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MIPCOM PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR

Issa Rae gives a Media Mastermind Keynote

STARS IN CANNES

MIPCOM welcomes more stars from around the world than ever before

WOMEN IN MEDIA

MIPCOM and mediaClub’Elles offer mentoring for women in the industry

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Awkward Black Girl’s ‘lightbulb moment in the bathroom’ IT’S NOT often you hear expressions like “threesome”, “going down” and “exploring different types of sex” at a MIPCOM keynote. But then, nothing about the MIPCOM 2018 Personality Of The Year — the remarkable Issa Rae — is ordinary.

The creator, producer and star of HBO’s hit series Insecure talked fluently and fearlessly about her journey to stardom — she is the first black woman to create and star in her own cable show — breaking down cultural,

sitcoms avoid has turned it into a genuine phenomenon, counting the Obamas and Oprah Winfrey among its fans.

Much of the credit goes to the show’s writers’ room which, while consisting predominantly of black women, is diverse in terms of age and sexuality.

“We do have one white male writer,” Rae said.

“We joke with him, saying, ‘Now you know what it feels like…’.

She added: “We argue a lot because of our different ages and perspectives, but you need differing voices to tell the best stories. We also don’t want to tell the stories of people who aren’t in the room. So, if we have a queer storyline we make sure we have those voices with us.”

As one of the few black women to have achieved genuine power — she was named one of Time magazine’s most influential people of 2018 — does Rae feel she has a responsibility to represent all black women?

“I only feel a responsibility to tell a good

sexual and gender barriers, and why she reckons “even white people are tired of seeing so many white people on screen”.

Rae’s career began with “a lightbulb moment in the bathroom” while she was at Stanford University. At the time, television was dominated by reality shows, none of which reflected the lives of anybody Rae knew. “So I thought I’d create a soap about what it was like to be at Stanford,” she said. “I thought I’d get my friends to star in it because they’re vain — and that’s what I did.”

The result was a spoof web series called Dorm Diaries, which went viral and led to YouTube sensation Awkward Black Girl which, after several twists and turns in NYC and LA, led to HBO and Insecure.

Insecure’s snappy dialogue, unflinching depiction of female sexuality and willingness to go boldly into areas and issues that most

story and the truth as I’ve experienced it,” she said. “That’s all I can do.”

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Issa Rae received the MIPCOM Personality Of The Year Award from Reed MIDEM’s Paul Zilk at a gala dinner last night, attended by stars and industry luminaries

Colman Domingo, star of Fear The Walking Dead

Joanna Simkin (left), Vanessa Anderson, Issa Rae and Louis D

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HBO’s Katie Smith (left), Kate Pluta, Sarah Tunney, Nicole Dawson and Connie Sarvanandan with Sony Interactive Entertainment’s Suyin Lim and Vanessa Lee

Renee Robinson (left) of the Jamaican Promotions Corporation (JAMPRO) with TV France International’s Sarah Hemar and Kenia Mattis of ListenMi Caribbean

Karmelle Biyot of TCHOUAAA with Little Black Book Company’s Bunmi Akintonwa

Studiocanal’s Rola Bauer (left) with Dori Media’s Nadav Palti

Facebook’s Matthew Henick (left), Mina Lefevre and Jennie Morris

Charlotte Wilson and Teri Fleming from CBS

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Watch this space: Facebook re-imagines The Real World FACEBOOK head of content planning and strategy Matthew Henick used his Media Mastermind Keynote to announce a reboot of MTV reality show The Real World on the company’s video service Facebook Watch.

Revealing the news alongside MTV president Chris McCarthy, he said the three versions of the show will be shot in the US, Mexico and Thailand and be made available to the platform’s global audience. There will be weekly episodes, daily content drops and the opportunity for audiences to interact with each other and the cast.

Asked why it made sense to bring the show back via Facebook Watch, McCarthy said: “For us to bring the show back we needed to find a way to do it

Facebook’s Paresh Rajwat

differently, and Facebook allows us to engage the audience in an ongoing discussion. Hopefully we are creating a whole new genre which we are referring to as shared reality TV.” The Real World sees people from a variety of backgrounds discussing a wide range of contentious topics in the confines of a shared house. In the Facebook version, community users will also be able to wade into the debate, though they will have to conform to guidelines.

Talking up Facebook Watch’s social dimension, Henick said other new projects coming through include The World’s Most Amazing Dog and the global roll-out of game show Confetti, previously only pro-

duced for the US. Now there will be versions for EMEA, APAC and LatAM. Henick shared the stage with Facebook video products director Paresh Rajwat, who described how rapidly Watch has grown since it launched a year ago. The video service is now “attracting 50 million viewers a month, who stay for at least a minute”, he said.

“Viewing on the platform has grown 14 times since the start of the year, and viewers of video on Facebook Watch stay five times longer than viewerss of video on our news feed.”

