Series Mania Sees Attendance Lift

Attendance was up for the eighth edition of Series Mania, as well as for the companion Co-Production Forum, in Paris.

Held from April 13 to 23, Series Mania saw some 53,000 people attend 150 screenings hosted at the Forum des images and other theaters across Paris—up 37 percent on 2016. A selection of 59 series and 15 web and digital projects, including 31 world or international premieres from 22 countries, were shown.

Core to the programming aspect was a selection of ten series in the official competition, presented to a jury presided over by Damon Lindelof (showrunner on The Leftovers) along with Aure Atika, Clément Manuel, Agnieszka Holland and Eytan Fox. Winners included the Israeli production Your Honor (Jury Grand Prix), the U.S. show I Love Dick (Special Jury Prize) and two European winners: the German series 4 Blocks and the British show Broken, which respectively won Best Actor and Best Actress.

From April 18 to 21, the Co-Production Forum saw more than 1,600 attendees, up 33 percent on 2016. The 16 projects for series in development selected by the Forum from 312 submissions, up 61 percent compared to 2016, were in competition for the first time. The Co-Production Forum’s Pitching Sessions gave rise to 445 individual meetings between those leading the various projects and a range of potential financial partners, including acquisitions and sales execs and producers from 39 countries.

This year, the Co-Production Forum, in association with the TorinoFilmLab, opened a new program for nine projects in the writing phase. SeriesLab saw 84 meetings between creative teams and industry execs during the Co-Production Forum.