10 A headline from VideoAge’s January 2023 edition reads: “Developments at Series Mania Deal with Development”, and now we have to update it by adding... “and Sales.” This is because there were so many international TV buyers at the 13th annual incarnation of Series Mania Festival and Forum, that it was in effect, for the professional attendees, more of a market than a festival. Indeed, the Forum — which is the business component of the Festival, and offers TV screenings that are open to the general public — attracted 3,800 participants, 500 more than last year. Considering that this year’s Forum, held at the Grand Palais of Lille, France, also housed an unprecedented 53 exhibiting companies (with Audiovisual from Spain having two separate stands), the Forum’s organizers are thinking of taking some extra space in the convention center for next year’s edition. During peak hours of this year’s event, which took up four levels of the Palais, it was difficult, if not impossible to find a vacant chair to rest or two chairs for a meeting. Similarly, a party at a hotel near the Palais hosted by French distribution company Federation reportedly attracted more than the 350-person occupancy limit. “It was so crowded that people were standing outside”, said Unifrance’s Hervé Michel. The success of this year’s Series Mania even attracted the French consumer media’s attention, with local TV coverage and a full feature in the national daily newspaper Le Monde, which reported that “The American creatives and producers arrived in force at Lille, and [the Forum] is more international than ever.” At this point, Series Mania should be renamed Series Bazaar. Indeed, the venue was so crowded that it resembled New York City’s Penn Station during peak hours. The Forum section of Series Mania saw a mix of exhibitors, drama buyers, panelists, journalists, producers, development executives, and agents. Coincidentally, “Creative Bazaar” is the Forum’s section introduced in 2021 that deals with scriptwriters and casting agents. Series Mania 2023 began on March 17 with its International Festival, offering TV screenings that were open to the general public, and ended on Friday, March 24. There were so many television programs to view this year that those screenings took place in five different local theaters. In effect, the Festival takes over the city of Lille for eight full days, with many French TV stars on parade at various venues. In addition to two international competitions (Compétition Internationale and Panorama International), the Festival offers numerous awards in categories such as comedies, formats, regional programming, and not-yet broadcast TV shows. Meanwhile, the Forum, the business segment of the event, began on March 21 and concluded on March 23. And that’s where the explosive growth unexpectedly showed up and, according to Francesco Capurro, head of Series Mania Forum, surprised him and his colleagues with the spectacular response from exhibitors, all of whom took residence on the second and fourth floors of the Palais, with brands like NBCUniversal, All3Media, Globo TV, and MediaPro in attendance. “Next year we’ll have to have a dedicated section in the guide for the exhibitors”, said Capurro, once he was made aware that no comprehensive exhibition list existed. By the way, while the Forum’s guide is published in English, the guide for the Festival is all in French. Next year’s dates are set for March 1921, 2024 (the festival will run March 15-22). Capurro’s team was able to leverage the Forum’s conferences — this year consisting of 69 panels — to attract both TV buyers and sellers. Carles Blanch, director of Program Acquisitions for TV3 Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain, was in Lille because he was invited to participate in a panel (Meet Buyers From...), but he said that he stayed a day longer to have a few meetings with sellers. All3Media’s Rachel Glaister explained her company’s decision to exhibit at the Forum instead of at MIPTV, which is set for April in Cannes: “Here, we’re meeting the drama buyers who recently screened our products at the London Screenings.” Greg Phillips of London-based Rainmaker Content, who participated with a desk, added: “Series Mania is now a preeminent calendar event for those presenting and setting up new drama projects intended for the worldwide marketplace and those involved in this enterprise: Producers, writers, financiers, and distributors. It’s an extremely well-organized and valuable event.” Brazil’s Globo sent two executives, Gabriel Doria and Jessica Aguiar. Doria pointed out that that he (and Globo) are first-time exhibitors who came to Lille mainly to meet with European buyers and co-producers. Then there was Inter Medya’s Can Okan, who became the Forum’s only Turkish exhibitor in order to meet potential co-producers for his company’s new miniseries projects, highquality shows that consist of six to 12 episodes that run from 22-24 minutes each that were developed primarily for AVoD channels, which will allow the company to expand in Western Europe, the U.S., and Canada. According to Okan, exhibiting at Series Mania’s Forum is less expensive than MIPTV and even recent Miami TV markets. “In effect, it can be compared to a Budapest market”, said Okan. Another first for the Forum is the participation of a large number of top European distribution executives. Attendees included Cineflix’s Tim Mutimer, Fremantle’s Jens Richter, and Berta Orozco, who just joined Spain’s Mediacrest as head of International Sales and Co-productions. On various panels there were also executives of the caliber of All3Media’s Louise Pedersen, Banijay’s Cathy Payne, ZDF Studios’ Robert Frank, Paramount Plus’ Marco Nobili, TF1’s Rodolphe Belmer, and Sky Studios’ Cécile FrotCoutaz. Being equidistant from both Paris and Brussels (a 50-minute train ride from both), Lille’s Forum attracted many Paris-based and Brussels-based production companies, including Le Syndicat des Producteurs Independants (SPI), the association of independent French producers. Lille, a city of 230,000 residents, is also located in the northeast part of France, and as those who saw the classic French movie Benvenue Chez Les Ch’tis (Welcome to the Sticks) know, rain is always expected. But as far as the Forum was concerned, the rainy days made the outdoors appalling and the indoors appealing. In addition, France’s general strike on Thursday, March 23, in Lille turned out to be just an afternoon demonstration (see picture below). The French staged several national strikes throughout March to protest the government’s increased retirement age from 62 to 64 years old (“Mon Dieu, I have to work two more years”, was the people’s cry). Lille Event’s Explosive Growth Even Suprised its Organizers April 2023 Series Mania Report
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