MIPCOM 2011 QUICK REVIEW

mipcom nEWs 速

October 2011

Quick reVieW

www.mipcom.com

This report gives you a snapshot of the international multi-platform television industry, as reflected in market activity during MIPCOM 2011. It is written exclusively for MIPCOM and MIPJunior delegates by editor in chief Julian Newby, and reporters Andy Fry and Emelia Jones

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trends

Market takes on festival feel as stars line up in Cannes IF MIPCOM delegates were asked to identify a dominant theme of this year’s market, they might well say it was ‘optimism’. A sold-out Palais and a crowded Croisette together signaled an industry on the upturn — and a roster of A-list talent in Cannes, reflected that mood. The statistics tell the story: over 12,600 delegates from 4,400 companies and 102 countries were in Cannes for MIPCOM 2011.

Sunday saw British comedian and actor Eddie Izzard in Cannes for RHI Entertaiment’s mini-series Treasure Island; and E-Street Band guitaristturned-actor Steven Van Zandt, for SevenOne International’s light-hearted Mafia series Lilyhammer. Appearances later

Treaure Island’s Eddie Izzard

Missing’s Ashley Judd

Touch’s Kiefer Sutherland

in the week from the cast of Endemol and eOne’s new drama series Hell On Wheels; Tom Stoppard and producer David Parfitt, screenwriter and producer of the BBC’s Parade’s End; actor Kiefer Sutherland, star of Fox’s Touch and its creator Tim

Kring; and Ashley Judd, star of Disney/ABC’s Missing; film directors Werner Herzog and Paul Verhoeven and other leading names from the world of cinema, underscored the evercloser relationship between big and small screen.

Returning for a second year, the MIPCOM World Premiere TV Screenings saw the international debut of ABC Studio’s Missing, the red-carpet screening attended by star cast members including Judd, Cliff Curtis and Adriano Giannini.

Industry leaders focus on the future ICONIC film company Miramax made a first appearance at MIPCOM and CEO Mike Lang, in his Media Mastermind keynote — in the company of Netflix’s Ted Sarandos — urged delegates to listen to the consumer. “When consumers tell you what they want, figure out a way to give it to them. Because they will figure out a way to get it.”

Another Media Mastermind keynoter, Viacom’s Bob Bakish, stressed the importance of research, “market by market, demographic-by-demographic”.

Later keynoters, Disney’s Anne Sweeney — MIPCOM’s Personality Of The Year — and Fox’s Kevin Reilly, stressed the continuing importance of television.

“It turns out that the next big thing is going to include the same old big thing: TV,” he said, adding: “The web — in both content and creation — is showing its limitations, which has reaffirmed the value of pre-

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Miramax’s Mike Lang

Disney/ABC’s Anne Sweeney

Fox’s Kevin Reilly

mium TV content.” And for Sweeney: “Television is the most powerful medium in the world.

Tomorrow it will also be the most personal.” She added: “Television is the medium around which all others revolve. Digital didn’t weaken the power of television, it unleashed it.”

For YouTube’s Patrick Walker, tomorrow is already here, his videosharing platform now receiving three billion views a day and 600 million unique visitors a month.

In the session Tales From The Cloud: Here Comes Ultraviolet, the Ultraviolet common file format was explained to delegates.

A central database of digital rights will allow registered users — and their households — to access content stored in the cloud. The Ultraviolet alliance is backed by some 70 companies including Hollywood studios and technology companies.

Prior to Bakish’s keynote, Marcel Fenez, global leader, enter-

tainment and media, unveiled the conclusions of the PwC Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2011-2015 study. Fenez advised future media companies to position themselves as collaborative digital enterprises, who are prepared to work with others to reach consumers. “Those who have digital collaboration in their DNA…will be the frontrunners of the entertainment and media industry in 2015,” he said.

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funding and internationalisation

Market focuses on funding and confirms global reach NEW WAYS of funding programming were examined during MIPCOM. In a session on crowd funding, Canadian filmmaker Peter Wintonick said that for independent filmmakers, the old ways of funding “aren’t working so well. So we have to put our faith in the wisdom of the crowd.” In a session on alternative sources of finance, Erich Parker of chemical giant DuPont explained how, with Ogilvy Entertainment, the BBC and National Geographic, it had switched from traditional advertising to content creation, aligning itself “with people who solve problems”.

MIPCOM 2011 reflected the continuing globalisation of the media and content industries.

A new Chinese Pavilion appeared at MIPCOM 2011, its 52 Chinese companies representing a 56% increase on 2010.

