FROM THE CREATOR OF BIG LITTLE LIES 134_NBCU_N3_COM Advertisement Fremantle’s Jennifer Mullin and Andrea Scrosati gave a Media Mastermind Keynote yesterday MEDIA MASTERMINDS The actor, model and producer gave an exclusive presentation of her new Fremantle series Planet Sex yesterday CARA DELEVINGNE Banijay’s Marco Bassetti gave a Media Mastermind Keynote yesterday MEDIA MASTERMIND The sixth Diversify TV Awards are happening today in the Grand Auditorium at 16.30 DIVERSIFY TV AWARDS NEWS October 19 2022 www.mipcom.com 3
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Cara Delevingne; Media Mastermind Keynotes from Fremantle, Banijay, Paramount+, Universal and Amazon; The MIPCOM CANNES Diversify TV Awards; Treasure Box Japan; market deals; and more...
All3MEDIA International has announced globe-spanning sales for Objective Fiction and Genial Productions’ The Larkins following its second-series debut on the UK broadcaster ITV. These include Acorn TV in North Ame rica, ABC in Australia and TVNZ in New Zea land, as well as a pan-territory SVOD deal by Britbox including Africa and a slew of broad cast and streaming partners acrss Europe.
Objective Media Group CEO Layla Smith said that it had been a delight. “We’re already in four continents for season two after one epi sode. I think it’s because it’s family fun: it’s co-viewing, it’s warm, it’s a little bit of nos talgia as well, but it’s really all about family.”
Smith said that season one had re-established the Kent-dwelling Larkin family, made famous in the 1990s by The Darling Buds Of May, and season two featured more involved storylines for Primrose, Reverend Candy and the irrepressible Pa Larkin. “It’s glorious, it’s everything that The Darling Buds was and The Larkins is,” she said. Smith added that she was looking forward to the CBS version of Lingo, the word-game format that rebooted to acclaim in its new ITV late-af ternoon slot, and to which RuPaul has added some pizzazz. “He loves word games, so it was a match made in heaven,” she said.
MORE DEALS INSIDE
The Seaview Producers Hub Opening Party; Stars from shows brought to MIPCOM CANNES took time out to pose for our cameras
All MIPCOM print products are printed on paper from sustainably managed sources using printing processes that comply with the PEFC standard. MY GRANDPARENTS’ WAR J15058_REED_MIPCOM2022_208x55mm_CONTENT_STRIP_DAILY_03_MY_GRANDPARENTS_WAR_AW2.indd 1 13/10/2022 10:24 127_ALL3MEDIA_N__CONTENT STRIP_DAILY_03_MY_GRANDPARENTS_WAR_AW2_COM NEWS October 19, 2022 www.mipcom.com 3
Seaview Producers Hub
Seaview Producers Hub sponsor Audiovisual from Spain hosted a reception last night for delegates who have been enjoying the sessions and networking opportunities at MIPCOM CANNES’ new Co-production Market
zdf-studios.comR7.D 5 Meet us at MIPCOM stand no.
‘Fundamentally we are a content company’
Fremantle’s Jennifer Mullin and Andrea Scrosati gave a joint Media Mastermind Keynote yesterday where they outlined their content-led growth strategy
ONCE KNOWN primarily as an entertainment format factory — think Got Talent, Idol, Too Hot To Handle and other superformats — Fremant le has transformed itself into a broad-based content studio and channel operator. During the company’s MIPCOM CANNES Media Mastermind Keynote, group CEO Jennifer Mullin and group COO and CEO continen tal Europe Andrea Scrosati talked delegates through their recent invest ments and strategic goals.
Explaining the drive into new spheres of activity, Mullin said: “Fundamen tally, we are a content company and we need to tell all different kinds of stories. We cherish and protect our long-running family formats, but they have allowed us to get into other areas.”
Driven by a combination of organic growth and acquisition, Fremantle has seen a step-change in the volume of dramas and documentaries it pro duces. It has also launched FAST channels and increased its movie slate
to 33 titles in 2022. In terms of mergers and acquisitions, recent additions have included indies Luxe Vide and Dancing Ledge. “It’s all about finding companies that are complementary,” Scrosati said. “For every one company we acquire we pass on 10 because they are not the right fit for Fremantle. The financial transaction is not the important thing, it’s the creative ex change and how it will add value for the group and the producer.” Mullin added that having a creative-first culture is core to Fremantle’s ap proach: “We aspire to be the place that creatives call home. Our focus is to make irresistible entertainment and to do that we need the best creative talent in the world. We did a deal with Angelina Jolie this year. It made sense for us because she has impeccable taste and wants to tell ambitious and impactful stories. In terms of what we can do for her — it’s about crea tive freedom and our ability to find the right home for her content. We provide the flexibility she needs.”
Explaining how Fremantle is coping with the current volatility in the mar ket, Scrosati said: “The COVID period showed just how resilient and inno vative this industry is. At Fremantle in particular, we are agile, independent and able to pivot. The fact that we are a global portfolio business means we are able to absorb downturns in some parts of the business.”
MIPCOM CANNES 2022 | NEWS
“We aspire to be the place that creatives call home”
Jennifer Mullin
Planet Sex has lessons for everyone
Cara Delevingne is an LGBTQ+ icon, but filming her new series Planet Sex made her realise she had a lot to learn about human sexuality
“I THOUGHT I was educated in so many ways, and open, but really I wasn’t!” Cara Delevingne said during a MIPCOM CANNES interview following the first public showing of foo tage from her new series Planet Sex. Jointly commissioned by Hulu and the BBC, Planet Sex was produced by Delevin gne’s Milkshake Productions and Fremantle’s Naked Produc tions. It has already been pre-sold into 92 territories. It explores themes including sexual orientation, female sexuality, gender, pornography, monogamy and beauty. As executive producer and presenter, Delevingne threw herself wholeheartedly into the filming.
“Every day was completely different. I’m used to being a cha meleon but this was absurd! One day you’re going to be ha ving your blood taken while having an orgasm, the next day you’re going to a porn library.” she said.
“I would occasionally get calls: ‘Cara’s lying on a table in a sex
club with people drinking tequila shots from her navel, what should we do?’” said Fremantle UK CEO Simon Andreae, who shared the stage with Delevingne. The answer? “Keep filming!”
The show is infused with Delevingne’s personality: “I’m a goofy, curious, childlike, kinda crazy person — in a nice way!” But it also tackles some difficult and controversial topics.
“Porn scared me the most. The effect that porn has on young people is terrifying and how it’s changed the last couple of generations is really, really, really a lot more than we think we know. My generation especially,” Delevingne said. She is hoping that Planet Sex will reach a wide spread of viewers.
