Event Preview: Producers’ Forum

NEW YORK: First introduced at MIPTV, the Producers’ Forum, organized in association with World Screen, will again deliver a slate of conferences and matchmaking events highlighting new financing and co-production models.

The Producers’ Forum, on October 4, kicks off with a session on lowering the cost of expensive format productions, followed by panel detailing production incentives in France.

The flagship session of the Producers’ Forum on Monday is the Formats Superpanel, in Conference Room Esterel on Level 5. Taking place at noon and moderated by Anna Carugati, group editorial director of World Screen, the panel features a number of top-level executives from the format business: François de Brugada, chief creative officer and executive VP of creative and commercial affairs at Banijay Entertainment; Rob Clark, president of worldwide entertainment at FremantleMedia; Michael Davies, president of Embassy Row; Alex Mahon, president of the Shine Group and Tom Toumazis, chief commercial officer of the Endemol Group.

The afternoon session, meanwhile, includes a panel on transmedia and a session with representatives from a number of film commissions and media funds. It wraps with an international c0-production masterclass on The Pillars of the Earth with Rola Bauer, partner and managing director of Tandem Communications, and David Zucker, president of television at Scott Free.

The Producers’ Forum is just one of many highlights at MIPCOM this year, which boasts several new exhibitors, reports Laurine Garaude, the director of television at Reed MIDEM. “There are also a number of new country pavilions, from China, Mexico, Turkey, so the show floor is looking very strong,” she says.

Garaude also points to the host of celebrities slated to be on site, including cast members from Mad Men, The Walking Dead, Hot in Cleveland and more.

On the keynote front, Jon Feltheimer, the co-chairman and CEO of Lionsgate—and MIPCOM 2010 Personality of the Year—will deliver an address on Tuesday, October 5, followed by a conversation with World Screen’s Anna Carugati. Another highlight, Garaude notes, is PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Marcel Fenez in conversation with Nonce Paolini, chairman and CEO of TF1, and John Smith, chief executive of BBC Worldwide.