Rajwat discussed new features including Watch Party and Watch Premiere, the latter an example of the platform’s push towards exclusive content. Echoing

Facebook’s Matthew Henick

MTV’s Chris McCarthy

DIRECTOR OF PUBLICATIONS Paul Zilk MARKETING DIRECTOR Mathieu Regnault

Country Of Honour

2018

NEWS 4 Thursday 18 October 2018 www.mipcom.com

Henick’s observations about the power of shared experiences, he pointed to Sorry For Your Loss, a drama focusing on a young widow. The show has triggered a huge amount of social activity from people who had also experienced bereavement. “The unique thing about Facebook Watch is that video doesn’t have to be passive, audiences can connect with each other.”

The Facebook execs showcased examples of video services that had grown multi-million audiences from scratch in just a few months. But they also used their Keynote to illustrate how Watch can be harnessed by established TV IP owners. Fremantle, for example, pre-launched The X Factor Germany on Watch and has also generated big global audiences for Magicians Got Talent, a series of aggregated clips taken from the company’s Got Talent franchise. All of this is monetisable through advertising, added Henick.

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EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor in Chief Julian Newby Managing Editor Debbie Lincoln Reporters Stuart Braun, Ben Cooper, Andy Fry, Juliana Koranteng, Isobel Lee, Max Leonard, Rachel Murrell, Gary Smith, Joanna Stephens, Editorial Assistant Hannah Stephens Sub Editors Clive Bull, Neil Churchman, Nigel Willmott Web and Social Media Sunnie Newby 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 Media Photographers Christian Alminana, Phyrass Haidar, Olivier Houeix, 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 BOULOGNE-BILLANCOURT (FRANCE), VAT number FR91 662 003 557. Contents © 2018, Reed MIDEM Market Publications.

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RANIA’S AMAZING REFUGEE ODYSSEY FROM Syria to a new life in Vienna, via a perilous boat trip and tear gas on the Macedonian border: Rania Ali told her amazing story at the Stories Without Borders: Escape From Syria, Rania’s Odyssey session.

Ali met filmmaker Anders Hammer of Hammertime films in Kobane when she was 20 and deciding to flee the Assad regime in Syria.

He gave her a GoPro camera and some basic training, and Rania packed her possessions into a rucksack and headed for Europe. The pair did not know if they would ever see each other again.

The resulting film, released online via The Guardian, Facebook and YouTube has had more than 9.4 million views so far.

“I wanted to have ownership over my story and the way it was told,” Rania told the MIPCOM audience. She said individuals’ stories needed to be heard, to humanise what was sometimes portrayed as a “flood” of refugees overwhelming Europe.

“I didn’t want people to be shown only as victims,” she added.

“She had a very natural way with the camera, and a natural and honest way of telling her story,” Hammer said. “She’s a digital native.”

Rania Ali

TV industry chiefs ‘must rise to the challenge of diversity’ PLAYERS from across the TV business shared the stage at the Embracing Diversity: It Starts At The Development Stage panel, but they agreed that it was only one place to start changing the industry: “I really think it’s about the gatekeepers. Change comes from the top,” said Desiree Akhavan.

The director, writer and actor told of her struggle to get a script — which eventually became Channel 4’s (UK) and Hulu’s (US)The Bisexual — commissioned in the US: “Diversity requires a monetary risk, it requires putting your money where your ideals are and I think in LA it’s hard to make people do that.

“We’ve got to dig diverse, multicultural programming out of the ghetto,” said Jane Millichip of Sky Vision, as she described her struggle to place a cooking show with a black presenter in a regular cooking slot on BBC Two. She argued

that the big institutions in TV had to examine their corporate culture, and said that at Sky Vision there would be equal numbers of men and women in management by 2020.

Wilhelmina Ross, meanwhile, talked about the mentorship programmes running at the Creative Artists Agency that helped bring through screenwriters from marginalised groups. She believed a big part of her job was “finding more voices and advocating for them”, she said.

Pieter Van Huyck’s drama starring a man with Down syndrome treated the character just like any other, he said, and his company, De Mensen, had applied all the usual quality criteria to the production. He also spoke of smuggling in diversity into other productions, unannounced. “I want to prove the networks wrong about their fears,” he said.

Desiree Akhavan

BBC’s Informer breaks new ground “WE DIDN’T set out to make a diverse show, just a great one,” said Nicolas Brown, executive producer of Informer (6 x 60 mins), a contemporary thriller about a young British Pakistani coerced by British counterterrorism into informing on his own community.

“Hopefully you’ll see that this show has a different approach,” he said. “We come at things from a family perspective. It’s about the people on the ground who protect us, the cost to them, and to the people they love.”

Informer is by new writers Rory Hains and Iranian-American Sohrab Noshirvani. It stars newcomer Nabhaan Rizwan alongside Paddy Considine (Peaky Blinders), Bel Powley (The Diary Of A Teenage Girl) and Sunetra Sarker (Ackley Bridge).

Sarker, who plays Raza’s mother and his main point of vulnerability, has been a regular on British television screens since 1988. She says her character in Informer represents a breakthrough. “I hadn’t seen an Asian female character as well written as this.

Sunetra Sarker

MIPCOM News 4 • 10 • 18 October 2018

The story is exciting. I was reading it and couldn’t work out what was going to happen next,” she said.

Informer debuted on BBC One this week. It was produced by Neal Street Productions for BBC One and Amazon, and is distributed by All3Media International.

