve moved from the experimental to real applications,” Simon says. “Production budgets have increased for many. The number of low-budget projects is diminishing and the content that is coming out is of a much higher quality. Unlike 3D TV, VR and AR are computing platforms, so they are not just for media — they are used in medicine, defence, product manufacturing. It is the consumer application that is new.”

We’ve moved from the experimental to real applications.

The number of low-budget projects is diminishing and the content that is coming out is of a much higher quality Aurelien Simon

TV and movie creators and distributors are contributing to the VR and AR narrative. The key players include pay-TV operators Sky in the UK, Orange in France and HBO in the US, broadcasters ARTE in France, and streaming platforms operators Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. Rights Stuff’s Bernfeld is impressed with the dedicated VR cinema chain operated in both pop-up and permanent venues by Dutch VR and AR specialist &samhoud media.

Such enterprises will be helped by what Bernfeld is also

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seeing at film festivals, such as this year’s Venice International Film Festival, which had its first-ever dedicated VR content section for exhibitors and investors. “It will help with the ripple effect because it included high-end VR works in the official competition,” she adds.

In Australia, broadcaster ABC joined forces with Create NSW, New South Wales’ arts-funding organisation, to launch the 360 Vision Virtual Reality Development Initiative.

“We collaborated with ABC, which has always looked for new ways to innovate content delivery, to explore VR and to encourage traditional screen producers, writers and creator to think about new ways of producing and delivering content,” says Sophia Zachariou, director of sector investment at Create NSW. Zachariou says the initiative will be repeated next year.

LOST IN TIME Lost In Time, an interactive TV game show, combines real-time, high-end CGI with a home-gaming app that enables viewers to compete simultaneously against studio contestants and each other. It went live in March 2017 on TVNorge.

Creator: FremantleMedia.

Tech developer: Norway-based The Future Group via its proprietary Interactive Mixed Reality technology.

How the VR content is used: The game show’s studio participants compete against each other while immersed in virtual worlds in different eras, including the Jurassic period, the Ice Age, medieval times the American Wild West.

Where consumers can access the content: Broadcast TV, plus a dedicated gaming app.

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“We have 60% of the TV and film producers in our state,” she adds. “I want NSW to be Australia’s VR capital — the same way that games is big business in Victoria.”

The TV industry must now manage the expectations of its audiences, argues Dug James, FremantleMedia’s senior vice-president of development production, global entertainment. “That is why the company’s new game show Lost In Time has chosen to meld proprietary interactive MR with a traditional game-show format and gaming app that encourages viewers to take part. Our prime focus is the response of viewers at home. Lost In Time takes care of that. It has definitely pushed the boundaries of what we’ve done in terms of technology and it has taught us a huge amount of what can be achieved in this landscape.”

Toronto- and Los Angeles-based VR content studio Secret Location hit the headlines in 2016 for creating the first hybrid VR series that accompanied the Syfy series Halcyon. The company’s repertoire also includes a VR game, Blasters Of The Universe, and an interactive VR music festival called Welcome to Wacken.

Ryan Andal, Secret Location’s co-founder and chief product officer, acknowledges the obstacles to VR and AR adoption in most consumers’ homes. “In order for mainstream market adoption to happen, distributors, publishers, exhibitors and creators have to think less about the technology and more about the audience,” he says. “We’re past the marketing era of the industry, where dollars go into a vacuum and there is little measurable return on investment. Cinematic narrative is a viable avenue for the TV sector to enter the VR market, but you have to understand how to monetise and distribute that kind of content.”

CARNE Y ARENA (VIRTUALLY PRESENT, PHYSICALLY INVISIBLE) The installation, which re-enacts the experiences of Mexican immigrants in the US, premiered at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.

Creator: Mexican Hollywood director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, Legendary Entertainment and the Prada Foundation.

Tech developer: Lucasfilm’s ILMxLAB (US).

How the VR content is used: The six-and-half-minute installation invites the user to step into the harrowing world of illegal immigrants crossing the US-Mexican border.

Where consumers can access the content: The installation is located at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art until November and Milan-based Prada Foundation until January 2018.

