MIPCOM 2012 NEWS 2

Page 1

mipcom nEWs ®

DAY

Tuesday 9 October 2012

www.mipcom.com

02

HARVEY WEINSTEIN

NEW EARTH. NEW RULES.

The keynote speech from Harvey Weinstein previously advertised for Monday happens today at 18.00 in the Grand Auditorium

GOOGLE/YOUTUBE

Google/YouTube’s Robert Kyncl announced the launch of 60 new channels at MIPCOM yesterday See page 14

MEDIA MASTERMINDS

Warner Bros.’ Bruce Rosenblum and Sony’s Andrea Wong met with PWC’s Marcel Fenez See page 18

GILLIAN ANDERSON

X-Files star Gillian Anderson is in Cannes with writer Allan Cubitt, to promote the up-coming BBC crime thriller The Fall See page 50


OVER 460 MILLION VIEWERS WORLDWIDE OVER 50 TERRITORIES AIRING LOCAL PRODUCTIONS 180 COUNTRIES WORLDWIDE HAVE AIRED AMERICA’S GOT TALENT

FremantleMedia Village Stand RB1 Riviera Beach Cannes Source: 2010 & 2011, data from Eurodata TV Worldwide

www.fremantlemedia.com





mipcom

Contents mipcom neWs 2 ®

The official MIPCOM daily newspaper Tuesday 9 October 2012 Director of Publications Paul Zilk Director of Communications Mike Williams EDITORIAL DEPARTMENT Editor in Chief Julian Newby Deputy Editor Debbie Lincoln Sub Editors Clive Bull, Sarah Kovandzich Reporters Ben Cooper, Andy Fry, Emelia Jones, Juliana Koranteng, Max Leonard, Rachel Murrell, Gary Smith, Joanna Stephens, Chris White Editorial Assistant Hannah Stephens Deputy Technical Editor in Chief Frederic Beauseigneur Graphic Designers Muriel Betrancourt, Veronique Duthille, Marie Moinier, Carole Peres Head of Photographers Yann Coatsaliou / 360 Media Photographers Christian Alminana, Georges Auclaire, Olivier Houeix, Michel Johner, Yohann Mortier Editorial Management Boutique Editions

NEWS

did you kn oW?

MIPCO distribute M News : de at MIPC verywhere O more th M and in an in Cann 80 hotels e s a nd vicinity the

8 In pictures Stars walk the red carpet to the Opening Night Party; day one at MIPCOM

14 News Keynote speeches; conferences; deals signed at MIPCOM

PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT Publishing Director Martin Screpel Publishing Coordinator Amrane Lamiri Production Assistant Eric Laurent MANAGEMENT & SALES TEAM Director of the Entertainment Division Jérome Delhaye Director of the Television Division Laurine Garaude Director of Market Development Ted Baracos Sales Director Frédéric Vaulpré Managing Director (UK / Australia / New Zealand) Peter Rhodes OBE Sales Manager Javier Lopez Vice President Sales and Business Development Americas Robert Marking Sales Director Latin America JoséLuis Sanchez Vice President Business Development, North America JP Bommel Sales Executive Panayiota Pagoulatos Sales Managers Paul Barbaro, Nathalie Gastone, Samira Haddi Sales Executives Liliane Dacruz, Cyril Szczerbakow Digital Media Sales Manager Nancy Denole New Media Development Manager Bastien Gave Australia and New Zealand Representative Natalie Apostolou China Representatives Anke Redl, Tammy Zhao CIS Representatives Alexandra Modestova, Igor Shibanov English Speaking Africa Representative Arnaud de Nanteuil India Representative Anil Wanvari Israel Representative Guy Martinovsky Japan Representative Lily Ono Middle-East Representative Bassil Hajjar Poland Representative Monika Bednarek South Korea Representative Sunny Kim Taiwan Representative Irene Liu Germany Representative (Digital Media Sector) Renate Radke Adam

PEOPLE

PRODUCT NEWS

50 Gillian Anderson Star of new thriller The Fall

51 Content for sale What’s on offer in the Palais

FEATURES 76 Russia makes a dramatic return 83 The non-stop conversation 93 Show of strength from the Mideast

ADVERTISING CONTACT IN CANNES Christine Mendes 01 41 90 49 89 christine.mendes@reedmidem.com

+edule

Published by Reed MIDEM, BP 572, 11 rue du Colonel Pierre Avia, 75726 Paris Cedex 15, France. Contents © 2012, Reed MIDEM Market Publications, Publication registered 4th quarter 2012. Printer Riccobono Imprimeurs Le Muy (France) Printed on FSC certified paper

Sch

nce Confere me m a r prog P58-60

The MIPCOM News team is located in the Press & News Hub, Gare Maritime

00 xxxxx

00 xxxxx

6


THRILLER, 2 x 90’ STARRING: Hayley Atwell, Rufus Sewell, Michelle Dockery, Michael Gambon, Charlotte Rampling BASED ON THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLING SPY NOVEL BY WILLIAM BOYD SCRIPT WRITTEN BY WILLIAM BOYD www.redarrowinternational.tv

sales@redarrowinternational.tv

MIPCOM Booth: H4.12


in pictures

mipcom

The stars were out to celebrate the opening night of MIPCOM 2012 at a glitzy red carpet party at the Hotel Martinez last night

Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys of The Americans

NCIS showrunner Gary Glasberg with his wife Mimi Schmi

The cast of Saving Hope Daniel Gillies (left), Erica Durance and Michael Shanks

Sarah Wayne Callies, star of The Walking Dead

Canadian comedian Michel Courtemanche

8

Matthew Macfadyen (left), Jerome Flynn and Adam Rothenberg, stars of Ripper Street


® From Emmy -Award Winning Writer Andrew Davies

JEREMYPIVEN FRANCESO’CONNOR KATHERINEKELLY GRÉGORYFITOUSSI

THE SHOWMAN BEHIND THE RETAIL EMPIRE

1 x 1.5 Hours + 9 x 1 Hour DRAMA MIPCOM Stand No: R38.01 @itvstudios www.itvstudios.com




in pictures

mipcom

H.E. Dato’ Sri Kamaruddin Siaraf, Secretary General of the Malaysian Ministry of Information, Communications and Culture met with Reed MIDEM’s CEO Paul Zilk yesterday. Pictured: Dato’ Mahyidin Mustakim (left), H.E. Dato’ Sri Kamaruddin Siaraf, Paul Zilk, Roslan Mohamad, and Reed MIDEM’s Jerome Delhaye Executives from international television and entertainment gathered yesterday for the Women In Global Entertainment Power Lunch Pictured: moderator Elizabeth Guider (left) with Fox’s Marion Edwards, RT’s Margarita Simonyan, BSkyB’s Sophie Turner Laing and A+E’s Nancy Dubuc

MIPCOM 2012 kicked off with a swing on Sunday night at a glitzy party in the centre of Cannes hosted by All3Media. The event, which took place at The Establishment, pulled in a big crowd and included a sing-along with German pop star Ole who also featured in a reality TV show, Day + Night. Pictured: All3Media’s Louise Pederson (left), Ole from Day + Night, Stephanie Hartog from All3Media and Holger Andersen of RTL2

The official opening of the DreamWorks stand took place yesterday with Reed MIDEM’s Paul Zilk cutting the ribbon, DreamWorks Animation’s Peter Gal and Kelley Avery, and Eric Ellenbogen of DreamWorks Classics were in attendance. The presence of DreamWorks Animation and Classics at MIPCOM marks the first major film studio debut at the market for over a decade

Ian Thorpe was in Cannes yesterday to promote the ABC documentary Ian Thorpe: The Swimmer, an intimate insight into the legendary swimmer as he fails in his Olympic comeback mission, but re-discovers a love of swimming. Thorpe is pictured with ABC Commercial’s Anne McGrath (left), Natalie Lawley, David Bradley, Mia Lumb, Ian Thorpe and ABC’s Scott Kimpton MIPCOM featured the screening of 1812, a historical action adventure film presented by Russia’s Central Partnership. Directed by Oleg Fesenko, the film revolves around the eve of the battle at Borodino and Russia’s effort to recover their battle plans from the hands of the French Emperor Napoleon

12

Treasure Box Japan New Formats Dinner proved to be an evening of entertainment with live performers from Siro-A, a visually impressive experience, combining comedy, dance and technical wizardry. The event took place on Sunday at the Carlton hotel


Taking your schedules to the extreme reme RON MEN IR 3 x 30’)

e s put their lives ron workker on the line as they work at nd in bitter perilous heights an peratures execcuttiing emp s one of the most dangerou d. orl w professions in the Every day, each member of puts his life in the hands an ing his co-workers, creat unbreakable bond.

or n ffor tion ducctio odu pro linee 39 pr ipeelin Pip AP el an ann er Ch her ath Weeat he W T The

NG BRAVIIN THE MENTS EM E ELLE (26 x 30’)

Follow the people whose occupations take place outdoors in extreme weather conditions and the most dangerous locations.

or ducced ffor rodu Pro P er Channel her ath eat W We he T The

EGUARD! FE LI LIF &2 Seasons 1 (13 x 30’ & 13 x 30’)

Lifeguard! returns to the beaches of Southern California for a thrilling second season featuring more excitement, more danger and more rescues from the world’s best trained lifeguards! Get up close and personal with s these modern day heroe 0 00 , 10 er v o e k who ma rescues a year! or n ffor tion ducctio odu pro An LMNO pr er Channel her ath Weeat he W T The

Available to screen now: www.passiondistribution.com

Visit our MIPCOM stand, no. H4.30


mipcom

neWs Kyncl unveils new channels and seeks creative partners O O G L E / YO U T U BE executive Robert Kyncl chose MIPCOM to announce the company is launching 60 new channels, in territories including Germany, the UK and France. The news follows the launch of more than 100 in the US. Among the partners are Banijay-owned Air Productions in France, UFA/FremantleMedia in Germany, and UK companies including the BBC and All3Media. UK-based Base79 is operating four new YouTube channels. Google/YouTube’s vice-president, global head of content, invited international content

G

creators to join forces with the social-video network to develop future new entertainment services. He asked producers and rights owners not to dismiss the accelerating reach of YouTube, where more than four billion hours of video are watched a month. He cited the Gangnam Style music video starring South Korean artist Psy, which has been watched by 400 million viewers globally. “Three months earlier, he was known only in Korea,” Kyncl said. He added that US teenage star Justin Bieber was uploading all his “long-form content” on to YouTube, although for Bieber and his fans, long-form content is 30 seconds in length.

“Wherever you see audiences shift, investors pay attention and more than $500m has been spent on online media in the last nine months.” That is why YouTube had been structured to bring viewers, advertisers and content creators together, he said. “We’re making as much revenue per hour as the ads on cable TV. That would not have been possible without brands embracing our advertising formats, which enable viewers to skip ads they don’t like, and advertisers to pay for only ads viewers watch.”

Google/YouTube’s Robert Kyncl

Peladeau’s funding challenge to Canada QUEBECOR president Pierre Karl Peladeau has called for Canadian television funding to be concentrated on programming

with international ambitions. Addressing delegates on the ¿rst day of MIPCOM, Monday, Peladeau said that the Canadian

Quebecor’s president Pierre Karl Peladeau

14

industry had “to start developing strong original concepts that will be popular across platforms and markets”. Peladeau acknowledged that there was a lot of money in the Canadian broadcasting ecosystem, but he argued that the challenge facing the Canadian industry was that “the current funding system is geared to domestic creation, not export”. He urged the Canadian television community to think more globally, warning that it faced “declining funding and antiquated legislation” and an inward-looking attitude among some producers. Peladeau said that too much government interference, dwindling public funds and a “local” focus was stiÀing creative output and severely impacting Canada’s ability to export to the world. He added: “We need to position our industry on the global scene or else face extinction. Canada is a buyer rather than a seller, a renter rather than an owner.

“The current funding system is geared towards domestic creation not exports. I wish it was that instead of buying international concepts Quebec and Canada were the ones doing the selling.” He said that government, networks and producers must share the risk involved in creating content geared towards the export market, in order to mitigate losses to individual companies and encourage a more global outlook. The president of Quebecor Media, one of Canada’s largest media companies, said the country’s TV industry was “ripe for upheaval” and faced two big threats in today’s market; a lack of public funding to encourage future production, and a lag in embracing technological change. Peladeau was speaking at a Media Mastermind Keynote session on Monday morning as part of a tranche of major initiatives to promote Canadian television to the media world.



mipcom

neWs “Nancy Dubuc keynote #mipcom she says the TV industry is too focused on deals and not enough on the creative @_mip_”

http://pinterest.com/mipmarkets Gillian Anderson on the Croisette! Interview soon on MIPBlog.com

Stewart Clarke

Great shows mean great ‘I hate the word reality’ business, says Dubuc One Three Media’s Mark Burnett

EWLY appointed president of entertainment and media, A+E Networks, Nancy Dubuc — regarded as the agent of change and a risk taker — appeared on Monday for a Media Mastermind Keynote and spoke about her new responsibilities and continuing ambition to pioneer original programming. Dubuc now oversees all content creation, brand development and marketing for the entire A+E Networks portfolio, which includes A+E Network, Lifetime and History and their af¿liated brands. In addition, Dubuc oversees A+E Networks’ international and digital divisions. “A question I always ask my team is: do we want to watch this? First and foremost I look for something compelling and how to come ¿rst,” Dubuc said. “In my experience, ¿rst always wins.” Documentary-style reality-TV series Ice Road Truckers is an example of how the History channel has moved away from black and white documentaries set in a remote past. “This series has really empowered our team internally and made us all think differently,” Dubuc said. “I am respectful of history but I’m a TV person ¿rst and foremost. Our programming has to be true to our new mantra: history made every day.” TV networks are faced with stiff competition in today’s multiplatform world, but Dubuc spoke confidently about A+E’s future. “The hallmark of our company is ‘why not?’, rather than ‘why?’,” she said. “I want to make sure that we are not focused on transactions but keep focused on the creative. There are much bigger questions to answer than negot iat i ng deals. If we concent rate on making a g reat show that will, in turn, create g reat busiA+E Networks’ Nancy Dubuc ness.”

N

16

MARK Burnett, the production wunderkind responsible for global brands like Survivor, The Voice and The Apprentice, accused the industry of failing to give the reality-TV genre — and the people who work on it — the respect they deserve. During his Media Mastermind Keynote on Monday, he said he preferred to call the genre ‘nonfiction’ because high-quality storytelling remained vital to its success. “The reason our shows do so well is quality. The one through-line in all the pieces is the narrative. I hate the word ‘reality’ — it’s a journalistic made-up word,” Burnett, president of US-based One Three Media said. The need to retain the attention

of viewers of non-¿ction shows required their producers to focus on the narrative as if they were “making a $100m movie”, he said. “The audience isn’t in the TV guide saying ‘this show cost $1m and this show cost $4m’. They couldn’t care less. It’s character, story arcs and emotional connection. You have to treat yourself as if you want to be Steven Spielberg,” he said. Burnett, whose next major project is based on The Bible, urged the production business to treat its talented workers with more respect. “In this business, there’s so much talking behind people’s backs and fakeness. A lot of people in this room should probably be ashamed of themselves. It’s not the way I run my company.”



mipcom

neWs

Sony’s Wong sets out top three factors to bring future growth PwC’s Marcel Fenez

FENEZ CALLS FOR CHANGE “DIGITAL is the new normal,” said PwC’s Marcel Fenez in his customary annual overview of the media world. “It’s time we changed our structures to accommodate it.” While the industry is still set to grow between 5% and 6% over the next five years, growth will be slower in mature markets. “And most of the growth will be in digital.” In advertising, TV has maintained its share globally — though it is set to lose to digital and online over the next five years. “A lot of the new money is going into search,” he said. “Over the last two years, consumers’ love for content has grown, especially added-value content, but they no longer feel compelled to own content or even store it on devices.” As on-demand normalises, consumers remain frustrated by connection quality and geo-blocking. “What they’re saying is, if it’s live online, I'll pay.” Which flags up concerns about piracy where it isn’t. Consumers are less resentful of targeted advertising than two years ago. “They will accept it if it’s good,” said Fenez. He closed by stressing the importance of recommendation, be it reviews, word of mouth, or multiple refs on social networks. “The social influencer is the one we need to embrace,” he said.

18

“I

INHERITED a great network and found incredible entrepreneurs in the managing directors of each territory,” said Andrea Wong of her ¿rst year in the job as president of international production Sony Pictures Television. Speaking at Monday’s keynote, Wong cited the increase in scripted formats and the emergence of modi¿ed reality as growing trends. She said that growth would come from three main initiatives: “The first part is that we’re making acquisitions in key creative territories such as Silver River and Left Bank Pictures in the UK, and the joint-venture we have in Holland with Tuvalu. There are more to come in Israel, Turkey and Brazil.

“The second part is that we encourage our creatives to do what they do best. This is a people business. Our job is to provide a really great environment for talent to work. We’re increasing our central development fund so we can turbo-charge development there. “The third part is to focus on the emerging markets. In Brazil and Russia there is incredible growth. We have a joint-venture in China, which gives us licence to produce there. We’re not yet in India, and we need to ¿gure out the right way to enter it. And we need to be looking at Indonesia and South Africa.” Wong said that Sony is willing to be Àexible about funding models. “We’re open to any ¿nancial model that gets our shows on the air.” She cited Goggle Box in the UK, where Sony shares owner-

ship with 3M, as an example. However challenging the market, the good news is that there is a need for great content. “We tap into what resonates with our viewers emotionally.”

Sony Pictures Television's Andrea Wong: “flexible about funding models”

Rosenblum welcomes healthy rivalry

Warner Bros. Television Group's Bruce Rosenblum: “building relationships”

“WE ARE the world’s leading supplier of content, and we see digital as a means of distribution,” said an upbeat Bruce Rosenblum, president of Warner Bros. Television Group, on Monday. “Digital adds buyers and platforms who license our content, whether ad-supported or licensed. On-demand makes it more challenging, but it’s evolving slowly and we’re

evolving appropriate revenue models.” Rosenblum is unÀustered by rivals. “For our business to be healthy, we need healthy clients and viewers. So we want to work with partners and support their development.” And that includes YouTube, Netflix and Hulu. “We’re building relationships with them, and we want them to acquire our content. We’re

cheering for Netflix’s House Of Cards. If it succeeds, they will be a buyer for our content too.” Nor does he worry about consumer frustration at not being able to get his content: “It shows demand is high.” And if they can’t get it? “Piracy is an issue. The broadcasters choose when to release shows, but we work hard to give them access as soon as possible. We think that if we make content available quickly and conveniently, people will buy it legally rather than pirate it.” The challenge is measuring the audience. “We're not there yet. But we and Nielsen will ¿nd a way. Our advertisers will get the ¿gures, and we’ll be able to monetise.” Where is the growth going to come from? “We’re starting to pull money out of Russia for the ¿rst time. And we’re seeing growth because of the new digital platforms in all these territories. That’ll continue as well. As long as we keep investing in making good content.”


Entertainment Show

www.redarrowinternational.tv

sales@redarrowinternational.tv

MIPCOM Booth: H4.12


mipcom

neWs

Games makers advised to guard hot intellectual properties Complete Control’s Glynn Hayward

APPS HELP ZAP REVENUE GAPS “THE BIRTH of the app store changed everything for us,” said Glynn Hayward of digital agency Complete Control at a MIPJunior session on the business of apps. Hayward said that instead of hoping to make his app Roodie Noodies the next Angry Birds, he used the app store to build his client base and develop proprietary engines that could then be licensed to clients. “We can get a brand into the app store in a week, then do a revenue share,” he said. Neil McFarland of ustwo described how Whale Trail, launched in October 2011 as a paid-for app, gathered a huge fan base and a book deal with Penguin, but little money. So he switched to a freemium model and built in-app revenue drivers. Jay Bennett of Smokebomb Entertainment in Toronto showcased Unlikely Heroes, a mystery series he hopes to license to digital channels thirsty for content. “We make the show, then we build games to fit the story,” he said. The games drive users back to the TV show, and vice versa. “Giving the broadcaster a revenue share on the games encourages them to promote it.”

