Laurine Garaude Talks MIPTV Highlights

CANNES: Laurine Garaude, the director of the television division at Reed MIDEM, offers up a look at some of the highlights MIPTV delegates can look forward to next month.

Some 11,000 delegates are expected at MIPTV 2016, including 1,600 exhibitors—of them, more than 60 first-timers—hailing from more than 100 countries. The number of buyers is expected to be on par with last year’s event, with some 4,000 expected, with more than 1,000 buying for nonlinear services.

The theme of this year’s conference is “The Power of Fans,” which, according to Garaude, “reflects the growing role that audiences, especially fans, are playing within the entertainment ecosystem.”

The role of the superfan is perhaps most clear in drama, where shows like The Walking Dead, Empire and Doctor Who have spawned legions of loyal supporters across the globe who are driving social-media conversations and giving broadcasters record ratings.

Drama takes center stage at MIPTV in the form of the inaugural MIPDrama Screenings. Some 300 top buyers are already registered to screen 12 titles, which were selected by a jury of well-regarded showrunners: Teresa Fernández-Valdés and Ramón Campos (The Refugees, Velvet and Gran Hotel), Chris Long (The Americans, The Mentalist), Sarah Phelps (And Then There Were None), Søren Sveistrup (Forbrydelsen) and Anna Winger (Deutschland 83).

The 12 dramas that will be screened for buyers on April 3 are Bodo (Poland), Bordertown (Finland), I Know Who You Are (Spain), Ku’damm ’56: Rebel with a Cause (Germany), Mathilde (Russia), Medici: Masters of Florence (Italy), Public Enemy (Belgium), Ramona (Chile), Section Zéro (France), The A Word (U.K.), The Secret (U.K.) and Victoria (U.K.).

“We’re extremely excited about MIPDrama Screenings,” Garaude says. “We’ve had very enthusiastic reactions from just about everybody, especially the buyers. The event is the result of discussions we’ve had with our buyers over a couple of years about the huge volume of high-quality, high-profile, high-end drama being produced around the world. MIPDrama Screenings is meant to be a filter to highlight production that is happening internationally.”

There’s also the fifth edition of the International Drama Co-Production Summit, where speakers will include STUDIOCANAL’s Rola Bauer, Federation Entertainment’s Pascal Breton and Lookout Point’s Simon Vaughn.

Plus, Garaude highlights screenings of three other high-profile dramas: A+E Networks’s Roots, with several cast members in attendance; Endemol Shine’s Turkish series Intersection; and Lagardère Studios’s French thriller Cannabis.

Drama will also feature prominently in the Focus on Germany sessions, which have been organized with ZDF Enterprises and Red Arrow International, together with Deutsche Welle, Global Screen and WDR mediagroup. “Germany is one of the main markets in terms of TV revenues and it’s enjoying very significant growth in all sectors, particularly pay TV and VOD,” says Garaude on why the country was selected for a spotlight at MIPTV. “Not only is it a very vibrant market, but it’s also playing a very active role in creating high-quality content, for instance Deutschland 83. There are many German companies that are in fact global companies, investing throughout the world and being very active in co-productions.”

Another highlight, Garaude notes, is the keynote lineup, which includes best-selling author Harlan Coben, who has entered the TV space, first with The Five for Sky and now with his own production outfit; RTL Group co-CEO Guillaume de Posch; and Dominique Delport, the president of Vivendi Content and Havas Media. In addition, Mattel’s president and COO, Richard Dickson, will be attending MIPTV, where the company is being fêted with the Brand of the Year award. Dickson will be interviewed by World Screen‘s Anna Carugati following his keynote address on stage at the Grand Auditorium.

Brands are a key theme of the market this year, with a Brands and Online Video Summit taking place in conjunction with the returning Digital Fronts. “We have key consumer brands coming to MIPTV,” Garaude says. “We’re also organizing matchmaking sessions with MCNs. Brands are looking to find new talent and they want to work with new stars from original online video.”

The Digital Fronts also have new participants. While the giants of the online space are returning—Machinima, VICE, Maker Studios and Fullscreen, among others—companies participating for the first time this year include Endemol Shine Beyond, FremantleMedia’s The Football Republic and ProSiebenSat.1’s Studio71.

The Kids@MIPTV strand is back with the Future of Kids TV Summit, now in its third year, the Kids’ Channels and Platforms Talk, matchmaking sessions and, for the first time at MIPTV, the International Emmy Kids Awards.

Ahead of MIPTV’s kickoff on Monday will be what Garaude bills as the “biggest weekend in unscripted” as delegates convene for MIPDoc and MIPFormats. This year, one badge will allow entry to both events, Garaude says.

MIPDoc highlights an exclusive premiere of The Story of God with Morgan Freeman, a keynote address from Morgan Spurlock, the digital screening library, a co-production summit and the inaugural Factual Trendsetter Awards, produced in association with World Screen and honoring Smithsonian Networks’s David Royle, Discovery Networks CEEMEA’s Nesta Owens, RMC Découverte’s Corentin Glutron and ZDF/ZDF Enterprises’s Kristina Hollstein.