This is the first in a series of posts by the MIPTV News team, summarising the highlights of an action-packed week in Cannes. More soon!
MIPTV continues to be a powerful platform for deal-makers, with a wide array of licensing agreements across genres, platforms and territories. Tape sales, format deals and international co-productions all pointed towards a continued voracious demand for content.
Against the backdrop of a new look MIPDrama Buyers Summit and the launch of CANNESERIES, dramas that sold well included Killing Eve, distributed by Endeavor Content/IMG and part of the new TV festival’s Official Competition (stars Sandra Oh, Jodie Corner and writer Phoebe Waller-Bridge are pictured on the CANNESERIES pink carpet above). A new deal with CANAL+ Group followed recent sales to HBO Europe, Hot for Israel and TVNZ for New Zealand.
Another high-end drama in the news was the ITV/Amazon period drama Vanity Fair, which sold to Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the Netherlands and Spain, where it was picked up by Movistar+. There were also announcements that literary works Gormenghast and The Name Of The Rose are to be adapted for TV. The latter is a TMG project that has been presold to Orange in France and across Scandinavia.
Entertainment One (eOne) sold scripted series The Detail and Designated Survivor to UK broadcaster Channel 5. In addition, The Detail was also licensed to TNT Nordic, Fox Networks (The Middle East), Yes DBS (Israel), Cosmote TV (Greece) and SBS Belgium.
In other scripted deals, Japan’s Fuji TV enjoyed a lot of success with comedy drama The Confidence Man, which has sold to 80 territories and is now being remade in territories such as China and South Korea. Also out of Japan, Nippon TV’s Mother is to be remade by STB Ukraine.
Still on scripted formats, Armoza Formats has sold three shows to India. Fellow Israeli firm Dori Media also revealed a new licensing deal for classic format Lalola, picked up by TV Azteca in Mexico.
One of the most interesting developments at MIPTV 2018 was unusual cross-border creative collaborations. For example, EbonyLife announced just before heading off to Cannes that it has joined forces with Sony Pictures Television (SPT) to make three Africa-themed scripted series including The Dahomey Warriors. Elsewhere, Beta Film and O3 Productions, the production arm of Middle Eastern broadcaster MBC, announced they are partnering on a multi-series deal to co-produce scripted projects which bridge the Arab and European worlds.
Underlining the importance of emerging OTT platforms, APC licensed the drama Keeping Faith to Acorn Media Enterprises in the US. BBC Studios also announced the sale of 1,700 hours of content to Russian digital platforms, including 800 hours to local OTT platform Okko.
There is a brisk trade in movies at MIPTV, with leading players like MGM in town with several major titles. HBO also announced that it had secured a slate of movies from distributor FilmRise.
Factual deal-making was also robust at MIPTV. In terms of co-productions, Gedeon unveiled a deal with ARTE, NHK and CuriosityStream to make a film on the Palace of Versailles. Smithsonian and EBS, meanwhile, linked up on China’s Dragon Emperor.
Among ground-breaking deals, Tencent in China is to make a local version of NHK’s Document 72 Hours, a series that shoots in one place for 72 hours for each episode. CuriosityStream, meanwhile, acquired The Real War Of The Thrones: A History Of Europe from Pernel Media.
Other substantial partnerships included an output deal that will see ARTE Distribution licence 50 hours of content to NC+ Group of Poland over next three years. Banijay Rights, meanwhile, licensed a package of 65 hours of programming to US arts network Ovation.
GRB Entertainment sold a raft of crime series to broadcasters in Africa, Australia and New Zealand, including e.tv, M-Net and Foxtel. All3media international was also busy, securing factual deals with broadcasters across Germany and Benelux. This included a deal with ZDF in Germany for Lion TV’s The Great Fire Of London: In Real Time.
TCB Media sold shows to US channels including The Private Lives Of The Monarchs and also did a co-production deal with Barcroft Media. ZDFinfo picked up a true crime factual series from Balanga and Distributor Dogwoof secured a wide range of deals for factual titles including The Price Of Everything and This Is Congo. Canadian producer/distributor Media Ranch also secured several new deals at MIPTV. Among these, international media firm Olympusat has acquired True Sex Confessions for the US Hispanic market.
On the format front, Pro7Sat1 in Germany is to make a local version of Hat Trick International’s Rich House Poor House while all3media international licensed The Real Full Monty format to Seven Network Australia. In a pioneering partnership, Keshet International (KI) announced plans to co-develop a format with Yomiuri TV in Japan. KI also sold talent show Masters Of Dance in Vietnam, Spain and Norway.
Proving that nowhere is immune to great formats, BBC Studios licensed Dancing With The Stars to Nepal. Meanwhile, Armoza Formats closed its first deal for new format, The Surprise Teacher, picked up by French Canadian production company Avanti Cine Video. An illustration of the increasingly complex nature of production alliances in this arena, FremantleMedia licensed the Ready Or Not format from another producer/distributor Argonon International.
The animation business continues to boom. Toonz Media Group, Neon Creation and Backbone Entertainment signed a co-pro deal for Chi-Chi, The Apprentice Sorceress while Spanish/Russian pre-school series Yoko was licensed for online distribution by Jetsen Huashi in China.
Kids live action was also high-profile at MIPTV, with sessions and screenings looking at Find Me In Paris and Skam, among others. In terms of deals, one of the most interesting was the news that Rainbow Group’s animation franchise is going to be redeveloped as a live action series for Netflix. Breakthrough Entertainment, meanwhile, sold a slate including Anne Of Green Gables to Fox Channels Asia and RAI.
Another notable deal saw Kew Media Group migrate the 450-hour library of Frantic Films onto its distribution platform, so the company will now representing Frantic’s portfolio internationally.
Branded content was a big theme at MIPTV, with web series Carmilla especially high-profile. Vying for attention in this arena was Red Bull, which announced a football-based co-production with Beta Film. Red Bull also used MIPTV to announced ambitious plans for a moonshot.
On the corporate front, the most high-profile deal was eOne’s acquisition of UK-based entertainment producer Whizz Kid.
