TV Drama Festival Schedule

Keynotes slated for the TV Drama Festival, taking place from October 3 to 5, include Universal Television’s Erin Underhill, Fremantle’s Christian Vesper, Banijay’s Christian Wikander, Two Brothers Pictures’ Sarah Hammond, ZDF Studios’ Robert Franke and Yi Qiao and many others. Check out the full schedule here and sign up for your free registration here.

The festival also features sessions on scripted acquisition strategies, windowing and financing strategies and how the role of the independent producer-distributor is evolving; plus, there’s a special presentation by The WIT.

Sign up for your free registration to attend here.

ONLY those registered will receive access to our Exclusive White Paper on scripted trends, featuring key intel from the event in a compact, easy-to-digest format.

Tuesday, October 3

• 9 a.m. EDT 
  Dramatic Choices

Our trademark opening session features key scripted buyers from across the globe: Sky’s Katie Keenan, RTÉ’s Dermot Horan, MultiChoice’s Waldimar Pelser, TV 2 Denmark’s Lars Erik Nielsen and SVT’s Karolina Stallwood.

• 11 a.m. EDT 
  ZDF Studios’ Scripted Edge

Robert Franke and Yi Qiao, VP Drama and Director Drama, respectively, at ZDF Studios, showcase the rising importance of English-language content and U.S. and U.K. partnerships to the company’s scripted strategy.

• 12 p.m. EDT 
  Banijay’s Christian Wikander

In his post as global head of scripted at Banijay, Christian Wikander leads IP creation and collaboration across 60 labels at the company.

• 1 p.m. EDT 
  Two Brothers Pictures’ Sarah Hammond

An Emmy-, PGA- and Golden Globe Award-winning television producer, Sarah Hammond has worked on such Two Brothers Pictures hits as Angela Black and The Tourist.

• 3 p.m. EDT 
  Universal Television’s Erin Underhill

As president of Universal Television, Erin Underhill oversees a unit that produces the Law & Order, One Chicago and FBI-branded franchises, among a raft of other broadcast, cable and streaming hits.

Wednesday, October 4

• 9 a.m. EDT 
  Window Watching

All3Media International’s David Swetman, A+E Media Group’s Alexandra Finlay and Global Screen’s Ulrike Schröder weigh in on how windowing and financing strategies are evolving in the age after peak TV.

• 11 a.m. EDT 
  Fremantle’s Christian Vesper

Across such acclaimed outfits as Miso Film, The Apartment and Euston Films, Christian Vesper, CEO of global drama, is driving the expansion of Fremantle’s scripted output across films and series.

• 1 p.m. EDT 
  Distribution Evolution

Dan March, managing partner of Dynamic Television, will showcase how the role of the independent producer-distributor is evolving in the scripted business today.

• 3 p.m. EDT 
  Fresh Hits

Bertrand Villegas, co-founder of The WIT, will close out the TV Drama Festival by showcasing the brands that are resonating with audiences on social media.

Thursday, October 5

Tune in for highlights from a slate of new dramas that will be available at MIPCOM.