Event Preview: MIPTV

PARIS: Laurine Garaude previews some of the highlights of MIPTV 2013, which runs from April 8 to 11.

MIPTV celebrates a key milestone this year—the market has now been in operation for 50 years. The brainchild of Bernard Chevry, the first MIPTV took place in Lyon in 1963, with just a few hundred television executives attending, largely from continental Europe.

“There wasn’t an international market at the time,” Garaude notes. Indeed, at the time, the concept of hosting an event for people involved in the global television business was received with skepticism. Today, Chevry “is seen as a visionary,” Garaude says. “In many ways [MIPTV] really created the international [television] market. It was built out of that. Now, the market is so international in every way.”

The 50th anniversary celebrations include a fireworks display at the Martinez beach during the opening party, which will also play host to the International Digital Emmy Awards. In addition, MIPTV is presenting the United Nations Global Education First Initiative on Wednesday, moderated by former U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

“The inventor of TV, Philo Farnsworth, originally saw TV as a tool to foster learning and to bring about positive change in the world,” Garaude notes. “It seemed like a fitting occasion on MIPTV’s 50th to partner with the United Nations for the Global Education First Initiative, which is about creating awareness of the fact that today, 60 million children still do not receive any schooling. It is to create awareness about how we can make learning accessible to all.”

Among those slated to participate in the session are Discovery’s David Zaslav and John Wood, the founder of the non-profit organization Room to Read, which is focused on literacy and gender equality.

Zaslav is also set to deliver one of MIPTV’s Media Mastermind keynotes, joining a lineup that includes Entertainment One’s Darren Throop, Endemol’s Tim Hincks and Sky’s Sophie Turner Laing. A number of creators and programming heads will also be sharing their insight at MIPTV keynotes, among them Gideon Raff and Howard Gordon, discussing how Prisoners of War became the Showtime hit Homeland; Tim Kring on multiplatform storytelling; and the BBC’s Ben Stephenson and DR’s Piv Bernth on their commissioning strategies. Also on the agenda is aerial expert Felix Baumgartner and Red Bull Media’s Alexander Koppel, sharing their thoughts on the evolution of branded entertainment.

Producers and creators also take center stage during the Producers’ Hub sessions throughout the week. David Goyer will lead a masterclass on the BBC Worldwide/Starz co-production Da Vinci’s Demons, which will have its world premiere screening on the opening night of MIPTV. The screening will be followed by an on-stage conversation with Goyer and cast members Tom Riley, Laura Haddock, Lara Pulver and Blake Ritson.

Also part of the Producers’ Hub, actress Thandie Newton, executive producer Nick Hamm and Entertainment One’s Peter Emerson, among others, will deliver insights on U.K-Canada co-pro Rogue, which has been picked up by DIRECTV. There will also be a masterclass on Hemlock Grove, Gaumont International Television’s series for Netflix created by horror master Eli Roth and starring Famke Janssen.

All three shows reflect new models of drama co-production, a topic that will be discussed at the closed-door, by-invitation-only International Drama Co-Production Summit on Monday afternoon. Participants are set to include representatives from ZDF, BBC Worldwide, Red Arrow, Tandem Communications, AMC, RTE, ITV Studios, Sundance Channel, Cineflix Studios and many other broadcasters, distributors and producers from across the globe.

The overall number of producers attending MIPTV has been steadily increasing, Garaude explains, as has the number of new-media players. “Participation is up” in general, Garaude notes. “We should be in the neighborhood of 700 or so, maybe more, VOD and digital buyers,” a 30-percent increase on MIPTV 2012.

There will also be numerous technology companies and digital content creators on site, taking part at MIPCube, an event that Garaude says has “blossomed” over the last few years. “We have the MIPCube Square within the Palais,” which will feature content and technology demos, including a showcase of the finalists of the Content 360, Start-Up and TV Hack competitions. There will also be MIPCube Talks focused on how to create for and engage and monetize “an audience of users,” as compared with the more traditionally passive viewing. Another highlight, Garaude says, is the Original Online Content Screenings, in partnership with YouTube.

For more on the MIPTV schedule, visit MIPTV.com.