MIA Confirms First Speakers

The ninth edition of MIA—International Audiovisual Market, slated for October 9 to 13 in Rome, Italy, has unveiled a host of speakers.

Nicole Clemens, Sara Bernstein and Marge Dean are among the slate, set to be featured in three key sessions. Additional names are to be announced in the coming weeks, along with the full program of the market.

Clemens, president of Paramount Television Studios (PTVS) and Paramount+ original scripted series, oversees a robust slate of shows for buyers across multiple platforms. She plans to speak about her career and Paramount’s strategic production worldwide.

Upcoming projects from PTVS include Taika Waititi’s Time Bandits and Billy Crystal’s Before, both of which will stream on Apple TV+, as well as Cross for Prime Video.

Bernstein, an award-winning producer and president of Imagine Documentaries, leads the development and production of premium documentary feature films and series. She is set to give a keynote on her career with special references to recent productions.

Some of those productions include Judy Blume Forever (Amazon Studios), Bono & The Edge: A Sort of Homecoming with Dave Letterman (Disney+) and The Volcano: Rescue from Whakaari (Netflix). Bernstein has also garnered a host of Emmy wins and nominations and 11 Peabody Awards, along with Oscar wins and nominations for documentary features she has supervised.

The Emmy-winning Dean, head of Skybound Entertainment’s animation studio and president of Women in Animation, is set to speak on the development and production of adult and teen animated content.

Known for building both studios and animation pipelines, Dean has played a major role in shaping or reshaping entities, including Columbia-TriStar TV, Warner Bros. Animation, Mattel’s Playground Production, Steve Oedekerk’s Omation, Technicolor Animation and WildBrain.

Additional names announced for MIA talks include Ari Folman, award-winning screenwriter, director, producer and animator; Nicholas Weinstock, founder and president of Invention Studios; and James Townley, chief content officer of development at Banijay, who will give a keynote on the development and creation of unscripted IP and the acquisition of formats and documentaries in the 21 countries around the world where the group has a presence.