20

ZeptoLab’s Misha Lyalin

ITH some arguing that the traditional commissioning model in children’s TV may be broken, rights holders in the games space are ¿nding other routes to television. Misha Lyalin, CEO of developer ZeptoLab, is one. He outlined how iPhone game Cut The Rope has converted 250 million downloads and 50 million active monthly players into games for iPad, Android and a free brows-

W

er-based version. Now the property is being extended to comics, 50 animated shorts for mobile phones, and a live game-show deal with Sony Pictures Television. “Children’s content needs a backstory,” said Lyalin. “And keeping control of IP so you can be in charge of our own destiny is very important.” Josh Selig of Little Airplane Productions started his property Small Potatoes in pre-school television, and up-aged it. Small Potatoes went from a TV series commissioned by CBeebies in the UK to a feature-length animated musical mockumentary for Disney Channel and Disney Junior. The unplanned journey was facilitated by members of a teen Facebook fanbase who demanded — and got — their own potato-shaped avatars. “If you hold onto your IP, you can riff with it,” said Selig. “This is the best time in history for experimenting with IP.” Josh Atkins, executive producer, Microsoft UK, and Todd

LI QINGFANG, president of Harbin Pinggo Culture Media Company (China), has been inundated with enquiries about his animated series The Airport Diary following its triumph in the pre-school category of the MIPJunior Kids’ Jury on Saturday. “Winning this award will certainly help the global strategy for the show,” said Li. “We are grateful to the government of Harbin for its support in bringing the show to the international marketplace.” The Airport Diary is co-produced by Pinggo and South Korea’s DPS Company.

Slepian, senior producer, Sesame Workshop, have taken the classic kids brand into “twoway TV” with Kinect Sesame Street TV. This new interactive offer, designed for the Xbox 360 console and its Kinect controller, detects viewers’ actions in real time and allows them to interact with Sesame Street characters physically. “It is a TV show, not a game,” said Atkins, noting that children can choose to interact, or just sit back and watch the story unfold. “We’re trying to reinvent the television experience.” Paul Brown, general manager of Disney Interactive and Disney Music Group EMEA, outlined the way in which Disney’s new service Superbia allows eight-to 14-year-olds to interact with classic characters from Disney television. Launched this year, it already boasts 2.5 million registered users, predominantly girls, who create avatars, decorate their own virtual rooms, and visit the rooms of their favourite characters.

PRODUCERS were able to book one-to-one meetings with licensing agents during MIPJunior to help them understand the market, maximise the value of their rights, and forge new relationships. Four sessions were organised throughout Sunday, one each for Asia Pacific, Russia, the Americas and Europe.


Visit eOne at RIVIERA BEACH RB.43 Watch the trailer at EONETV.COM tvinfo@entonegroup.com

Action Thriller Series (2012) 12 x 60 minutes


mipcom

neWs

Digital producers get connected to share online success stories 9 Story’s Vince Commisso: “TV broadens the audience”

CMF’s Catalina Briceno

CMF CHAMPIONS CANADA’S TOP 10 CATALINA Briceno, director of industry and market trend at Canada Media Fund (CMF), hosted a Snack And Screen event to showcase 10 new multiplatform projects for children from MIPCOM’s Country Of Honour, Canada. Among the presentations was Tribal Media’s iLearnWith, a suite of apps that helps prepare children for school by engaging them in a personalised programme of games revolving around themes such as numbers and colours. It was also showcased in the Meet The Digital Producers session at which Tribal Nova co-CEO Guillaume Aniorte said: “We believe the future of learning is on tablets.” Other projects highlighted by Briceno were: the chooseyour-own-adventure Degrassi Mobile Game from Epitome Pictures; Kibooco, an online hub for children to build and publish their own books (from Kibooco Interactive); and gamescape Skatoony Interactive from Marblemedia. “The projects highlight the creativity of Canadian media producers and confirm Canada’s leadership role in the screen-based industry,” said Briceno. In the last year, CMF committed a total of C$79m ($80.7m) to 128 projects targeting the children’s and youth market, presented on television or developed for digital platforms. This represents 23% of the CMF’s support of the Canadian TV and digital media industry.

22

LMOST Naked Animals started on the web, went to TV, and is now heading webwards again, said Vince Commisso, president and CEO, 9 Story Entertainment. Speaking at the Meet The Digital Producers event — part of a one-day MIPJunior Digital Kids conference — he said: “When we first found the property 10

A

years ago, it was a website with 60 character sketches by illustrator Noah Z Jones,” he said. “We took the seven most popular characters and created a TV show about them. TV exposure broadened the audience for the property. Now we’re taking it back online to see what we can do with it with games.” Three toy companies are now involved, creating talking plush

toys, gadgets and other toys with on-pack codes that unlock new levels of the online games. The fact that these codes are also being swapped online doesn’t worry Commisso: “It all drives people to the game.” Alex Moore, senior TV and digital development producer at The Foundation/Zodiak Kids, is shifting emphasis from making websites for their properties to making high-quality digital games instead. “Our traf¿c is predominantly going to broadcaster sites anyway,” said Moore. “So we supply our network partners with high-quality digital content they are proud to shout about.” Miki Mori, senior producer at NHK Educational Corporation, Japan, showcased a digital game made to support season two of its kids’ show, Discover Science. “The programme aims to inspire children rather than teach them,” said Mori. Appropriate and compelling games, developed with leading academics, support that aim.

ELMO was joined in Cannes by Sesame Street’s Renee Mascara (left), NDR’s Ole Kampovski, Sesame Street’s Terry Fitzpatrick, NDR’s Birgit Ponten and Sesame Street’s Scott Chambers. They are celebrating the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street’s German version Sesamstrasse. The series, co-produced by NDR and Sesame Workshop, will be introducing a local Elmo for the first time when the new season kicks off in January 2013. Everybody’s favourite furry red monster will be hosting the new format of the series through five interstitials within the show.

Kids’ brands must master art of play UNDERSTANDING the ways in which different age groups play is critical to creating successful children’s brands online, argued Dr Barbie Clarke, managing director of UK company Family Kids and Youth, revealing her company’s latest research in Cannes. Clarke’s research into children’s use of media, completed in July,

led her to see children’s play in three stages which she described as dealing with things (0-3 years), dealing with people (3+) and dealing with themselves (7+). Praising virtual worlds like Moshi Monsters and Club Penguin, Clarke noted that the high numbers of children using Facebook before they can of¿cially

register at age 13 points to a gap in the market for kids who’ve grown out of the virtual worlds. “There’s a lot of negative publicity about the downside of digital technology, perhaps because it’s from a generation that did not grow up with it,” said Clarke. “I argue it can be used in a very positive way for communication and friendship.”


Great New Kids Entertainment

Human Immersion is Gonna Suck. 2 x 44 min Animated Specials Brought to you by

Five Kids. One Treasure. Best. Day. Ever. For Broadcast and Mobile with Interactive Activities 8 x 5 min Live-Action Series

See us at MIPCOM R27.12 Toronto | Los Angeles

sales@shaftesbury.ca | www.shaftesbury.ca


highlights innovation As host of the now traditional ZDF Enterprises Sundowner cocktail, the firm's President and CEO, Alexander Coridass, welcomed more than 250 guests with a brief look at what they can expect from ZDF Enterprises at MIPCOM 2012. The buzz word is “innovation”, with novel format and content concepts vying for attention in several genres, from youth and family entertainment to serial drama and timely documentaries.

Alexander Coridass, ZDF Enterprises' President and CEO (far right) with Koch Media's Daina Sacco, Moritz Peters, Silke Wilfinger and Eva Reifferscheid, ZDF Enterprises' Project Manager Feature Films.

Tim Werner (COO, Mainstream Networks), Andrea Roskosch (Sales Manager, ZDF Enterprises), Karola Bayr (CEO YEP!) and Dirk Sickerling (Sales Manager, ZDF Enterprises).

Elaine Mourez (Directrice Grille et Acquisitions Series+, Les Chaines Tele Astral) avec Julien Mencière (Sales Manager, ZDF Enterprises).

Nikolas Hülbusch (ZDF Enterprises' Project Manager Coproductions and Development / Documentaries), Joana Pozzo (France Télévisions' Administratrice Achats et Coproduction Internationale de Programmes Documentaire) ,Thierry Mino (FranceTélévisions) with NHK's Sayumi Horie, Shin Yasuda and Go Shiroi.

Foz Allan (Executive Producer of WOLFBLOOD), Nicole Keeb (ZDF's Head of International Coproductions and Acquisistions Children & Youth), Arne Lohmann (Director Coproductions and Development / ZDFE.junior) and Sarah Muller (Head of CBBC Acquisitions and Drama Development, BBC).


Advertorial

in multiple genres at Sundowner Event

Infected with the WOLFBLOOD virus: Agusti Llinas (CFTTV Committee member Catalan Films and TV), Vicky Schroderus (Acuisitions Executive, YLE), Eva Fontanals (Managing Director Edebé Audiovisual Licensing) with Arne Lohmann (Director Coproductions and Development / ZDFE.junior).

Looking forward to the new Danish crime series DICTE: Fred Burcksen (ZDF Enterprises' VP Distribution, Merchandising and Coproductions), Tasja Abel (Manager Coproductions and Development / ZDFE.drama), with Miso Film's Peter Bose and Jonas Allen.

Michaela Hummels (Managing Director DocLights) with Stephan Adrian, ZDF Enterprises' COO.

Ralf Rückauer, ZDF Enterprises' Head of Sales, with Deutsche Telekom's Eileen Garcia and Heike Siebert.

Howard Litton (Executive Producer Acamar Films), Mikael Shields (Managing Director Acamar Films), Sebastian Debertin (Head of Fiction, Acquisition and Co-production at KiKA), Katharina Pietzsch (ZDF Enterprises' Project Manager Acquisitions and Coproductions / ZDFE.junior) and Stefan Pfäffle (Deputy Head of Fiction, Acquisition and Co-production at KiKA).

Can't wait to see Gillian Anderson's new thrillerTHE FALL: Finnish YLE's Acquisitions Executives Mari Koivuhovi and NinaTuominen with Toomas Luhats (Acquisitions Executive, Estonian Public Broadcaster), Andrea Roskosch (Sales Manager ZDF Enterprises), Elisa Tynkkynen (Acquisitions Executive, YLE), Anna Rozenvalde (Head of Acquisitions, LTV) and Arto Hyvonen (Acquisitions Executive, YLE).


mipcom

neWs FremantleMedia talks big business in Cannes TL-OWNED international production studio FremantleMedia (FM) and its commercial division FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) are in Cannes this week with a wide array of entertainment formats, dramas, factual and kids’ shows. New FM formats being unveiled include Unzipped, Let’s Get Gold and Help! I Have Nothing To Wear. The company has also acquired classic music-based format Name That Tune and reported that Got Talent, its joint-venture with Syco Entertainment, has now been reversioned in more than 50 countries. FME is at MIPCOM with US dramas such as Battleground and Brandt Point, the former being the ¿rst original drama commission from Hulu. Lifestyle shows include The Mind Of A Chef and Styled By June. The FME kids’ division continues to grow, with a new preschool title called Kate And Mim-Mim being produced in partnership with Nerd Corps for broadcast on CBeebies. Introducing the slate, FM’s recently appointed CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz described a polarisation in the content market between big events and very niche

R

shows, with ideas in the middle suffering. Despite such changes, she said FM is well-placed to prosper: “There is more content demand than ever but you need to have the capital, global network and brand management skills that we have at FremantleMedia.” Frot-Coutaz went on to stress FM’s growth in the digital sector, citing a lot of growth in the last 12 months: “We are now number 15 in terms of total views on YouTube,” she said. FME global CEO David Ellender also focused on the group’s growing digital business, pointing out recent deals with Yahoo!, YouTube, NetFlix, Hulu and LoveFilm. He also unveiled a ¿rst-look distribution deal with multiplatform studio Vuguru. The deal will see FME distribute Vuguru content across all digital, linear and home entertainment platforms outside North America from 2013. “This deal builds on FME’s burgeoning digital strategy,” he said. “New media studios such as Vuguru are home to some of the most exciting content and ideas in the industry, and FME is one of the best-positioned global distributors to capitalise.” The company has also licensed the rights for Oliver Stone’s The Untold History Of The United States to Sky Atlantic HD in the UK.

Bruce L Paisner

NOMINATIONS for the ¿rst-ever International Emmy Kids Awards were unveiled at MIPCOM on Monday at the same time as the 40th International Emmy Awards nominees were announced. Bruce L Paisner, president and CEO of the International Academy of Television Arts

& Sciences, said the Kids Awards were set up to recognise the explosion of high-quality children’s programming worldwide. For the ¿rst Kids Awards ceremony, which is scheduled for February next year, the Academy announced 24 nominees from 13 countries in six categories:

Pre-school

Japan The Jungle Bunch/France

Cloudbread/South Korea El Jardin de Clarilu/Argentina Leserkorpset (The Reading Band)/ Norway Octonauts/UK Factual

Christmas Special: The Dreaming Orchestra’s 180 Days/South Korea Coming Out/The Netherlands Mentira la Verdad (Tr uth Lies)/ Argentina Newsround – My Autism And Me/UK

Series

Julie And The Phantoms/Brazil Junior High School Diaries/Japan SLiDE/Australia Stikk (Leave Me Alone)/Norway TV Movie/Mini-series

The Amazing World Of Gumball/UK Ask Lara/Spain Digimon Xros Wars – The Young Hunters Who Leapt Through Time/

Fairy Tales On TV/South Korea Lost Christmas/UK The Star Talers/Germany The St rongest Man In Holland / The Netherlands

FOR the traditional Àagship International Emmy Awards, Paisner announced there are 38 nominees from 15 countries being considered by jurors from 67 countries. The 40th International Emmy Awards will be held at a Gala in New York City on November 19. The nine categories of nominations are: Arts Programming

Documentary

All My Life – Cartola/Brazil BLUE MAN/Japan Queen: Days Of Our Lives/UK Songs Of War/Germany

Across Land, Across Sea/South Korea Hitler’s Escape/Argentina Terry Pratchett: Choosing To Die/UK Wettlauf Zum Sudpol (Race to the South Pole)/Germany

Best Performance By An Actor

Arthur Acuna in The Kitchen Musical/ Singapore Dario Grandinetti in Television Por La Inclusion/Argentina Jason Isaacs in Case Histories/UK Stein Winge in Norwegian Cozy/Norway Zhu Yawen in Flying Eagle/PR China

Drama Series

Best Performance By An Actress

Non-scripted Entertainment

Sidse Babett Knudsen in Government/ Denmark Cristina Banegas in Television Por La Inclusion/Argentina Rina Sa in Zhong Guo Di/Hong Kong, China Joanna Vanderham in The Runaway/UK

The Amazing Race Australia/Australia The Challenger Muaythai/Singapore El Hormiguero (The Anthill)/Spain Planeta Extremo (Extreme Planet)/Brazil

Absolutely Fabulous/UK The Invisible Woman/Brazil Spy/UK What If?/Belgium

26

Art Attack/Brazil Energy Survival/Norway In Real Life/Canada Wittaya Subprayuth/Thailand

Animation

Comedy

Vuguru’s Larry Tanz (left), FM’s Rob Clark, FME’s David Ellender, FM’s Cecile Frot-Coutaz and FME’s Sander Schwartz

Non-scripted Entertainment

Braquo/France ICAC Investigators 2011/Hong Kong, China The Kitchen Musical/Singapore The Slap/Australia The Social Leader/Argentina

Telenovela

The Fire Of The Rose/Portugal Holy Remedy/Portugal The Illusionist/Brazil Iron Daughters-In-Law/South Korea TV Movie/Mini-series

Black Mirror/UK Early Autumn/Japan The Good Men/Brazil L’In¿ltre (The Lying Game)/France


Visit eOne at RIVIERA BEACH RB.43 Watch the trailer at EONETV.COM tvinfo@entonegroup.com

Mystery Series (2012) 39 x 30 minutes


mipcom

neWs MEXICO LAUNCH FOR FOOTBALL FANS NETWORK MEXICO’s leading television studio Grupo Televisa has teamed up with UK-based company ShareThe to launch a soccer-based social network called VivaFut in Mexico. Explaining Televisa’s rationale for backing the platform, Guillermo Román, director of marketing for Televisa Sports said: “Soccer is one of the top passions in Mexico and VivaFut promises to spark tremendous interest while connecting friends and family as part of the experience. VivaFut will add an important social component to being a fan by providing the opportunity for them to share pics, videos and comments.” ShareThe already runs an operation of this kind in the UK, called ShareTheMatch. It describes it as “a locationbased social network for football fans, enabling fans to share their match day experiences — in real-time — with other fans.” Televisa will launch the Mexican version, VivaFut, with ShareThe providing the technical support for the service. Once launched it will be available via mobile phones, tablets and PCs.

ESTRELLA TV’S SPANISH DEAL HISPANIC US network Estrella TV has appointed Barcelona-based Comercial TV to serve as distribution representative for the broadcast network’s catalogue of more than 6,000 hours of original, Spanish-language programming to Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “We are pleased to be moving forward on our global distribution efforts,” Lenard Liberman, CEO of Estrella TV said.

28

Digital distribution examined at European film roundtable U COMMISSIONER practices of release windows. Neelie Kroes, vice-pre- The results of the discussion will sident of the European feed into the preparation of the Commission responsible forthcoming Commission profor the digital agenda is posal for a Council recommentoday chairing a multi-stakehol- dation on European ¿lm in the der roundtable, Financing And digital era. Distribution Of European European Films In The EU Digital Commission‘s Neelie Kroes Market. Representatives of the main European cinema organisations, well-known European ¿lm directors, CEOs of major European broadcasters, telecom and production companies and VOD platforms, will discuss how European policies can facilitate the develop- “The digital revolution has rement of innovative models of duced the technical costs of prodistribution which will reap the duction and opened up a much full bene¿ts of the digital single greater spectrum of possibilities market while safeguarding for distribution for European cultural diversity. The round- ¿lms,” Kroes said. table will also examine the sus- “This represents an unpretainability of existing funding cedented opportunity to circumodels and current mainstream late ¿lms across borders. We

E

think that the European ¿lm industry should reap the full bene¿ts of this technological progress and adapt their business models in order to better disseminate European ¿lms, increase their audience and improve the conditions of their ¿nancing.” For Androulla Vassiliou, European Commissioner for education, culture, multilingualism and youth, it is important to encourage people to go to the cinema. “Watching a ¿lm on a big screen together with other people remains a unique social experience that belongs to the essence of cinema,” she said. “Theatrical release plays a crucial role in the creation of the brand identity of a ¿lm and has an impact on the success of the ¿lm on other platforms.” The roundtable takes place today at 10.00 in Audi J.

Global focus on question of poverty WHY Poverty? has been hailed as the biggest factual broadcast initiative ever, spearheaded by DRTV’s Mette Hoffmann Meyer, BBC Storyville’s Nick Fraser and producer Don Edkins. A series of eight commissioned documentaries by acclaimed ¿lmmakers has been sold to 70 broadcasters, all of whom have been persuaded to air the ¿lms over one week in November. “Working together with public broadcasters in collaboration with Steps International we now have the opportunity to reach an audience of 500 million people and, with spin-off debates, outreach programmes and other media campaigns, we can create a truly global, simultaneous focus on this issue,” Hoffmann Meyer said. Hoffmann Meyer underlined that the Why Poverty? documentaries are not about shaking charity boxes, “a shame and guilt series”, but rather a way to raise important questions about poverty. “Is it fair that the three richest men in the world earn more than 47 of the poorest countries put together?,” Hoffman Meyer asked. “I hope these strong, powerful stories with accessible narratives will make people understand the issues better and empower them to

consider their own actions.” The eight ¿lms include Upstairs Downstairs by Oscarwinning director Alex Gibney, a documentary looking at the uneven distribution of wealth in the US and Rafea: Solar Mama, a documentary that follows a Bedouin mother living on the Jordan-Iraq border who travels to India to become a solar engineer and then returns to ‘light up’ her community. Why Poverty? is presented today at 14.00 at the Verriere Californie.

