Series Mania Forum: 2,700 Industry Professionals Attend Event in Lille

The Series Mania Festival, which will hold its closing night ceremony on Saturday, March 30, boasted the attendance of 2,700 industry professionals at its Series Mania Forum.

Among the highlights of the 2019 Series Mania Forum were the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. Selected by a jury of international industry executives and the winner of a €50,000 ($56,129) prize was Purple, a drama set at a Parisian lesbian nightclub in the ’90s. Purple was one of 16 projects selected to be highlighted from a total of 399 submissions from 41 countries during the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions. From Mother Production, the drama will be co-produced with Silex Films and writer-creators Judith Havas and Noémie de Lapparent.

The second annual Lille Transatlantic Dialogues brought together political, corporate, creative and economic players from the TV and culture sectors in Europe and the U.S. Those in attendance included: Ted Sarandos (Netflix, U.S.); Nicolas de Tavernost (M6 Group, France); Charles Rivkin, (MPAA, U.S.); Lorenzo De Maio (Endeavor Content, U.S.); Georgia Brown (Amazon Studios, U.K.); Gilles Pélisson, (TF1 Group, France); Delphine Ernotte-Cunci (France Télévisions, France); and France Minister of Culture Franck Riester.

The festival also held the UGC Writers Campus writing workshop, the all-new VR (Virtual Reality) Co-Production Initiative and the signing of the 5050×2020 Charter for equality and diversity in cinema, audiovisual and animation festivals.

Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania, said: “It was very clear from all of the meetings and feedback we received that our motto ‘where series begin’ is exactly what the Forum is.  We are totally about content. We welcomed over 2,700 industry professionals to Lille, including producers, distributors, broadcasters, buyers and over 500 screenwriters. The response we received was wonderful, and we had many positive comments about the friendly networking and productive environment where many business deals were concluded.”

Francesco Capurro, director of Series Mania Forum, added: “To be able to announce that we had 2700 attendees at this year’s Forum is something we are very proud of and beyond our expectation. We are already starting to plan for next year and will be announcing the dates very shortly.”