“A lot of these themes — sexual orientation, female pleasure — seem like they’re pointed towards women, but they’re not. They’re just as much pointed towards men, because I think men need to know about it as much as we do,” she said.
“The fact that the moon landing happened before we map ped out where the clitoris is, is completely insane!”
MIPCOM CANNES 2022 | NEWS
MIPCOM CANNES DAILY 3, OCTOBER 2022 | 11
“I’m used to being a chameleon but this was absurd!”
Banijay’s Bassetti questions streamers’ approach to IP
AT THE Media Mastermind Key note in the Grand Auditorium Mar co Bassetti, Banijay CEO, called for greater equity in the sharing of IP and rights between talent, producers and streamers. Pointing out that Banijay has been built on the back of IP like MasterChef and Survivor, he said: “Streamers provide us with a fantastic oppor tunity, but it is not fair to ask the talent or producers to give up eve rything when they have a big suc cess. Content creation companies like Banijay need to defend their IP, not just maximise their pro duction fee and margin — because that allows us to grow.”
Bassetti, whose company swal lowed up Australia’s Beyond Inter national a few weeks ago, expects there to be more consolidation in the content market — and stressed
the benefits of having scale. “We think it important to stay very agile and flexible, but scale is im portant because it means leverage. It allows our talent to connect with opportunities in all the territories where we work,” he said.
ther acquisitions. Banijay is the largest independent studio in the global market — but Bassetti stressed that this isn’t the company’s only point of distinc tion: “It’s important that we are all producers — from the top down. We all speak the same language and know how difficult it is to pit ch a show and convince someone to buy it. This is a unique part of our DNA.”
On the looming recession, Bas setti was pragmatic — saying that the squeeze on margins will make Banijay’s high-profile proven brands more important than ever to broadcasters and platforms.
Despite Banijay revenues of around €3bn a year, 120 produc tion labels and 130,000 hours of catalogue, he didn’t rule out fur
“We will also need to be flexible — looking for ways to reduce costs where we can. But that’s another advantage of scale, because our la bels can share intelligence.”
Paramount’s
SVOD SERVICE Paramount+ will launch in France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland in De cember, the company announced at MIPCOM CANNES.
“By the end of this year we’re going to be launched in 45 mar kets,” said Marco Nobili, executive vice-president and international general manager at Paramount+, in an afternoon session discussing its D2C strategy.
Paramount+ launched in the US, La tin America and the Nordic region in March 2021, and has since rolled out to countries including Australia, the UK, South Korea and Italy. Nobili described Paramount+ as “a mountain of great entertainment… there is quantity and quality” be
rolls out
fore explaining how Paramount+ intends to grow that mountain even higher by greenlighting 150 more originals by 2025.
“Not only from our US back-lot, but also [we are] very well rooted into the local markets. Every time we launch in new markets we show up with a bunch of local content.”
Careful windowing of this content is a key part of the Paramount+ strategy, with Nobili stressing that the company will continue experi menting to find the best approach.
“We already have a very solid pipe line into that. We have almost a do zen studios, so we are very well set up to develop content,” Nobili said.
“Content windowing is a privile ge in the industry. When you are a big media company like we are, and you produce so much great content, the reality is you want to put that content in front of as many eyeballs as you can,” he said. “Free, pay, linear and streaming: when you have the benefit to really window content across all of those channels, suddenly your one plus one gives three.”
“We have almost a dozen studios, so we are very well set up to develop content”
MIPCOM CANNES 2022 | NEWS MIPCOM CANNES 2022 | NEWS 12 | MIPCOM CANNES DAILY 3, OCTOBER 2022
‘mountain’
Banijay’s Marco Bassetti
Paramount+’s Marco Nobili
‘‘It is not fair to ask the talent or producers to give up everything when they have a big success’’
14 | MIPCOM CANNES DAILY 3, OCTOBER 2022
MIPCOM
CANNES 2022 | THE DAY IN CANNES
Fleur Geffrier, star of Drops Of God, a drama based on a manga story
Pierre Kiwitt (left) and Beatriz Godinho, stars of Cuba Libre, brought to MIPCOM by Keshet International
The day in Cannes
MIPCOM CANNES DAILY 3, OCTOBER 2022 | 15 MIPCOM CANNES 2022 | THE DAY IN CANNES
Stars of some of the many series showcased at MIPCOM CANNES faced the photgraphers and international press
The team behind series Poker Face: executive producer Ram Bergman (left); Dan Cohen, chief content officer, Paramount Global; Elise Henderson, president MRC Television; series star and executive producer Natasha Lyonne; and writer and executive producer Rian Johnson
Toko Miura (left), star of Kansai TV’s Elpis, with Ayumi Sano, the show’s executive producer
Thierry Godard, star of the second season of The Head, from The Mediapro Studio
Underhill sets out Universal’s plans for push into premium
IN HER first trip to MIPCOM
CANNES, Universal Television president Erin Underhill used her Media Mastermind Keynote to tell delegates she is “open to ideas whereever they originate. My eyes are wide open to stories coming from all sources.” Joining her during the Grand Audito rium session was Megan Amram, showrunner of new UTV series Pitch Perfect: Bumper In Berlin — set to premiere on streamer Pea cock in November.
UTV is one of four studio divi sions within the Universal Stu dios Group, each of which has a distinctive remit. “We’re known for broad commercial fare like The Office, Will & Grace and the Dick Wolf dramas,” Underhill said. “Our ambition is to push even fur ther into premium dramas like
The Calling and Vampire Acade my, which both debut on Peacock soon. We’re interested in diverse and authentic storytelling that can work on a wide array of plat forms.”
Fans of the Pitch Perfect movies series will recall Bumper, played by Adam Devine, as one of the funniest characters — so there is a logic to build a spin-off TV series around him. But why place him in Berlin? “When we conceived the show, we wanted something that honoured the movies but had its own world,” Amram said. “There is a narrative connection between the second film and Berlin, so it made sense to use the city for the series. It’s an amazing city that Americans don’t know much about. And not many comedies are set in Berlin.”
In terms of the balance between original ideas and spin-offs, Un derhill said: “We have a tremen
dous library to draw from, but first and foremost it is about creative vision. If you reimagine something, as we also did with Bel-Air, how do you make it fresh and different?”
Amazon’s Salke: movies are still key for MGM
A BOUT of COVID-19 may have prevented Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke from traveling to MIPCOM CANNES, but it didn’t stop her from taking part in her fireside chat remotely.
In it, she sought to dampen any fears that recent Amazon acquisi tion MGM will now be more focused on smaller screens than its traditio nal cinematic stomping grounds.
