MIP-TV Digital Preview

All Eyes On

While we might not be heading to the Croisette this year, the 12-16 April sees the industry gathering online for Digital MIPTV

Daivd Beckham is keynote

Global sporting icon, football club owner, entrepreneur and founder of production company Studio 99, Dsvid Beckham, will deliver the keynote speech at Digital MIPTV MIPTV confirmed David Beckham, global sporting icon, football club owner, entrepreneur and founder of production company Studio 99, as a keynote speaker at Digital MIPTV, which this year takes place exclusively online from 12-16 April. In his first in-depth television industry keynote, Beckham will talk about launching his own production company, his global ambitions for Studio 99, and current projects in production and development for a variety of global networks including A Whole New Ball Game, charting the contemporary history of the Premier League, World War Shoe, a documentary mini-series charting the untold story behind sports brands Adidas and Puma, and the upcoming definitive David Beckham biopic. In Conversation with David Beckham, hosted by award-winning Director and Producer Ben Winston, will take place on Tuesday 13 April at 18.00 CEST, and will be available on catch-up until 14 May. David Beckham OBE is one of the world’s most recognised personalities. After retiring from a football career that saw him play for over 20 years at some of the world’s most successful clubs, David has established himself as a successful entrepreneur, working strategically and creatively with many of the world’s leading brands. His independent brand management operation, DB Ventures, manages a number of partnerships including with Diageo, Adidas, Tudor and EA Sports in addition to overseeing investments such as Guild Esports plc. In 2018, he fulfilled a lifelong ambition to become an owner of a football club, an opportunity following his time playing for LA Galaxy, and Inter Miami CF began its first season in the MLS last year. In 2019, David founded Studio 99 alongside long-time partners David Gardner and Nicola Howson. Studio 99 is a global production and content studio which focuses on documentary films, series and format development. The company is also a commercial studio and produces a wide range of both editorial and marketing content for global brand clients.

Monica Levy, Head of Sales, Federation Kids & Family, spoke to Total Licensing about plans for the upcoming digital show. What are your plans for MIPTV?

We have organised quite a few online meetings with clients who are also using the MIPTV digital platform and will be presenting our spring/summer line-up or let’s call it our ‘spring/summer collection’ of TV shows to existing clients and new ones. One such production produced by TeamTO is Presto! School of Magic (52 x 11’), an animated comedy series based on the n’Wave, StudioCanal’s international hit feature, The House of Magic. Magic is a timeless theme and especially intriguing for children. The series features a band of talented and curious kids who dream of becoming magicians. Star students Dylan and Lisa cannot believe how lucky they are to be part of this new school. Lorenzo, a retired magician of international renown, and his nephew have turned their old mansion into Presto! School of Magic, where Lisa, Dylan and fellow aspiring magicians Nica, Violet and Vincent, learn the tricks of the trade. They all have a different reason for attending the school – but they have one thing in common: a passion for illusion, conjuring and the art of magic!

And how have you managed to adapt to a digital show?

Of course, like many, we were hoping to get back to the old days where we could have our face to face meetings in Cannes, but you could say we have been incredibly blessed to have such amazing technologies and organisers of shows such as Reed Midem (and others) are doing their best to create these interactive digital markets. For us, we are using this virtual market to set up personal chats and extend our reach to new buyers, especially the SVOD platforms. After so many digital shows and interactive sessions that emerged throughout the course of last year, we are all now very adept at navigating online markets in this manner.

How has business been over the last 12 months, and what positives have you noticed that you might not have been expecting?

It has been busier than ever. With

global lockdowns and social restrictions, there has been an unprecedented demand for content across all genres. Kids/teens have turned to their screens for entertainment, escapism and edutainment. With all the disruptions for children and their schooling, content that combine these three elements have seen a surge. We have one such show as an example The Ollie & Moon Show which airs on multiple channels/platforms such as NETFLIX, Tiny Pop, Discovery etc.. Based on the best-selling books (over 500k sold) by Diane Kredensor, the series targets pre-schoolers and shares the fun adventures of two globetrotting cats who act as excellent ambassadors of global awareness for their young viewers.