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“Be absolutely tenacious and think big”

Getting To The Top Insight And Tips From – And For – Women In Media

THE FIRST international mentoring and network event for women hosted by mediaClub’Elles at MIPCOM yesterday, got off to a positive start as participants asked for the session’s duration to be made longer next year.

Called Getting To The Top: Insight From – And For – Women In Media, the 90-minute morning event comprised aspiring professionals at table discussions chaired and mentored by powerful female TV-industry decision makers who shared experiences in overcoming career barriers.

And attendees said they wanted more of the same next year.

“My advice is to make this event even longer,” said mentor Aline Marrache-Tesseraud, Canal+’s senior vice-president, international digital acquisitions and co-productions.

“It is so short, so our table plans to continue the conversation back in Paris,” mentor Bibiane Godfroid, CEO of French production powerhouse Newen Studios, added.

She told MIPCOM News: “I’ve reached a moment in my career

where I am able to share with others what I have learned as a professional and as a woman. So I am talking to young women who are having the same concerns I had years ago.”

Another mentor, Hayley Babcock, head of formats, programming and production, international at A+E Networks said: “I think this industry, of all industries, is built on relationships and helping each other. Women have always been strong at advocating for others, and this is about advocating for yourself without feeling

THE STAR of a major new Scandinavian drama which made its world debut at MIPCOM has described how the personal connections she made with its powerful social insights led her to take on the role.

Izabella Scorupco said the central messages in the urban fantasy, Hidden, were about loneliness and isolation and were “symbolic of so much about the modern world”. Hidden is the story secretive clan with special powers who live within modern-day Swedish society.

She said that while the series conforms to the traits of the genre, it is also a commentary on how people who suffer from concealed traumas can be left feeling isolated, precarious and prone to sliding into homelessness and exile.

“In the show the hidden people find themselves in a community within a community; it’s a healing experience,” she said.

Produced by pan-Scandinavian company Yellow Bird, Hidden will make its debut in the new year on Nordic streaming service Viaplay and Swedish broadcaster TV3. Banijay Group, the parent company of Yellow Bird and Banijay Rights, is handling distribution.

MIPCOM News 4 • 11 • 18 October 2018

embarrassed about it.”

Mo Abudu, founder and CEO of Nigeria-headquartered EbonyLife Media, advised all the participants, to have a vision. “You need a clear purpose for what you want to achieve. Be absolutely tenacious and think big.”

More than 700 female professionals have joined the oneyear-old mediaClub’Elles, said founder and president Florence Sandis. “No politician has made it to the top without mentors, and we want to do the same to help women climb up the ladder.”

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NEW TECH SERIES FROM GLOBALIVE BEYOND Innovation is a new magazine show that its creators believe will plug a gap as existing networks are failing to satisfy audience’s hunger for in-depth innovative-tech stories relevant to their daily lives.

It is produced by Canada-based Globalive Media, a multimedia production firm and digital-platform operator co-owned by venture capitalist Anthony Lacavera and journalist Michael Bancroft, who hope to make the show and its format available to networks and platform operators worldwide.

A show dedicated to covering, profiling and analysing the emerging technologies that could change people’s lives for the better is not available anywhere, Lacavera said.

“TV currently focuses on only the Fortune 500 tech companies, the giants like Apple, Facebook or China’s Tencent and Alibaba Group, and usually in the news segment. There is no network that goes after stories about Apple before it became the Apple Inc. we know today.”

As an example of the type of tech ventures that interest Beyond Innovation, Lacavera mentioned a company in China where the female founder is combining stem cells and nanotechnology to make massive progress in heart-related remedies. “And she is a female founder in a male-dominated culture; that makes a compelling story,” he said.

Yet, Bancroft argued, there should be more scope to examine the business viability of such amazing developments and not only when they have billion-dollar valuations.

Globalive Media’s Michael Bancroft (left) and Anthony Lacavera

Applause in Cannes exploring scripted-format partnerships INDIAN content studio Applause Entertainment has been at MIPCOM this week talking to potential partners about comedy and drama formats. A subsidiary of the $50bn Aditya Birla Group, Applause has become a major player in the Indian OTT market after just a year in business.

“We specialise in premium Indian-language drama,” said head of marketing and revenue Ashok Cherian. “Some of our shows are original ideas but we have also adapted formats such as Hostages from Armoza Formats, and The Office and Criminal Justice from BBC Studios.”

Because of its deep pockets, Applause doesn’t have to secure Indian commissions before it greenlights shows, said Cherian: “We can just focus on getting the content right and then look for the best home for it. But we know the demand is there because the Indian OTT market

is already at around 100 million and growing fast.”

Applause’s slate ranges from comedies to thrillers, with titles including book adaptation Marry Me, Stranger. While Cherian is not prescriptive about subject matter he says the company is typically looking for ideas that

can be produced as multi-season franchises with around eight to 10 episodes per season. An added advantage of this, he said, is that “this format will make it easier for us to license shows overseas. I think it’s probably the right time for the world to be introduced to Indian noir.”