Malaysian companies announced

FOCUS ON RUSSIA

Dupont’s Erich Parker

MDeC’s Kamil Othman, producer of Saladin

over $70m worth of deals, and to top a busy week, left Cannes with the country’s first-ever Emmy nomination for the series Saladin, produced by MDeC with Al Jazeera.

Japan came under the spotlight once again during the third MIPCOM Buyers’ Award For Japanese Drama event, which saw NHK’s

Threads Of Our Hearts take the coveted prize.

In the words of Reed MIDEM’s Television Division director Laurine Garaude: “It’s clear that TV in all its forms is more international than ever before.

The need for complex partnerships, across all platforms and territories, reinforces MIPCOM’s mission.”

Deals reflect global diversity THE GLOBAL production powerhouses all racked up format deals at MIPCOM. Sony Pictures Television’s Russian team announced it will produce 40 episodes of sitcom The King Of Queens for CTC while Shine International sold Russian format rights for the BBC’s The Magicians to Endemol’s Russian subsidiary WeiT Media.

Endemol sold Odd One In to Cuatro in Spain while ITV Studios secured format deals for Come Dine With Me, Dancing On Ice and Four Weddings. Banijay sold branded entertainment format Date My Car to Chinese online TV portal Qiyi while Israel’s Armoza Formats sold reality format, 24/7 Love Lab, to Viasat.

Another Japanese giant Fuji TV

was in Cannes with eight formats, and reported strong buyer interest. Highlights included Total Blackout developed with FremantleMedia.

Jon Voight appears in many disguises in a new children’s series, Baby Geniuses: Baby Squad Investigators (26 x 22 mins). Starz Media Worldwide Distribution acquired the international sales rights from its creator, Crystal Sky, it was announced at MIPCOM. Baby Squad Investigators is an extension of the film franchise Crystal Sky’s Steven Paul began with the 1999 film Baby Geniuses.

Digital deals were abundant.

Netflix content chief Ted Sarandos was in town and took the opportunity to seal an output deal with Osiris and an ac-

quisition deal for Steven Van Zandt’s Lilyhammer. As the market closed, Netflix also sealed a deal for Zodiak Media Group’s Being Human (US and UK versions). Orange acquired World Cities 3D for VOD platforms in five territories while iConcerts sealed a rare connected TV distribution deal with hardware giants Samsung, Toshiba Europe, LG, Philips and Panasonic.

MIPCOM sees its fair share of channel distribution deals. Sundance announced its launch on Astro Malaysia; A+E’s History is debuting this autumn in 40 million Indian homes; and East Africa-based Wananchi Group is to carry Fox International Channels on its PayTV platform Zuku.

MIPCOM’s Focus On Russia initiative, in association with Channel One Russia, Red Square Media, Central Partnership, RT, Russia Cinema Fund and X-Media, brought senior executives from 160 Russian companies to Cannes — a 20% increase on last year. In a keynote speech, Konstantin Ernst, CEO of leading broadcaster Channel One, urged all mainstream channels to “take their cultural role seriously”.

A three-day event, Focus On Russia offered delegates a series of panels and events staged at the Russia House next to the Palais, which aimed to educate international delegates about Russia’s fast-growing media industry.

A Russia-focused MIPCOM sparked a number of Russia-focused deals, featuring Twentieth Century Fox Television Distribution and Russian broadcasters TNT, CTC and TV3; Sony Pictures Television (SPT) and CTC; and Endemol’s Russian operation WeiT Media and Rossiya 1, MUZ-TV, TV3, CTC and REN-TV. The Focus On Russia Talk Show, with host Vladimir Pozner, welcomed leading Russia media figures including: Channel One’s Konstantin Ernst and Alexander Fayfman; CTC Media’s Anton Kudrayshov; Red Square Group’s Ilya Krivitsky; central Partnership’s Mark Lolo; Sony Pictures’ Maria Smirnova; and RT’s Margarita Simonyan.

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deals ACCELERATE YOUR BUSINESS REED MIDEM announced two new developments for MIPCOM’s sister market MIPTV. Head of entertainment Anne de Kerckhove announced MIPCube: Architects Of The Future, which will see MIPTV 2011’s Connected Creativity initiative evolve into “a discovery space for delegates to experience the future of TV in all its forms”. MIPCube will be one of three MIP Accelerators, along with MIPFormats and MIPDoc. Warner Bros. announced a partnership with MIPFormats that will see the company commit up to $25,000 of development funding for the winner of the MIPFormats 2012 Fresh Talent Pitch. MIPFormats is the largest gathering of the world’s leading producers, commissioners, buyers, distributors and creators of breakthrough formats.

MIPDoc is a two-day screenings and trading event for producers and distributors of documentaries and factual programmes for TV, film, internet and digital media.