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FEATURE

Secret Location creatied the first hybrid VR series that accompanied Syfy series Halcyon

The new immersive content available today is no longer limited to early adopters. But Morgan Bouchet, vicepresident of innovation and digital content at Orange Content, says there is still much work to be done to make native VR and AR content truly commercial.

“Brands such as Samsung, Oculus and Google have developed a lot of devices aimed at the mainstream market, but these devices often come with exclusive content, contributing to market fragmentation,” Bouchet adds. “Meanwhile, AR, which is still struggling with its own features, is currently more of a marketing device, used to promote traditional experiences through

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premium content.”

But France-based Bouchet, who is also co-founder and vice-president of VR, AR and MR think tank UNI-XR, and Keshet’s Rabinovich are convinced consumer demand will drive the business.

Bouchet says: “Users now want immediate content, like live VR experiences, fully synchronised with TV shows, live sports events and so on.”

Keshet’s Rabinovich believes consumers’ devotion to their smartphones will propel VR and AR into the mass-market universe: “Mobile will bring AR and VR to the masses. In this context, mobile is king. The phone will be the engine of the experience. And if Facebook and HTC Vive want to be part of the picture, we shall soon see them offering lighter headset solutions.”

Mobile will bring AR and VR to the masses. In this context, mobile is king. The phone will be the engine of the experience Ziv Rabinovich

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FEATURE

Charles Esten as Deacon Claybourne in Nashville

MARKETING

Standing out from the crowd

In an increasingly competitive marketplace, how do you cut through the clutter, stand out from the crowd and distinguish your offer — be it a show or a service — from the competition? Andy Fry considers the marketing strategies that are delivering difference

W

HEN most people think about OTT or SVOD, the first services that come to

mind are Netflix, Amazon and Hulu. But the reality these days is that there are hundreds of new services seeking to establish themselves via online distribution channels. The big question, of course, is how they manage to stand out in an increasingly competitive environment.

For Brett Sappington, director of research at Parks Associates, the starting point is to make sure they understand the role their service is likely to play in consumers’ lives: “Most people acquire OTT services alongside existing pay-TV subscriptions. And their primary OTT provider is usually a general-entertainment platform like Netflix, Amazon or Hulu. So the basic rule is to be complementary and dominate a niche that consumers might be willing to pay for. Ser-

The basic rule is to dominate a niche that consumers might be willing to pay for. Services that try to take on the likes of Netflix generally don’t fare very well Brett Sappington

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vices that try to take on the likes of Netflix generally don’t fare very well.”

Dominating a niche and then turning it into a business is easier for companies that control content rights, since this reduces the cost of acquisition and origination, Sappington adds. But this is not a hard and fast rule: “For the likes of Disney, HBO or WWE, making money out of content you own is a no brainer. But if you find the right niche, like DramaFever [Korean drama] or Crunchyroll [anime], there is clearly a viable business model.”

Nick Walters launched Hopster three years ago and has established it as a market-leading service for families with pre-schoolers. He puts this down to having “a clear mission, which is about helping kids learn through the stories they love”.

Part of Hopster’s appeal is its strong suite of licensed pre-school programming, which ranges from Babar to Bob The Builder. “But what is less well known about Hopster,” Walters says, “is that more than 50% of our content is gaming and interactivity that is exclusive to us. It’s the overall range of content that makes us different to other platforms.”

People often say that the barriers to entry are low in the SVOD/OTT marketplace. “That’s true,” Walters concedes, “but the barriers to sustainability are much

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FEATURE higher. Aside from the work we do on content development, there’s a key job to be done around distribution.

We have a deep relationship with Apple and also have partnerships with platforms like EE and Vodafone.”

Marketing is also a 24/7 activity, he adds: “We have to make sure Hopster is in the places where our target audience expects to find us. And we also have to ensure that, when parents google Hopster for reassurance, our name comes up with positive reviews and recommendations from trusted media sites.”

Former cable exec Jon Cody is founder and CEO of TV4, which specialises in super-niche OTT services.