Applause Entertainment’s Ashok Cherian

Countdown to MIP Cancun 2018 WITH less than a month to go to the fifth edition of MIP Cancun, which starts on November 14, the leading Latin American TV market is shaping up to be bigger and better than ever before, Ted Baracos, Reed MIDEM director of market development, told the international press yesterday.

Baracos recalled the first MIP Cancun in 2014, which attracted 32 distributors and 30 buyers from across Latin America.

“Four years later, we have 205 distributors coming to Cancun, along with nearly 200 buyers,” he said. “We also have 160 co-production agendas and 15 exhibitors.”

Among the 2018 MIP Cancun highlights is a focus on blockchain and its likely impact on

not only the Latin American industry, but the global business of content creation, funding and distribution. Baracos introduced blockchain expert Alexander Shulgin, founder and CEO of Russia’s Gruppa Kompaniy Familia, who will be speaking in Cancun on the technology that is set to transform the television industry.

The 2018 programme will also feature sessions on the new funding models and creative partnerships that are reshaping TV production across Latin America, a series of conferences on content development, and screenings from Fox and Inter Medya. Virginia Mouseler of The Wit will also showcase the region’s top-performing Latin American, Spanish and Turkish

MIPCOM News 4 • 12 • 18 October 2018

programming.

The line-up of keynotes and superpanels will feature, among others, Grupo Secuoya’s Raul Berdones, Hemisphere Media Group’s James McNamara and Televisa Studios’ Patricio Wills. Key executives from Latin America’s leading channels and studios will also talk about programming and production strategies, and new business creative strategies in a series of 30 Minutes With... talks.

In closing, Baracos also announced that All3Media International would be organising an unscripted-format pitching competition at MIP Cancun 2019, and would be issuing a call for entries in the coming months.

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Stars in Cannes

Alvaro Morte, star of The Pier, produced by Movistar+ Spain in collaboration with Atresmedia Studios and Vancouver Media, and represented at MIPCOM by Beta Film

Actor Richard Gere, in Cannes as the star of the new BBC Studios’ political thriller and family drama series MotherFatherSon

Actor, producer, writer and director Ben Stiller in Cannes for the MIPCOM World Premiere TV Screening of Escape At Dannemora, his TV directorial debut

MIPCOM News 4 • 14 • 18 October 2018

Stars in Cannes

Actor, writer and director — and star of Fear The Walking Dead — Colman Domingo, at MIPCOM with AMC Networks

Argentine singer, songwriter, actress, dancer and model Lali Esposito, in Cannes with Fox Latin America in her role as judge on Talento Fox

Jenna Coleman, star of The Cry, produced by Synchronicity Films for the BBC, in association with ABC, Creative Scotland, December Media, Film Victoria and Sunbird Media

Ruby Jay plays Holly Hobbie in a live-action co-production from Cloudco Entertainment, Aircraft Pictures and Wexworks Media

MIPCOM News 4 • 15 • 18 October 2018

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NEWSFLARE PARTNERS WITH NOVOCOMEDY BRITISH video clips library Newsflare and Paris-based Novocomedy Productions this week agreed to collaborate on three new programmes using 100% Newsflare content.

“We have 100,000 clips shot by members of the public on smartphones, cameras, dashcams, gopros, cycle cams and more,” Jon Cornwell, Newsflare founder and CEO, said. “And 5,000 more are uploaded each month. Our algorithms and meta tags allow us to address clients’ needs with regard to curation, searchability and trust.”

Newsflare’s clients include TV producers, broadcasters, publishers, agencies and brands in 40 countries.

“We no longer call it UGC [user-generated content] but eye-witness video because the quality is so much better now,” he said.

“Much of our video is shot on HD, often in 4K, and in-camera digital image stabilisation makes it of near-professional quality.

The audio — previously the downfall of UGC — is also much better than it used to be.”

“Newsflare is great to work with,” said Novocomedy founder and CEO FrancoisXavier Poirier. “Its metadata is very user-friendly.”

Newsflare’s Jon Cornwell (left) with Novocomedy’s FrancoisXavier Poirier

Cannes launch for Hayat Gibi, Turkey’s version of This Is Us SONGUL Oden and Birkan Sokullu, stars of the Turkish adaptation of hit US series This Is Us, attended a glitzy dinner in Cannes on Monday to celebrate the launch of the show.

The original series, which is still

running in the US, having debuted in 2016 on NBC, has been adapted for Turkish audiences by production company Med Yapim for Fox Turkey, which will broadcast the show as Hayat Gibi.

Hayat Gibi stars Songul Oden (left) and Birkan Sokullu

The adaptation tells the story of a young Turkish couple’s journey into parenthood, which is hit by tragedy when one of their three triplets dies during childbirth. The show follows the Gunes family as they cope with the loss by adopting a baby born in the same hospital, switching between the past, the present and the future, tracking the family’s lives over several decades.

The original US series achieved widespread critical success and became a hit show, with lead actor Sterling K Brown scooping a Golden Globe, an Emmy and a Critics’ Choice Award for his role as Randall, the adopted son who replaces the unborn child of parents Jack and Rebecca Pearson.

Hayat Gibi star Songul Oden has previously appeared in the lead role of the Turkish adaptation of Desperate Housewives.

