MIPCOM: The Week in Factual

TV Real Weekly shines a light on what went down in the world of factual at MIPCOM.

The Reshaping the Content Game theme at MIPCOM encompassed a number of sessions, but two in particular put the spotlight on documentary and factual programming in a unique way. The Social Responsibility: Media’s Role in Creating and Provoking Global Change conference featured the Pakistani filmmaker and activist Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who recently completed work on her first two documentary features, Song of Lahore and A Journey of a Thousand Miles: Peacekeepers, which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, respectively. The session also featured photographer, filmmaker and environmental activist Yann Arthus-Bertrand, whose latest documentary, Human, is airing internationally. The conversation was about what the global media industry can do to engage people—especially the younger generations—to call them to action and perhaps help improve the world. The moving topic drew a standing ovation from the attendees.

The same day, that conference track hosted The Blue-Chip Legacy: Aspirational Megasession. The session featured FOX International Channels’ Liz Dolan, Atlantic Productions’ Anthony Geffen and the BBC’s Natalie Humphreys. The three discussed how to reinvent the genre, highlighting the use of new filming techniques and dramatic storytelling.

Indeed, the demand for blue-chip documentaries remains high, as 4K and other technological advancements make this type of evergreen content all the more appealing. Following its MIPCOM outing, Austria’s ORF-Enterprise wrapped up a slew of factual sales, including pickups for blue-chip titles from its renowned Universum strand.

“Series are this market’s top sellers, be they three- or up to five-part productions,” said Sabine Holzer, the head of TV at Terra Mater Factual Studios, in announcing a new raft of MIPCOM deals. At last week’s market, Terra Mater sold more than 250 hours of programming to buyers from Germany, France, the U.S., Sweden, China, South Africa, Russia and Poland.

Lifestyle and docu-reality series continued to fare well. Corus Entertainment made its first outing at MIPCOM as a factual distributor, launching three titles at the market. Corus landed U.S. deals for Cheer Stars (working title), set in the world of competitive cheerleading, and Masters of Flip, a renovation show.

FremantleMedia International finalized a slew of sales for the new cooking show Simply Nigella and the one-hour Nigella’s Christmas Special. The celebrity chef was on hand in Cannes to help launch the series.

A number of other talents who are front and center in factual shows made the trip over to France as well. Beyond Distribution welcomed Phil Spencer and Kirstie Allsopp of the U.K.’s Love It or List It and Cyril Chauquet, who leads the fishing-based adventure show Chasing Monsters. Ben Fogle, presenter of The Big Catch, and Jason Falla, a Special Forces veteran in Special Forces: Ultimate Hell Week, were part of the bevy of stars that BBC Worldwide brought to MIPCOM. This also included new Top Gear host Chris Evans, who posed for pictures along the Croisette with The Stig.

Read up on all these stories and more on TVReal.ws.