“You will see a big commitment to movies. A big commitment to get ting movies out theatrically as well as on streaming,” Salke said.
“You’re going to see more [strea ming] experimentation, but de finitely more doors open to the theatrical experience for film, and
more investment overall in new pathways, and exciting pathways, for storytellers.”
One of those streaming stories is The Lord Of The Rings: The Rings Of Power, whose first season has
have Prime Video be a home; to be able to really amplify a story of that magnitude and ambition,” Salke said. She said the show is already fulfil ling its remit to bring new customers into Prime Video, and thus Amazon’s wider Prime ecosystem. However, Salke stressed the strategy is to en sure those viewers do not simply binge then churn away.
been warmly received so far. “It’s not just a piece of commerce for our organisation. It was born out of love and passion, and the desire to
“People will come for the big, global content. They’ll come for Rings Of Power. But what we don’t want is a customer to come in, just watch one show, and there’s nothing else for them,” she said.
“We want to be sure we’re surfacing a collection of content that they love. And they love original content!”
‘‘A big commitment to getting movies out theatrically as well as on streaming’’
MIPCOM CANNES 2022 | NEWS MIPCOM CANNES 2022 | NEWS 16 | MIPCOM CANNES DAILY 3, OCTOBER 2022
Universal Television’s Erin UnderhillShowrunner, Megan Amram
Amazon’s Jennifer Salke
Amazon panel reveals strategic approach to European content
MIPCOM CANNES delegates who dropped in to the Seaview Produ cers Hub were granted a valuable insight into Amazon Studios and Prime Video’s European content strategy, with no less than four of the company’s execs laying out their blueprints.
Thomas Dubois, Amazon Studios head of Originals France, said he was focused on building a scrip ted offering for customers based around global and local franchises. “We want to deliver innovative, differentiated stories with authen tic characters,” he said. In addition to global events like The Rings Of Power, the company recently ramped up its local slate with se ven orders including Alphonse, Medellin, Hawa, Classico, Cosmic Love, Ourika, and Killer Coaster. Nicole Morganti, head of Amazon Originals Italy, has enjoyed success
with a local version of adventure surveillance format Hunted, which she says brought strategy shows to a market that is not really familiar with them. Comedy format LOL: Last One Laughing has done well for the platform and she is now seeking celebrity-driven unscrip ted shows. One locally-originated IP that has done well is the food travelogue Dinner Club. Also on the panel was Ricar do Cabornero Llorente, head of content acquisition at Amazon Prime Video in Spain, who talk ed about the platform’s impactful partnerships with local players like Mediaset. Sahar Baghery, head of content at Amazon Prime Video in France, talked about some of the company’s key content picks-ups, which range from Sony blockbus ter movies to Warner Bros. Disco very hits like Pretty Little Liars.
The ‘new frontier of entertainment’
“FUNDAMENTALLY, entertain ment is the core of the TV as we know it. We’re finding the best way to leverage entertainment and get it in the home,” said Richard Jake man, European head of business development, smart TV, mobile & gaming, for Samsung TV Plus. He was speaking at the Future Of Dis tribution talk in the HI5 Studio. Samsung TV Plus was, he said, “a natural access point to the next ge neration of content”.
His team is in Cannes seeking broader engagement with content owners as Samsung continued to expand its AVOD and FAST-TV of fering via Samsung TV Plus. Strea ming, he said, was the “new frontier of entertainment”.
Key to making this work for both
consumers and content partners were good content discovery and advertising processes within the UX: it had to be “a content-driven experience for the consumer”. The goal was that consumers could ac cess a range of channels offering di verse genres, tailored to their parti cular market, to add value to their TV experience.
He believed that adding AVOD and FAST TV would complement and not conflict with Samsung TV Plus’ SVOD partner services or its tradi tional EPG. And, while there would be some room for niche-content channels, the company’s drive would be towards ever-higher quality. Jake man pointed to the recent exclusive deal with Fremantle to place a Jamie Oliver channel on Samsung TV Plus in the UK and the ZDF-powered Terra X channel in Germany as indi cators of the direction of travel.
MIPCOM CANNES 2022 | NEWS MIPCOM CANNES 2022 | NEWS 18 | MIPCOM CANNES DAILY 3, OCTOBER 2022
Nicole Morganti, head of Amazon Originals Italy
Thomas Dubois, Amazon Studios head of Originals France
Samsung’s Richard Jakeman (right) with moderator Jack Davison of 3Vision
FOX, TM © 2022 FOX and its related entities. All Rights Reserved.
FOX, TM © 2022 FOX and its related entities. All Rights Reserved.
Record entries as Diversify TV Awards widen focus in Cannes
MIPCOM CANNES’ Diversify TV Awards return for their sixth year to day, at 16.30 in the Grand Auditorium. The awards celebrate and promote diversity and inclusion across the in ternational television industry, and attracted a record 191 entries this year. “Without awards, it’s difficult to break through to get people to understand the extraordinary talent and stories out there,” said Mark Garner, execu tive vice-president, global sales and business development at founding partner A+E Networks.
Netflix is the presenting partner for this year’s event, alongside award partners The United Nations SDG, Telefilm Canada, All3Media Interna tional, D.I.M.E.S. and Trace Studios. The awards’ presenter, TV journalist and Moderate The Panel co-foun der Femi Oke, is looking forward to meeting fellow broadcasters who are growing through diversity.
“I can learn from them, what I can do to make their efforts even stron ger and what the Awards can do,” she said.
This year’s 10 awards include a new category: the Behind The Scenes Impact Award, focusing on diver sity behind the camera.
“We are getting much more visibility in front of the camera but there is room for progress behind the lens,” said Betty Sulty-Johnson, vice-pre sident, global sales & co-production at Trace Studios, who is a juror this year. Fellow juror Tshepo Moche, develop ment consultant, content creator and writer at Play Nice Pictures, outlined her judging criteria.
“I am looking for shows that challenge the status quo, expose our audiences to new things, reflect and celebrate their real experiences and offer them the tools to navigate the world they find themselves in,” she said.
Breakfast champions women in TV
MENTORS from around the world will convene at MIPCOM CANNES today for the eighth In ternational Mentoring & Networ king Breakfast for women in TV, film and digital media. Held in association with Mediaclub’elles, the breakfast will see the select group of mentors — all of whom have been involved in empowe ring women during their careers — share their advice on how to get ahead in the industry.
Caroline Behar, deputy director of international co-productions and documentary acquisitions at France Televisions, and Me diaclub’elles mentor, said: “We believe, at Mediaclub’elles, that mentoring is a really powerful way to create a network for wo
men from all countries. These ex changes of experience are a great source of inspiration, as well as strengthening self-confidence and broadening the horizons and opportunities for each and every attendee.”