DRTV’s Mette Hoffmann Meyer



mipcom

neWs

Packer upbeat on content and quality to defy the downturn IVERSE strong programming and top quality back catalogue are the main components in the battle against worldwide recession, Jim Packer, Lionsgate president worldwide television and digital distribution, said at MIPCOM. Emphasising Lionsgate’s own big successes – including the hit series Mad Men, Boss, Weeds, Nurse Jackie, and the drama Boss — Packer acknowledged that international buyers were being more selective in the face of the economic downturn. “Obviously they have to be con¿dent that the programming works for their particular channel, and a major strength of Lionsgate is

D Gary R Benz

BENZ CELEBRATES FIRST DAY FLURRY GRB ENTERTAINMENT president CEO Gary R Benz announced a slew of new deals on day one of MIPCOM. Headline agreements include the sale of Police Women Of Cincinnati & Broward County to Fox International Channels Asia and Animal Hoarding and On The Case to AETN Asia. Still in Asia-Pacific, GRB has sold Princes Of Malibu to NTV Japan. GRB has also clinched deals in Eastern Europe, says Benz. Untold Stories Of The ER is going to Telewijiza Puls, Poland and SemiHomemade With Sandra Lee to First HDTV Russia. In addition to its 3,000 hour catalogue, GRB Entertainment is presenting six new shows at MIPCOM. They are: Bloopers, Hostage, Do Or Die, American Greed: The Fugitives, Cellblock 6: Female Lockup, I Cloned My Pet and Extreme Animal Obsessions. “We are delighted with our first round of deals and are looking forward to our busiest MIPCOM yet, offering thrilling new programmes as well as acquiring titles,” said Benz. GRB is now in its 27th year, with programmes aired in primetime in more than 190 countries. The company recently launched a feature films sales division called Uppercut Pictures.

30

that we do offer a rich diversity of programming, via new programming and back catalogue.” Packer added: “Early indications at MIPCOM are that buyers are coming to the market in big numbers and have a very active approach. They are looking for key programming for their schedules that is both relevant and rich in quality.” Packer said that there had been an enthusiastic international response to Orange Is The New Black, a comedy from Netflix about life in a women’s prison, from Weeds creator Jenji Kohan, and also Nashville, a musical drama TV series based in the country music capital and which premiers on ABC this month. “The Lionsgate catalogue currently has some 13,000 ¿lm and

television titles and is an important source of recurring revenue, serving as the foundation for the growth of the company’s core businesses,” he added.

Lionsgate’s Jim Packer

DORI Media Group (DMG), distributor of telenovelas, with offices in Israel, Switzerland and Argentina, brings new format The Money Pump to Cannes. In the show, one million dollars worth of bills are inserted in glass cells and the cash is pumped out as players think about answers to the questions. The longer they take, the less money there is. “With formats such as The Money Pump, I hope we will have the same success in unscripted television as we have already had in TV drama,” Nadav Palti, Dori Media Group’s CEO and president, said.

Makeovers tackle fear and clothing TWO OF the UK’s leading lights in TV fashion makeover are at MIPCOM to promote the international rights to a new format called Trinny And Susannah: Inside Out, which are available from Israel-based Armoza Formats. Trinny Woodall and Susannah Constantine made the original series (10 x 60 mins), which premieres on Israel’s Channel 10 network later this month, in Tel Aviv with Israeli ¿ rm Abot Hameiri Productions. The format sees the duo go to different

parts of the world to transform the lives of couples — including family members, close friends and spouses — whose fears and troubled relationships are reÀected in what they are wearing. “It could be because of a traumatic situation or life could just be passing them by, but what a woman wears is an emotional representation of her state of mind,” Woodall said. Constantine added: “If people feel con¿dent because of what they wear, they perform better in every area of their lives.”

Trinny (right) and Susannah


Visit eOne at RIVIERA BEACH RB.43 Watch the trailer at EONETV.COM tvinfo@entonegroup.com

Romantic Comedy 90 minutes


mipcom

neWs

Daring Hollywood star goes where the Wild Things are Braving The Elements (Passion Distribution)

NETWORKS BOOST PASSION ROSTER PASSION Distribution has added the programming of two US networks to its roster and is promoting the new content at this year’s MIPCOM. The independent UK distributor has added The Weather Channel and Game Show Network (GSN) to its roster, which already includes broadcasters the Oprah Winfrey Network, Sundance Channel and Scripps Networks International. GSN offers a range of game show formats available for European distribution, including Beat The Chefs, where members of the public attempt to out-cook the professionals. The Weather Channel is known for its gritty documentaries, including Braving The Elements, a series exploring some of the most physically demanding and dangerous jobs. Episodes include Iceberg Hunters, Turbine Cowboys and Reef Wranglers. Celebrating Passion’s fifth MIPCOM since the distributor was launched in Cannes in 2008, CEO Sally Miles said: “From a completed programme perspective The Weather Channel’s shows offer good value for money. It’s flexible, strippable content and it’s a provable success; most of these are long-running shows.” She added: “Our relationship with GSN firmly establishes Passion as a player in the format market”.

32

sent themselves properly. “I don’t get scared, or at least I ¿ght my fear by being obsessed and fascinated by the encounter,” he said. “But I did have a genuinely scary moment when I had to climb as 50-metre high tree in order to see the world’s largest honey bee, because I don’t like heights. The fact that there were 18 hives with a combined population of roughly one million bees, each one roughly four times the size of normal bumble bees, really didn’t phase me, but being so high up was a challenge.”

OLLY WOOD actor Dominic Monaghan has turned his passion for wild animals into a TV series. Wild Things is being launched at MIPCOM and features Monaghan meeting up with some of the planet’s most dangerous animals and insects, which is what he was doing before the TV series was commissioned. “I’m obsessed with the natural world, and my holidays nearly always involve me going somewhere with the intention of interacting with wildlife,” he said. “So I pitched the idea of a series that combined a kind of rag-tag road trip with me encountering a range of animals and insects, and I’m very happy with how it turned out.” Monaghan believes that any wild animal will react positively to humans if they pre-

H

Dominic Monaghan: “I’m obsessed with the natural world”

Saban’s Rangers power to the top SABAN Brands, which is preparing for the Power Rangers 20th anniversary celebration in 2013, has unveiled Nº1 ratings for Power Rangers Samurai and Power Rangers Super Samu-

Saban Brand’s Power Rangers

rai, in key European markets (source: Eurodata TV Worldwide). In France, for the week beginning August 27, Power Rangers Samurai, airing on Gulli, was the

Nº1 kids action series for boys aged from four to 14. For the same week in Germany, Power Rangers Super Samurai was the Nº1 series on Nickelodeon Germany among boys aged from six to nine. And in the UK, Power Rangers Super Samurai was ranked as the Nº1 series on Nickelodeon UK for four- to nine-year-olds. The show also took the Nº3 slot on UK broadcaster Channel 5 for four- to nine-year olds in August and September. “Saban Brands current portfolio has a strong focus on kids properties,” said Elie Dekel, president of Saban Brands. “At MIPCOM this week we are looking to develop or acquire properties that have global appeal, strong media and digital applications and an opportunity to support a consumer products programme.”


Rake Series 2 8 x 60’

A Moody Christmas 6 x 30’

East West 101 20 x 60’

Coast Guard Alaska 33 x 60’

Bridezillas Series 9 23 x 60’

Coast Guard Florida 13 x 60’

Visit us at

standRSV.30 www.dcdrights.com


mipcom

neWs NEW FORMATS FOR PENGUIN PENGUIN Children’s Books is at MIPCOM looking at stories beyond the printed page, and is aiming to become a content provider on multiple platforms including digital media, entertainment and merchandising. Eric Huang, director of new business and IP acquisitions Penguin Books, said: “The strategy is about making our big brands bigger, reinventing the classics and creating tomorrow’s brands today. Penguin is looking at digital storytelling and gaming platforms, and also traditional formats like television.” “Our vision at Penguin is to be the home of great stories for children, whatever the format, whatever the platform, and as such we are redefining ourselves as a new kind of children’s publisher,” Huang said.

Increase in exports as Spain draws in international sales HE phrase ‘when the going gets tough, the tough get going’ could certainly be applied to Spain right now. With the local market faltering badly, Spanish ¿lm, ¿ction and animation producers are increasingly looking to sell into foreign markets, while the country’s distributors are also picking up catalogues from other European producers and distributing them, in both cases with signi¿cant success. “In 2011 programming exports grew by 18% when compared to the previous year,” Sonsoles Huidobro, managing director of Audiovisual From Spain, said. “And in

T

2012, according to a recent industry survey we conducted, we are seeing a similar sort of increase, plus we are seeing a major increase in the number of co-productions that Spanish companies are involved in, most speci¿cally with the Hispanic market, South America, Canada and several Western European countries.” “We are also seeing a lot of our ¿ction formats being sold to Eastern European territories, and our distributors are increasingly representing foreign catalogues, for example Imira Entertainment is now distributing ZDF’s kids programming,” Huibobro said.

Audiovisual From Spain’s Sonsoles Huidobro

KIDSCO, the international children’s channel, this week showed off its latest original commission, ZuZu And The Supernuffs. The show will air from early in 2013 as part of a major redesign of the channel as a whole. Other changes are afoot too: next year play-out will be moved to the Toronto facilities of KidsCo shareholder and key strategic partner Corus Entertainment. “We will leverage the global capability and expertise of both our shareholders, NBCUniversal and Corus Entertainment, to deliver a refreshed and much stronger channel,” KidsCo managing director Hendrik McDermott said. Zuzu And The Supernuffs is one of the first fruits of KidsCo’s recent content deal with awardwinning production company Matchbox Pictures (NBCUniversal).

AERIAL PHOTO SERIES SOLD KidsCo’s Hendrik McDermott (left) and Matchbox Pictures’ Chris Oliver-Taylor

What’s The Big Idea? asks Planet Nemo INTERNATIONAL distributor Off the Fence has sold Aerial America, a Smithsonian Networks series exploring America’s landmarks through aerial photography, to German broadcaster Spiegel Geschichte to air on its domestic historyfocused pay-TV channel. Pictured are Spiegel TV’s Elivra Lind and Ludo Dufour from Off the Fence.

34

Planet Nemo’s What’s The Big Idea?

PLANET Nemo Animation, a French independent production and distribution company, has announced a deal with CBeebies, JimJam and France Television to produce a brand new pre-school series, What’s The Big Idea? The 3D CGI animated series (52 x 5 mins) will be co-produced with

Skyline Entertainment and Motion Magic and it has already been presold to Australia (ABC), Canada (TVA), Finland (YLE), Sweden (SVT) and Malta (PBS Malta). Based on the award-winning children’s book, The Book Of Great Philosophical Opposites by Oscar Brenifier and Jacques Despres, What’s The Big Idea? follows Hugo, whose appetite for critical thinking encourages young viewers to question the world around them. Planet Nemo and its partners have worked closely with Philosophy For Schools consultants Nick Chandley and writer Alan Gilbey to develop the central character

and his consideration of philosophical conundrums such as ‘What is the difference between thinking and dreaming?’ and ‘Can it be good to be angry?’ CBeebies controller Kay Benbow said: “The new pre-school philosophy show What’s The Big Idea? is a remarkable, original and beautiful piece of work. As Charlie Brown says ‘in the book of life the answers aren’t in the back’. “So a show that asks our audience ‘what do you think?’ and encourages them toward critical thinking is a wonderful thing and a great addition to the CBeebies portfolio.”


3=24< @AD ' i &!| 3 =24< @AD ' i &!|

>JE9 9F?E6CD "$ i &!| > JE9 9F?E6CD "$ i &!|

AAFEE:?8 E96:C =:G6D @? E96 =:?6 FEE:?8 E96:C =:G6D @? E96 =:?6 EEYV Z_TcVUZS]V de`cZVd `W eYV YV Z_TcVUZS]V de`cZVd `W eYV h h`c]U|d V]ZeV daVTZR] W`cTVd `c]U|d V]ZeV daVTZR] W`cTVd

EECF6 =:76 24E:@? 25G6?EFC6D CF6 =:76 24E:@? 25G6?EFC6D ZZ_eVchVRgZ_X ^jeY R_U cVR]Zej Z_ eYV _eVchVRgZ_X ^jeY R_U cVR]Zej Z_ eYV bbfVde W`c YZde`cj|d XcVReVde ecVRdfcVd fVde W`c YZde`cj|d XcVReVde ecVRdfcVd

H62A@?D E92E 492?865 H 62A@?D E92E 492?865 EE96 H@C=5 # ' i %)| 96 H@C=5 # ' i %)| E96 6G@=FE:@? @7 7:C62C>D E96 6G@=FE:@? @7 7:C62C>D RR_U eYVZc Z^aRTe `_ eYV h`c]U _U eYVZc Z^aRTe `_ eYV h`c]U

AA=62D6 G:D:E FD 2E DE2?5 !# $% @? =6G6= !" @7 E96 A2=2:D =62D6 G:D:E FD 2E DE2?5 !# $% @? =6G6= !" @7 E96 A2=2:D 77`c R]] V_bfZcZVd a]VRdV T`_eRTe R]Vi ^R]UZ_Z1Z^Xh`c]U T`^ `c R]] V_bfZcZVd a]VRdV T`_eRTe R]Vi ^R]UZ_Z1Z^Xh`c]U T`^

92=7 E@? <:==6C " i %(| 9 2=7 E@? <:==6C " i %(| 22?DH6C:?8 E96 <:==6C BF6DE:@? ?DH6C:?8 E96 <:==6C BF6DE:@? EYV T`^a]Vi R_U cZgVeZ_X ^jdeVcj EYV T`^a]Vi R_U cZgVeZ_X ^jdeVcj eYRe dY`T\VU eYV h`c]U eYRe dY`T\VU eYV h`c]U


CANADA

mipcom

neWs

Gagnon plots path to success in major multiplatform move G Distribution, the Quebec-based French-Canadian distribution company also known as HGagnon Distribution, has revamped its TV and DVD operations and come to Cannes as a multiplatform distributor. The company is also making webdedicated and immersive digital content parts of its core business, with the launch of two new divisions: HG on the Net (HGNet) and Augmentimage Inc. HGNet enables HG Distribution to add web-only content to multiplatform versions of traditional TV family shows, children’s programmes, animation series, documentaries, formats and primetime dramas. Among its key multiplatform titles are Sex Around The World (26 x 52 mins), which is available online and as a format, while Juliette En Direct (10 x 4 mins)

H Bomb Girls (Imavision)

BUSINESS BOOMS FOR BOMB GIRLS DISTRIBUTOR Imavision has acquired the US and Canada English/French DVD and digital distribution rights to Bomb Girls, the critically-acclaimed period drama from Muse Entertainment and Back Alley Film Production. Set during World War II, Bomb Girls is about a group of women who work in a munitions factory, building bombs for the European front. Liberated from social restrictions, they embrace their freedom, changing their lives. Bomb Girls debuted in January as a mini-series but was turned into a full series with six one-hour episodes for the first season and 12 one-hours for season two. Imavision will launch the show into the Canadian home entertainment market towards the end of this year. US release is planned for early next year. “Bomb Girls has struck a strong emotional chord with TV audiences in the US and Canada. We are delighted to partner with Imavision in releasing this series to the home entertainment market,” said Muse Entertainment president, Michael Prupas.

36

HG Distribution’s Henry Gagnon: focus on new-media content

is a web-only show. Henry Gagnon, president of HG Distribution and HGNet, said: “Opening a new division focusing on new-media content is the path to future success.”

With that in mind, he has also launched Augmentimage, which offers second-screen mobile apps as well as interactive entertainment and immersive branded content.

THE TEAM from Canada’s Sardine Productions and French producer Cyber Group Studios has developed Mia, a pre-school 3D-animated series (39 x 11 mins), for Societe Radio-Canada and TIJI in France. Malaysian company SpaceToon is also a partner. From left: Ghislain Cyr, president, Sardine Productions; Lisa Savard, director of youth and family programming at Societe Radio-Canada; Amer Bitar, managing director, SpaceToon; Caroline Adelus, director of programming, Societe Radio-Canada; and Pierre Sissmann, president of Cyber Group.

CTV bags Smokebomb’s Backpackers CANADA’s CTV has ordered the ground-breaking, digital-only series Backpackers, produced by Smokebomb Entertainment, Shaftesbury’s digital media division. Backpackers is the first stand-alone digital series ordered by CTV for deployment across all CTV Backpackers and Bell Media digital follows best friends Ryan and Brandon on an epic adventure platforms. Offering a live-action, straight- across Europe in search of Ryan’s play narrative as well as an in- ¿ance Beth. Shot on location in teractive choose-your-own ad- Europe and aimed at the adverventure style app, Backpackers tiser-friendly 18-34 demograph-

MIPCOM News // Product News

www.mipcom.com

ic, Smokebomb will start principal photography early next year with delivery of eight, sixminute episodes to CTV by the second quarter. “Our order of Backpackers is part of our strategy to conceive, commission, and deliver new and innovative stand-alone content to the full spectrum of Bell Media’s digital platforms, for advertisers and young audiences alike,” said Mike Cosentino, senior vice-president programming, CTV Networks.



CANADA

mipcom

neWs OCTOPUS PROVIDES DIGITAL DELIVERY FOR PEACE POINT CANADA-based Peace Point Rights, the international distribution arm of content production and development company Peace Point Entertainment, has signed a deal at MIPCOM to use systems supplied by UK-based Octopus Media Technology for storing, managing and delivering multiplatform content to its clients. With Octopus Media Technology’s cloud-based video-management systems, Peace Point Rights is able to organise and control how it delivers Peace Point Entertainment’s factual and lifestyle shows to broadcasters and online distributors. Peace Point Entertainment’s shows are seen in more than 150 countries. “Octopus TV’s technology will help maximise our sales efforts and streamline the delivery of our content,” said Les Tomlin, Peace Point Entertainment’s president and executive producer. Octopus TV president Andrew Eborn added: “Our system will increase the efficiency of their sales and distribution.” Peace Point Rights has also announced a distribution partnership with Bomanbridge Media for representation in Australasia. Sonia Fleck, president and CEO, Bomanbridge, said: “We are excited about collaborating with an innovative production company which is clearly on the rise in the lifestyle and reality genres.” Peace Point Rights’ newest shows include Colin & Justin’s Street Swap, The Bulloch Family Ranch and Keasha’s Perfect Dress, with bridal consultant Keasha Rigsby.

38

Nelvana’s Colin Bohm (left) and Irene Weibel with Sean Chu of Ciwen and Kerry Novick of Nelvana

Nelvana’s kids all set for China after Ciwen Media Group deal ANADA’s Nelvana Ent e r p r i se s a nd C h i n a’s C i w e n Media Group have entered into a major children’s content acquisition and representation deal. “Nelvana has a long history of partnerships and we are particularly happy to be working with Ciwen because it’s a company that shares our values, and a great representative for us across some very dynamic territories,”

C

Colin Bohm, managing director of Nelvana Enterprises, said. Nelvana Enterprises has granted Ciwen exclusive distribution representation rights to over 1,000 half-hours of animated and live-action Nelvana programming, which includes titles such as Franklin, Babar, Rolie Polie Olie, Mr. Young and The Detentionaire. It has also granted exclusive merchandise representation rights for Franklin as well as non-exclusive rights for

Ruby Gloom, 6teen and Grossology. The deal covers the territories of Mainland China, Macau and Hong Kong. “We’ll be targeting internet companies such as Ten Cent and iqiyi.com as well as freeto-air broadcasters,” Sean Chu, vice-president of Ciwen Kids, said. “And given that Nelvana is such a pre-eminent kids’ brand, I’m con¿dent there’ll be considerable demand for this programming.”

Shaw takes NBCUniversal’s Defiance SHAW Media has picked up sci-¿ series De¿ance, with the series slated to debut in the second quarter of 2013 on Showcase. Acquired from NBCUniversal Television Canada, the new one-hour multi-faceted series from Syfy takes place in the near future and is set on an exotically transformed planet Earth, with landscapes permanently altered following the sudden – and tumultuous – arrival of seven unique alien races. “With original hits such as this year’s number-one specialty series Continuum and blockbuster hit Lost Girl, Shaw Media has a proven track record of launching sci-¿ genre scripted series successfully in the Canadian market. De¿ance takes a groundbreaking approach to television and gaming, and we are excited to build on our success with this cuttingedge series,” said Barbara Williams, senior vice-president, content, Shaw Media. MIPCOM News // Product News

www.mipcom.com

Defiance (NBCUniversal)


FAITH

IN

FINANCE

ISLAMIC FINANCE: IS THIS THE ANSWER? While conventional banking continues to make headlines for scandals and big bonuses, Islamic Finance is growing by 20 percent annually and attracting the support of nonMuslims worldwide. Bloomberg TV’s six part series, “Faith in Finance,” takes an in-depth look at this $1.3 trillion rising industry sector and its effect on the wider financial landscape.