Have you been showcasing content at other digital markets?

Other digital markets have included Mip China and Mip Asia to mention a couple…

And what about licensing plans going forward?

As we know, licensing and merchandising has been impacted by the pandemic, but as vaccines continue to roll-out we are confident that things will pick up.

FuturumKids may be a new company but the members of the FuturumKids team have worked on popular kids’ shows in the past. Will Paddles the huggable Irish polar bear be their next big international hit? Having in your team the creators of a hit show can be no bad thing – but if members of your team were involved in worldwide success Jakers!, you know you have a hard act to follow. Luckily Paddles, the hot new CGI show for preschool (and older) kids from state-of-the art animation and media company FuturumKids, has hit the ground running. It was able to start 2021 with an anchor broadcast deal signed with Cartoonito UK and a number of other broadcast and licensing deals, including one with Irish broadcaster RTE, appropriately enough as Paddles is set in Ireland. In fact this charming, exciting and funny 52 x 11 series tells the story of a polar bear cub – Paddles – accidentally delivered by the Stork to a frozen River Shannon in Ireland, and brought up by a pack of Irish wolfhounds. Through the adventures, mistakes and discoveries of its funny and huggable star, and his friends Bracken, Bridie and Fagan, Paddles shows its young audience that being different is something to be celebrated and enjoyed. But Paddles is already staking its claim to a number of other markets outside the one in which it is set. Along with the UK there’s Asia, where Neon, a leading player in the Korean entertainment market and a specialist in the distribution of premium content, will distribute the 52 x 11 series in this key territory. For all other territories, brand management company Monster Entertainment has signed a global distribution deal for Paddles. As we noted earlier, the company’s founding principals include members of the team behind the seven-time Emmy-award-winning children’s series Jakers!. FuturumKids also contains senior figures from HIT Entertainment and its global franchises Bob the Builder, Barney and Thomas and Friends. It’s clear then that this is a specialist producer of children’s and family media content whose team has a strong track record serving the global TV market – but with Paddles it’s now looking to the next stage, with a merchandising strategy already in place. This is led by Niall Watters, formerly Head of Brand Partnerships at ChannelSight, a leading e-commerce intelligence and performance optimisation platform. He is now Head of Commerce at Futurum Group and building a merchandising strategy that will start by bringing specially developed Paddles plush and other items to market at the same time as the show launches in a number of countries. In fact the first range of Paddles licensing and merchandising products is already on the way. It will comprise 10 SKUs, ranging from plush toys to apparel and school bags. These have already been manufactured and are being shipped to Futurum Group’s fulfilment centres in London, Dublin and Chicago. So Paddles is making an impression already. But much more is on the way. In late 2020 FuturumKids announced plans to establish a global HQ in Gran Canaria for its growing list of future productions. As Brendan Kelly, Head of Sales at Futurum, says: “The demand for high-quality pre-school children’s programming is, if anything, greater than ever right now and we want to be ready to meet it.”

Dandelooo will debut several series at Digital MIPTV. Billy the Cowboy Hamster, in production at the moment, is aimed at preschool - 4 to 7 years old. It is a 2D animation and the synopsis is as follows: Growing up in the Wild West and raised on the exciting stories told by his father, Billy with his cowboy outfit has a burning desire to hit the trail! And since every new day presents him with an opportunity to go on an adventure worthy of the greatest cowboys, he is determined not to miss out... He takes with him his faithful friend Jean-Claude the worm, and his accomplice Suzie the stone marten, and off they go! Dandelooo will also present season 4 of The Treehouse Stories, as well as introducing Pompon Little Bear, Shooom’s Odyssey, as well as the available series Taina and the Amazon’s Guardians and Hungry Bear Tales. For the latter, a cookbook is being launched with each recipe linked to an episode.