TV content shines as deals abound at MIPTV
Whether it was Finnish based Rovio's Apps to animation series, Angry Birds, or the international co-production Titanic, business was buzzing on the Croisette this week.
With 11 000 executives, including 4000 buyers, from over 100 countries in town, representing all aspects of the new eco-system of the entertainment business, the global transformation of TV, in all its forms, was clearly visible at MIPTV and offered a multitude of exciting new business opportunities for the global TV industry.
During the market the major studios, production companies and broadcasters rubbed shoulders with executives from the likes of Amazon, Hulu, YouTube, Twitter and Google as well as more recent players to have broken onto the scene such as Machinima, Zeebox, Maker studios and NoTube.
The transformation of the television business was at the heart of this year's MIPTV and at the centre of most conversations. People around the world are consuming more TV content than ever before, in fact consumption has grown a further six minutes per day to a total of three hours and 16 minutes a day, according to Eurodata TV's 2011 report, however new technologies are radically changing the way they do it and opening up great opportunities for deep consumer engagement.
Among the slew of key deals announced during MIPTV were:
ITV Studios Global Entertainment and Lookout Point's eagerly-awaited drama mini-series, Titanic, presented at MIPTV's Gala Screening in the presence of cast members and scriptwriter Julian Fellowes, sold to China's Shanghai Joy Network, one of the country's largest online content providers. The deal takes the Titanic's sales tally to 95 countries.
Atlantique Productions (Lagardère Entertainment) and distributor SevenOne International presented the co-production, Le Grand, in which world renowned star and French silver screen actor Jean Reno plays the lead role. Reno was in Cannes for the launch of his first TV series.
Legendary former top-model, Elle Macpherson, attended MIPTV as the executive producer and host of Electus' new TV show Fashion Star which debuted in March on NBC. In order to build the world's next major fashion brands, Electus and 5x5 Media have partnered with Magical Elves and the Global Fashion Association to bring together undiscovered designers and top retailers to produce the first reality competition show in the fashion sector. Electus International has sold the completed series of Fashion Star to 75 territories and has optioned format rights in many territories.
FremantleMedia Enterprises signed a deal with US filmmaker, Morgan Spurlock to launch his new super-size series Morgan Spurlock's New Britannia internationally. FME also signed with Spurlock and his production company Warrior Poets for other factual productions including Failure Club and A Day in the Life, two titles which originated as web series.
German distributor ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE) completed deals in Cannes to sell Death Row, the four-part series from director Werner Herzog to broadcasters in Italy, Poland, Holland and Belgium.
BBC Worldwide closed its first ever deal with LOVEFiLM Germany. 300 hours of BBC content will be made available to subscribers of the Amazon-owned on-demand service.
Chinese representation growing
There was a growing delegation from China at MIPTV this year with over 200 delegates from the country. Numerous Chinese dignitaries were in Cannes including Cao Yin, deputy director-general of the International Co-operation Department, SARFT, Luo Ming, vice president of China Central TV (CCTV) and Liu Wen, managing director of the year-old CCTV Documentary Channel (CCTV-9).
At MIPDoc, which welcomed some 700 delegates, CCTV presented its hugely successful documentary channel, CCTV-9, which posts a staggering daily peak audience of 94 million viewers. Looking to export Chinese culture and sign co-production deals, Luo Ming told delegates, "We want to deepen the friendship with old partners and create opportunities for new friends."
During MIPTV, numerous co-production deals were announced between the international TV community and Chinese producers and broadcasters including, BBC Worldwide with CCTV-9 for a new science series. The agreement marks the first time that BBC's award winning science unit will work with the Chinese state broadcaster. ITV Global Studios Entertainment also inked an agreement with JOY.CN, one of China's largest content websites for a range of British drama. The multiyear output deal will see programs such as ITV Studio's big budget co-production Titanic and US network drama Prime Suspect made available via video on demand.
CCTV was also awarded a Record Certificate from The Guinness Book of Records for the 500 million audience of the CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the five hour show broadcasted during the eve of Chinese New Year.