For more information, email tvmarketing@bloomberg.net


mipcom

neWs

Book deal for circus star Toby’s Travelling Circus (Komixx Entertainment)

OMIXX Entertainment has made an exclusive book publishing deal with Random House Children’s Publishers UK (RHCP) for the pre-school TV animation series, Toby’s Travelling Circus, based around an eight-year-old boy who runs his own magical travelling circus with his friends. The stop-frame animation series, which has also just been sold to Israeli channel Hop!, premiered on Channel 5 in the UK in September 2012. Initial audience ratings are proving its appeal to both pre-school audiences and their parents. The multi-book deal includes

K

picture books, reader books, activity books and annuals. RHCP has secured both print and digital publishing rights including ebooks in all languages. “With the success of the TV show, and the commissioning of a second TV series by Channel 5, the publishing deal with Random House spotlights the appeal of stand-out characters in the pre-school arena, both on and off screen,” Andrew Cole-Bulgin, Komixx joint CEO and head of ¿lm & TV, said. “The entirely UK-based TV production continues to exceed our expectations, and the book transfer means Toby will now reach an even wider audience.”

Future bright for Syfy SCIENCE ¿ction cable channel Syfy has bought exclusive rights to Chilean reality show Opposite Worlds for a six-week run in the US. Opposite Worlds, which Syfy has acquired from Chilean station Canal 13, features contestants who inhabit one of two worlds, the past or the future. They complete challenges to determine which of them will live in the past, in which conditions are tough and unpleasant, or the future which is a utopian environment where every wish is granted. Syfy president of original content and co-head, original content,

40

Universal Cable Productions, Mark Stern, said: “Opposite Worlds has become an absolute phenomenon. This groundbreaking, edgy programme is a remarkable television experiment transporting the audience and the contestants into starkly opposite worlds, simultaneously.”

Opposite Worlds (Canal 13)



mipcom

neWs

Korea brings hot cross-media programming to smart devices Cote Ouest’s Mike Dearham

FIRST CLASS COMEDY BY COTE OUEST LEADING African content distributor Cote Ouest is moving into production with its first series, comedy drama Inspector First Class (13 x 45 mins). The series, currently in development, follows the comedic exploits of a detective working for the African Bureau of Investigation. The company has also unveiled a MIPCOM slate that includes a mix of content from Hollywood, Latin American telenovela producers and African content creators. Under the former headings are titles like Desperate Housewives and The Clone, which Cote Ouest sells in Africa. In the latter category are titles like South African soap Isidingo and Nigerian family comedy Meet The Adebanjos. Mike Dearham, senior vicepresident, Cote Ouest Group and general manager of the Mauritian office, said: “Inspector First Class will be the first of a slate of several new Cote Ouest productions that will soon follow. This series, along with properties in the catalogue, highlights the diversity and quality of African content. African content is gaining popularity with international audiences and we are excited to be part of its growth as we showcase these properties on the global stage.”

42

KISA’s Hae-Nyoung Huh

T’S no surprise that South Korea, a territory that has been on the internet for 30 years, might be behind some of the most innovative crossmedia content formats in the industry. KBS Media, Ocon, and Daekyo, among others, have all brought interactive cross-media content to MIPCOM and to the global

I

media landscape with the advice and assistance of the Korean Internet and Security Agency (KISA). KISA is the sponsor of tomorrow’s What’s Hot In Korea – Cross Media Content Formats conference. The research agency is charged with developing and promoting internet policy and according to general manager Hae-

Nyoung Huh the digital revolution has made development of interactive content based on Korea’s cutting-edge technology sector a top priority for KISA. KISA has been behind the making of some 62 interactive and cross-media programmes so far. “In these we’ve tapped cloud, LBS (location based services), even augmented reality to help companies to come up with workable interactive and cross media formats as well as TV advertisements,” Huh said. “KISA is focusing on the smart technology sector and programmes that can adapt both traditional TV content and content made speci¿cally for smart devices such as mobile phones and tablets.” In Cannes, KISA is eager to meet up with companies that might need help in developing infrastructure to accommodate the new demands of high technology, including interactive TV commercials. “We work closely with content makers to come up with business models that will accommodate both traditional and new technology at the same time,” Huh said.

Travelxp HD unveils mobile webisodes INDIA’s first high-definition travel channel travelxp HD has unveiled webisodes and mobisodes at MIPCOM, as well as announcing several new shows in the lifestyle travel genre. The company has a target of producing 2,000 webisodes which viewers can stream on their PCs and mobile devices anytime anywhere. Prashant Chothani, travelxp HD CEO said: “We are building on the excellent results from MIPCOM last year, with strong

partnerships being forged with international broadcasters and content platforms.” “The last 12 months have seen company launches in South Asia, the Middle East, Europe, the US and Canada,” Nisha Chothani, director of travelxp HD, said. “We have been syndicating content from our 400 hours of high-quality HD content to international broadcasters, VOD platforms, airlines and other content platforms.”

Travelxp HD’s Prashant Chothani and Nisha Chothani: forging strong partnerships


In association with DIAGONAL TV, EDITUDES & GOLDEN MEDIA

PRESENT

#10.28

design by: Samuel Maman

MIPCOM BOOTH

The Original Team XII TRIBES ENTERTAINMENT Presents an Ysé Brisson/Michel Zgarka High Concept/Prime Time TV Series. / Starring: Karen Strassman, Ysé Brisson, Natacha Régnier & introducing Elma Mehmedbegovic as Michelle Cruz / Producers: Albert Sagales, Michel Zgarka & Randy Bradshaw / Executive Producers: Nicolas Kanellopoulos, Henry Ong & Gary Marenzi / Coordinating Producer & Original Music Composer: Sacha Zgarka / Associate Producers: M.A. Nour-Eddin & Georges Leclère / Concept/Story line: Michel Zgarka / Main screenwriter & Head of Writing Team: Ysé Brisson / Writing Team: Julien Mutter, Jason Long & Michel Zgarka / Directors: Randy Bradshaw, Patricia Harris Seeley & Michel Zgarka / Production Managers: Doug Steeden & Marco Meere / Design & Visual Look: Shaddy Gauthier Cyr / Wardrobe creator: Samuel Maman / Postproduction: Banff Center / Supervising Producer: Kerry Stauffer-Executive Director-Film & Media, The Banff Center / Line Producing company in France: Endemol Fiction.

CREDITS NON CONTRACTUAL


mipcom

neWs ROBBIE SHOWS HOW IT’S DONE PRODUCER BlinkTV is at MIPCOM to finalise deals for Robbie Williams’ show Done And Dusted, which he performs at London’s 02 for three nights next month. It will feature music from his new album Take The Crown, alongside past classics. The final 02 show will be broadcast live under the direction of Hamish Hamilton, fresh from his work on the London 2012 Opening Ceremony and Madonna’s XLVI Super Bowl performance. BlinkTV is the exclusive distributor of the show worldwide.

GDE invites delegates to see funny side of comedienne’s marriage doc S DISTRIBUTOR Goldstein Douglas Entertainment (GDE) is at MIPCOM promoting its tongue-in-cheek documentary examining the marriage between a stand-up comedienne from America’s Mid-West and a Muslim man. The ¿lm, Shame On Shelley Bennett, is based on the real experiences of the comedienne with video footage she made during the early stages of her marriage. Co-written and directed by Bennett and Stephen Lentini, it presents the humorous and often emotionally charged journey of the couple coming to terms with the cultural

U

DEAL FOR ELLA BELLA BINGO AUGUST Media Holdings has signed an agreement with Norway’s Kool Produktion to co-produce a second series of the 2D Flash-animated pre-school series Ella Bella Bingo. In a separate deal, August Media Holdings’ newly Stephen Lentini (left), Shelley Bennett and Cord Douglas launched distribution arm August Rights will handle international distribution rights for series one and two of the show, responsible for all Scandinavia rights. FRANCE Televisions Distribution

differences that getting married highlighted, with touching footage of the early days of their relationship interspersed with Bennett’s own stand-up routine. Speaking to MIPCOM News, Bennett said: “There’s so much negative press about the differences between Western and Middle Eastern cultures. This ¿lm is all about promoting respect and looking at the lighter, funny side of the differences.” GDE’s Cord Douglas, who is overseeing the ¿lm’s distribution, admitted that the subject was potentially a delicate one for networks given the recent controversy over an amateur ¿lm depicting the prophet Mohammed, but said that this was the ideal way to approach it. “This is exactly the way these issues can be handled,” he said. “The networks are very interested in ways of exploring this provocative issue without being provocative.” GDE is also distributing two extreme sports documentaries following surfer Garrett McNamara as he discovers some of the world’s biggest waves in GMAC Big Wave Attack: The North Canyon, and The Glacier Project in which McNamara attempts to surf a glacier tsunami wave in Alaska.

FTD goes back to school with Charley

Ella Bella Bingo (August Media Holdings)

44

(FTD) has announced that it is working with French production company Les Armateurs to produce Charley And Mimmo In School (52 x 7 mins). The brand new season of this animated series, ¿nanced by France Televisions, will air in September 2013 on France 5‘s pre-school block Les Zouzous. “Adding a brand like Charley And Mimmo to our portfolio was an unmissable opportunity, because Charley’s an iconic children’s hero,” Geraint Marsh, executive vice-president, television and consumer products FTD, said. “It’s a thrill to be working with a French pro-

duction team in the international market, and we are sure that Charley And Mimmo will be a great success.” FTD has also brought Tiger Lily, voted best TV drama at the 2012 La Rochelle Festival of TV Fiction, and They Do It With Mirrors, The Dark Room from 13 Productions, Hotel Paradise and the House Of Ill Repute. New documentary series include It’s A Bare-Faced Cheek and Beauty Trips.

Charley And Mimmo: “unmissable opportunity”

STORIES FROM THE KITCHEN THE KITCHEN, the Emmy Award-winning company that specialises in telenovela dubbing, is at MIPCOM to further its international profile. Its president/CEO Ken Lorber said: “We have a total of seven full-time studios dedicated to the dubbing of telenovelas in English, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, French, German and other languages. Our clients have the ability to showcase their new programming in every language.”

ATLANTYCA TO SELL FIXIES

TRANSMEDIA entertainment company Atlantyca Entertainment has signed a deal with Russian animation studio Aeroplane Productions to acquire the distribution rights for Russia’s numberone rated animated series The Fixies for Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Malaysia, Singapore and Korea. Created by Aeroplane Productions, it is produced by Aeroplane, The Riki Group and Petersburg Animation Studio. Atlantyca is launching sales of the series at this market. “The Fixies has huge multi-platform potential, which is the core of Atlantyca’s brand building,” said Pedro Citaristi (pictured centre), Atlantyca’s sales manager. Citaristi is pictured with Riki Group’s Michael Mennies (left) and Ilya Popov.


Watch now at www.shineinternational.com MIPCOM LR5.01

BEAUTY AND THE GEEK ALL NEW SEASON & FORMAT

The hilarious and world famous entertainment format is back, as Australia’s most beautiful and geekiest join forces to compete in the ultimate social experiment Seven (Australia) | Seasons 1-4: 28 x 60’ / 3 x 90’ & Format


mipcom

neWs

Gary glad to be NCIS latecomer S NCIS execut ive producer Gary Glasberg happily admits, joining a show that had already been running six years was an unusual experience for him. “It was the ¿rst time that I had come to a series that was already running, but once I had sat down with Mark Harmon (Special Agent Gibbs) and Michael Weatherley (Anthony DiNozzo), I knew it was going to be fine,” he said. “Of course any series that has already run for so long has its own ways of doing things, but the excitement for me is that we are still finding new ways to tell stories. That’s what I love about NCIS, we all love what we’re doing, and even though a show that has lasted 10 years and is still so popu-

A Jonas Allen and Peter Bose

PARTNERS IN CRIME WAVE THE PRODUCTION talent behind some of the best-loved Scandinavian crime series and thrillers is in Cannes with a new take on the genre. Peter Bose and Jonas Allen, who between them worked on Beck and Wallander, as well as The Candidate and Those Who Kill for their company, Miso Film, are making a series (10 x 42 mins) based on the Dicte Svendsen novels by Danish writer Elsebeth Egholm. The heroine is a full-time journalist, part-time sleuth living in Aarhus, and the drama will also focus on the forty-something’s personal life. Dicte, a $14m production which wraps in November, is being sold to international partners by ZDF Enterprises. TV4 (Sweden), TV2 (Denmark) and TV2 (Sweden) are already on board. “Dicte was so interesting to us because we felt it could bring in all the flavours we wanted,” Bose said. “It’s maybe pushing at the limits of the crime genre,” Allen added, “while staying within the area of what people know.” Miso is also mounting a big-budget historical drama, 1864, about Denmark’s unsuccessful war against Prussia and Austria in that year, with production partners to be announced.

46

lar is an anomaly, it’s such a treat to come to work.” Two key factors feed directly into the show, and both to some degree explain its enduring appeal: “We’re all huge TV fans, so of course we are aware that we are currently living through a real golden age of TV series, and that inspires us to make NCIS as good as possible,” he said. “But we also pay attention to the newspaper headlines, and to what the Navy is doing in the real world. And Michael has such great comic timing, which opens up new possibilities.” Glasberg and Weatherley will be at a press conference this afternoon in the Blue Room to discuss NCIS, and Glasberg will also be participating in a Creative Talks Masterclass in the morning in the Grand Auditorium.

NCIS executive producer Gary Glasberg

LAURA E Sher (left), senior vice-president of legal & business affairs and business development at AMC Networks, and Andrea Gorfolova, president and CEO of Tricon Films & Television, set the seal on an output deal. Tricon is sole distributor of IFC’s original scripted programming and is at MIPCOM with the first fruits of the agreement — Comedy Bang! Bang! and Bunk (both 10 x 30 mins). The former is a talk show, the latter a quiz, and both feature well-known comic talent.

Digiturk unwraps big Prime package PRIME Entertainment Group and Digiturk ¿nalised a major package deal of more than 270 episodes from Prime’s Hollywood Entertainment Library in Cannes yesterday. “It’s a major satisfaction to be able to provide movie channel platforms with programming thanks to our expanding library of movie and celebrity-related shows,” said Prime Entertainment president, David Freydt. “They know they can ¿nd everything they need at Prime.

For example we recently started the Hollywood News Feed, which delivers the most exciting news from the people and stars of Hollywood every week. We are especially proud of our series Hollywood’s Best Film Directors, which features the very best directors, including Ridley Scott whose episode was ¿lmed just a few weeks before MIPCOM. We are currently in talks for new territories and expect to announce new deals during the market.”

Ridley Scott


PRIMETIME EMMY AWARD WINNER

congratulates Studio Lambert USA on winning the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality Program

The toughest job the boss will ever do is yours. THE GLOBAL SMASH HIT SELLING IN OVER 200 TERRITORIES

For international sales of Undercover Boss USA, Undercover Boss Canada and Undercover Boss Australia contact sales@all3media.com

www.all3mediainternational.com


mipcom

neWs Cowell reveals secret behind Got Talent’s global success HE Got Talent reality-TV for mat, arguably the world’s biggest selling talent-contest programme ever, would never have worked without showing the auditions of the famehungry contestants, according to Simon Cowell, the British TV impresario who developed and created the concept. Cowell, founder of Syco Entertainment, a production/marketing venture jointly owned with Sony Music Entertainment, recalled how UK broadcasters initially dismissed his idea for Got Talent in the early 2000s. But when major US network NBC instead made an offer, it wanted the series to feature only the ¿ nalists’ performances and no auditions.

T

“We showed them the pilot and they bought it right there and then,” Cowell said. “But they didn’t want it with auditions. And we said, unless you put the auditions in, we’re not going to sell it to you.” The gamble paid off because Got Talent, jointly owned by Syco and TV-production giant FremantleMedia, was the world’s best-performing format in 2010 and 2011, according to Eurodata TV ¿gures. More than 460 million viewers globally have watched the original and local versions since the NBC debut in June 2006. The format has been localised in 49 territories, from Albania to Vietnam, plus the UK, US, France, Germany and the Netherlands, and sold to 54 markets. Additionally, the US edition alone is aired in 180 countries.

More localised versions are being produced in nine markets this year, including Nigeria, Ghana, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan and Peru. FremantleMedia Enterprises has the licensing rights at MIPCOM. Explaining why S yc o i n s i s t e d NBC include the auditions, Cowell illust rated his point by referring to Susan Boyle, the unknown shy singer who became an international sensation via Britain’s Got Talent. “Imagine Susan Boyle being intro-

duced to you for the ¿ rst time on a live show without that ¿rst audition. It just wouldn’t work,” he said. “The auditions were crucial — the same way that they were crucial on (another popular Syco format) The X Factor. If the judges and audience didn’t get to know the contestants through that process, it would have been dif¿cult to invest in them when they hit the live shows.” And his recipe for a global format hit? “First, is it going to work as a successful show? Secondly, is it going to travel across the world? Thirdly, is there an ancillary business to the show so that there’s a separate business to the show?” Simon Cowell: Auditions were crucial

8 docume docu occume umeent entaries, en aries es, 70 + broadcast broadcast oad sters, ers, re hin reaching h mmore mo tha than h 500 han 00 million il peopl illi p lee pe CREAATTING NG A GLOBAL DDIALOGUE ABOUT POVERTY www.w verty.ne www.whypo ty.net

Join BBC, DR DR annd Steps Int n for Broadcast dca c ers Launch c at MIPCOM ch Tuesda u y 9 October 2012, 2:00 – 2.45 Verriéree Californie, ali Levele 5, Insidee the th Palais des es Festival Bertha h Fooundation / Billill & Melindaa Gates Foundation / Foord Founda unn tion / Swiss Agency Agen ency for De D velopment and Coope peration onn / The Open University, U.K. / DDanish Film Institute / ITVS Int IIn ernational / WorldView / Swwedish Film Institute / Sundance a Film Program & Skoll Foounda ouu tion / CoBO Fund / Gucci Tribeca ca Document D ary FuFundd / PPR Foundation for Women’s DDignity nity aand Rights / Danida’s Oplylysningsbe snin villing ing / Danish Ministry nistry of Education / Bernard van Leer Fooundation / Eurovision sion

48



people

mipcom

Gillian Anderson, star of upcoming BBC2 crime thriller The Fall

Hunt for a killer

HAT makes a psychopath? Is it having a dungeon in your house? Or living a double life among the elite of New York society? What’s striking and scary about the serial killer in upcoming BBC2 psychological crime thriller The Fall, is how normal his life appears. For Gillian Anderson, who plays the glamorous, unconventional detective drafted in to track him down, the apparent normality of the man her character is hunting, is an ingredient of the show’s mystery. Speaking to MIPCOM News ahead of the show’s release, Anderson said: “One of the interesting things about The Fall is that it explores the parallels between the two, and asks the question, how close are ‘normal’ people to this man. We all have elements of him in our personalities.” Writer Allan Cubitt said that part of the challenge was in presenting the killer, played by Jamie Dornan, as a normal man with a normal life but subtly drip-feeding clues to the savage psyche that lurks beneath. He said: “Inevitably there are conÀicting feelings about Jamie’s character, he doesn’t ¿t the stereotype of serial killers. You see him inter-

W

50

acting with people and living his life, but there are little hints that he isn’t normal at all underneath it as the plot builds.” The series is set in Belfast where Dornan’s character preys on young women but eludes the local police, forcing local detectives to bring in DSI Stella Gibson, played by Anderson, as the only detective expert enough to hunt the hunter. “For me writing is everything and the series is just incredibly well written,” she said. “I fell in love with the character straight away. She’s quite unique. She’s brought into this world and just gets on with it.” Making its debut on BBC2 in the UK, The Fall is being distributed jointly by German distributor ZDF Enterprises, which is handling the continental Europe circulation, and Content Television, which is overseeing the global distribution. For Cubitt the project represents a culmination of elements of his previous work, which includes Prime Suspect, Murphy’s Law and The Runaway. He said: “This feels quite personal; it’s more fascinating to me in lots of ways and my aim is to keep exploring the idea, keep bringing it back and developing it more long term.”