KSM goes from garage to global GERMANY-based distributor KSM was launched in a garage in 2002. Now, the company is turning over $20m a year in revenues. Benjamin Krause, CEO and founder, says “that growth is largely to do with our flexibility and agility”.

Over the years, the company has been super quick to spot emerging opportunities ranging from Bollywood to 3D to anime, acquiring content then selling via distribution arm KSM International. These days it works across all genres from theatrical movies to pre-school, and is increasingly active as a co-producer and financier. “In terms of distribution, we started out in DVD,” Krause said, “but I’d say one of our particular strengths now is that we really understand all forms of digital distribution. I’d advise

companies with catalogues that have been passed over by Netflix and Amazon to come to us.”

Key titles for MIPCOM 2018, said head of international sales and TV Sebastian Kiesmueller, include Tumble Tots Fun Adventures, a UK-originated animation series for kids aged two to seven years. At the other end of the spectrum, however, is The Necromancer, an action/ horror movie directed by Stuart Brennan, about a group of soldiers who unwisely flee through the Black Forest during the Napoleonic Wars. Also on the slate is mystery drama Big House, starring Gerard Depardieu.

Kiesmueller said the company is also moving into limited series, in line with market demand. Its MIPCOM slate, for example, includes some territorial rights

MIPCOM News 4 • 16 • 18 October 2018

for Ip Man, a 50-part martial arts series from China based on the classic movie of the same name. KSM will also present 4K single documentaries about the Mediterranean islands of Kos and Mallorca.

Benjamin Krause, KSM CEO and founder

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INTEREST GROWS IN ULTRA FILM CHIPPA SUSHILKUMAR Agrawal, CEO of Mumbai-based Ultra Group, has acquired two packages of films this week. Help I Shrunk My Parents came from Arri Media, and two titles — My Giraffe and The Amazing Wiplala — came from Attraction Distribution.

Agrawal reports strong interest from buyers in his own film, Chippa, which stars eightyear-old Sunny Pawar (Lion, Love Sonia, Drive and Sacred Games).

“Sunny is an accomplished actor who has already starred in four films, including the Oscar-nominated Lion — although he is still only eight years old,” said Agrawal, who produced the film. “This is the story of a boy who receives a letter from his absent father on the eve of his 10th birthday, and goes to find out more.” Chippa is co-produced with Victory Media and Travelling Light, and scheduled for release in 2019.

Newen’s Cannes presence signals TF1’s ambitious expansion plans FRENCH TV giant Newen Group has been out in force in Cannes, with a new managing director at the helm following the company’s acquisition in April by TF1 Group.

Romain Bessi was appointed managing director of the production and distribution company by CEO Bibiane Godfroid, who took over the company as part of the buyout earlier in the year.

In April TF1, which already owned a majority stake in the company, bought the remaining 30% as part of a long-term plan to increase its operations in Europe through strategic acquisitions.

Bessi, who took up the role after leaving TF1, where he was director of international affairs, said that Newen and TF1 were committed to driving the international growth of the company and increasing its market share among European viewers.

“The goal is to become the main non-Anglo Saxon media company in Europe. We have a clear focus on drama and we are expanding throughout the Latinate countries of Europe.

Newen Group’s Romain Bessi

We are already highly diversified with our content; now we aim to cross-fertilize our formats between our territories,” he said.

The Newen Group is made up of a number of subsidiary companies including Zone 3 in Canada, Bavaria Film in Germany,

and Tuvalu Media in the Netherlands, which was acquired in 2017. Its distribution arm Newen Distribution has just made its first acquisition from the Spanish market, The Room, due for broadcast on Forta and HBO in Spain next year.

Sushilkumar Agrawal

The Kitchen grows European network THE KITCHEN, the US company whose international translation technology has made it the world’s only Emmy Award-winning language, translation, dubbing and subtitling studio, announced the launch of two new offices at MIPCOM. The Kitchen France and The Kitchen Amsterdam will join existing dubbing facilities in South America, Russia, Germany, Hungary, Turkey, Morocco, Moldova, Italy and Spain.

Alexis Cardenas, vice-president international sales, has relocat-

ed from The Kitchen’s Miami headquarters to Madrid to manage the group’s first European sales office.

“It means she can work closely with the region’s studios, networks and our other clients to ensure the high standards we’ve created for our dubbing services are consistent,” Deeny Kaplan, The Kitchen’s executive vice-president, said.

The company, which includes the BBC, NBCUniversal, Lionsgate, Netflix and Viacom among its clients, kicked off its global

expansion plans two years ago.

It now has The Kitchen-branded offices in 11 countries.

It was in response to international studios, networks, distributors and production houses needing to cut costs by seeking a one-stop shop for most of their multi-language dubbing requirements.

The company said coming to MIPCOM and MIPTV and spreading their message in the event’s daily publications has contributed to its rapid international growth.

MIPCOM News 4 • 18 • 18 October 2018

The Kitchen’s Alexis Cardenas (left) and Deeny Kaplan

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Nippon TV’s touching tale scoops MIPCOM Japanese drama award NIPPON TV has won the MIPCOM Buyers Award For Japanese Drama with Anone. The series centres on the touching relationship between a lonely young girl and an older woman who bond as they recognise that their scepticism and disappointment in life are similar.