DIGITAL MINDS SUMMIT MIPCOM’s Digital Minds Summit raised “more questions than it provided answers” according to one attendee. And that was the point of the event.

Bringing together VIP participants from around the world, the Summit raised issues posed by the rise of social networks and connected TV and looked for consensus on how the industry will move forward.

Companies represented included BBC Worldwide, Disney Media Networks, Havas, Hulu, ITV, TF1, Endemol, Facebook, Korea Telecom, MBC, NFB, Ogilvy, Orange, Paramount Digital, Samsung, Sky, RTE, RTL Starz Media, Yahoo, Vivendi, YouTube, and ZodiakActive.

PwC’s Marcel Fenez said: “It’s all about risk-taking and who takes it, and who pays for it — you can never prepare yourself better for risk, you just have to take it.”

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Majors enjoy busy market as world shows thirst for content CONCERNS about the global economy didn’t disrupt deal-making at MIPCOM 2011. The US majors generated significant business around both completed shows and formats. Disney sold new drama Missing to 80 territories; buyers including Fox Channels Italy, AXN Spain and Portugal, Digiturk Turkey and a slew of Scandinavian networks.

Fittingly, given the Russian focus at MIPCOM, Fox signed deals with TNT, CTC and TV3 for Russian versions of four shows including Malcolm In The Middle.

ZDF Enterprises had a strong market with drama The Killing, sold to the BBC, Channel One Russia and Kino/Canal+ Poland. ITV Global racked up 30 sales for Prime Suspect US in markets like New Zealand, Asia and Scandinavia. Nine Network Australia bought the series, and also secured BBC Worldwide drama Parade’s End. One of the market’s most interesting properties was M6’s TV version of the Transporter film franchise. The English-language series sold briskly at MIPCOM with EuropaCorp closing deals in Australia, Russia, Spain, Japan, Poland and Korea. Another

Disney/ABC’s Missing, MIPCOM’s World Premiere TV Screening, sold to 80 territories

sign of French interest in the English-language market was the launch of Gaumont International Television, based in Los Angeles.

The changing face of drama finance was evident when eOne and Viasat Broadcasting entered a co-venture for upcoming drama series The Firm, based on John Grisham’s novel. The deal marks Viasat Broadcasting’s first foray into distribution financing and sees it pick up broadcast rights in multiple territories for its networks.

A+E Networks racked up 450 hours of sales to broadcasters

including Seven Network Australia and W9 in France for shows like Pawn Stars. Other factual-based distribution saw FME secure volume deals around Jamie Oliver titles in the Netherlands and Germany; All3Media International sell its history slate to DR2 Denmark; and Rive Gauche licence reality series My Strange Addiction to networks such as Yes Israel and Fox Crime/ True Corp. Thailand. Thematic channels were busy; Sky Italia acquired 100 hours from Electric Sky and Fine Living Network (ex-US) secured 500 hours from various sources.

All trade routes open in Cannes DEALS made during MIPCOM 2011 revealed a truly international, border-free market for content.

Shine International sold 200 hours to Discovery Latin America while Lionsgate unveiled a LatAm distribution venture to sell shows including Mad Men and Nurse Jackie. China’s Huace Film & TV secured South American sales for Blue Love via a partnership with Latin Media Corporation. Among Eastern European headlines, Daro Film Distribution acquired action mo-

vies from Motion Picture Corporation of America for Central and Eastern Europe while DCD Rights sold the format for Penn & Teller: Fool Us to STB Ukraine.

There was a strong showing from Malaysia, which closed 16 co-production and distribution deals worth $70m. Also significant was news that CNPLUS Production, the joint venture between Japan’s Nippon Television Network (NTV) and CTI Television (CTI) in Taiwan, has moved into development on its first production, Love In Hands.

East-West collaboration was evident when CCTV9 Documentary Channel entered its first international deal with France’s Kwanza to co-produce documentary The Himalayan Gold Rush.

The Japanese were back in force after the horror of the tsunami earlier this year. NHK had a slate of documentaries dealing with aspects of the tragedy. The Japanese were also buying, with PayTV broadcaster Wowow making a rare UK acquisition, Hat Trick’s comedy Episodes.

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mipjunior

Packed MIPJunior underlines strong market for kids content MIPJUNIOR broke records this year. For the first time attendance was over 1,000 — up 25% on 2010 — with 1,092 titles listed in the programme catalogue. Programmes from France and Canada accounted for eight of the 10 mostrequested screenings.

The MIPJunior Licensing Challenge was won by Mia And Me, the $8.3m CGI/ The Kids’ Jury live-action series created by Germany’s m4e, which saw off competition from over 50 entries.

