Series Mania Launches Buyers Upfront

The Series Mania Forum is launching a brand-new initiative, the Series Mania Buyers Upfront, a prelude to the Forum designed to provide buyers with exclusive access to series and facilitate networking opportunities with the distributors behind these shows.

The Series Mania Buyers Upfront is an invitation-only event for buyers, showcasing exclusive excerpts from 12 series that have strong global appeal. Curated by the Festival’s artistic team, the selection will include high-potential series about to be released or still in postproduction.

The selection will be based on both artistic merit and broad audience appeal.

The event will debut on March 24, 2025, at the Chamber of Commerce (CCI), the Festival headquarters, in Lille’s historic city center.

A jury of top buyers will present the Buyers Choice Award for the most promising series. The jury, featuring Ghislain Barrois (director of cinema, fiction, sales, rights’ acquisition and distribution at Mediaset Spain Communication Audiovisual Group), Katie Keenan (group director of acquisitions for the U.K., Ireland and Europe at Sky), Rubén Fernández Loa (head of series acquisitions at Movistar Plus+ in Spain), Johanna Gardare (head of drama at SVT in Sweden) and Virginie Padilla, (commissioning editor and series acquisitions for Arte in France and Germany) will evaluate the selected series and announce the winner at the Series Mania Forum Welcome Drinks that evening, followed by a red carpet screening.

Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania, said: “Series Mania Buyers Upfront will serve as a bridge between industry professionals and the Series Mania Festival, offering a top lineup of series selected by our Festival team. This new initiative offers buyers a unique opportunity for exclusive screenings, dedicated meetings and networking opportunities, and a full festival experience. We are designing a tailor-made experience just for the buyers.”

Francesco Capurro, director of Series Mania Forum, added: “Given the recent changes in the international marketplace, Series Mania is now perfectly positioned as the leading European event for scripted content development, as well as a key hub for distributors and buyers looking for content. With our new initiative, we will be better able to connect these distributors and buyers while further strengthening the Series Mania Forum as the must-attend event of the spring for the scripted community.”