“We have 10 live channels but are aiming for 100 by

We have channels that target hunting, college sports, motoring and hairstyling. The key is to find subjects people are passionate about and provide authentic content Jon Cody

2020,” he says. “They are tightly targeted and range from Thrive, a channel about cancer, to All Warrior Network, a destination for millions of service members, military veterans and fans of the warrior genre.

We also have channels that target hunting enthusiasts, college sports, motoring and hairstyling. The key is to

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find subjects people are passionate about and provide authentic content.”

TV4’s strategy is partly built around working with “domain experts”, Cody says. For example, TV4 has just joined forces with all3media international to launch Inside Outside – House And Gardens. A gardening and interior design OTT channel, the new service will cost $5.99 a month and offer a mix of original content and all3media library shows, such as Garden Rescue.

Cody agrees with Walters that original content acts as a differentiator and says it is possible to produce engaging content at a low cost. In fact, he adds, “if the quality is good enough, you can then take it out through distribution”. He also stresses the importance of having a digital marketing budget that can be used to target communities “where they live on the internet”. He adds: “By advertising on platforms like Facebook, you can start by finding self-identifiers and then build an audience base from there. In terms of the economics, we have clear guidelines on what a channel’s cost-per-subscriber acquisition should be and what is a manageable churn rate.”

The OTT platforms are not the only ones grappling with the issue of how to stand out in the market. Such is the range and quality of scripted series these days that producers and distributors are also fighting a battle for audience attention and engagement.

“Punching through the sheer volume of new and returning scripted series gets harder every year,” says Sky Vi-

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FEATURE sion managing director Jane Millichip. “As a distributor, it’s possibly the biggest challenge of working in the ‘golden age of TV’.”

As a starting point, Millichip says, you need “creative, diverse and fearless” teams that are willing to take “big, bold risks in originating new drama”. In Millichip’s opinion, MIPCOM headliners such as Britannia, The Plague and Bad Blood are good examples: “Each is a terrific story in its own right, filled with new ideas and Pablo Molinero as Mateo in The Plague

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new approaches to tone, form, character, casting, narrative and other creative filters, which help elevate them to must-have status for any broadcaster.”

Sky Vision’s head of marketing, Harry Tan, says the company devises tailored marketing strategies for its biggest shows: “It’s important that we support our broadcast and production partners in building a clear and coherent international brand for each show. So Britannia will have its World Premiere TV Screening in Cannes on the first day of MIPCOM. Attending are writer Jez Butterworth and the stars of Britannia — David Morrissey, Nikolaj Lie Kaas and Eleanor Worthington-Cox. Music legend Donovan will also be our guest because his song, Hurdy Gurdy Man, is Britannia’s title track.”

There is similar treatment planned for another Sky Vision show, The Plague, Tan says. “And then, of course, we need to ensure that the bespoke nature of the creative asset is distributed through extensive press coverage, eye-catching brochures and catalogues, and branding at Sky Vision’s stand,” he adds. “At MIPCOM, we have taken a massive billboard for The Plague. Watch out for a golden skull at the front of the Palais…”

David Luner, executive vice-president of worldwide television marketing at Lionsgate, says you have to use every aspect of a property as marketing collateral: “We look for all entry points that allow a viewer to connect with a show, particularly a brand new series, to create the desire for them to sample it. We leverage all the

mipcom

FEATURE elements that are unique to a series to help build differentiation. These elements can be the source material [a book or movie], the writing or production team, the on-air talent or the storyline and production values.

For Nashvi l le, we launched the show on the solid foundation that it was from the Academy Awardwinning writer of Thelma & Louise, featured the proven TV talent of Connie Britton Benedict Cumberbatch as Stephen Lewis in A Child In Time and Hayden Panettiere, and told a unique story in a city that resonates as a creative epicentre.”

Lunar acknowledges that there is “no magic formula for helping a new series to break through the clutter”. But there are best practices, he says: “We work closely with our broadcast partners to make sure all the marketing assets are authentic to both the show and the audience they are trying to reach. With targeted digital-media buying, there is an opportunity to speak specifically and directly to audiences that may have an affinity to your show.”