BOOTH R38.09 sonarent.com

SCRIPTED SERIES


BOOTH R38.09 sonarent.com

SCRIPTED SERIES


BOOTH R38.09 sonarent.com

SCRIPTED SERIES


BOOTH R38.09 sonarent.com

SCRIPTED SERIES


CANADA

product neWs

mipcom

These pages feature a selection of products brought to Cannes from around the world — starting with content from Canada, MIPCOM Country Of Honour BRAIN POWER STUDIO BRAIN Power Studio and distributor Bejuba! Entertainment are showcasing the 50 x 5 mins mixed animation and live-action pre-school show Fuzzy Tales. Brain Power has won a second series commission from CBC, and Bejuba! has also concluded a deal with Disney Channel Australia for series one. The show puts a modern twist on classic fairy tales and nursery rhymes — Little Red Riding Hood is played by a duckling and a dog is cast as a prince. The series takes place in Fuzzy Phil’s Pet Shop. Every afternoon, after the customers have gone, the pets gather and, with Gertie the Guinea Pig as narrator, the animals act out the stories to make each other laugh.

HANDEL PRODUCTIONS HANDEL Productions has three new projects on its slate. In development with Discovery Canada, Micro Monsters takes a look at the insect world using new digital technology, macro-photography and CGI animation based on electron scanning microscopy. In pre-production is Aliens: The Definitive Guide, a co-production with Arrow Media UK for Discovery Canada and Science Channel US. The show uses cutting-edge scientific research for an entertaining journey through space. Also in pre-production is Meet The Sloths, an 8 x 30 mins docu-soap that follows the daily dramas of the world’s first sloth orphanage. The co-production with Blink Films UK will be broadcast on Animal Planet Canada and Discovery/Animal Planet International.

IMAGE ENTERTAINMENT CORPORATION IMAGE Entertainment Corporation is in Cannes with more projects featuring the comical character Walter and his bumbling attempts to right environmental wrongs. These include a second season of animated series Walter And Tandoori (52 x 11 mins), Walter And Tandoori’s Xmas (1 x 81 mins) and new live-action series Walter 100% (13 x 22 mins), in which the cartoon character comes to life.

CCI ENTERTAINMENT GUESS How Much I Love You – The Adventures Of Little Nutbrown Hare, is a 52 x 11 mins animated series based on the popular picture book Guess How Much I Love You and brought to MIPCOM by CCI Entertainment. Produced by Australia’s SLR Productions, Germany’s KI.KA and Singapore’s Scrawl Studios, the adventures use the colours and landscapes of each season as their backdrop.

Fuzzy Tales (Bejuba! Entertainment)

PORTFOLIO ENTERTAINMENT

Walter 100% (Image Entertainment Corporation)

THE CAT In The Hat Knows A Lot About Christmas! (1 x 52 mins), inspired by the series The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About That!, is a one-hour special from Portfolio Entertainment in which the characters discover the magic of Christmas. Also on the Portfolio kids’ slate is Doki (26 x 30 mins/52 x 11 mins), which follows the character Doki and his friends as they travel the globe to learn about science, nature and the world. From the factual slate comes You Gotta Eat Here (26 x 30 mins), featuring food-obsessed comedian John Catucci as he sets out on a quest to find the most delicious and over-the-top comfort foods.

The Cat In The Hat Knows A Lot About Christmas! (Portfolio Entertainment)

PEACE POINT ENTERTAINMENT NEW SERIES from Peace Point Entertainment include: The Bulloch Family Ranch (7 x 60 mins), a reality series that profiles Julie and Rusty Bulloch, who bring a group of 25 disadvantaged kids in need of love, discipline and good food into their home; Keasha’s Perfect Dress (14 x 30 mins), which follows bridal consultant Keasha Rigsby in her exclusive bridal boutique; Colin & Justin’s Street Swap (1 x 30 mins pilot), which sees the hosts conduct a home makeover using furniture swapped from neighbours’ homes; Best Sellers (1 x 30 mins pilot), a reality series about two driven sales people; School Run (1 x 75 mins), a scripted comedy about a modern-day private school in Ireland; and Body Fuel (13 x 30 mins), focusing on healthy meals designed to maximise fitness.

The Bulloch Family Ranch (Peace Point Entertainment)

MIPCOM News // Product News

www.mipcom.com

51


CANADA

product neWs ATTRACTION DISTRIBUTION

HGAGNON DISTRIBUTION

MONTREAL’s Attraction Distribution (formerly named Delphis Films) handles an extensive catalogue of programming. New to its MIPCOM offering are light entertainment formats created by Attraction Images including We Are Family! — the talent format that premiered on Radio-Canada which sees families compete — Trade Up and Bet’n Bond. Kids’ and family content includes animation series Dragon, The Adventures Of Pim And Pom, Doggy Day School and 110 family films. Drama series include the recent Belgian crime series Code 37.

QUEBEC-based HGagnon Distribution has brought new lifestyle series Inspiration (26 x 26 mins) to MIPCOM. Author Lance Heft who hosts the show talks to business leaders, artists and entertainers to discuss what inspires their success, prosperity and contentment. The company also has: series three of live-action teen series Motel Monstre, available next year; new web series Folk Toi Folk Moi, devoted to country music; HG on the Net’s first season of web series Pat Le Chef (8 x 4 mins) a light-hearted adult cooking show; HD documentary Transsiberian, My Love (13 x 60 mins) in which a couple travel from St Petersburg to Vladivostok; and Ben’s City (13 x 22 mins), a quirky animated sitcom set in a cosmopolitan city.

We Are Family! (Attraction Distribution)

Lance Heft, host of Inspiration (HGagnon Distribution)

mipcom

NELVANA ENTERPRISES NELVANA Enterprises is in Cannes with three new animated productions. Oh No! is a comedy for six- to 11-year-olds about a crazy band of aliens that invade Earth and snatch away all of the planet’s grown-ups. Luckily, Nate and his Super Wicked Extreme Emergency Team (S.W.E.E.T.) are on the case to take back the world. Paboo & Mojies is a pre-school educational series from Japan featuring a young boy panda and his friends. Nelvana is introducing two new Franklin And Friends specials entitled Pole To Pole and Under The Sea. Nelvana’s returning series include: Mike The Knight, about a young knight-in-training on a series of quests in the medieval land of Glendragon; Beyblade; and Beyblade: Metal Fury.

BEST BOY ENTERTAINMENT THREE shows top Best Boy’s MIPCOM slate. Pet ER (13 x 30 mins/HD) is a reality series that uses re-enactments to capture the drama when a cherished family pet faces a life-threatening disaster. The show is also available as a format. Posh Pescatarian: Appetite For Adventure! (13 x 30 mins/HD) mixes travel and cooking. In each episode, host Stephanie Harris-Uyidi visits an exotic location where she prepares a seafood-themed dish inspired by the area. Preschool series Mickey’s Farm (130 x 12 mins/HD) offers a blend of animation, live action, fantasy visuals and original music. The series features Mickey, a real sheep dog, who lives on a farm with Megan, his best friend.

THE FREMANTLE CORPORATION FREMANTLE marks its 60th anniversary in international television distribution at this MIPCOM, and the company is putting a special focus on Latin buyers for the market, unveiling its largest-ever portfolio of Spanish-language versions of many series and specials. Included in the 500-hour library of Spanish programming are series based on Tarzan, Conan, Conan Doyle’s Lost World and The Rifleman. Family favourites in the Spanish-language catalogue include The Adventures Of Black Beauty and The Swiss Family Robinson. Holiday specials include Little Orphan Annie’s A Very Animated Christmas and Baryshnikov’s Nutcracker. The company is also offering a number of formats for Latin buyers on subjects ranging from celebrity makeover, food and weddings to hidden camera comedy.

Pet ER (Best Boy Entertainment)

52

Oh No! (Nelvana Enterprises)

MIPCOM News // Product News

www.mipcom.com


L

C

THE WORLD’S LARGEST CONTEMPORARY CHINESE MOVIE LIBRARY OVER 700 MOTION PICTURES ARE AVAILABLE FOR EXCLUSIVE LICENSING IN ALL FORMATS

COME TO VISIT US AT RIVIERA 05.08 LEVEL 01 TEL: +33 4 92 99 81 95 UNIT A, 9/F, MG TOWER, 133 HOI BUN ROAD KWUN TONG, KOWLOON, HONG KONG TEL: +852 3996 3700 FAX: +852 3996 3799 EMAIL: FORTUNESTAR@STARTV.COM.CN WEBSITE: WWW.FORTUNESTARENTERTAINMENT.COM


product neWs

mipcom

BRB INTERNACIONAL ZOOBABU (104 x 2 mins) brings to life over 100 animated riddles in stereoscopic 3D. The guessing games — aimed at three- to six-year-olds — provide clues to discover which of the 104 animals inside a toy box is the correct answer. The Spanish company is also about to launch its first app with 3D animation for the iPad.

Which Is Witch (MJTV)

MOI J’AIME LA TELEVISION (MJTV) PARIS-based independent Moi J’Aime La Television (MJTV) is in Cannes with a new live-action series filmed in 2D and stereoscopic 3D. Full of music and comedy, Which Is Witch (26 x 30 mins) is the story of a high-school student whose two best friends are a teenage witch and a fairy. The series, available from the second quarter of 2013, has already secured a distribution partner and a key broadcaster. With full financing in place and a pilot episode available, MJTV has signed a pre-sale agreement with Canal J in France. Zoobabu (BRB Internacional)

ELECTRIC SKY COMAREX MEXICO’s Comarex brings season three of the teen telenovela Grachi (50 x 60 mins) to the international market. Produced by Nickelodeon Latin America, Grachi follows a young girl who learns to use her new-found magical powers to cope with school, boys and growing up. Her rivalry with classmate Matilda for the affection of heartthrob Daniel sets the stage for a battle of spells.

WILLS And Kate: Baby Fever (1 x 45 mins) anticipates the excitement that will sweep the UK if and when there is an announcement of a royal pregnancy. The programme looks back at past royal births and at what it takes to raise a monarch. Also from the Electric Sky is Turtle Boy (1 x 48 mins), which tells the story of a six-year-old Colombian boy with a giant, shell-like mole on his back; The Tipping Points (working title/6 x 60 mins/6 x 30 mins), which explores climate change; Hilary Lister: A Race Against Time (1 x 52 mins/1 x 73 mins), which recounts the remarkable feat of a paralysed woman who sailed solo around the UK; and Big Wave Bootcamp (8 x 30 mins), in which eight surfmad teens go to Hawaii.

SIXTEEN SOUTH WILDWOODS (26 x 11 mins) follows the adventures of Cooper, a young sasquatch who is scared of everything. Cooper hates the outdoors, so he’s unhappy when his family moves from cosy Yetiville Mountain to the scary Wildwoods. Luckily, sugar glider Poppy — a survival expert and self-appointed park ranger — is on hand to teach Cooper new skills. Wildwoods, created by Northern Ireland’s Sixteen South, is currently in development.

MIGHTY MEDIA MIGHTY Media has been distributing animation in Asia for many years, but is at MIPCOM to prioritise content from its home market of Taiwan. Titles include My Heaven Restaurant, 1/2 Prince and The Legend Of Sun Knight.

Wildwoods (Sixteen South)

THE TELEVISION SYNDICATION COMPANY THE TELEVISION Syndication Company, part of TVS Asia, is offering Fox News short-form content for mobile devices and tablets. Running one-to-three minutes in length, the videos cover breaking business news, technology, travel, health and entertainment. TVS is also showcasing Inside Science TV, featuring the latest science and technology breakthroughs; Growing Bolder, a lifestyle series targeting baby boomers; Two Flags, a feature film set in Tel Aviv in 1939; and Beer Geeks, about craft beer. Grachi (Comarex)

54

1/2 Prince (Mighty Media)



product neWs EL RECREO STUDIO

mipcom

7YACCION ANIMATED comedy series Mr Trance, which pokes fun at everyday universal situations including social networking, airport procedures and staying in shape at the hippest gym, has been launched this week by Madrid-based El Recreo Studio. The 26 x 5 mins teen/family series has been created and produced by Valerio Veneras.

SPANISH entertainment production company 7yaccion is at MIPCOM with its format The Plan B, which won this year’s Rose d’Or Award for best multiplatform programme. It is being internationally distributed by Endemol. 7yaccion has also brought its new project 90 Seconds, in which a group of young fresh journalists have to create the best up-to-date TV report, using the best resources of information available, and develop an attractive edition for viewers.

The Plan B (7yaccion) Mr Trance (El Recreo Studio)

PBS INTERNATIONAL THE BOX DISTRIBUTION THE BOX Distribution has brought the drama series Hard to MIPCOM. It has already sold the pay-TV rights for 18 x 26 mins of the programme to HBO OLE for its channels HBO, Max and Cinemax in Latin America. The series, which originated in France (produced by La Parisienne D’Images for Canal+), has also already been acquired by Spain, Italy, Canada, the Czech Republic and China. A new series of 12 x 26 mins is currently in development for Canal+.

INVENTING David Geffen is a new documentary by Emmy award-winning filmmaker Susan Lacy. It paints an unflinching portrait of Geffen, narrating his unorthodox rise from working class Brooklyn boy to billionaire entertainment power broker via extensive interviews with those who have known and worked with him. PBS International holds the worldwide television and home-video rights for the documentary.

KID GLOVE MIPCOM is providing a launchpad for Kid Glove, a production, distribution and rights management company focused on the development and management of intellectual properties for exploitation across the spectrum of entertainment platforms and retail opportunities around the world. The first project from Kid Glove — launched by entertainment industry veteran Brenda Wooding — is Viking Kong, an animated comedy for six- to 11-year-olds.

Viking Kong (Kid Glove)

56

NEW ATLANTIS NEW ATLANTIS is in Cannes to launch three new HD titles this week. The Lord Of The Night: The Eagle Owl (1 x 60 mins) is about the eagle owl, the most powerful nocturnal bird of prey living on the Iberian peninsula. Evolution: God’s Game (1 x 60 mins) won a silver medal at the New York Film Festival 2012 in the wildlife and nature category. The third title, Mare Nostrum (2 x 60 mins) explores the biodiversity of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Lord Of The Night: The Eagle Owl (New Atlantis)



TUESDAY 9 OCTOBER The world’s entertainment content market

ULTRAVIOLET 2013: IMPROVED CONSUMER EXPERIENCE EQUALS IMPROVED BOTTOM LINE

CO-PRODUCE WITH CANADA CASE STUDIES: Factual & Documentary 9.15-10.15 I Audi A

9.00-10.00 I Esterel In partnership with Canada Media Fund & Telefilm Canada Sponsored by DECE & DEG: The Digital Group

Moderator: Michael Hennessy, President & CEO, Canadian Media Production Association, Canada @CMPA_Updates

Moderator Kate Bulkley, Media Commentator and Journalist, KG Bulkley, UK @katecomments Speakers Frank Bryant, SVP, Int’l Licensing & Marketing Dev. PPV, EST, VOD, Twentieth Century Fox International, USA Michael Comish, CEO & Co-Founder, blinkbox and CEO, Tesco Digital Entertainment, UK @blinkbox Chris Law, Managing Director, Warner Bros. International Television & Digital Distribution, UK & Ireland Claude London, Digital Director, Consumer Products, BBC Worldwide, UK Dominique Masseran, General Manager, Fox Pathe Europa, France Jessica Schell, EVP New Media & Digital Entertainment, Universal Pictures, USA Jim Underwood, Executive Vice President, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, USA

Case Studies: «Salvage Hunters» by: Noel Hedges, Senior Vice President, Acquisitions, Cineflix Rights, Canada «Brave New World» by: Alan Handel, President/Executive Producer, Handel Productions Inc., Canada «Trashopolis» by: Nicola Merola, Producer and Head of International TV, Pixcom Productions Inc., Canada Maurice Ribière, Producer, La Compagnie des Taxi-Brousse, France

CO-PRODUCE WITH CANADA MATCHMAKING EVENT

Followed by Meet the Speakers.

10.15-13.00 I Verrière Californie

THE AUDIENCE SHIFT: Could you Show me the Way to the Future of TV? 10.15-10.55 I Esterel Moderator Kate Bulkley, Media Commentator and Journalist, KG Bulkley, UK @katecomments Speakers Claire Tavernier, SEVP, FMX and Worldwide Drama, FremantleMedia Ltd, UK @CTav Tom Thai, VP of Marketing, Bluefin Labs, USA @eviltomthai David Wertheimer, President, Digital, FOX Broadcasting Company, USA @dwertheimer

10.00-13.00 I Audi J

David Wertheimer

THE AUDIENCE SHIFT: Exploring Tomorrow’s Audiences Today 11.00-11.15 I Esterel Moderator Kate Bulkley, Media Commentator and Journalist, KG Bulkley, UK @katecomments

Followed by Meet the Speakers.

Priority given to pre-registered delegates. On-site meetings will be allowed if space available.

FINANCING AND DISTRIBUTION OF EUROPEAN FILMS IN THE EU DIGITAL MARKET ROUNDTABLE

Followed by Meet the Speakers.

Speaker Stella Medlicott, Chief Marketing Officer, Red Bee Media, UK @StellaMed

In partnership with Canada Media Fund & Telefilm Canada

Private event featuring: Neelie Kroes, EU Commissioner, Vice President of the European Commission responsible for the Digital Agenda

Neelie Kroes

MERCHANDISING CONTENT IN THE NEW DIGITAL AGE: Driving Revenue and a Personalized Consumer Entertainment Experience Across Platforms 11.30-12.15 I Audi K Presented by Rovi

Stella Medlicott

Presenter Gerald Hensley, Vice President, Worldwide Entertainment, Rovi Corporation, UK


OFFICIAL CONFERENCES & EVENTS CREATIVE TALKS

“TOP OF THE LAKE” Paradise has its own dark shadows

INTERNATIONAL FILM SCREENING: “White Tiger” 13.00-15.00 I Audi K

11.15-11.45 I Grand Audi By Mosfilm Cinema Concern

Featuring Jane Campion, Oscar Winning Writer & Director & Gerard Lee, Co-creator and Co-writer

Snack lunch served, reserved for Buyers only.

Interviewed by Stewart Clarke, Editorial Director, TBI, UK Jane Campion

CREATIVE TALKS

“NCIS” MASTERCLASS 11.50-12.20 I Grand Audi

WHY POVERTY? 14.00-14.45 I Verrière Californie

Featuring Gary Glasberg, Executive Producer, “NCIS”

Why Poverty? The biggest factual broadcast event ever - reaching more than 500 million people! More than 70 broadcasters collaborating with STEPS INT.

Interviewed by Stewart Clarke, Editorial Director, TBI, UK Gary Glasberg

CREATIVE TALKS

“THE WALKING DEAD” Changing the way TV is launched globally 12.25-13.00 I Grand Audi Featuring Gale Anne Hurd, Executive Producer, The Walking Dead, USA Sarah Wayne Callies, Actress, The Walking Dead (playing ‘Lori Grimes’), USA Sharon Tal Yguado, EVP Scripted Programming and Original Development, FIC, USA Alexandra Marinescu, VP, Marketing, FIC, USA Linda Schupack, EVP, Marketing, AMC, USA Marci Wiseman, SVP, Business Affairs, AMC, USA

Speakers Nick Fraser, Commissioning Editor, BBC Storyville and Executive Producer, “Why Poverty?”, UK Mette Hoffmann Meyer, Head of Documentaries and co-productions, DR TV – Danish Broadcast Corp. and Executive Producer, “Why Poverty?”, Denmark Anna Vasova, Head of Factual, EUROVISION / EBU, Switzerland

Gale Anne Hurd

MULTIPLATFORM CANADA SCREENINGS 14.00-14.30 I Esterel Sarah Wayne Callies

Interviewed by Peter White, Deputy Editor, TBI, UK

In partnership with Canada Media Fund & Telefilm Canada

Presenter Catalina Briceño, Director, Industry and Market Trend, Canada Media Fund, Canada @catalinabriceno

LATAM GLOBAL DEALMAKERS NETWORKING LUNCH

SOCIAL TV: The Olympics in the Digital Age

13.00-14.30 I Carlton Hotel

14.40-15.00 I Esterel

Sponsored by Telemundo Internacional & TVN Chile By invitation.