The mentoring and networking event is designed to give expe rienced women professionals the chance to support the younger ge neration of women in entertain ment and media careers.
Those who have signed up for it can hear insights and ask ques tions about pursuing their prefer red roles in the industry.
“Gender diversity on screen and true representation materialises when it is pursued and preserved in all layers behind the came
ra, whether in creative roles, at the commissioning phase and even in the governance of media and content production organi sations,” said inclusion, gender and diversity in media consultant Claudia Vaccarone.
“While things are in motion and several initiatives launched to intentionally diversify a very ho mogeneous industry, accrued ac countability and intentionality are needed so that all audiences see themselves reflected.”
Other mentors include: Mounia Aram, Mounia Aram Company; Sharon Levi, Yes Studios; Jen nifer Twiner McCarron, Thun derbird Entertainment/Atomic Cartoons; Lilla Hurst, Blue Ant Media; Pandora da Cunha Telles, Ukbar Filmes; Amanda Groom, The Bridge; and Jennifer Batty, Samsung TV Plus.
MIPCOM
CANNES 2022 | NEWS MIPCOM CANNES 2022 | NEWS
Tshepo Moche
Mark
Garner
Betty Sulty-Johnson
Femi Oke
MIPCOM CANNES DAILY 3, OCTOBER 2022 | 19
Claudia
Vaccarone
Caroline Behar
video
international
ITALIAN INDUSTRY @ INTERNATIONAL MARKETS A MAGAZINE WITH A VIEW &
cinema
www.cinemaevideo.it
Format gems shine as Japan unveils its latest TV treasures
JAPANESE government representa tive Chihomi Mukai introduced the eight formats presented at the Ja panese Formats Showcase: Treasure Box Japan as “true gemstones from Japan, which have their own unique sparkle but can also be polished as you like.”
First up was Fuji Television Network’s Battle Of Brain And Mus cles, in which strongman-style tasks added to the tension of the game show’s quiz element. The winner of
the pilot was a female wrestler with a high-level degree, according to Fu ji’s Ryuji Komiya.
Memorize This from TBS was a game show that tested participants’ recall with slapstick consequences for wrong answers, whereas You Laugh You Lose from Yoshimo to Kogyo enlisted celebrities and other comedians in hilarious ef forts to make well-known comedy personalities laugh — and those who did were eliminated from the
game. TV Asahi’s Fund My Fantasy, meanwhile, set two teams against each other costing out people’s im probable dreams. Tasks such as drai ning Loch Ness to find the epony mous monster earned the pilot the top rating in its test slot.
The session included two cooke ry formats: Uprising Kitchen from YTV, in which amateur cooks were given more money to buy ingre dients than professionals, and drew cards to get items that give themsel
ves an advantage; and The First Re cipe, in which first-class chefs cook ingredients they’d never seen.
Money Or Junk (Nippon TV) stranded contestants in remote places and challenged them to make money from what they found on online selling platforms, and Kansai TV’s Matching House pre sented matchmaking via interiors.
“It’s fun to guess about participants by seeing just where they live,” said Kansai’s Shuji Maeda.
Data meets dating in new matchmaking show
THE MAKERS of a unique new da ting show concept are in Cannes to promote the format to the interna tional market.
Executives from Tokyo Broadcas ting System (TBS) and Califor nia-based Smart Dog Media hosted a special breakfast to launch the show, LOVE By A.I., at the Majestic hotel yesterday morning.
LOVE by A.I. puts people together using innovative techniques that analyse personality traits to create ideal matches.
The co-production between TBS and Smart Dog has been in de velopment in Japan since before lockdown, and is now ready for in ternational sales. Smart Dog Media’s founder Craig Plestis said the show is primed for success because it has universal appeal. “It’s about finding love, but in a fresh new way that’s
never been done before. It’s a social experiment as well.
“I think it’s likely to perform in every market. It’s very authentic. A lot of dating shows are hokey and predictable.”
Plestis is the creator of a number of hit shows including The Masked Singer starring Jenny McCarthy, Ken Jeong and Nick Cannon.
Speaking after the launch, Fumi Ni shibashi, manager of the global bu siness department and IP strategy office at TBS, said his team was “op timistic” about international sales of the format. “Dating shows are really hot now,” he said. “We’ve had a great reaction from buyers here, especial ly Asian buyers.”
Worldwide sales are being managed by Bellon Entertainment, led by Greg Bellon, with Thomas Hiraoka handling sales in Asia.
MIPCOM CANNES DAILY 3, OCTOBER 2022 | 21
Takuya Matsubara of TBS (left), Smart Dog Media’s Craig Plestis and Goshu Segawa of TBS
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2023 Cannes Palais des Festivals 17-19 April 2023 The biggest week in unscripted with The Spring International TV Market - 60th AnniversaryMIPTV®, MIPDoc®, MIPFormats® are registred trademarks of RX France - All rights reserved © S. d'HALLOY / IMAGE&CO
Stars of Alibi’s new drama in town on diplomatic mission
SOPHIE Rundle and Serena Mante ghi were in Cannes yesterday to pro mote The Diplomat (6 x 60 mins), Alibi’s new UKTV Original drama, produced by BBC Studios and Wor ld Productions. BBC Studios is han dling distribution internationally. The series follows diplomat Laura Simmonds and her Barcelona consul colleague and friend Alba Ortiz as
they fight to protect British natio nals who find themselves in trouble in the Catalan city.
Executive producer Simon Heath said: “It’s an idea that writer Ben Richards and I have been kicking around for a few years — placing a drama in a British consulate. Our original thought was for an island setting but UKTV suggested a city.
We decided on Barcelona — the most visited European city by Bri tish nationals — and the rest just fell into place.”
Combining the roles of lawyer, coun sellor and cop, Laura and Alba’s di plomatic skills are stretched to the limit — both by the stream of cases they face and their attempts to ba lance their professional and personal lives, as an international crisis builds. Rundle said: “The series offers smart, stylish escapism which I think eve ryone needs after the last couple of years and was something that ap pealed to me. Barcelona is an incre dible backdrop for this organic story of two strong female characters who like each other’s company.”
Manteghi added: “They are two very different women in an authentically international story. It’s complemented by an engaging criminal underworld plot that keeps you guessing and eager to tune in for the next episode.”
CINEFLIX GEMS SELL ACROSS NORDICS
CINEFLIX Rights has closed multiple international sales— amounting to more than 100 hours of titles from its scripted slate — to Nordic platforms at MIPCOM CANNES. SVT Sweden, YLE Finland, TV2 Den mark, NRK Norway, and Acorn TV in the Nordics have bought season two of crime series Whitstable Pearl.
