MIPCOM CANNES brings together the most influential buyers, commissioners, producers, development executives and distributors from the global kids TV industry. The first of the Media Mastermind Keynotes was from Paramount’s chief content licensing officer Dan Cohen
NCIS ‘helps fuel production of new things’
The Media Mastermind Keynote by Paramount’s chief content licensing officer Dan Cohen included a surprise appearance by Michael Weatherly and Cote de Pablo, cast members from global juggernaut drama series NCIS.
Last seen on NCIS more than a decade ago, the two are reprising their roles as Tony DiNozzo and Ziva David in a Europe-located spin-off NCIS: Tony And Ziva.
De Pablo said: “I think fans have always wanted to see what happened between Tony and Ziva. We find them in Europe raising their child who is almost a teenager. They’re trying to make the family dynamic thing work, but in the middle of all that, terrible dangerous things come up.”
Weatherly, who also starred in Bull, welcomed the chance to shoot in Europe. “Having Europe as the setting of the show gives it a global feel. It really elevates the story lines and interactions.”
In commercial terms, NCIS has been massive for Paramount, Cohen said. “We have 3,000 movies and 10,000 episodes of TV in our catalogue. We’re constantly keeping those in circulation and they generate a lot of revenue. There are 1,000 episodes in the NCIS franchise alone. That helps fuel the production of new things.”
We have passion, attitude and experience
When director J A Bayona was shooting his movie The Impossible, about a family in the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami in Thailand, he was quoted a price by a big FX house solely for the water-bound parts of the key disaster scene that was several times his whole special effects budget. So he went back to Spain and, with key collaborators, spent a year developing a plan for how to shoot it within budget.
“In the end, it was all real: we didn’t use CGI water and ultimately it was better for the process. You really need passionate people if you’re going to work on one scene for a year!” he said at the Media Mastermind Keynote Conversation & Screening titled Spain, Where Talent Ignites.
On Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, Bayona brought his key team including producer, cinematographer and sound specialists from Spain – in fact, they had been among his classmates at film school in Barcelona.
His compatriot and companion on stage was respected producer Diego Betancor of Lagrimá Films.
“We have passion, attitude and experience,” he said. “There are a lot of people growing and learning very quickly, and there are so many projects, sometimes I have trouble hiring!”
‘Creating space for all our stories to shine’
The eighth annual MIPCOM CANNES Diversify TV Awards celebrated the best programming promoting diversity and inclusion from the previous year.
“It’s important that we show up for our communities,” said French drag queen Nicky Doll, who was hosting, alongside diversity advocate Femi Oke and disability campaigner and film-maker Adam Pearson, with Garcelle Beauvais also making an appearance as guest presenter. Doll continued: “It’s about more than representation, it’s about creating space for all our stories to shine.”
First up was the Behind The Scenes Impact Award, which went to Banijay Launch, an accelerator programme that pairs emerging female creators with Banijay Entertainment’s global network of creatives.
The Representation Of Disability, Scripted category was won by season two of One Of Us, about disabled French high school students.
The Non-Scripted award was given to Gigantene (The Giants), about “the first-ever Norwegian national football team for little people”, and its participation in the World Dwarf games.
In the LGBTQIA+ section, the Scripted prize went to Lost Boys And Fairies, which tells the struggle of a queer singer and his partner to adopt a seven-year-old boy.
The Non-Scripted award went to Y A Une Étoile (There’s a Star) for its transgender musical journey through rural Acadia.
In the Representation Of Race And Ethnicity categories, the Scripted award went to Three Little Birds, a story inspired by comedian Lenny Henry’s mother’s journey from the Caribbean to the UK.
On the Non-Scripted side, the award went to White Nanny, Black Child, about Nigerian children who were fostered by white British families in the 1970s.
The final awards were for outstanding examples of Representation Of Diversity In Kids Programming. The Pre-School award went to literary mystery series Wordville. The Older Children prize went to film Windcatcher, about a diverse group of First Nations children and their fight against bullying.
‘I’ve had an experience of a lifetime’
Sir David Suchet has been in Cannes to talk about his travels across the globe following in the footsteps of renowned crime writer Dame Agatha Christie.
Suchet portrayed Christie’s famous character Hercule Poirot and now takes on the role of presenter for the Sphere Abacus title Travels With Agatha Christie With Sir David Suchet.
The five-part travel documentary series, produced by Soho Studios and Two Rivers Media, retraces the 10-month journey that Christie embarked on in 1922, aged 31, before she became the world’s best-selling author. Her itinerary took her across South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii and Canada.
“I’ve had an experience of a lifetime. I believe it’s slightly changed me,” Suchet told MIPCOM Daily News. “I’ve had experiences that Agatha had and learned about my author, who gave me 25 years of Poirot.”
A keen photographer, Suchet is armed with his own camera as he documents his key moments of the voyage and shares his pictures with the viewer.
Suchet uncovered a side to Christie he was previously unaware of: “I only knew her as one type of person, and I discovered this adventurous young woman – a bit flirty, she sang on board ship with a piano in front of crowds,” he said.
‘Everyone is talking about Spain!’
“Everyone is talking about Spain!” said Pablo Conde, general director of internationalisation at ICEX Spain Trade and Investment, during the session Spain: Igniting Global Hits. He noted that Spain’s audiovisual sector had received €1.6bn of investment in recent years.
“We are discovering an increasing trust in our work, and in the technicians in Spain,” said Mike Villanueva, film commissioner at the Castilla-La Mancha Film Commission.
The session focused on two recent productions: Zorro, the latest reimagining of the famous masked hero; and Weiss & Morales, a crime drama set in the Canary Islands.
“The natural settings are incomparable with other parts of Europe,” said Marc Dujardin, producer at Le Collectif 64, talking about Zorro.
Beautiful landscapes were also a big factor in ZDF’s decision to make Weiss & Morales in the Canary Islands, said Susanne Frank, drama director at ZDF Studios. She added: “There is still room to grow for Spanish productions – in Germany, but also in other countries in Europe and Asia.”
A generous system of tax incentives is helping, including fuelling the ambitions of Spanish production companies.
“For us as producers it allows us to retain IP and make stronger productions,” said Nina Hernandez, head of content at Portocabo.
‘We are much more flexible’
Disney EMEA executives highlighted drama Rivals at a MIPCOM CANNES session yesterday, reinforcing the message that Disney+ isn’t just for kids.
The adaptation of Jilly Cooper’s book set in the 1980s, with a cast including David Tennant and Alex Hassell, follows a group of individuals who are out for themselves both in the boardroom and the bedroom.
Diego Londono, executive vice-president media networks and content, The Walt Disney Company EMEA, shared that it’s a challenge to get content providers to understand that the global streamer carries adult fare.
“We are a Disney-branded service but there is more than just kids and family,” he said.
Speaking to a packed room of content executives at a Producers’ Hub session, Londono said he is currently focused on the key markets of France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the UK and Turkey, where his teams are taking pitches. He’s looking for “local for local: local stories, local language. We are not doing broad multi-market English-language pieces.”
Disney’s approach to co-productions has changed since it launched Disney+ in 2019. Now Londono said the focus on full commissions has evolved and the company isn’t always taking the first window.
“We are much more flexible in the types of things we do,” he said.
Edited by SARAH KOVANDZICH for the MIPCOM DAILY NEWS TEAM on OCTOBER 22, 2024
For more on these and other stories read MIPCOM DAILY NEWS online: MIPCOM CANNES Daily 3.
