Event Preview: MIPTV

PARIS: Laurine Garaude, director of Reed MIDEM’s television division, showcases some of the highlights of this year’s MIPTV schedule.

About 11,000 attendees are expected to descend on Cannes this April for MIPTV from all areas of the industry. And the conference schedule, themed “New Frontiers of Storytelling,” will resonate with all whether you belong to the drama, kids or factual communities, according to Garaude. “With short-form series being watched on smartphones, digital and TV drawing from each other and the drive of virtual reality, there’s never been a more exciting time for storytellers.”

MIPDoc and MIPFormats together form the biggest weekend for non-scripted content, reflecting the boom in factual programming that we are witnessing right now, Garaude reports, while the International Emmy Kids Awards, along with high-profile sessions, target the children’s programming industry. For those eyeing how technology will shape the future of content, there’s a strong focus on VR, including a keynote from Rikard Steiber, the president of Viveport at HTC Vive. “There’s a new VR area in the exhibition including demos and a VR Theatre showcasing exciting new VR content,” Garaude notes. “We’re also organizing the first leadership summit for immersive content, bringing together industry pioneers to talk about how the transactional market for VR and immersive content will emerge.”

Other keynote highlights include Roy Price, the VP of Amazon Studios; Jørgen Madsen Lindemann, the president and CEO of MTG; Giles Pelisson, chairman and CEO of TF1; Ivana Kirkbridge, the chief content officer at go90; and Paul Telegdy the president of the alternative and reality group at NBC Entertainment together with Meredith Ahr, president of Universal Television Alternative Studio.

The Digital Fronts will be back at MIPTV this year, spotlighting the wealth of content being produced by digital platforms, with participants that include Awesomeness TV, Jukin Media, Zoomin Studios, New Form, Studio71 and VICE Media. There’s also a short-form series pitch for drama with a jury that includes Fullscreen’s Damon Berger, Caracol’s Marco Liberini, Canal+’s Aline Marrache-Tesseraud and Vimeo’s Sam Toles, among others.

Drama is central to the MIPTV agenda, led by the second edition of the MIPDrama Screenings on Sunday in the Palais des Festivals’ Grand Auditorium. “We expect close to 600 participants, including 450 top buyers and international media who will screen a very high-end selection of 12 exciting new programs from around the world,” Garaude says. “We’ve also opened it for the first time to other producers and distributors who want to take part.”

Chosen by the MIP Drama Buyers Advisory Board, the official selection introduces two categories this year: “Works in Progress” and “Full Episodes,” Garaude says.

There are five works in progress—Babylon Berlin (Germany), Bad Banks (Germany), Bad Blood (Canada), Better Than Us (Russian Federation) and Ride Upon the Storm (Denmark). In the full episodes category there are seven programs: Clique (U.K.), Fearless (U.K.), Gap Year (U.K.), Jailers (Brazil), Missions (France), The Territory (Russian Federation) and Veni Vidi Vici (Sweden).

A total of six awards will be presented at the closing ceremony. Two awards (one in each category) will be selected by an international jury of writers, directors and executive producers. The members of the Grand Jury are Frank Spotnitz, Lars Blomgren, Virginie Brac, Ran Tellem and Jalil Lespert. Awards will also be chosen by a panel of television critics, and by the buyers in the room. Garaude says that distributors who took part in MIPDrama Screenings at MIPTV last year noticed a clear boost to their sales following the event.

There are also other major new dramas being presented this MIPTV. The World Premiere Screening is Sky’s Riviera, and the World Premiere Asian Screening is Japan’s Crisis. There will also be screenings hosted by Beta Film, TRT and MISTCO, ZDF, France Televisions and all3media. And brand new this MIPTV is a Latin American showcase, presented by The WIT, highlighting new dramas from Telefe, TV Azteca, Caracol, Telemundo and RCN, Garaude notes.

Also, “for the first time we’re holding a pre-L.A. Screenings Showcase,” Garaude says, with sneak previews of the L.A. Screenings titles from Lionsgate and Disney. “It gives the studios the opportunity to create a buzz about their line-up before the L.A. Screenings and buyers more time to prepare.”

With this year’s agenda, Garaude says, MIPTV delegates will be able to get a deep sense of “the whole spectrum of storytelling as it is today, and as it will be in the coming years.”