At the inaugural two-day MIPCube focusing on the future of TV, over 500 participants from around the globe gathered to rethink the medium's future from creation to consumer engagement. Content creators brainstormed directly with technology providers to imagine innovative ways to deliver the best new TV experiences.
Highlights
Some of the highlights over the two days included MIPCubers having the opportunity to approach new media models like Machinima with their 166 billion monthly viewers online or media moguls, Maker Studios. In her opening MIPCube keynote speech, Cindy Gallop rocked the audience with her Smashing Through the Screen presentation in which she declared that the TV industry needed to design its own future. Unveiling the latest techniques in advertising and branding was Frederic Levron from Ogilvy & Mather and Richard Welsh from UK's Bigballs Films.
Roma Khanna, president, Television Group and Digital at MGM, took to the stage to give her vision of the things to come. The recipient of the first Media Architect of the Future award stated that content is king because TV is an experience not a device.
The importance of quality content was also underlined by Josh Sapan, president and CEO of AMC Networks when he said that the only answer to the question, What will keep them watching? was iconic content. Programming that, when we go without it, we miss it.
Connecting with your audience was also something Jonathan Mildenhall, Vice-President, Global Advertising Strategy and Content Excellence for Coca-Cola stressed in his Media Mastermind Keynote speech. Together with Ogilvy & Mather's Paris office, the Coca-Cola Company are taking branded entertainment to a totally new level with the launch of a new global dance movement called Toe Tappy.
600 participants; 54 countries
The third MIPFormats conference, pitching and matchmaking forum welcomed some 600 participants from 54 countries. This year's programme was the most ambitious yet, with more screenings, market analysis, networking opportunities, conference sessions, workshops and master classes than ever before. In his highly anticipated keynote, Fresh One Productions' Roy Ackerman, shared the Jamie Oliver owned company's trade secrets to creating successful shows but warned that successful branding was largely down to the authenticity of someone like Jamie Oliver who truly believed in what he did.
The Canadian company Antica Productions won the MIPFormats Pitch with Looking For Love (L4L) and was awarded €25 000 to develop the project by exclusive sponsors of the event, Warner Bros. International Television Distribution.
Production was at the heart of MIPTV 2012 and the number of producers attending rose by 25% with over 1220 international television production companies in Cannes of which 326 were first time attendees. Fuelling this trend is the increasing quest of producers to find international financial partners and funding.
Co-production growing in importance
The growing importance of co-production was the focus of the two-day Drama CoProXchange for commissioners, producers and deal-brokers involved in international production. The programme included a closed-door Drama CoProXchange Summit where new collaborative ideas were explored. Uniting some 50 executives including: Tobias de Graaff from ITV Studios Global Entertainment (UK), Pierre de Saint André from Canal + (France), Alexander Keil from ProsiebenSat 1 (Germany), Eleanora Andreatta from RAI (Italy), Den Donald from BBC Worldwide (UK), Gina Matthews from Little Engine Productions (USA) among many others. The summit was aimed at speeding up the process of drama co-productions at the beginning stages, where many of the critical creative, production, design, development and funding decisions are made.
Among major internationally renowned producers attending MIPTV this year was Iain Canning, the Oscar-winning producer for The King's Speech. Canning presented his new upcoming drama Top of the Lake. The six-part drama series will be directed by Oscar-winner Jane Campion.
BAFTA Award-winning, British TV writer and producer Paul Abbott was also in Cannes to present his highly anticipated new project Hit and Miss.
Erwin Schmidt, who produced Wim Wenders' Oscar-nominated dance film Pina in 3D, outlined during MIPTV's 3DTV Focus sessions, how he sees 3D as a creative tool offering a new visual language. He also unveiled a new European 3D documentary series featuring exceptional buildings and entitled Cathedrals of Culture. The series will be executive produced by Wim Wenders.
A brand new initiative called Producers to Watch was launched this year. Four young producer's that embody the next generation of talent were honoured at MIPTV; Harry Tordjman, (Myboxprod created in 2009) from France; Olmo Figueredo Gonzalez-Quevedo, (La Claqueta, created in 2002) from Spain; Pauli Kopu, (founding partner of KLOK Creative Agency, created in 2009) from Finland and Micho Marquis-Rose (La Presse Télé) from Canada.
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