In addition, Lunar adds, Lionsgate is able to add value to its partners by leveraging its theatrical communities and extending the show into consumer experiences. He cites the Nashville annual live-music tour, which takes place in both the US and Europe, as an example. “We take a fully collaborative approach to all marketing and PR initiatives with our partners and act as an advocate

CRACKLE MAKES THE CONNECTION MOST OTT services define themselves by genres of content, but Sony Pictures Television’s (SPT) streaming service Crackle is built to cater to what general manager Erik Berger calls “connected entertainment enthusiasts”. These are people — often men at the mature end of the millennial demographic — who have placed the gaming console at the hub of their household’s entertainment infrastructure and tend to watch TV shows that are complementary to their primary passion. “They’re looking to be energised,” Berger says. “So all of our series have a certain pace to them. We have given them shows like StartUp, Snatch and The Oath — exciting new worlds with great onscreen talent they haven’t seen before.”

Crackle’s tight targeting is not its only differentiator. “In North America, we’re a

free ad-supported service,” Berger says.

“In a crowded market where most premium OTT content is on the subscription services, that’s an asset.

When people are building programming bundles, there’s always room for free.”

But Berger says the model can be adapted depending on local-market conditions. For example, Crackle is available for free in Australia, but is a subscription service in Latin America.

Another key consideration is how to leverage content in non-Crackle territories.

“Through SPT, our shows are distributed internationally, meaning we can generate revenues from other markets,” Berger says.

“StartUp, which stars Martin Freeman, is on Amazon outside our territories. A show like The Oath, exec-produced by 50 Cent and starring Sean Bean, is another title that has a lot of international appeal.”

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to create, build and pave the road for robust and original consumer outreach,” he adds.

Anna Marsh, executive vice-president of international distribution at Studiocanal, agrees that it is important that the editorial package leads the marketing strategy. At MIPCOM, Studiocanal is launching The Child In Time, a 90-minute drama feature for the BBC and Masterpiece, based on Ian McEwan’s novel. Adapted

by Stephen Butchard and directed by Julian Farino, the drama stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock) as a writer of children’s books, who is confronted with the unthinkable when his child disappears. “When you have a stellar lead actor, a best-selling novel and a writer and director with strong credits, it really stands out,” Marsh says.

According to Marsh, Studiocanal ensures that broadcast clients also get the best after-sales service possible: “Throughout production, we secure great images to share with them for their own promotional purposes.

We use various industry events to show our series to buyers on the big screen. At this point, we usually invite cast members, and writing and production talent to attend, so we can introduce them to buyers. We arrange press events, enabling journalists to interview the talent to create material that they can bank and use when the series airs in a particular country. We create personalised on-air tags and social-media links too, which can be used once a series launches.”

At MIPCOM, Studiocanal is also launching The Lawyer to select buyers. “We have the writer Jens Lapidus attending, as well as members of the cast and the director,” Marsh says. “We are hosting a Q&A at the screening to help buyers get underneath the skin of the series.

We also find it useful to enter our series into festivals, because that enables us create a buzz.”

Chris Stewart, Banijay Rights’ vice-president of sales and acquisitions, says: “A stellar example of a truly channel-defining series is Wolf Creek. Based on the hit film of the same name, John Jarratt [Django Unchained] reprises his role as murdering psychopath Mick Taylor, wreaking havoc in the Australian Outback. The first season of Wolf Creek, which is a Stan Original Series, was a huge hit and season two is being launched to buyers at MIPCOM.” While distributors have a big responsibility to market shows to buyers, Stewart says broadcasters play a key role in enthusing the audience: “Stan made the launch of the series a real event. It created an exhaustive marketing campaign, including high-reach TV spots, a national cinema campaign, large out-of-home digital billboards in premium locations and fully integrated TV advertising, which appeared during NRL Rugby League matches. All of this meant they hit a highly engaged audience in the right demographics. Stan also set up a countrywide press tour with the talent, as well as organising a pop-up Wolf Creek Roadhouse bar in Melbourne and Sydney.”

This, along with high-impact online advertising, awards sponsorship, search-engine marketing and a social-media campaign, gave the series huge visibility and drove subscriber growth and viewership.

“We are working with the Stan teams now on the consumer launch of Wolf Creek series two, which is set to be just as impactful,” Stewart adds.

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