Keynote addressed by Adriana Cisneros, Vice Chairman and Director of Strategy, Cisneros Group of Companies

Presented by DRTV, BBC, EBU and STEPS INT.

Moderator Tiffany St James, Social Media Strategist, Stimulation Ltd, UK @tiffanystjames Adriana Cisneros

Interviewed by Cynthia Hudson, Sr VP & General Manager for CNN en espanol and Hispanic Strategy for CNN/U.S, Turner Broadcasting System

Featured speaker Ralph Rivera, Director, BBC Future Media, UK @ralphrivera

Followed by Meet the Speakers.

Ralph Rivera


TUESDAY 9 OCTOBER

OFFICIAL CONFERENCES & EVENTS The world’s entertainment content market

SOCIAL TV: Social TV Case Studies

MATCHMAKING EVENT

15.05-15.55 I Esterel

15.00-17.00 I Verrière Californie

Moderator Tiffany St James, Social Media Strategist, Stimulation Ltd, UK

Priority given to pre-registered delegates. On-site meetings will be allowed if space available.

15.10-15.20 Karla Geci, Strategic Partner Development, Facebook, UK 15.20-15.30 Philip Bourchier O’Ferrall, Senior Vice President, Viacom International Media Networks, UK 15.30-15.40 Peter Blacker, Executive Vice President Digital Media & Emerging Businesses, Telemundo Media, USA @PeterBlacker 15.40-15.55 Q&A with the moderator & the audience

MEDIA MASTERMIND KEYNOTE 16.00-16.35 I Grand Audi Dawn Ostroff, President, Condé Nast Entertainment IT’S NOT JUST PLATFORM, IT’S STORYTELLING: COMPELLING ENTERTAINMENT FOR THE DIGITAL AGE Dawn Ostroff

Followed by Meet the Speakers.

DRAMA GLOBAL PRODUCTION TRENDS

Interviewed by H. G. “Buzz” Bissinger, Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair, USA @BuzzBissinger

16.40-17.15 I Grand Audi Jason Kilar, CEO, Hulu

THE ARAB SPRING: New Beginnings 14.00-14.15 I Audi A Presenter Nabil Kazan, President/CEO, K & Partners TV Services Inc., Lebanon

THE MIDDLE EAST BROADCASTERS’ CONVERSATION 14.15-15.00 I Audi A Presenter Nabil Kazan, President/CEO, K & Partners TV Services Inc, Lebanon Speakers Ahmad Abdalatief, Director of Content, AL-Nahar TV Network, Egypt @latief2012 Bassam Hajjawi, President/CEO, International Distribution Agency, Jordan Sadek Sabbah, Chairman, Cedars Art Production (Sabbah Brothers) S.A, UAE

TURKEY & ARABIC DRAMA: ORIENTAL DELIGHT: Coffee and Tea Break 15.00-15.15

ONLINE TV AND THE EVIL PLOT TO DESTROY THE WORLD Jason Kilar

17.20-17.50 I Grand Audi Wade Oosterman, President, Bell Mobility, Bell Residential Services and Chief Brand Officer, Bell Canada Introduced by Valerie Creighton, President and CEO, Canada Media Fund, Canada Interviewed by Michael Hennessy, President & CEO, Canadian Media Production Association, Canada @CMPA_Updates

18.00-18.30 I Grand Audi Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairman, The Weinstein Company Interviewed by Kate Bulkley, Media Commentator and Journalist, KG Bulkley, UK @katecomments

Moderator Nabil Kazan, President/CEO, K & Partners TV Services Inc, Lebanon Speakers Kerem Catay, Vice President/Producer, Ay Yapim, Turkey Pelin Distas Yasaroglu, Editor in Chief, Kanal D, Turkey Fadi Ismail, GM, O3 Productions, Group Director of Services, MBC Group, UAE @fadski Izzet Pinto, CEO, Global Agency, Turkey

Harvey Weinstein

“FLIGHT OF THE STORKS” SCREENING 17.00-18.30 I Audi K

TURKISH DRAMA: THE NEW DELIGHT? 15.15-16.00 I Audi A

Wade Oosterman

Presented by TF1 International

Reserved for buyers only

THE INTERNATIONAL INTERACTIVE TV AWARDS 18.15-19.15 I Esterel Produced by AFDESI


EVENTS The world’s entertainment content market

TUESDAY 9 OCTOBER 13.00 - 14.00 I Blue Lounge

18.00 - 20.00 I 3.14 Beach

Calt Production

National Film Development Corporation Malaysia (FINAS) & Media

From Kev to Adam: History of a transmedia success

Development Authority Singapore (MDA) Malaysia — Singapore Joint Networking Reception: The Creative Hub of Asia

17.30 - 19.00 I stand n° 06.24

By invitation only

Indigo Film Indigo launches new BBC drama The Life & Adventures Of Nick Nickleby

18.30 - 20.30 I Verriere Grand Auditorium Lagardere

By invitation only

Lagardere Active TV Distribution Cocktail By invitation only

ADVERTISEMENTS

DISCOVER THE WORLD IN A NEW DIMENSION A wide range of nature, wildlife and culture programs are available Contact: Marie-Laure HĂŠbrard worldwide for number all media.02-15 Stand TVFI

)HDWXUH UXQWLPH PLQXWHV

Contact: Martin Brunnett, Sales Manager Tel: +33 (0)4 92 99 8061 Website: www.ksm-international.comm

Ph: 33 1 47 23 90 35 - M :33 6 31 18 64 10

Visit us at stand Hall- www.filmandpicture.org 01, stand 07.37 ml@hebrard.org

6\PSDWK\ )RU 7KH 'HYLO ZDV PDGH DW D WLPH ZKHQ 7KH 5ROOLQJ 6WRQHV ZHUH DW WKH SHDN RI WKHLU FUHDWLYH SRZHUV DQG -HDQ /XF *RGDUG ZKR DIWHU PDNLQJ VRPH RI WKH JUHDW )UHQFK 1HZ :DYH FLQHPD KDG WDNHQ D UHYROXWLRQDU\ SROLWLFDO GLUHFWLRQ ZLWK KLV ÂżOPPDNLQJ All Rights Available Excluding North America

MiCh!TV by CinemaChile

Staying ahead of trends

CinemaChile, the promotion agency of the Chilean audiovisual, launches a new brand internationally to represent our products in the most important television markets of the world: MiCh!TV Television Made in Chile great and interesting deals original and creative products talented and efficient people.

SES is the world-leading satellite operator, providing reliable and secure satellite communications solutions with a fleet of 52 geostationary satellites. We deliver over 5200 TV channels worldwide and reach over 258 million homes around the globe. Find out what we can do for your channel and meet us @MIPCOM!

Contact: Constanza Arena, Executive Director Tel: + 56 2 2498574 Email: contacto@cinemachile.cl Website: www.cinemachile.cl

f e a t u r e s

Contact Richard Walker - tel: +44 (0)7976 729870 / email: rwalker@fabulousďŹ lms.com

Contact: Marie-Laure HĂŠbrard Stand TVFI 02-15 Contact: Billnumber Wijdeveld, Managing Director Benelux Ph: 33 1 47 23 90 35 - M :33 6 31 18 64 10 Tel: +31 356254490 Website: www.nl.ses.com ml@hebrard.org - www.filmandpicture.org

61


product neWs DCD RIGHTS LONDON-based DCD Rights brings three new Australian dramas to MIPCOM. The Mystery Of A Hansom Cab (1 x 100 mins/HD) looks at the consequences of a fateful night when two men get into a hansom cab — but only one comes out alive. Last adapted for the screen in 1926, the book by Fergus Hume is often described as the first crime blockbuster. Devil’s Dust (2 x 90 mins) focuses on a huge corporate scandal, while The Strange Calls (6 x 30 mins) is a comedy about a hapless city cop and street cleaner. The pair team up to investigate a spate of late-night phone calls about the paranormal mysteries haunting the town.

Mystery Of A Hansom Cab (DCD Rights)

MOVING PUPPET FRANCE’s Moving Puppet has teamed up with Films Concepts Associes (FCA) for a second season of Chris & Mas And Santa’s Workshop (24 x 3 mins). The series, which will be shown from November on CanalSat, sets the scene for Christmas with a blend of puppetry, 3D animation and a real Santa Claus. The first season of the series will also be re-broadcast over the same period.

RED ARROW INTERNATIONAL RESTLESS (2 x 90 mins/1 x 130 mins) is a new drama brought to MIPCOM by Red Arrow International. The action takes place in the US during World War II when a young female spy involved with the British Secret Service has to balance the challenges of her work, her love affair and her complicated relationship with her mother. The show stars Hayley Atwell, Rufus Sewell, Michelle Dockery, Michael Gambon and Charlotte Rampling. The company also brings crime series Jo (8 x 45 mins), starring Jean Reno; and cooking competition format The Taste, featuring Nigella Lawson, Anthony Bourdain, Brian Malarkey and Ludo Lefebvre as mentors.

mipcom

BANIJAY INTERNATIONAL SPINSANITY is a weekly game show from Banijay that gives players the chance to win a large cash prize by gambling on the world’s biggest slot machine. A pair of contestants faces the slot machine and eight celebrities, each of whom has one special skill. The first spin of a wheel picks the challenger — one of the celebs — while the second picks the challenge. Before each spin, the couple bets part of its accumulated winnings. The third wheel determines what multiple of that bet the pair is playing for. The contestants could wind up sumo wrestling a wellknown mathematician — or shooting hoops against a professional basketball player.

Restless (Red Arrow International)

TRAVELXP HD INDIA’s first HD travel channel, travelxp HD, comes to MIPCOM with webisodes, mobisodes and several new shows in a production schedule of 150 hours of lifestyle-travel programming. The company intends to produce 2,000 lifestyle and travel-focused webisodes for PCs and mobile devices. Travelxp has been in production for four years and now has over 5,000 hours of raw HD footage from over 40 countries.

Spinsanity (Banijay International)

SKYLINE ENTERTAINMENT DURING a raid on one of Brussels’ most influential private banks, vaults are robbed belonging to industry leaders, financers, politicians and magistrates. By stealing only documents that were never meant to come to light, the perpetrators are able to threaten the establishment. When a police officer is tipped about the robbery and decides to dig deeper, he becomes entangled in a dangerous game and has to run for his life. Belgium’s Skyline brings the 12-part mystery, called Salamander, to MIPCOM.

Chris & Mas And Santa’s Workshop (Moving Puppet)

HOHO RIGHTS EVERYBODY Loves A Moose (52 x 7 mins), aimed at six- to 10-year-olds, chronicles the anarchic adventures of pre-teen schoolboy Jack and his meddling but well-meaning friend, Moose. From a first date to a school camping expedition, Jack and Moose navigate the early teenage road of discovery. The animated series was commissioned by RAI, is produced by Trion Pictures in Italy and is distributed by the UK’s Hoho Rights.

62

Everybody Loves A Moose (Hoho Rights)

Salamander (Skyline Entertainment)



product neWs MONSTER FORMATS LOUD, live and packed with star power, The Ultimate Entertainer from nice group’s Monster Formats follows established musical talents as they battle it out for the title of The Ultimate Entertainer. Over 10 weeks, the artists compete in 10 musical genres, tackling diverse disciplines including rock, musical theatre and opera. In the process, they learn new vocal styles and choreography — and then show off their new-found skills live on stage. Every week sees an artist voted off the show.

mipcom

PGS ENTERTAINMENT PGS ENTERTAINMENT has closed new sales for the 3D HD-CGI series Chaplin & Co (104 x 6 mins), which follows the adventure of the irrepressible Chaplin. A dreamer who always looks on the bright side of life, Chaplin and his buddy The Kid find themselves in one scrape after another. The animated series, which recreates the slapstick genius of The Little Tramp, is produced by Method Animation, MK2 TV, DQ Entertainment and Fabrique d’Image.

Chaplin & Co (PGS Entertainment)

HAT TRICK INTERNATIONAL

IMAVISION SET DURING the Second World War, Bomb Girls is the story of a group of women who risked their lives in a munitions factory, building bombs for the European front. Liberated from the social and cultural conventions of the day, the girls found themselves thrust into new worlds and new relationships. The Muse Entertainment/Back Alley Film Production series stars Oscar-nominated Meg Tilly as the shift supervisor at the factory. The Ultimate Entertainer (Monster Formats)

HAT TRICK International’s (HTI) slate includes KEO Films’ Living With The Amish, Hugh’s Three Hungry Boys, and Jerusalem On A Plate, each of which have sold to more than 40 countries. In addition, HTI has presold a number of KEO shows due to launch at MIPCOM, including Exploring China, Welcome To India, Welcome To Bradford and Yotam Ottolenghi’s Mediterranean Feast, to SBS Australia. In the run-up to MIPCOM, KEO and Hat Trick extended their distribution deal for KEO’s factual content on a long-term basis.

MEDIASET MEDIASET Spain comes to MIPCOM with new drama Fragile (8 x 70 mins), which centres on Paul, an eccentric physiotherapist, who uses psychology more than his hands to cure his patients. Also new from Mediaset is the factual series Gypsy’s Honour (6 x 52 mins), which delves into the world of gypsy culture. For the first time, the gypsies allow television cameras to film their rituals and customs.

Hugh’s Three Hungry Boys (Hat Trick International)

BETA FILM

Fragile (Mediaset)

64

BETA Film is presenting over 200 new episodes of series at MIPCOM including North American crime series Cracked, Australian investigative series Tricky Business and drama series 30 Degrees In February. Also making their debut are the 10-part New York cop drama Copper, family saga Borgia, The Tower and Rommel. In addition, Beta’s family entertainment label Wunderbox is showcasing the children’s animation series Fennel Vennel.



product neWs

mipcom

G&G ENTERTAINMENT MAGIC Han War, a boy-skewed animation from Korea’s G&G Entertainment, brings the adventures of Oki and his friends to life in CGI 3D. The stories originated in a best-selling comic series. A trading card game based on the franchise is already a huge success in Korea.

CINEPHIL DISTRIBUTION & CO-PRODUCTIONS TEL AVIV-based Cinephil brings a documentary about a classic comedy double act to MIPCOM. Laurel & Hardy: Their Lives And Magic (1 x 58 mins/1 x 92 mins), produced in co-operation with ZDF and ARTE, sheds light on the duo’s turbulent private lives and genuine friendship. The film, which includes previously unreleased footage, is available in English, German and French. Cinephil is also highlighting two more documentaries: The Gatekeepers, which profiles six former heads of Israel’s secret service; and The Act Of Killing, a chilling film in which unrepentant former members of the Indonesian death squads are challenged to re-enact their murders in the style of the American movies they love.

JAVA FILMS JAVA Films is in Cannes with a new eight-part series investigating the strategies of global corporations. Cash Investigation — Underhand Tactics: Investigating Corporate Culture aired on France 2 this year. The episodes are entitled: Toxic Labels, Neuromarketing, Programmed Obsolescence, Tax Havens, Sugar Overload, Disease Branding, High Frequency Trading and Green Marketing.

Magic Han War (G&G Entertainment)

ROI VISUAL PRE-SCHOOL series Robocar POLI (54 x 11 mins) — winner of the MIPJunior Licensing Challenge in 2010 — is brought to MIPCOM by Korea’s Roi Visual. The series has debuted on EBS in Korea and Roi Visual is now producing a second season, which will be released in the third quarter of 2013.

66

PARIS Insolite (4 x 26 mins) is a new series from Cinexport that looks at the more unusual aspects of the French capital. Paris is not only one of the most beautiful cities in the world, but it is also one of the most visited. Available in French and with an English voiceover, the series’ episodes include Le Paris d’Hemingway (1921–1926), Paris Est Un Jardin, En Suivant, La Ligne 2 and Les Marches De Paris.

ZED FRANCE’s ZED comes to Cannes with two new wildlife and science programmes. Party Animals, a 52-minute HD production, looks at a scientific study into how animals react to alcohol, whether they are subject to the same symptoms of drunkenness as humans and whether they are capable of becoming dependent on it. Six Feet Under The Savannah (1 x 52 mins/HD) examines a fascinating world of eternal darkness, six feet under the ground. The creatures that dwell at this depth have developed some incredible tactics in order to defend themselves and annex new territory. Party Animals (ZED)

Robocar POLI (Roi Visual)

CINEXPORT

Paris Insolite (Cinexport)

NEW FILMS INTERNATIONAL FILMS that top the roster for New Films International include Saving Grace B Jones, starring Tatum O’Neal; Chain Letter, starring Nikki Reed; The Alphabet Killer, starring Eliza Dushku and Timothy Hutton; and The Lightkeepers, starring Mamie Gummer, Richard Dreyfuss, Blythe Danner and Bruce Dern. New Films, which has been involved in the movie industry for more than 20 years, has a head office in Los Angeles and branch offices in Turkey and Romania.


To achieve a healthy balance of lifestyle programming, BREATHE DEEPLY AND GO TO BOOTH G3.07. Over 1,100 hours of fitness, healthy cooking, wellness, lifestyle and much more . . .

YOGI CAMERON: A MODEL GURU Your guide to a healthier life using yoga and Ayurvedic principles. 26 x 1 hr New Season in Production

YOGA SUTRA NOW WITH JAI SUGRIM Get to the roots of yoga with Jai Sugrim. 52 x 1 hr

MYTH DEFYING WITH DR. HOLLY Dr. Holly separates the healthy facts from fiction. 26 x 30 min

PEGGY K’s KITCHEN CURES Holistic nutritionist, Peggy K whips up healthy, delicious meals. 26 x 30 min

ASK US ABOUT HAVING VERIA TALENT CREATE CUSTOMIZED ON-AIR PROMOS AND CHANNEL ID’S FOR YOU. TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT CONTACT: RAYMOND DONAHUE | SVP, PROGRAM SALES RAYMOND.DONAHUE@VERIA.COM | +1 917 767 0725 OR VISIT VERIALIVING.COM/PROGRAMSALES Veria Living Worldwide is a trademark of Asia TV USA Ltd., as licensee. All rights reserved.

GO WELL BOOTH G3.07


product neWs ALBATROSS WORLD SALES DEATH In The Dark (1 X 52 mins) is a documentary about the looming extinction of many North American bats. The film, brought to MIPCOM by Albatross, follows researchers in the US and Canada into caves, laboratories and cooling chambers on their quest to stop the decline. New titles from the German company also include the five episodes of The World’s Greatest Balloon Adventures (5 x 52 mins), which feature the Gobi Desert, the Alps, the Venezuelan Tepuis, Sri Lanka and Kenya. On The Trail Of Evil - A Journey To The Center Of The Brain (1 x 52 mins) is a neuro-scientific journey into the mind of murderers, while Frozen North - Sir Hubert’s Forgotten Submarine Expedition (1 x 52 mins) looks at the doomed Nautilus mission.

EUROARTS THE WORLD’s first 3D Nutcracker ballet, recorded live in HD at the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, is being launched by German production company EuroArts Music for worldwide theatrical release. The film is due in November.

mipcom

STUDIO 100 BELGIUM’s Studio 100 brings the new pre-school animation series Bumba to MIPCOM. The 2D series is based on a puppet-driven television show, which has been re-designed for the international market by Little Airplane Productions in co-production with Studio 100. Bumba (52 x 11 mins) follows the antics of a lovable clown and his circus. Each episode explores a theme, such as vehicles, music, seasons or exercise.

3D Nutcracker Ballet (EuroArts)

MR ARKADIN FILM Death In The Dark (Albatross World Sales)

CARITO & PARTNERS FACTORY FILMING has begun on a documentary about the Catholic Church’s World Youth Day event, initiated by Pope John Paul II in 1985. The film documents the meetings between Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI and the young people involved in the event, which has been held in various countries since its inception, attracting hundreds of thousands of young people of various religious convictions. The documentary, produced by Rai Cinema and Carito & Partners Factory in Italy, is directed by Giuseppe Gagliardi.

HISTORYTELLING, a co-production with Italy’s Zeranta Edutainment, is a factual format about some of the protagonists and events that have changed the course of history. Among the subjects explored are the Augustan Era, the Anglican Reform, the New York financial crisis of 1907, the Order of the Temple and the Italian bankers of the Renaissance. The format is shot using green-screen.