The Kids Jury was back again, which saw 18 pupils from the international school in Nice voting for children’s programming in a range of categories. Winners were Dig Deep Creek from Australia’s 1440 Productions; HickCity from China’s Fanatwild Animation; and Patch Pillows from France’s Cyber Group Studios, which also took a special prize as producer of the pro-

Warner’s Sam Register

gramme the sponsor, Carousel, liked the best.

Carousel is the new kids’ channel owned by Channel One Russia.

Kidscreen, ContentAsia, Total Licensing and Worldscreen’s TV Kids were also sponsors.

During the MIPJunior Books To TV Exchange strand, in partnership with the London Book Fair, Helen McAleer of Walker Books urged publishers and producers to start working together early in the creation process. Publisher Emma Cairns Smith of Egmont said publishers should look for four key things in a TV show: good story arcs, a unique voice, rich locations and characters.

The MIPJunior keynote was from Warner Bros. Animation’s Sam Register, a MIPCOM firsttimer, who discussed the issues he faced trying to make Bugs Bunny — and other Looney Tunes characters — relevant to the 21st century.

Junior and beyond: kids shows go global LONG before the Palais doors opened, kids studios were inking deals at MIPJunior in the Martinez hotel. Hasbro Studios was among the first to strike gold, selling a slate of shows to Turkish broadcaster ATV for its new kids channel Minika. Millimages was also quick out of the blocks, licensing animated pre-school series Mouk to The Walt Disney Company EMEA for multi-territory use.

Among headline deals, Viacom International Media Networks sold Kung Fu Panda: Legends Of Awesomeness to broadcasters including Brazil (TV Globo), Malaysia (NTV7), Spain (TVE), Sweden (TV4) and Thailand (BBTV7).

Guru Distribution sold kids dance-along series Pop It! to Portugal’s SIC while Studio100 Media

also had a strong market, licensing a slate of shows including Maya The Bee to French/Swiss broadcaster Radio TV Suisse Kids is a truly global business as MIPJunior and MIPCOM 2011 demonstrated. Japan’s Toei Animation launched animated series Toriko while Tfou and Alphanim of France sealed a deal on Calimero (104 x 11mins CGI). DQ Entertainment sold 3D CGI series 5 And It to Qatar’s jcctv.net, Nick India and Global TV Indonesia (the latter also buying Iron Man and Caspar The Friendly Ghost). At the same time, Canada-based distributor Hola Entertainment sold Chilean kids animation comedy series Zumbastico Fantastico to Cartoon Network Latin America.

MIPJunior is a great forum for coproduction deals. Philippinesbased animation studio Top Draw Animation signed a co-production pact with Catalonia-based Stor Fisk for Fungi while Spanish company Elastic Rights signed a coproduction deal with Argentina’s Resonant TV for new teen series Lola, Muse In Training. The deals kept pouring in during MIPCOM, with Scrawl Studios coming onboard Cyber Group Studios CGI series Zou as a co-pro partner.

MIPJunior ended with a screening of Korean animation Leafie, A Hen Into The Wild, produced by Myung Films and Odoltogi Studio and distributed

by Seoul-based Finecut, followed by the MIPJunior closing party, sponsored by KOCCA.

THE FUTURE IN 3D DURING Sony’s Creating A New 3D Entertainment Experience series of conferences and screenings, Sony Corp’s Akira Shimazu said that 3D’s days as an entertainment gimmick are over. Almost 70% of Japanese homes have 3D-capable televisions, that figure at between 40-50% in other major markets.

3D screenings included Sky’s natural history series, Kew 3D, shot at the Botanical Gardens in Kew, with veteran broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. This and other screenings were made possible by the installation, in the Palais des Festivals, of the latest 3D projection technology, Sony’s 4K SXRD digital cinema projector. Sky 3D’s John Cassy said of the film: “Watching a flower bloom in 3D as time lapses is extraordinary.”

FRANCE GETS ANIMATED FRENCH animation made headlines at MIPCOM. The Walt Disney Company EMEA bought the animated series Mouk from France-based Millimages for the Disney Junior network in the UK, France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Scandinavia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

Paris-based Studio100 Animation’s 3D versions of animated series Maya The Bee, Vicky The Viking, Heidi, and the new animated series Pippi Longstocking went to French/ Swiss broadcaster RTS (Radio Television Suisse).

Distributor PGS Entertainment brought three episodes of the animated series Chaplin, from producers Method Animation of France, to MIPCOM. The CGI series debuts on France 3 later this year.

And it was announced at MIPCOM that French graphic novel Metal Hurlant is being brought to life by TLM, the media arm of Italian brand Panini. Pre-sales were announced to SPT Networks in selected territories, and NBC Universal Video Germany.

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