Viaplay Nordics has acquired seasons one and two of the multi-award-winning Israeli police corruption thriller Ma nayek. Viaplay Nordics has also bought crime drama Rebecca. HBO Max in the Nordics has bought gripping Icelandic political drama The Minister starring Olafur Darri Olafsson.
Christie’s Hjerson set to go global
MISS MARPLE and Hercule Poirot have been evergreen detectives on page and screen alike. ZDF Studios is hoping another Agatha Christie creation, Sven Hjerson, can follow in their footsteps.
Crime and thrillers-focused strea ming service Topic has snapped up the exclusive US and Canadian rights for ZDF’s Agatha Christie’s Hjerson, which brings the character into the modern day to solve a string of murders.
“It’s not every day that we get to introduce our subscribers to a new Agatha Christie detective,” said Jen nifer Liang, Topic’s vice-president, programming strategy, acquisitions and sales.
ZDF Studios’ parent company ZDF has bought the show for Germany, along with Australian broadcaster
SBS, Viasat World, NHK and Wal ter Presents.
Hjerson could be described as the first meta-detective, since he began life as the fictional creation of ano ther character in Christie’s books, author Ariadne Oliver.
“With Agatha Christie being world
famous as one of the best-selling au thors of all time, there is a never-en ding demand for her work to brighten the small screen,” said ZDF Studios’ director of drama Yi Qiao. Produced by BR•F, the show won the MIPDrama – Buyers’ Coup de Cœur award at MIPTV in 2021.
DISNEY+ IS NEXT HOME FOR SASHA
FRANCE tv distribution has an nounced the sale of About Sasha (10 x 26 mins) to Disney+ (MENA, excluding France). From Jerico TV, the series features a charismatic high-school student who has lived as a boy until their intersex condition leads them to embrace a female side — but in secret.
“About Sasha is a series full of ener gy and light, emotions and honesty about the difficult subject of the search of identity,” said Julia Schulte, senior vice-president, international sales, france tv distribution.
About Sasha is broadcast in France on France tv slash and France 5.
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Serena Manteghi (left) and Sophie Rundle
Agatha Christie’s Hjerson
Whitstable Pearl (Cineflix Rights)
Manga adaptation Drops Of God will find international audience
THE STARS of a multi-lingual dra ma series based on a manga concept are at MIPCOM CANNES to intro duce the show to buyers worldwide.
Drops Of God tells the story of an internationally renowned wine ex pert, his estranged daughter, and the young man with whom she must compete over her father’s es tate after his death.
Directed by Oded Ruskin and written by Quoc Dang Tran, based on manga series Kami No Shizuku, Drops Of God has been launched this week in Cannes.
Attending MIPCOM CANNES are stars of the show Fleur Geffrier, who plays Camille, the wine expert’s daughter, and Stanley Weber, playing her father Alexandre Leger. The man who Camille is competing with, the mysterious Issei, is played by Ja panese star Tomohisa Yamashita.
Speaking to MIPCOM CANNES News, Weber said that director Ruskin had created a unique and “rare” atmosphere on the set of
Drops Of God, in which all cast and crew members felt empowered to be creative and free.
He said: “Everybody on the show had artistic freedom and responsi bility, as opposed to other shows I’ve done. This felt particularly ar tistic, there was a chance for every person to offer their own artistic vi sion to things which is really rare.”
The eight-part series was filmed in multiple locations in France, Japan and the US, and in three different
languages. It is a co-production between Legendary Television and Dynamic, commissioned by France Televisions and Hulu in Japan. Geffrier praised the meticulous di rection behind the show by Ruskin, who also directed Prime Original se ries Absentia starring Emily Byrne. She said that Drops Of God has the potential for a wide audience due to its universal appeal and the inter national nature of the production and script.
TV Tokyo targets young viewers
IT MAY be the smallest of Japan’s major broadcast networks in the ca pital, but TV Tokyo stands out. Since its main shareholder is Japan’s finan cial daily, a good deal of their content is business-oriented. But another outlet that TV Tokyo uses to distin guish itself with is animation.
“A lot of our animated content is kids’ shows,” said Hiroaki Saiki, head of global distribution. “The other four networks combined have less child ren’s programming, which means they also have less animation, so people who like animation know where to go.”
The prime examples of TV Tokyo’s animated content are Pokemon and Naruto, both of which are interna tionally famous. “But we have more than 30 regular time slots dedicated to animation,” Saiki said. “And we sell
maybe half of them overseas. Many are distributed through global strea ming platforms, too.”
Though more and more animated content is being aimed at adults, most people still think animated pro grammes are for kids, and lately the trend has been for children’s pro grammes to migrate to themed chan nels. Fewer terrestrial broadcasters dedicate air time to children’s shows, but TV Tokyo has stayed firm.
One of the programmes that Saiki is selling at MIPCOM CANNES is Sy napshooo, whose target audience is toddlers and pre-schoolers.
“We worked with an expert in child development to create a programme that stimulates a child’s sensory functions. The child learns to reco gnise and distinguish colours, shapes, sounds,” Saiki said.
HOLLYWOOD SHOWS FROM PRIME SECURE EXTENDED RUNS
PARIS-based producer and distributor Prime Entertainment Group has renewed two major deals that will see show runs extended in Germany and South Africa.
The group has renewed a previous deal with German broadcaster ZDFinfo for its series Hollywood’s Stories, and completed an extension deal with NBCUniversal International Networks which will see the continuation of the hit show
Hollywood On Set, a weekly inhouse series which takes viewers behind the scenes of major movie sets. The show will air on NBCUniversal’s Studio Universal HD in South Africa.
Prime has also extended a deal to air the Hollywood Entertain ment catalogue on Sony Movies and Sony Cine in the US.
Episodes of Ultimate Count down: Top Ten, Spotlight, Stars! and Director’s Short Cut are also currently airing on Sony Movies and Sony Cine in the US.
Alexandra Marguerite, Prime’s head of sales, said: “We are very proud that the variety of our cinema-related and enter tainment programmes allow us to maintain these precious relationships and to be a part of the entertainment experience these major channels offer to their viewers.”
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Drops of God stars Fleur Geffrier (left) and Stanley Weber
TV Tokyo’s Hiroaki Saiki
Prime Entertainment Group’s Alexandra Marguerite
SHOWCASE FOR SINGAPORE’S STORYTELLERS
SINGAPORE’s creative com munity is in town with 460 hours of premium content, ranging from heart-warming drama to Asian perspectives on global affairs. The 17-strong delegation is co-led by Singapore’s Infocomm Media Develop ment Authority (IMDA) and the Association of Inde pendent Producers (AIPRO).