Historytelling (Mr Arkadin Film)

Bumba (Studio 100)

PLATINUM FILMS MATT Hatter Chronicles, targeted at five- to 10-yearold boys, charts the adventures of a 13-year-old boy whose life is changed forever when he discovers his family are the defenders of a gateway to another dimension. Season one (13 x 22 mins) and season two (13 x 26 mins) are available, with the third series in production. The UK’s Plantinum Films has recently completed a deal that will see the series air on SABC South Africa and JCC (Al Jazeera Children’s Channel) in the Arabic territories.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST NOTTINGHAM Forest 3D is in Cannes with the animated feature Foosball, produced by Jempsa, Plural and Antena 3 Films. Foosball follows the adventures of a shy boy who must face up to his rival on the football pitch. The film is based on Roberto Fontanarrosa’s short story Memoirs Of A Right Winger. The Spanish company is also showcasing Sendokai Champions (26 x 11 mins), which chronicles the adventures of four heroes who must save Earth from a multidimensional invasion led by Marshal Zorn.

Foosball (Nottingham Forest) Matt Hatter Chronicles (Platinum Films)

68



product neWs

mipcom

EARTH TOUCH SOUTH African factual producer Earth Touch is debuting a raft of natural-history programming. Titles include Dinofish, a 50-minute HD documentary about a deepdiving expedition in Sodwana Bay, South Africa, looking for the ancient coelacanth fish; Blood River, which charts the migration of wildebeests across the crocodile-infested Mara River in Kenya; and Crocodile Labyrinth, which focuses on a cave dive in Botswana to look at Nile crocodiles.

Dinofish (Earth Touch)

Johnny Cash: The Man In Black (Accent Films International)

HASBRO STUDIOS

ACCENT FILMS INTERNATIONAL SEPTEMBER 2013 Marks the 10th anniversary of the death of Country legend Johnny Cash. Switzerland-based Accent Films’ Johnny Cash: The Man In Black (1 x 52 mind/1 x 90 mins) — a co-production with ZDF and ARTE — looks back over a career that included writing several hundred songs, selling over 53 million records and winning 13 Grammy Awards.

TERRANOA

BLYTHE is a fun-loving 11-year-old who looks after animals in a pet shop — and discovers she can talk to them. Her adventures with her friends and the animals form the backdrop to Littlest Pet Shop, an animated series brought to MIPCOM by Hasbro Studios, the Los Angeles-based production division of Hasbro Inc.

PARIS-based Terranoa brings more than 40 hours of new programming to MIPCOM, including Paris: The Great Saga (1 x 90 mins/4 x 52 mins/1 x 52 mins English version). The 3D virtual tour of the history of Paris is brought to life with the help of aerial views and fictional re-enactments. Terranoa is also highlighting history series Twilight Of Civilisations (2 x 52 mins); wildlife series Saved From Extinction (6 x 52 mins); and reality series Taxi Show (6 x 52 mins). The last is a light-hearted look at the world’s biggest cities as seen through the eyes of taxi passengers. WITH FLOWERS

FLANDERS IMAGE

KOREA’s With Flowers brings a pre-school series to MIPCOM that aims to help young children with their bathroom habits. In Potty Bunny Nery, a group of little friends have fun with the shower elephant, mirror monkey, basin kangaroo and bathtub hippo in their bathroom world. The company also brings Eye Talk, which uses 2D clay characters and 3D animation, to explore the beginnings of language development between mothers and babies.

FLEMISH agency Flanders Image is highlighting two projects at MIPCOM. Comedy drama Clan introduces the five Goethals sisters, one of whom is married to an unbearable man. The other four sisters plan to murder him, but with little success. The 10-part series from Brussels-based Caviar was a number-one ratings hit in Flanders. Another 10-part series, Quiz Me Quick from producer Koeken Troef!, follows five friends who dream of winning the Superprestige quiz — and get into some sticky situations as a result.

Potty Bunny Nery (With Flowers)

Clan (Flanders Image)

70

Littlest Pet Shop (Hasbro Studios)

ICTV-SOLFERINO THE OLIVE Route (5 x 52 mins) is a documentary series about the history and culture of olive production, brought to MIPCOM by Paris-based ICTV-Solferino. Based on the books by Carol Drinkwater, the HD films — available in English and French — take viewers on a journey through Tuscany, Andalusia, Athens, the shores of the Aegean, the islands of Sicily and Lesvos, the coast of Asia Minor, Istanbul, Palestine and Israel.

The Olive Route (ICTV-Solferino)



product neWs SWEATBOX

mipcom

TURNER INTERNATIONAL

SWEATBOX is at MIPCOM to launch NightBreeds, an animated series set in the city of Port Providence where the Alte Spiegel, an old relic with magic powers, is hidden. The Alliance, formed by two vampire girls and a human boy, risk all to save humans and vampires alike from destruction.

TURNER International has arrived at MIPCOM armed with new series of four of the company’s key kids’ franchises, comprising the second series of The Amazing World Of Gumball (38 x 30 mins) and the third series of LazyTown (10 x 30 mins), along with the second series of Adventure Time (26 x 30 mins) and a new series of Ben 10: Omniverse (40 x 30 mins). Turner also has new general entertainment shows on offer. PHILEAS PRODUCTIONS PHILEAS Productions is launching several new game show formats at MIPCOM, including Don’t Say It, Bring It and Sit Tight, both of which feature a large element of comedy. Also debuting at the market is Millions @ Home, an interactive game show which aims to change the rules of game shows on television by allowing the audience at home to have an equal chance of winning the grand prize as those who are live in the studio.

HOP TO IT PRODUCTIONS NightBreeds (Sweatbox)

SECUOYA INTERNACIONAL SECUOYA Internacional’s MIPCOM programming includes the reality show New Guy In The Office, which follows the first contact young people have with companies after graduating from college, and Target Unlocated, in which participants arrive in an unidentified city and have to find an unknown person in less than 24 hours. Also available is The Big Run where 12 contestants learn all about the fiesta and flamenco, and other Spanish traditions.

TALENT Hounds is a transmedia project for the exploding audience of proud ‘dog parents’, providing entertainment, networking and knowhow. The one-hour television documentary, brought to MIPCOM by Hop To It Productions, traces the history and humanization of dogs, and their changing roles and talents. Also new from Hop To It is Furever Home (6 x 30 mins) and Puppy Pals (26 x 5 mins), an animated comedy series for three- to six-year-olds. ROLLMAN ENTERTAINMENT

NEXT STAGE PRODUCTIONS MADRID based content developer Next Stage Productions is debuting the pre-school property Sami & The Story Hill at MIPCOM. The (52 x 7 mins) series is about a special place where eight-year-old Sami shares stories with his colourful cast of animal friends to help them work their way through life’s little obstacles. Sami & The Story Hill is based on the successful Brainy Fables series of kids book apps.

CLASSIC children’s character created by Barbara Euphan Todd over 70 years ago, Worzel Gummidge, is to be re-imagined in a new animation due for delivery in 2014. The 26 x 30-minute series — a co-production with Pidgeon Entertainment — about a loveable scarecrow, is to be set in a modern urban environment. Juan and Suzi decide to revive a run-down urban garden between their two apartment buildings. They make a scarecrow and on the night of the harvest moon, their scarecrow comes alive.

Sami & The Story Hill (Next Stage Productions)

DUOPOLY AND ITHENTIC DUOPOLY and iThentic are launching an extensive production slate of web series and transmedia projects at MIPCOM including the (13 x 7 mins) comedy series SOS: Save Our Skins, and House Sitters (10 x 11 mins) starring Canadian stand-up comedians Mark Little and Morgan Waters. Also being launched are the (18 x 5 mins) comedy series Anxietyville, thriller Guidestones II (40 x 3 mins), and indie comedy Everyday Is Like Sunday (10 x 9 mins). Worzel Gummidge (Rollman Entertainment)

72


screening the future MIPTV 2013. The biggest thing to happen to content since MIPCOM.

50 years

The world’s market & creative forum for content on every screen 8 –11 April 2013 www.miptv.com

Early-bird stand deadline: 21 November Visit the MIPTV Stand 07.02 / Aisle 7 / Level 01 or speak to your representative


product neWs ASIAN FOOD CHANNEL

CONCEPT & CONTENT

ASIAN Food Channel has eight new, self-produced programmes at MIPCOM, including: Back To The Streets, a travelogue hosted by Chef Malcolm Goh and Tham Zher Peen looking at street food. Also on offer are: 36 Ways To Live, with chef Emmanuel Stroobant who, inspired by his Belgian heritage, cooks up 36 recipes that have had an impact on his life; The Boss 2, which sees chef Bruce Lim cook Western dishes infused with Filipino flavours; and The Big Break, which travels Asia in search of 12 underprivileged youths, offering them an opportunity to transform their lives through cooking.

LIFE By The Sword (3 x 48 mins) is a documentary series about the Israel Defence Force (IDF). Presented by Israeli military historian Prof. Martin van Creveld and produced by the Netherlands’ AVA Productions, it has been brought to MIPCOM by Concept & Content, also from the Netherlands. Israel has under eight million inhabitants, yet the IDF is a powerful army that affects all aspects of life. The series includes interviews with Israeli public figures and ordinary citizens.

Back To The Streets (Asian Food Channel)

Life By The Sword (Concept & Content)

EARTHTV

MBC C&I

EARTHTV is to add HD and 3D to its The World LIVE platform. New lightweight remote-controlled cameras are to be deployed to bring HD-quality pictures. Their flexibility could help broadcasters to set up networks that show viewers the best of their country. The 24/7 service already reaches more than two billion television viewers a day according to the German company.

NEW ANIMATED series Buzzzz PONG! has been brought to MIPCOM by Korea’s MBC C&I. The story concerns a family of electrically charged aliens. Pong is the prince of the royal Electronien family which has crash-landed and, to make ends meet on Earth, is selling surplus electricity. Despite their parents’ distress, Pong and his sister Zozo enjoy every minute on Earth.

The World LIVE (earthTV)

Buzzzz PONG! (MBC C&I)

mipcom

FIRST HAND FILMS NEW FILMS from the Switzerland-based company include: Powder (1 x 56 mins/1 x 76 mins), a tragi-comic story about Ayal, who is repeatedly called for duty as a tank commander in the Israeli army; Harry Dean Stanton – Partly Fiction (1 x 54 mins/1 x 77 mins), an intimate portrait of the actor, including film clips and his renditions of American folk songs; Heroes For A Semester (1 x 52 mins/1 x 82 mins), which sees Chicago law students have one semester to try and find evidence to prove that a man has been wrongfully imprisoned; and The Only Son (1 x 52 mins/1 x 90 mins), about a poor Nepalese boy who wants to study abroad.

Powder (First Hand Films)

NORDIC WORLD HIGHLIGHTS from Nordic World’s wide-ranging catalogue include: The King Of Christmas (24 x 20 mins), a family series about nine-year-old Kevin who stumbles on a hidden valley peopled by a community of knights; documentary Close Quarter Battle (13 x 26 mins), looking at urban combat; Competing In The Mongol Rally With Team Bachstad (6 x 30 mins), in which two Norwegian comedians in a 40-year-old fire engine take part in the charity race; Dexpedition (18 x 23 mins), a youth-skewed travel series; and drama series Dag (30 x 23 mins), about a couples’ therapist who believes everyone should live alone.

Make Kids Smile (Media Tree)

MEDIA TREE MAKE Kids Smile is a format that sees seven celebrity teams from various genres of performance use their talents to compete for the votes of a panel of judges made up of children aged seven to 13, as well as an audience of families. The show also has an element of interactivity as viewers can participate while watching the programme through an IPTV bi-directional service.

74

The King Of Christmas (Nordic World)



mipcom

feature DRAMA

Russia makes a dramatic return Russia’s Country Of Honour status at MIPTV signaled progress in the country’s drive to become a key player on the international market. Here we focus on some of the drama productions brought to the market by key Russian players

FTER a high-pro¿le MIPTV as Country Of Honour, a number of Russia’s drama producers are at MIPCOM to build on that success, with a raft of new series. Anna German, Star Media’s new 10-part biopic drama about the Polish-Russian singer who died in 1982, attracted huge audiences in Russia and Ukraine when it aired in September 2012. The average share on Channel One Russia was 20.5%, with an audience share for the last episode of 23.7%. These ¿gures represent some 23 million viewers for the whole series. The average share on Inter TV in Ukraine was 19.72%, with a maximum audience share of 22.39%, totalling some 22 million viewers for the whole series.

A 76

Anna German not only won over TV audiences, it also inspired a surge of new interest in German’s work and career. Younger people, who were born after her death in 1982, discovered a new music idol thanks to the series. “Star Media has extensive experience in selling dramas to the international TV markets, but this is on a different level, both creatively and technically,” says Star Media CEO Vlad Ryashin. “This project has become a cultural event, and audiences all around the world will be thoroughly absorbed in this dramatisation of the tragic life of our heroine.” Ryashin says that the series has all the ingredients for international success. “First of all, it is a beautiful story to enthrall the audience: romance, tragedy and won-

Rage, starring well-known Russian actors Vladimir Epifancev and Yuriy Chursin


NEW

LOCATION

17.09 15 Companies You Don’t Want to Miss! American World Pictures Arclight Films Bleiberg Entertainment CineTel Films Distribution Workshop Epic Pictures Group Exclusive Media Fabrication Films Gaiam Americas K5 International Moonstone Entertainment Myriad Pictures Premiere Entertainment Spotlight Pictures Voltage Pictures IFTA Pavilion: +33 (0)4 92 99 8208

NEW

LOCATION

17.09


mipcom

feature

Central Partnership’s Sherlock Holmes

Star Media’s Anna German

Life And Fate is not like anything we have ever presented to the international market Julia Matiash, Sovteleexport

78

derful music; and it is a true story that has never been told before.” The script has no predominant language, featuring Russian, Polish and Italian equally: “We are quite con¿dent that this multilinguality will make this series popular with different cultures of the world,” Ryashin says. Sovteleexport is at MIPCOM with the six-part historical drama Life And Fate. The action takes place during World War II and centres around the battle of Stalingrad. “This MIPCOM is probably one of the most exciting for us,” says Sovteleexport director Julia Matiash. “Life And Fate is not like anything we have ever presented to the international market.” Life And Fate is based on the novel by Vasily Grossman — banned in the former Soviet Union — that has been dubbed the “War And Peace of the twentieth century” by The New York Times. A radio adaptation of the novel was broadcast by the BBC in 2011, after which it went to the top of the British bestseller chart. “We believe that this epic story of survival, love, dignity and destiny going on during the dark years of WWII will become one of the true gems of our catalogue,” Matiash says. “Like Tolstoy’s War And Peace it paints a complete picture of this era and tackles the global problems of humanity, telling us the stories of ordinary people who found themselves in this the darkest period of the previous century.” DT Production is at MIPCOM with the detective story Rage, starring well-known Russian actors Vladimir Epifancev and Yuriy Chursin. In a small town in the north of Russia, Nastya, a young student, meets a strange man who doesn’t remember anything about himself, except his name. At the same time the police investigate a chain of horrible murders: people disappear and then their bodies are found bloodless. Among the man’s many unusual characteristics are his strength, and his ability to sustain serious injuries, which heal fast. The series uses CGI to bring to life this extraordinary story, with an original soundtrack composed and performed by popular Russian singer Yolka and rock band Megapolis. Also at MIPCOM with DT Production is the 12-part World War II drama Spies, which tells the story of two young secret agents behind enemy lines in the USSR,

Sovteleexport’s Life And Fate

Poland and Germany, and The Department is a 16-part detective series set in the Ministry for Internal Affairs. “We are sure the projects will ¿nd buyers in many territories,” says DT Production head of sales Anna Gabrielyan. “They are available as original productions as well as formats. We have already had interest in one of the series as a format, from a foreign company.” Central Partnership has completed the ¿lming of series Sherlock Holmes. Production started in September 2011 and the moody atmosphere of Victorian-era London was recreated in St Petersburg, Kronshtadt, Pushkin, Gatchina and Ivangorod. Some 400 actors and several thousand non-speaking extras were employed on the set, with principles including Igor Petrenko as Sherlock Holmes, Andrei Panin as Doctor Watson, and Alexey Gorbunov as Professor Moriarty. The 16 episodes tell eight stories which mix the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, setting it apart from existing adaptations of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. “For eight months I was creating an atmosphere which I totally lived through with my acting team,” says the series director Andrey Kavun. “And I was really happy to be working with so many gifted people — talented actors and production professionals. In particular, I was proud to have been able to collaborate with Igor Petrenko. At the start not everybody was convinced that he was suitable for that part. ‘He is not Holmes’, they kept telling me. “But I believed in him even in spite of his own doubts; even he was surprised that he had been cast as Holmes. But I was right. Igor has done an amazing job.”






feature

mipcom

SOCIAL TV

The non-stop conversation Social TV is becoming an intrinsic part of television viewing, not only enhancing the audience experience but also delivering revenue. Juliana Koranteng reports on the growth of the second-screen phenomenon TV or a commercial. You might ROADCAST folk are want a recipe seen on a cookery getting friendly with show, recommendations of social TV and embracing what to watch next, information the technology required about an actor, or communicate to make it commercially with other viewers. Instead of viable for them. clicking on many different apps, It could be the next distribution you can click on just one to do platform that successfully brings everything. That is social TV.” together the generation of oldRose should know. He is the media viewers, who remain Anthony Rose, Zeebox former chief technology of¿cer comfortable with appointment of the iPlayer, arguably the viewing, and the new-media world’s most successful catch-up generation that wants to interact TV platform at UK public broadcaster BBC. “Social with the content anytime, anywhere, via any screen. International TV decision-makers want to be a part engagement around TV is still in its infancy. But the of this potentially revolutionary development. They ease of use of touch-screen mobile devices for content want to tap into the mindsets of addicted social-media discovery and interaction means, once used, you’ll subscribers who, like trigger-happy video-game wonder how you ever watched TV without them.” players, immerse themselves in the content, interact It is that compulsion among second-screen social-media with it and share experiences that add value to the users that content makers, broadcasters and advertisers want to exploit as the 30-second ad becomes just one enjoyment. “In the future, programmes will still be commissioned, of the many means by which to fund the television but the participation of the viewer will be intrinsic to experience. their success,” says Anthony Rose, co-founder and Social-media network Facebook has more than 900 chief technology officer of Zeebox, the social-TV million registered users. Micro-blogging giant Twitter mobile app developer partly owned by UK satellite- has a reported 500 million active users. They are joined delivered BSkyB, Europe’s biggest pay-TV platform. by millions more on rival operations. They range from “Your smartphone or tablet and its intelligent screen the fast growing Tumblr, the mobile-delivered Pinterest enable you to use Facebook or Twitter while watching and Instagram to the still developing Google+ and hi5,

B

Programmes will still be commissioned, but the participation of the viewer will be intrinsic to their success

GETTING SMART US research group Gartner estimates global smartphone sales jumped nearly 43% to 154 million units in the second quarter of 2012 from the same period in 2011. About 119 million units of tablets, dominated by those powered by Apple’s iOS operating system and Google’s Android, will be sold in 2012.

83



mipcom

feature plus nationally focused platforms like the Googleowned Orkut in Brazil, South Korea’s Cyworld, Mixi in Japan and the controversial Vkontakte in Russia. Their ability to immerse viewers in TV content is facilitated by internet-enabled screens including smartphones and computer tablets. US research group Gartner predicts revenues generated globally via advertising, social gaming and subscription services on social media will reach $16.9bn by this year’s end, a 43% leap from 2011. And studies by Nielsen and Yahoo! concluded that in the US alone, 88% of viewers with tablets use them while watching TV, and 86% of smartphone subscribers use their handsets while viewing. The advent of ultra-speed 4G mobile-phone networks will make wireless devices even more powerful media tools. In addition to Zeebox, media-technology companies, from the long established Shazam to newcomers like GetGlue, Miso, Shelby.tv, Fanhattan, and Yahoo! subsidiary IntoNow, are producing mobile apps designed speci¿cally for audiences’ active viewing. Zeebox is already linked to 120 TV channels in the UK and is scheduled to launch in the US supporting 150 channels. “As viewers have more and more channels to choose from, we’re learning that viewers want programme discovery and information in addition to being social,” Rose says.