Anone comes from the creators of Woman – My Life For My Children and Mother, Nippon TV’s hit shows that became successful formats for Turkish productions by MF Yapim. Anone is also now available as a scripted format.

Producer of the three series, Hisashi Tsugiya, said: “I am overwhelmed with joy for receiving this award. It is thanks to the international drama family in this golden age of television who understand the message in these series.”

Scriptwriter Yuji Sakamoto added: “I hope audiences will lend an ear to the small voice

Jury head Dragon Petrovic; NTV’s Kenichi Hirose; Kansai TV’s Miho Okada; and Hajime Shigemura from the International Drama Festival in Tokyo

of the 19-year-old girl living in the corner of society who finds strength in unexpected ways.”

Also awarded, this time for the best re-make, was Kansai Television for My Beautiful Neighbor, a suspenseful drama about a mysterious woman who menaces her neighbour.

The awards were presented at

the MIPCOM J-Creative Party, an event designed to showcase Japanese content to the international market, which was created in 2013 with the mission to promote Cool Japan. The J-Creative Party was once again held in the Carlton hotel and was attended by buyers from around the world.

IMDA stages networking night

Networking at the Carlton hotel

SINGAPORE’s Info-communications Media Development Authority (IMDA) hosted a networking event in the Carlton Garden Verriere on Tuesday night, entitled Celebrating

KBS ROMCOM DEFIES RULES THE CONVENTION is that people fall in love, get married and live happily ever after. But in KBS’ new romantic comedy, Matrimonial Chaos (16 x 60 mins), the love starts after the divorce, not before it.

“It’s a story about two very different characters who get married almost by accident,” said KBS producer Haejeong Kim. “She’s very warmhearted and easy-going, and he’s very careful and cautious. So the marriage goes wrong and they decide to get divorced, but they remain living together. And that’s when the story really starts.”

The first episode of Matrimonial Chaos, which is currently on air on KBS in Korea, was presented to the international market at a screening on Tuesday.

And so far, the reaction has been positive — particularly from the Japanese, who have an insatiable appetite for Korean drama. However, unlike most K-dramas, Matrimonial Chaos is no fairytale romance. “It’s a very realistic look at modern marriage and divorce,” said Taehyun Lee, KBS executive director and senior producer.

As to its global appeal, Kim added: “Matrimonial Chaos is a Korean story based on the Korean lifestyle, but love and divorce are truly universal.”

Reed MIDEM’s Jerome Delhaye (left) and IMDA’s Howie Lau

Innovative Asian Stories. A packed audience heard IMDA chief industry development officer Howie Lau describe his country’s growing ambition and expertise as a content hub.

Guests including Reed MIDEM entertainment division director Jerome Delhaye also witnessed the reveal of a series of nominations for the prestigious Asian Academy Creative Awards.

MIPCOM News 4 • 19 • 18 October 2018

KBS’ Taehyun Lee (left) and Haejeong Kim

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DYNAMIC PICKS UP MARITAL COMEDY LOS ANGELES-based Dynamic Television has taken the worldwide distribution rights for new Australian comedy How To Stay Married (8 x 30 mins), which rolls out on Australia’s Network Ten next month.

The primetime series stars Lisa McCune (Blue Heelers; The Divorce) as Em Butler, who has been married to Greg for 14 years. But two kids in school, a new job for Em, redundancy for Greg and an unexpected house-guest conspire to make married life a whole lot harder.

Created, written and executive produced by Peter Helliar (I Love You Too; Storks), the series is directed by Natalie Bailey (The Thick Of It; Loaded; Hoff The Record) and produced by Melbourne’s Princess Pictures.

“Comedies set within dysfunctional families are some of the most successful shows on television,” said Daniel March, managing partner at Dynamic. “Peter has created an hysterical feel-good series that tackles the many challenges that married couples face.”

Fremantle and Fuji partnership makes Little Presenter a big hit A NEW entertainment format that shows the world through the eyes of children is being showcased by Fremantle and Fuji Television Network at MIPCOM this week. Both amusing and moving, Little Presenter, sees children investigate a range of issues, from how the world can stop conflicts to whether ghosts really exist.

The kids research topics, interview experts and present their often enlightening conclusions to the studio audience.

Vasha Wallace, Fremantle’s executive vice-president of global acquisitions and development, said there had been “a hugely positive response” at MIPCOM to Little Presenter, which is being distributed and produced around the world by Fremantle. She added: “We have a long and successful relationship with Fuji Television and, to date we have seen 95 launches of Fuji and Fremantle shows around the world.”

Fuji Creative Corporation’s Francois Grosjean (left); Fuji Television Networks’ So Fujinuma; and Fremantle’s Vasha Wallace, Chris O’Dell and Stephen Flint

So Fujinuma, vice-president and producer at Fuji Television Networks’ content production office, said “children’s curiosity” was a truly universal theme. “I strongly believe Little Presenter will be adapted in many countries, thanks to Fremantle’s network,” he said.