Justin Ang, IMDA’s assistant chief executive, media, innovation, communica tions and marketing, said MIPCOM CANNES had long served as a valuable opportu nity for Singapore to show case its content and capabi lities as it strives to become “the regional media hub and enabler for Asian storytelling”.
Khim Loh, president of AIPRO, added. “This milestone event has served as the stepping
Rebranded Fifth Season takes a bow with busy content slate
MIPCOM CANNES is the first high-profile opportunity for lea ding content studio Fifth Season to present its new branding to the global market. Previously called Endeavor Content, the CJ ENMowned outfit is currently delivering more than 30 series and films a year and expects to produce more than $1bn of projects over the coming calendar year.
Key titles on the company’s slate include The Lost Daughter, Killing Eve, Tokyo Vice, The Night Mana ger, Normal People and Severance. Upcoming projects include the fi nal instalment of See, starring Ja son Momoa, for Apple; Lady In The Lake, starring Natalie Portman, for Apple; and The Lost Flowers Of Alice Hart, Amazon’s first Austra
lian original. On the factual side, Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman are co-directing The Zelensky Pro ject, a feature documentary on the Ukraine president that is co-pro duced and co-financed with Vice Studios.
Coming to MIPCOM CANNES, co-CEOs Chris Rice and Graham Taylor also unveiled a reshuffled management team. Promoted to president, television distribution, Prentiss Fraser will oversee strate gy, operations and partnerships across scripted and non-scripted content for the studio’s distribution team. Joe Hipps, meanwhile, is up ped to president, TV development and production, and Todd Sharp is elevated to president, production. The name Fifth Season comes from
Eastern medicine, which reco gnises a fifth season, a celebratory time of harvest in late summer.
Spain sharpens co-production focus
stone to connect international players with local talents that can further opportunities for media companies and crea tors in Singapore.”
Among the 60 titles on offer are animation series for both young and old, including Blu Mushroom’s underwa ter fantasy Oceanheart and Robot Playground Media’s adult animation Downstairs. The drama slate includes Infinite Studio’s horror story Losmen Melati, which centres on an old Dutch colonial plantation-turned guest house; and Mocha Chai’s Laboratories Venus
On Mars, a rom-com about a college student who is trans ported to a parallel universe populated only by men.
AUDIOVISUAL from Spain, the state agency promoting Spani sh content abroad, has come to MIPCOM CANNES with a strong commitment to co-production.
Not least, there is its sponsorship of the Seaview Producers Hub, where it has an exclusive zone.
“In the past we’ve been more fo cused on distribution and sales, but we have understood from our companies how the market is changing,” said the organisation’s Ana Canadas. “They are asking for new ways of financing, of being at tractive to the worldwide market.”
She added that co-production was a way of injecting diversity and re levance in to programming.
Canadas also highlighted the Matchmaking Lunch: Spain & Cana da it hosted with Telefilm Canada, pairing producers from both coun tries; the panel session the company has sponsored, on Spanish-language content; and last night’s Producers’ Networking Drinks in the Seaview
Producers Hub. These, Canadas said, were “networking, business and fun. The more possibilities you have to reach potential pro ducers, the better. When you have these events, it’s another way to
socialise and do business.”
Audiovisual from Spain also has a stand on the Palais floor, housing 17 smaller production companies, and it also provides support to lar ger Spanish companies.
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‘‘The regional media hub and enabler for Asian storytelling’’
Prentiss Fraser, Fifth Season
Ana Canadas
Attenborough’s Frozen Planet melts heart around the globe
BBC STUDIOS has announced in ternational sales of its landmark series, Frozen Planet II, presented by Sir David Attenborough.
The six-part series produced by BBC Studios’ Natural History Unit and co-produced by BBC Ame rica, the Open University, Migu Video, ZDF, France Televisions
and NHK, has sold to Spain (Mo vistar+), Italy (Mediaset), Austra lia (Nine), New Zealand (TVNZ), Portugal (SIC), India (Sony BBC Earth), Sweden (SVT), Finland (YLE), Norway (NRK) and Den mark (DRTV). BBC Earth chan nels across Asia, Africa, Turkey, Poland, Canada, MENA, Nordics
and BBC Player in Malaysia and Singapore will also be premiering the series.
It is 11 years after the first series, and Frozen Planet II takes au diences on a spellbinding journey to the world’s coldest areas — the high mountains, frozen deserts, snowbound forests and ice-cold oceans — at a time when their fu ture hangs in the balance.
Hans Zimmer, the prolific cine matic composer whose recent work includes Frozen Planet II, will be the focus of a brand new documentary from the BBC Stu dios Natural History Unit dubbed Hans Zimmer – Hollywood Rebel. Other factual titles on the BBC Studios slate include the BBC Stu dios Science Units’ First Contact and How To Live To 101 (w/t) as well as documentary titles inclu ding The Louis Theroux Inter views and Fight The Power: How Hip Hop Changed The World.
GLOBAL SCREEN SEALS DEALS FOR MUNICH ‘72
DISTRIBUTOR Global Screen has clinched a series of sales for documentary Munich ’72 (3 x 45 mins/ 1 x 90 mins), a co-production with Sipur (for merly Tadmor Entertainment) and Israel’s Channel 8. Buyers include Poland’s Canal+, Italian broadcaster La 7, Slove nia’s RTV and Spanish’s Filmin.
“We are seeing strong sales mo mentum for Munich ’72 and are in advanced negotiations with a number of other buyers that we are meeting at MIPCOM,” said Julia Weber, Global Screen’s head of international sales and acquisitions. The documentary coincides with the 50th anniversary of the killing of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Summer Olympic Games. The first Israeli series to focus on the Munich massacre, the documentary combines reallife footage and dramatic scenes that are inspired by newly revealed historical information.
Vice showcases real-life stories
NEWLY appointed president of global TV at Vice Media Group
Morgan Hertzan is in Cannes with three commissioned shows to promote to potential buyers and open discussions with potential local broadcast partners.
One of the series on the slate, Ransom, covers the life stories of people who have been kidnapped for ransom around the world and those who rescued them.
Another, Cartel Queens, exposes the under-reported world of fe male crime and cartel bosses in South and Latin America. And Baker County focuses on the shocking and unexpected details of a murder that took place in Florida involving the son of a lo cal sheriff.
Much of the content for the three shows derives from investigative journalism by teams from Vice news services, including Vice News Tonight.
