Series Mania Outlines Plans for Festival & Forum

Details are in place for the upcoming Series Mania Festival, set for August 26 to September 2, as well as for the Series Mania Forum, the industry arm of the event, taking place August 30 to September 1.

Series Mania Festival—which has more than 50 series, 25 world premieres and 462 series screened from more than 40 territories—will feature guest stars and plenty of events. The International competition jury will be chaired by screenwriter, director and producer Hagai Levi (BeTipul, The Affair, Our Boys), who will award the grand prize for best series, as well as the prizes for best actress and best actor. Guests of Honor will include Fanny Herrero, Delphine Horvilleur, Tania De Montaigne, Clyde Phillips, Édouard Philippe, Olivier Marchal, Vince Gilligan and Damon Lindelof. The opening series will be the international premiere of Vigil from BBC One, while new season premieres include Money Heist, Criminal Games—The 70’s, Mytho and Les Engagés: XAOC.

The Series Mania Forum includes the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions and a host of other elements. This year, Series Mania Forum launches the Creative Bazaar, an incubator for unique residencies, workshops and training programs for writers and producers from all over the world. Talent taking part in the UGC Writers Campus, Series Co-Writing Residency Israel-France and Deental Series workshop will meet up in one specific space, the Bazaar St So, in Lille, from August 25 to 29. They will work independently but also participate in common networking events and masterclasses with special guests, including Chris Brancato (Narcos, Godfather of Harlem) and Clyde Phillips (Dexter, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Suddenly Susan).

Reserved for accredited members, Series Mania Digital will feature a broadcast, live and then in replay, of all the content, events and conferences offered on-site.

The Lille Dialogues brings together European lawmakers and international TV industry leaders for a day-long international trade summit to encourage joint reflection on the challenges facing the TV industry and to promote international cooperation. The 2021 edition of the Lille Dialogues will examine the strategies of the industry’s main players and the initiatives in place to make the TV industry a driver for recovery in Europe from the Covid-19 pandemic. Three round tables examining perspectives for TV industry players in Europe will be organized as part of the Lille Dialogues: Europe in an era of streaming: Opportunities for European content in a fragmented market; the future of TV: Linear broadcasters and the transformation of the sector; and a European strategy for public service broadcasting.

Through its panels and conferences, the focus will be on creativity and writing, but also on paradigm shifts in the industry, new economic models and the challenges of ecological transition. Exclusive sessions are confirmed with executives from Netflix, Disney +, Newen, WarnerMedia and ARTE. Additional panelists and speakers confirmed include
Simone Emmelius of ZDF, Christian Vesper of Fremantle, Moritz Polter of Windlight Pictures, Synnøve Hørsdal of Maipo Film, Anna Croneman of SVT and David Michel of Cottonwood Media/Federation Entertainment.

The 15 projects selected as part of the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions have been announced, after having received 560 projects from 59 countries. An international jury of industry professionals will determine the best project among the 15 projects and award the Best Project Award and €50,000 to help develop the winning show. One project from the Drama Series Days, a sidebar of the Berlin Film Festival, will also be included on an out-of-competition basis. The 2021 international jury of industry professionals includes Polly Williams of Entertainment One as jury president, alongside Maria Feldman of Masha, Sened Dhab of France Télévisions and Daniel Campos Pavoncelli of Indiana Production.

The official selection features Amal (Israel), Gold Train (Germany), Mozart Mozart (Germany), Prison Boy (Canada), La Palma (Norway), Liberty’s (France), We Were Legends (France), Noble Cause (Ireland, Switzerland), Moresnet (Belgium), Picadero (Spain, Colombia), Rabbi (Israel), In 1942 (France), Crude (U.K.), Error (Iceland, Portugal) and Red Rainbow (Russia), as well as, out of competition (ineligible for Best Project Award), in partnership with Drama Series Days, sidebar of the Berlin Film Festival, Balaton Brigade (Hungary).

The sixth edition of Coming Next from France, organized by TV France International (Unifrance) and Series Mania, will take place as part of the Series Mania Forum, in Lille and online, on August 30. With a special focus this year on series formats, the event will offer distributors and producers the chance to bring to market international adaptation rights for series and concepts. The five formats presented during the Coming Next from France Formats Special are #Boomer by Balanga, The Bureau by Federation Entertainment, Diana Boss by France tv distribution, 6.30pm by Lukarn and The Rope by Wild Bunch TV.