Since 2010, when Fuji and Fre-

mantle teamed up on global hit Hole In The Wall, the pair have co-developed several successful formats. “I personally had the chance to co-develop Total Blackout, which was sold in 20 countries,” Fujinuma said. “I’m looking forward to producing more great formats with Fremantle.”

THE SHINY floors of the Palais were put to a different use yesterday, as dancers celebrated All3Media’s new show Flirty Dancing (5 x 60 mins). In the show singles are taught a dance, in isolation, by British choreographer Ashley Banjo, before meeting for the first time in a public place to perform the dance without speaking. They then have to decide if they want to see each other again.

Autentic secures string of deals

How To Stay Married (Dynamic Television)

BETA Group subsidiary Autentic Distribution has sold a wide range of its factual titles to global broadcasters during this week’s MIPCOM. Catalan network TVC has taken a package of travel shows, including Grand Tour De Suisse and Dreams Of The Settlers: An American Journey.

Canal+ in Poland has bought

Mafia Queens, Chicks On Boards and Stereotypes. The last has also been acquired by Rai as part of a 15-hour package that includes Pomegranate & Chestnuts and Wilderness In Europe: The Bohemian Forest.

Swiss pubcaster SRF has bought Chicks On Boards and Biking Boom, while Russia’s 1 HDTV has picked up The Wild Andes,

MIPCOM News 4 • 20 • 18 October 2018

Raising Wildlife, Cyborgs: Human Machines, and Black Holes: Messages From The Edge Of The Universe.

CCTV in China has bought a package of Autentic nature and wildlife programming, including King Of The Seas: Sea Eagle, King Of The Mountains: Golden Eagle, Wild River Rhine, Wild Bavaria and The Dying King.

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Michael Malarkey (left), Laura Mennell and Aidan Gillen are stars of A+E Studios’ period UFO-focused drama series Project Blue Book

Stars in Cannes Facing the press is Viktoria Maslova, in town for the Beta Film-hosted MIPCOM Pre-Opening TV Screening of Sreda Production Company’s Trigger, in which she stars

Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart, in town to promote new music show Songland, launched at MIPCOM by NBCUniversal International Formats

MIPCOM News 3 • 22 • 17 October 2018

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Dominic West and Ellie Bamber, stars of new Lookout Point and BBC Studios series Les Miserables, a new version of the classic Victor Hugo tale

Members of the cast of street-racing drama series Curfew, brought to MIPCOM

by Sky Vision: Malachi Kirby (left), Sean Bean, Phoebe Fox and Billy Zane

Chef and entrepreneur Jamie Oliver delivered a Media Mastermind Keynote at MIPCOM this year

Lauren Lee Smith is in Cannes to promote CBC series Frankie Drake Mysteries, a period drama series in which she takes the lead role

Kat Graham voices the character of April O’Neil in Viacom’s re-boot animation Rise Of The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

MIPCOM News 3 • 23 • 17 October 2018

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Driving the content economy

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AI and diversity are the key for today’s agile content creators

Rioch Edwards-Brown

R I O C H E d wa r d s - B r ow n , founder of So You Wanna Be In TV?, helps television and AI companies to “future-proof and disrupt themselves” by attracting more diverse talent.

“AI and diversity are the changemakers going forward,” she said.

“The two go hand in hand as the content market reaches for ever more diverse audiences.”

Tech has already transformed TV with streaming, she said, and AI is set to have an even greater impact: “AI will accelerate change exponentially.

TV corporates and brands need to future-proof by opening up and talking to diverse and agile content creators and start-ups

in tech and TV.” It is estimated that by 2020 Gen Z will account for 40% of the economic spend globally.

And this generation is not only tech-savvy, but inclusive, diverse and equality-minded, Edwards-Brown said: “So if content-makers don’t reflect this market, they won’t survive and thrive in the mega-trends on the horizon.”

She added that, thanks to technology, millennials and Gen Z have the tools they need to succeed on their own terms: “They see no need to invest in industries that are not listening, nor designed to invest in them. They are building their own doors.”

Bill Peck on 50 years of MIP markets BILL PECK is a bit of a legend — and not just because he’s been coming to the MIP markets for 50 years. Over the course of his career, from London Weekend Television in the late Sixties and still going strong — he is currently international sales consultant for Russian content powerhouse Star Media — Peck has met everybody who’s anybody, from Mohammad Ali to David Lynch.

Reflecting on the changes between MIPCOM 1968 and MIPCOM 2018, Peck said: “Numbers. Back then, there were fewer people, fewer programmes — even fewer restaurants.”

As to his top MIP moments from the last 50 years, Peck — who celebrates his 75th birthday this week — cited escorting Mohammad Ali to Cannes in 1982, when he was working for World Vision. “And another wonderful MIP memory was bringing Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera down to Cannes in the

mid-Eighties, when they were both very old gentlemen.

“Our head of PR, Rita Scarfone, who knew literally everybody, managed to persuade a US aircraft carrier to call into Cannes and

throw a party for Bill and Joe. All the sailors had grown up with Hanna-Barbera cartoons and really pulled out the stops.

It was sensational.”