Deals for the content on offer at MIPCOM CANNES have already been signed for territories inclu ding Australia, the US and the Nordic countries.
Hertzan told MIPCOM CANNES News: “We are trying to ex plore our entrepreneurial spirit as a company. We are trying to be the new nimble kids on the MIPCOM block.’’
He added: “We want to find new partners and we want to hear what broadcasters want and what streamers want. We’re also here to have co-funding conversations.’’
COOL BRITANNIA BACK WITH SPIRIT
INSPIRED by the new wave of nostalgia dramatisations like Stranger Things, Pistol and It’s A Sin, Spirit Studios, the Channel 4-backed UK inde pendent production com pany has optioned Loaded magazine’s co-founder Tim Southwell’s book and original screenplay Getting Away With It.
Southwell depicts the crazy days of running Loaded, in a wild ride through the mid90s, Britpop and New Labour. Exploring rock music, cele brity, boom-time economics and political optimism, the drama boasts an 90s soun dtrack and a cast of outra geous 20-somethings caught up in Cool Britannia.
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ViceMedia Group’s Morgan Hertzan
Frozen Planet II (BBC Studios)
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Danish comedy The Orchestra is playing Studiocanal’s tune
STUDIOCANAL has acquired the workplace comedy series The Or chestra — an original idea from in ternationally acclaimed and BAFTA Award-winning Danish TV crea tor, screenwriter and playwright Adam Price (Borgen, Ride Upon The Storm, Ragnarok). Created by SAM Productions, one of Den mark’s most successful production companies, the comedy launches at MIPCOM this week. A second se ries is already in development. The Copenhagen Symphony Or chestra is a colourful workplace and a hotbed for power struggles, jealousy and relationship challen ges. The story unfolds amid these struggles and the extreme pres sures that are expected in a highly professional work environment.
Price said: “The Orchestra is a series dear to my heart, an offspring of my love for classical music. I have spent a lot of time in the world of classical music, and I noticed that an orchestra has its own ecosystem, which I could n´t resist exploring further. I have had the pleasure of teaming up with Mikkel Munch-Fals, who took over the reins on the series and has done a
brilliant job. Likewise, I am excited to share The Orchestra with the world.” Francoise Guyonnet, Studiocanal exe cutive managing director of TV added: “Adam and Mikkel have created very relatable and moving characters in this brilliantly funny and poignant drama. It’s such a great concept: a workplace comedy taking place behind the scenes of the orchestra.”
SOMEWHERE IS A PERFECT MIX FOR CHEFCLUB
FOOD-THEMED entertainment brand Chefclub has teamed up with Mediawan Kids & Family’s new subsidiary Somewhere Animation, looking for broad cast partners for Chefclub Ad ventures (52 x 11 mins), an ani mated comedy based around the notion of eating well. Aimed at the upper pre-school audience of children aged four to seven, the series is based on the popular Chefclub brand, which attracts 2.5 billion views each month around the world, including 390 million views a month in France, and one billion views per month in the US. Chefclub currently has 110 million subscribers worldwide.
Abacus seals raft of Benelux deals
MULTIPLE sales of non-fiction programming and drama series to Benelux have been confirmed by Abacus Media Rights (AMR). SBS (Belgium) has picked up Mar ried To A Psychopath, Aussie Kids
A&E, The Granny Killer: The Un solved Murders and Murdered At First Sight, with BBC Studios ac
quiring Hope Street (Seasons 1 & 2) for their BBC-branded channel BBC First (Benelux).
In addition to the above, AMR has also secured sales for Mariupol: The People’s Story (working tit le), The Cavern Club, The Beatles And India, Ronnies, Lennon’s Last Weekend, Agatha Christie: 100
Years Of Poirot And Miss Marple, Megalodemocrat, This Is Joan Collins and the second season of multi award-winning drama Sort Of to NPO (The Netherlands). 30 Greatest Moments: Adele, The Sheriffs Are Coming (Seasons 8 & 9) and Porn King: The Rise & Fall Of Ron Jeremy have been sold to RTL in the Netherlands.
Hana Palmer, head of sales at Aba cus Media Rights, said: “AMR’s portfolio is continuing to expand with a diverse range of highly watchable scripted and unscrip ted content. We are delighted that this programming has such strong appeal in Benelux right now. As we continue to grow, we have a raft of new programming set to launch which we are looking forward to sharing with our global clients this week at MIPCOM.”
SUPERNATURAL SALES ARE NO MYSTERY FOR WAG
FACTUAL producer Wag Enter tainment has closed multiple deals for titles from its science and mystery slate, including pre sales to Sky History (UK) and NTV (Germany) for upcoming series Evidence Of The Unexplained. Season 8 of What On Earth has been sold to NTV Germany, Blue Ant in Canada, Mediaset (Italy), Discovery (Iberia) and Te lewizja Polsat (Poland). Strange Evidence, which attempts to solve bizarre sightings captured by security cameras, dash-cams, and drones that defy normal explanations, has been sold to Blue Ant and NTV.
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The Orchestra (Studiocanal)
Sort Of (AMR)
Evidence Of The Unexplained (Wag Entertainment)
Chefclub’s Marie-Laure Marchand (left) with Mediawan’s Julien Borde and Arthur Colignon of Somewhere Animation
Time for historic crime drama to venture in new directions
KANIKA Oung, an aspiring fulltime producer/writer, is attending her first MIPCOM to correct a wrong she feels the TV entertain ment world has done to the US Pa cific North-West region.
Port Paradise, the six-part onehour historic crime drama she is developing, is located in Portland, Oregon, which is part of an area
she feels TV historical storytellers need to pay attention to, she said.
Her story is set in late 19th-centu ry Portland, “a melting pot of im migrants, and the most dangerous port of call on the West Coast. The city is ripe with gangs fighting over territory, and racism towards a growing Chinese minority is parti cularly prevalent”.
While many US-originated pe riod dramas, especially the Wes tern genre, have focused on the south-western US (California), Northern Mexico and Western Ca nada, “there are no historical dra mas set in the Pacific North-West,” Oung said.
And she is seeking a company that will co-produce the scripted show with her. “I am also looking for commissioners who love historical pieces,” she said.
Oung, who works in post-produc tion in her full-time job, is co-de
veloping the script with Torfinnur Jakupsson, creator of award-win ning crime drama Trom, the firstever Faroese drama series. It is currently available on internatio nal platforms, including the BBC iPlayer in the UK, Denmark’s DR, Viaplay and AMC+.