The second screen’s role is to turn a fan into a superfan David Jones, Shazam Shazam is famous for pioneering the technology that enables people to identify any piece of music tagged with their mobile handsets. With more than 225 million people using the app worldwide, Shazam encourages consumers to buy 500,000 music tracks daily from the iTunes and Amazon online music stores. David Jones, Shazam’s California-based executive vice-president marketing, predicts TV will be an even bigger income source for the company in a few years thanks to the social-TV phenomenon. Compatible with wireless handsets powered by leading mobile operating systems, Shazam’s app has been tweaked to enable users to also interact with TV content and advertisements. Following partnerships with major programme producers, broadcasters and advertisers, the company is, so far, able to offer Shazam-enabled content in the US, UK, Australia, Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Belgium. A Shazam call-to-action logo pops up unobtrusively on the screen, prompting viewers to use their smartphones or tablets to access related content of interest — without being distracted from the TV show.

Lady Gaga, at last year’s MTV Europe Music Awards ceremony which registered a record-breaking 158 million votes via social media

85


MIPCOM

08-11 Octobre Nice < > Cannes

7-minute flight

Free shuttle service

99€ *

+15 € / PERS

HELIPORT TAX * Subject to conditions

HELICOPTER TRANSFER

RÉSERVATION 7/7 - Tel. +33 (0)4 93 90 40 70 info@azurhelico.com - www.azurhelico.com


feature

mipcom

Our young audiences expect to dialogue with their friends during a show Phillip O’Ferrall, VIMN

Grimm: The Essential Guide: taking social TV to a new level

Recent Shazam-enabled TV shows include coverage of this year’s Olympic Games on NBCUniversal’s TV channels and the associated TV commercials. “The second screen’s role is to drive audience engagement with the TV and turn a fan into a superfan,” Jones says. “The idea is to get you to watch the next episode, talk about it and get advertisers and sponsors interested in that engagement. In a business where audience ratings are king and billions are spent on advertising, that is how the second screen can drive your business.” Social-media operators also believe they can bene¿t from advertisers’ hunger for the second-screen space.

“We work with partners from across the industry, including broadcasters, producers and second-screen start-ups,” Karla Geci, strategic partner development at Facebook says. “We help them build great experiences for fans, whether that is through their websites, on mobile, or via Facebook’s news feed and timeline.” The direct involvement of companies like Facebook and Shazam prompted observers to describe the London Olympic and Paralympic Games as the world’s ¿rst global social-TV event. Coverage by the BBC in the event’s UK home market,

87



feature NBC and other broadcasters worldwide was on every media were recorded. O’Ferrall says: “We can get screen imaginable. Comcast, the US cable-TV giant groups of (MTV’s) superfans to play games to win and NBCUniversal’s majority owner, found the more points to boost their voting power.” Shazam-enabled Olympics coverage so positive, it That relationship can be monetised by directing is conducting various experiments with Shazam’s those fans to MTV websites or brand partners’ sites content-recognition technology to see how else its to generate more ad revenues. “The dialogue is on all the time because if they record the show, you networks might gain from it. NBC Entertainment, the NBC network’s production must encourage them to watch it before a specific arm, has joined forces with its relatively younger monetisation period lapses.” sister company NBC Publishing to take social TV to Another social-TV specialist is Peter Cowley, CEO/ a new level. They have published a free downloadable founder of Spirit digital media, a digital-content e-book called Grimm: The Essential Guide. Designed production company backed by TV/¿lm distribution to accompany the second season of the fantasy crime giant Content Media Corp. Spirit’s subsidiary Social series Grimm, which is already licensed to more than Media Factory (SMF) makes web-only shows aimed 200 countries, the e-book contains exclusive videos, at social-media viewers. For UK network Channel 4, SMF created the nineincluding the original pilot, plus special artwork. episode Live In Chelsea to It is accessible via a wide variety accompany the TV-reality show of e-book platforms, from Apple’s Made In Chelsea; Skins Live to iBook, Amazon’s Kindle Fire, complement teen drama Skins; Barnes & Noble’s Nook to the and Gleeason Finale for Glee, more obscure OverDrive and Fox Television’s hit musical Kobo e-readers. “It is aimed at comedy drama. Grimm’s existing fans to give them a better sense of the narrative “Social TV needs a social and the characters, and at those community by creating TVwho missed the first season. It type content on the web to can also be a stand-alone piece of harness the community and entertainment,” Michael Fabiano, get them to talk about the show NBC Publishing’s general manager and know the cast as intimately says. “As an e-book, it really guides Peter Cowley, as possible,” Cowley says. “As the reader through everything Spirit digital media well as teen gossip, that sort of Grimm stands for, whereas an app engagement can work for news would have depended on the user and current affairs too.” clicking the right buttons ¿rst.” Other networks getting friendly with social TV include Bunim/Murray Productions (BMP), the Californiafactual-programming pioneer Discovery Networks based reality-show subsidiary of Banijay Group International (DNI), which unveiled its ¿rst ever social- (Project Runway, Keeping Up With The Kardashians), TV app earlier this year. The app started with its Latin is a social-media stalwart pushing the boundaries of American edition of the Discovery Home & Health what it can do. Daniel E Tibbets, BMP’s senior vice-president, digital channel before it rolls out internationally. Phillip O’Ferrall, senior vice-president digital, at media, says: “In 2012, the company has created a Viacom International Media Networks (VIMN), points strategy to expand its social footprint moving into out that the young age of its MTV and Nickelodeon Facebook and Instagram by the end of the year, as well audiences makes them ideal for social TV. “We’ve been as plans for Spotify (the streaming-music service) and clear on where we stand on social TV for a long time,” Pinterest in ¿ rst quarter of 2013. It has always been he says. “Then we social-enabled our TV shows giving important for BMP to have an authentic and consistent them the 360-degree treatment, ¿rst with texting, then voice on social platforms.” instant-messaging, before pioneering activities with What everyone appears to agree on is that social TV via Facebook and Twitter. Our young audiences expect to connected TV or smart TV might take slightly longer to take off, even though media giants like Google, be able to dialogue with their friends during a show.” The following statistics back up his point. Apple and Yahoo! have invested in the platform. Nickelodeon’s SpongeBob SquarePants has over 36 The TV set might be internet-enabled, but they still million likes on Facebook; South Park has over 41 cost almost 10 times as much as a smartphone or tablet. million Facebook likes; MTV’s US reality show Jersey And rights owners need to clarify whether there is a Shore has over 18 million likes on Facebook. And each difference between content copyright on smart TV and of the cast on Geordie Shore, the UK equivalent, has up standard TV, which could lead to burdensome contract to two million Twitter followers thanks to the Geordie negotiations. Spirit’s Peter Cowley believes that, ultimately, what Shore Tweet Tracker app. matters is the mode the viewer is in. “They tend to be The gami¿cation of MTV’s Europe Music Awards active when using handset devices, and passive when ceremony makes use of its viewers’ adeptness with watching a large TV set. I think the mode aspect is digital games to drive votes. At last year’s event, something programmers need to understand. Then, featuring actress Selena Gomez and singing star Lady the industry will start commissioning shows that use Gaga, a record-breaking 158 million votes via social social-media techniques.”

Credit: Spirit Digital Media

mipcom

Social TV needs to harness the community and get them to talk about the show

Credit: Shazam

Peter Cowley, CEO/founder of Spirit digital media

Credit: NBC Publishing

David Jones of Californiabased Shazam

Michael Fabiano, general manager NBC Publishing

89





mipcom

feature MBC’s Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, a co-production with Qatar TV

MENA & TURKEY

Show of strength from the Mideast The Middle East and Turkey are shrugging off the world’s economic worries and the effects of political upheaval. Andy Fry examines how the current buoyant market is leading to increased demand for foreign content and a boom in home-grown productions

HE eurozone may be facing tough times, but you don’t have to travel far in an easterly direction to ¿nd markets experiencing economic growth. Turkey is a prime example, posting annual GDP growth of 8%-9%. But not to be overlooked is the Middle East, where Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Qatar have been using their vast oil wealth to diversify their domestic economies, a process which is having a knock-on effect across the region. Turkey’s economic success has meant two key positives for the MIPCOM community. Firstly, sustained growth in advertising revenues and pay-TV subscription has generated increased demand for foreign content, both formats and completed shows. Secondly, a domestic

T

production boom has led to a growth in Turkish content exports, notably homegrown drama. Companies to have bene¿ted from increased Turkish demand for shows include distributor Banijay International. Earlier this year it sold the format for My Parents Are Gonna Love You to free-to-air channel ATV. Now it has followed that up with a second deal for Trust, a game show in which two strangers have to work together to try to win a sum of money. Launched as a 12 x 60 mins series on ATV in September, the show is part of a growing trend, according to Karoline Spodsberg, managing director, Banijay International. “The Turkish economy is strong and this means that broadcasters are more willing to take risks, particularly with game

93


mipcom

feature mantleMedia Enterprises (Merlin) show ideas — which has been to and Starz (Spartacus: Blood And our advantage. In addition to the Sand). Trust and My Parents Are Gonna While Turkey is de¿nitely a marLove You deals, local production ket on the up, it would be wrong to rights for 71 Degrees North and suggest that it is uncharted terriStar Save Our School have also tory, Mehmet Karaca, general mabeen picked up for adaptation by nager of MAG Media says. “MAG Turkish production companies.” Media was established in 1973 Spodsberg says that Turkey is a and has been distributing Sony challenging market because it is Pictures Television’s TV products already home to so many content and feature ¿lms to Turkish TV creators. But the good news is channels ever since. I was also a that “the channels are becoming co-founder of leading producer very competitive. The formats Medyapim, which produced Turbusiness has been cautious, but Karoline Spodsberg, kish remakes of a number of Sony more emphasis is now being put Banijay International shows. The most successful were on non-scripted, both creation Dadi (The Nanny) and Tatli Hayat and adaptation. We are seeing (The Jeffersons). After leaving more commissions for new formats and this is likely to improve as a change in ratings Medyapim, I formed a new company called Bando, measurement comes into place in October. This should which produces comedy show Love Bugs and a Sony scripted format called Krem (Creme).” give channels more con¿dence.” Other companies to have seen increased interest in for- Aside from his own shows, Karaca has seen formats mats include Disney EMEA, which licensed the for- such as Got Talent, The Voice and Survivor (produced

The Turkish economy is strong and this means that broadcasters are more willing to take risks

Banijay’s game show Trust, sold to ATV in Turkey

mat for Desperate Housewives to ATV rival Kanal D in September, and ITV Studios Global Entertainment which is re-launching Come Dine With Me on a new channel. Yemekteyiz, as it’s known locally, will air on Fox’s free-to-air channel from October and is made by Sinevizyon. Jennifer Ebell, ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVSGE) senior sales executive for Central and Eastern Europe, Israel, Greece, Cyprus and Turkey agrees with Spodsberg that “the market is competitive so the formats business continues to grow in Turkey on terrestrial channels”. In addition, she says that the growth of pay TV and DTT is opening up an opportunity for completed shows as well as formats. “The following types of content work well: US series; long-running series such as Murdoch Mysteries, which airs on Digiturk; TV movies; mini-series like Titanic, which will air on e2 and Appropriate Adult which will air on the Digiturk channels.” Other companies to have secured completed show sales include Zodiak Media (Being Human US), Fre-

94

by Acun Medya for Show TV) do well. But he warns that this is still a relatively modest business when compared to Turkish homegrown drama: “It’s true the pay TV market is growing and some free TV broadcasters are looking for foreign shows. But there are not many slots for foreign content on major networks. In the last couple of years, Kanal D has led the way with local dramas.” What’s more, Karaca says, the quality of homegrown drama is also creating interest abroad. “Local drama series don’t just dominate Turkish primetime, they are being exported to the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Middle East and CIS territories.” This claim is supported by Izzet Pinto, CEO of leading distributor Global Agency, which sells some of the best TV series from Star TV, Show TV and Kanal D. “We are the pioneers of exporting Turkish series to CEE. It started with 1001 Nights which opened up the market in dozens of territories. The ¿rst country to air the series was Bulgaria followed by Serbia and Greece. It worked in all these territories and is now


YOU, PLANET A 3D EXPLORATION INTO THE HUMAN ECOSYSTEM

VISIT US AT OUR BOOTH 11.02/13.01

www.terramater.com

SPT Arabia’s local version of Everybody Loves Raymond

in 50 territories including the Middle East and North Africa. Middle Eastern buyers are particularly important, because the region covers 22 countries which are often covered by a single deal.” 1001 Nights wasn’t a one-off, Pinto says: “Another one of our successful TV series is Magni¿cent Century, which is airing in 41 countries — all on primetime. The story of the Ottoman Empire, we expect to reach 50 territories by the end of the year. Among our new best-selling projects are Game Of Silence and Iffet.” For those not familiar with Turkish drama, Pinto explains why it is travelling so well: “Turkey’s advertising market is big, which means lots of competition between networks and very big drama budgets. This has increased the quality of the production, the scriptwriting and the acting. For us, the result is that exports of Turkish TV content are doubling each year.” By contrast with Turkey, you might be forgiven for thinking that the Middle East is a market struggling to come to terms with a period of remarkable political upheaval. But regional expert Nabil Kazan says the market is actually incredibly buoyant. Within 18 months of the start of the so-called Arab Spring, he says there have been 154 new Arabic-language satellite channel launches — taking the total universe to 650 channels. Some of this growth is driven by the need for platforms for political debate. But there’s also a strong commercial underpinning to the story, Kazan says. “Advertising rose 35% across the Middle East and North Africa in 2011 — and 67% of that total ($14.3bn) was claimed by television channels.” Kazan says that the strength of the market is also apparent in content expenditure. While it is notoriously

95


mipcom

feature dif¿cult to estimate the size of the market, he says there is a clear upward trend both in terms of regional production and content acquisitions (sports rights, drama, kids, factual and entertainment). To understand the maze-like Middle Eastern market, it’s important to realise that it operates at two levels: domestic and pan-regional. On the one hand, there are local media that cater speci¿cally for each territory in the region. On the other, there are pan-regional media that take advantage of the common language and culture existing across the region. By doing so, they are able to reach 100 million MENA house-

Local drama series don’t just dominate Turkish primetime, they are being exported to the Balkans, Eastern Europe, Middle East and CIS territories Mehmet Karaca, MAG Media

holds as well as Arabic-speaking households spread across Europe. Adding to the complexity is the fact that there are variations in skill sets across the region, Kazan says. Egypt, he explains, is a major producer of drama and comedy — producing 79 series of 30 episodes so far in 2012. Contrast that with Lebanon, which is a regional centre of excellence for game shows, commercials production and dubbing foreign content. A good illustration of how the market works is MBC, a free-to-air news and entertainment broadcaster which broadcasts via satellite from United Arab Emirates (UAE) city-state Dubai to ethnic Arabs in both Middle East/North Africa & Europe. Of interest to format sellers is the fact that MBC has successfully broadcast local versions of Got Talent and Idol for some time. And in May 2012 it acquired the exclusive multiplatform rights for Talpa Media’s The Voice, which will be produced locally by Sony Pictures Television Arabia. Underlining MBC’s pan-regional credentials, the broadcaster’s version of the show will be shot at its studios in Lebanon — despite the fact that both MBC and SPT Arabia are HQ’d in Dubai. In addition, auditions for the show will be held in a wide range of countries including the UAE, Egypt, Kuwait, Tunisia, Lebanon and Morocco. Explaining the rationale for such shows, Ali Jaber, group TV director at MBC Group, says they have undoubtedly proven to be a hit in the Arab world. “Talent shows have positively affected the TV viewing habits, patterns and trends in the region while raising the levels of engagement with TV content, through social media and other platforms.” As a 10-channel operator, MBC has a big requirement for acquired content across all genres, ranging from Turkish drama to Hollywood movies and Nickelodeon kids content. But echoing the situation in Turkey, MBC is not just a buyer of foreign content. It is also the home of exportable dramas such as Omar Ibn Al-Khattab, a co-production with Qatar TV that has sold to markets such as Lebanon, Indonesia, Tunisia and Turkey.

MBC has successfully broadcast local versions of Idol for some time now

96


WILD BRAZIL LIFE‘S ULTIMATE CELEBRATION

VISIT US AT OUR BOOTH 11.02/13.01

www.terramater.com

This is a trend that Kazan expects to continue, with the Gulf States — primarily UAE and Qatar — starting to ramp up production of scripted content. “Production of Arabic series is up 100% on 2010, with 160 series made in 2012,” he says. While Egypt and Syria have both seen an overall drop in production since 2008, this has been compensated for by the boom in the Gulf region. SPT Arabia president Ziad Kebbi is as upbeat as Kazan. Having launched the company two years ago, he is seeing activity on a number of fronts. “We are having success in the pan-Arabic market with shows like The Voice, but we are also producing shows for domestic broadcasters in markets like Egypt, Lebanon, Iraq and Tunisia. In Egypt we did a local version of the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond as well as local versions of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? and Wheel Of Fortune. We also have an original sitcom called Too Soon, which shows we are not only focused on using established SPT formats.” Like Kazan, Kebbi doesn’t believe the effect of the Arab Spring is holding back the market anymore. “We launched in the middle of the upheaval so it was a little slow at ¿rst, but the competition for content means we are very busy now. This is a young dynamic market with a real desire for quality content. At ¿rst the focus was more on unscripted shows, but now we are working hard to increase SPT Arabia’s scripted slate — hopefully adding more local shows that can work in primetime slots.” The importance of Dubai-based media companies to the pan-Arabian market cannot be overstated. But there has been a shift in the balance of power within the UAE since Dubai neighbour Abu Dhabi began transforming into a media centre of excellence, working via its Me-

Middle Eastern buyers are particularly important, because the region covers 22 countries which are often covered by a single deal Izzet Pinto, Global Agency dia Zone Authority Twofour54. According to deputy CEO and chief operating of¿cer Wayne Borg, Twofour54’s long-term ambition is to build a dynamic media industry in which Arabs play a pivotal role. As part of that programme, it is doing everything it can to encourage foreign companies to come to Abu Dhabi to transfer skills and expertise. “Today, we have around 160 companies from within the region and around the world. Recent arrivals include Digital Domain. That’s a great endorsement of Abu Dhabi’s infrastructure and our culture of entrepreneurship and innovation. What we also like is that Digital Domain will be training aspiring SFX specialists.” Among Abu Dhabi’s recent initiatives is the launch of new ¿nancial incentives for content creators. The

97


mipcom

feature

Production of Arabic series is up 100% on 2010, with 160 series made in 2012 Regional expert Nabil Kazan

SPT Arabia’s original sitcom Too Soon

scheme “is unique in the MENA region”, Borg says. “It reÀects the culmination of our efforts to put in place all the key ingredients to reinforce our position as the regional hub and ¿ rst choice, go-to place for producers. We expect to accelerate production activity and ful¿l our objective to fuel the development of the regional media industry by providing the opportunity for Arab ¿lmmakers, crew and production support companies to work alongside their international counterparts.” While the endgame at Twofour54 is to originate Arabic content — and eventually export it — the reality across the region is that there is a growing number of opportunities for content distributors. At a pan-regional level, Qatar-based broadcaster Al Jazeera is best known for its news channels and its outlay on premium sports rights. But it also acquires kids and factual content for its thematic channels. Recent deals in kids include a co-pro agreement with NHK Japan and a series of animation acquisitions from DQ Entertainment in India. Factual buys include 16 hours of content from TVF and 19 hours from OTF. And at a local level there’s also evidence of surging demand in some markets. Passion Distribution reports that it has just sold a huge slate of lifestyle programming into Kuwait. According to Passion Distribution’s sales manager for the region Rebecca Thomas, in excess of 450 hours of content has gone to public broadcaster KTV2 in a deal brokered by Pyramid Entertainment. Titles came from Splash Media and Scripps Networks International, one of Passion’s biggest clients. Sony Pictures Television, which runs a distribution operation from its Dubai of¿ce, also has encouraging news. Ziad Yaghi, executive director, distribution for

98

SPT in the Middle East inked three new deals in May, stressing that the company has been able to forge “new relationships at a national level as that sector expands”. The deal in question saw Al Rayyan in Qatar, Rotana in Egypt and Dubai Media Incorporated (DMI) pick up diverse slates of feature ¿lms for their local markets. “With many thousands of feature ¿lms and television series, the SPT library is well placed to meet growing Middle East demand.”

Eat Street’s Gorilla Cheese, sold to Kuwait by Passion




Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.