Star Media’s Bill Peck: 50 years and counting

MIPCOM News 4 • 25 • 18 October 2018

COPERNICUS CO-PRO WITH MOSTAPES CANADIAN producer Copernicus Studios and Korean production company Mostapes are celebrating a new collaborative children’s animation at MIPCOM. The companies have agreed to begin co-production on Chippy Hood, an original creation by Seoul-based Mostapes, which has been one of the most watched animations at the last two MIPJunior events.

Mostapes business development manager Lucy Park signed the deal with Juan Cruz Baldassarre, co-founder and CEO of Copernicus Studios, which is based in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Production will begin next year and is expected to take around five months, with a provisional release date for the show in mid-2020.

ANIMATION AND LIVE ACTION FROM DIGITZ FELIPE Morell, CEO of Bogotabased producer Digitz Film, has had positive interest in two live-action projects and two animations.

“Ximena is a live-action film about a girl killed by a corrupt plastic surgeon,” Morell said. “It’s based on a true story, and is very relevant to today’s world as it is about the social pressure women face to look a certain way.”

Pertenecer is a live-action feature which combines four women’s stories of longing and belonging. Digitz Film is also in development with Mago Production in Barcelona on animated feature Kamil’s Fire and TV series Polynopolis (52 x 11 mins).

Felipe Morell of Digitz Film

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BOTSWANA UNIT AND ICON PARTNER ON HIPPO FILM UK PRODUCER Icon Films and Botswana’s Natural History Film Unit have been commissioned by the UK’s BBC2 and US PBS station WNET to produce Hippos: A Life Aquatic (1 x 60 mins), a documentary that will use specialist camera technology and courageous filming techniques to reveal the underwater secrets of the world’s third-largest land mammal.

Shot by filmmaker Brad Bestelink and his team at the Natural History Film Unit in the flood waters of Botswana’s Okavango Delta, the film will get close up to this unpredictable and explosively aggressive creature.

Icon Films’ managing director and co-founder Laura Marshall said: “Brad’s technical and creative skills allow this intimate story to be told in exquisite detail.”

Hippos: A Life Aquatic is distributed outside the UK and US by BBC Studios.

YOKO MAKES THE TRIP TO QATAR RUSSIAN studio Wizart Animation has licensed its pre-school series Yoko (52 x 12 mins) to Qatar’s beIN Media Group for kids’ channel Jeem TV and Baraem. BeIN will launch Yoko this December on Baraem, the first dedicated Arabic pre-school channel. Yoko is co-produced by Russia’s Wizart and Spanish studios Somuga and Dib-ultoon, and Spanish broadcaster TVE. Wizart is also introducing Magic Book, a new series about Max and Zoe in their grandpa’s magical storybook world.

Malaysia’s Infinite Motion keeps on developing animation base

Abdul Rahman Sallehudin

INFINITE Motion is a Malaysian production studio specialising in CG animation, concept development and motion design.

Its team has developed a quirky animation style featured in both TV series and theatrical films.

Abdul Rahman Sallehudin, its founder and managing director, said MIPCOM has been a vital forum for finding new markets, and helping to generate around $15m (€13m) in funding from the Malaysian government for its diverse animation projects.

The Malaysian minister for communication and multimedia, Gobind Singh Deo, has been at MIPCOM this year to help develop further international co-operation. The minister is promising more support for Malaysian content providers to help penetrate the world market,

Sallehudin said.

With a slate of new titles, including Maya (13 x 30 mins), being presented in Cannes Infinite Motion is hoping to replicate the success of previous hit titles including Saladin, a popular animation series produced for Al Jazeera English, and for which Infinite Motion was the visual art consultant.

Infinite Motion has also secured a co-production deal with Kiwiwho Productions for Kiwiwho And Maeva (52 x 11 mins), with a budget of €4.7m. A pilot is due for completion by December.

TORONTO-based Guru Studio brought a splash of colour to this year’s MIPCOM with an inflatable rainbow art installation in front of the Grand Hotel in Cannes. Designed by artists FriendsWithYou, the rainbow is part of an exhibit called True’s Rainbow Lounge, created to promote Guru’s Netflix series True And The Rainbow Kingdom, featuring eight-year-old True and her best friend Bartleby the cat as they help the citizens of the Rainbow Kingdom. Pictured are: Guru’s Louise Jones, vice-presisdent finance and business affairs (left); Jonathan Abraham, senior director of sales; Frank Falcone, president and executive creative director; Daniel Rattner, senior director of marketing; and Rachel Marcus, development executive.

Ink to create content for Playmobil P L AY M O B I L p r o d u c e r Brandstaetter Group is moving ahead in partnership with Danish content developer Ink Group to create a portfolio of products.

The first co-production project will develop a diverse line-up of episodic animation featuring the award-winning toys, as well as gaming and VR applications, as part of Brandstaetter’s mission to add a new creative facet to the Playmobil brand.

“Playmobil and its fans deserve nothing but the

very best, we are dedicating all of our trademark unconventional creativity to bring the story behind those 7.5 cm

MIPCOM News 4 • 26 • 18 October 2018

fellows to screens and homes across the world,” Claus Tomming, managing partner of Ink, said.

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