Born in Portland but current ly living in New York City, Oung explained why she was inspired to write Port Paradise: “As a first generation Asian-American from Portland, Oregon, I have always been interested in how society deals with issues like racism towards immigrants. The histo rical aspects of the high influx of immigrants from East-Asia, Scan dinavia and the small population of African-Americans, residing in Portland during this time, also make a fine framework for the sto ry, which relates to my own perso nal background.”
Canada’s TGTV Sees The Light
FRANK Greco, founder and pre sident of Canadian production com pany TGTV, is back at MIPCOM CANNES with director of produc tion Kim Wardell. Best known for his globe-trotting series The Travel Guy and Gourmet Escapes, Greco is now looking for partners for a mu
sic-themed documentary about Jeff Healey and a kids live-action enter tainment series.
Speaking to MIPCOM CANNES News, Greco said the Healey do cumentary, See The Light, is being made with the full support of the musician’s wife and estate: “Jeff
was blind from age one, but that didn’t stop him from growing up to become a force in blues rock. We’re making a feature length do cumentary that will include new interviews, archive footage and Jeff’s own voice.”
The kids series, Kidz Vibe TV, is the brainchild of Wardell, who says it will target nine- to 13-year-olds. “It’s a show by kids about kids,” she said. “It focuses on all the fun and entertaining things kids can do. We have our hosts and are aiming to have the series ready for 2023.”
TGTV also has a 1 x 60 mins epi sode of new franchise Paranormal Destinations available to buyers. Although based in Canada, Greco said: “We’re a global-facing content company, which is why we are here at MIPCOM looking for internatio nal partners.”
NEXTSTEP EYES DOCUMENTARY SVOD CONTENT
THAI firm Nextstep is pre paring to launch its new do cumentaries-focused SVOD service Doxzilla early in 2023.
The company is at MIPCOM CANNES buying content for its launch slate, with wildlife, science, history, travel and food among its key genres.
Doxzilla’s international do cumentaries will be dubbed into Thai and English to maximise its reach, including Thailand’s rural areas.
“We are targeting not just working people, but children right through to seniors,” said Nextstep managing director Amornphat Chomrat. “Easy and simple content is what people are looking for.”
UNBELIEVABLE
LONDON-based Future Studios and distributor TVF International have announced a brand-new factual series Unbelievable Me. The 10 x 45 mins series features real life stories of human bravery as inspirational people strive to overcome severe illnesses and medical conditions, refu sing to allow their disabilities to dominate their lives. Un believable Me is produced in partnership with Warner Bros. Discovery for its linear chan nels and discovery+ in the UK, Germany, Benelux, Italy, Latin America and Poland.
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Kanika Oung makes her MIPCOM CANNES debut
TGTV’s Kim Wardell and Frank Greco
ME PUTS FOCUS ON HUMAN BRAVERY
THE VICE-president of a new California-based AVOD streaming platform is in Cannes in search of international content to bring to North American viewers.
Bryan Louzil, vice-president of business development at newlylaunched Mometu, said North American viewers were hungry for new shows from around the world, including genres and productions from outside the mainstream.
“I relate it to food. If you’ve never tried certain foods, you don’t know what you’re missing,” he said. “If you look at Korean shows like Squid Game and Parasite, clearly once shows from these countries are introduced to North American viewers, they eat it up.”
Louzil is in Cannes for the first time with a view to meeting content makers and distributors
and find new shows for the free-toview AVOD platform, which went live in the US in August this year. He is keen to meet creators offe ring films and series from all over Asia, Europe and Africa, in par ticular those independent com panies whose content often gets
Mometu aims to satisfy big US appetite for fresh AVOD shows Canada’s Join TV on FAST track to launch
overlooked in favour of ‘blockbus ter’ titles.
“MIPCOM is the centre of the best content in the world,” he said. “It’s the number one content market, especially for European and Asian content.”
The platform launched with a slate of shows and international concepts, including South Korean crime drama The Policeman’s Li neage, starring Woo-shik Choi of Parasite fame.
Among the legacy TV shows being offered on the platform are classics such as Bonanza, Dragnet and Bat man. Mometu also includes over 200 free advertiser-supported TV (FAST) channels.
Louzil said subscriber numbers and views were growing exponentially and that the aim was to hit a million viewers within the first year.
DA VINCI SIGNS DANDELOOO’S FANTASTIC TOON
DANDELOOO has secured a pre-sale with kids educational platform Da Vinci for the 2D comedy and edutainment series Fantastic Antics. The deal sees Da Vinci acquire the worldwide rights for its educational channel and 7+ App. Fantastic Antics (26 x 3.5 mins) is a fun, slapstick series that explains with humour all about what the ancient world was like. Luca Fiore, director of content, Da Vinci, said, “The show’s mix of humour and learning is what makes Fantas tic Antics a great fit for us.”
“WE’RE creative Canadians in a US-dominated space,” said Warren Campbell of Join TV — “Just One Incredible Network” — which is set to begin beaming out programming in January next year and hopes to disrupt AVOD and FAST-TV incumbents. When it opens, it will be the first Cana da-based FAST-TV service and boast around 10,000 hours of content spread over 25 channels, Campbell said.
Among those channels will be dedicated fashion, documentary, crypto news, indigenous peoples and LGBTQ2S+ streams, as well as others catering to niche au diences such as veterans. There
will also be the world’s first co medy NFT channel, in which buying footage via QR codes will give fans special access to be nefits such as comedy festivals.
Join TV is also planning interac tive content allowing Join TV to talk directly to viewers. “We’re trying to be as much of a techno logy company as a television com pany,” Campbell said.
He added that Join TV was clo sing deals with hardware (smart TV) manufacturers, a hotel chain and senior citizens’ homes to gain digital real estate, and was finding “tremendous interest” in Join TV. “We’re very bullish about the po tential,” he said.
MCONTENT DEEP DIVES INTO THE WORLD OF WEB3
WEB3 VIDEO streaming platform MContent has commissioned a premium documentary series that takes a deep dive into the characters, businesses, entre preneurs and communities driving the Web3 movement. A co-production between MContent and Villain Studios with Decrypt Media on board as executive producers, The Web3 Wonderland (6 x 22 mins) fol lows, highlights and showcases six Web3 trailblazers and their ground-breaking ideas about the future of the internet. The factual series commission follows from Blockchain Life, a co-pro duction between MContent, Insight TV and Villain Studios.
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Mometu’s Bryan Louzil
Warren Campbell
Fantastic Antics (Dandelooo)
CONFERENCES & EVENTS PROGRAMME
MIPCOM THANKS ITS SPONSORS & PARTNERS
Media Mastermind Keynote
Talks
Sessions will be available in catch-up on ONEMIP digital platform.
Diversity & Inclusion
Unscripted Track
MIP
AVAILABLE IN 2023