20 V I D E O A G E January 2022 Road to MIPTV MIPTV is coming back to earth! After two years in cyberspace, with two virtual events in 2020 and 2021, the veteran TV trade market will land in Cannes for its 59th incarnation, to be held April 4-6, 2022. After a successful in-person MIPCOM in October, and MIP Cancun the following month, MIPTV organizers, RX France (formerly Reed MIDEM), have learned how to protect participants from a sanitary perspective. In addition, previous in-person TV trade event Series Mania (to be held 10 days earlier, see story on page 16) will have contributed to build the confidence necessary for participants to return to a “normal” attendance, albeit with necessary COVID precautions in place. And it is believed that an in-person MIPTV will also generate interest for the much larger NAB Show, to be held April 23-27 in Las Vegas, the same venue of CES, the influential consumer tech show, which opened its doors to in-person participants on January 5-7. In terms of this upcoming MIPTV, attendees should expect a new exhibit floor plan with the co-location of Esports BAR — the international esports arena — and four concurrent events: MIPDoc, MIPFormats, MIP- Drama, and KIDS Content. Plus, an International Format Awards is set for Tuesday, April 5. Visibly missing is MIP Sports, but Lucy Smith, RX France’s director of MIPTV and MIPCOM, explained that the company “may address sports in a bigger way in the future.” Then there is the much-vaunted OneMIP online project, which in early January 2022 was still in Beta format. OneMIP was announced by RX France on October 12, 2021 and launched on December 5. It is designed to run year-round and integrates MIPTV, MIP China (June 28-July 1, 2022, virtual), MIP Africa (August 24-26, 2022, Cape Town, South Africa), MIPCOM (October 17-20, 2022), and MIP Cancun (November 1518, 2022) onto one portal, to connect the largest global TV industry community of professionals. The project includes a collaboration with the Petit Lancey, Switzerland-based The WIT, which indicates World Information Tracking of programming trends. Ted Baracos, who recently left RX after 24 years at the trade show organization and who was originally part of the OneMIP project, described the service as “the ability to connect year-round within the industry’s biggest database to see who is registered for MIP markets, and maintain a single user profile and login for MIP markets.” Commented Virginia Mouseler, The WIT’s CEO: “OneMIP gives The WIT an opportunity to keep in touch with the market vibe, generate new relationships, provide updates on trends and offer new points of view on content. For us OneMIP could become the missing link between the services we provide 24/7 to The WIT subscribers and the exclusive Fresh TV sessions we do at MIPCOM and MIPTV.” As for the “new exhibit floor plan,” RX France’s Smith “expects it to be similar to, but bigger than the one at MIPCOM [2021]. All main exhibition halls will be used (Palais 3, 4, and 5, and Riviera 7 and 8), and there will be more flexible meeting spaces.” In terms of celebrations, in addition to the Format Awards, Smith added the MIP SDG Awards (in partnership with the United Nations), the Variety International Achievement Awards, and the regular Opening Night Party. The MIPDrama showcase will take place on April 3 in the Palais’ Debussy Theatre. The seventh edition of the annual event offers an exclusive preview of upcoming drama series for international buyers and commissioners of broadcasting networks and VoD platforms. The showcase will feature up to 12 programs, with the deadline for submissions set for February 4. Hosted by French multi-hyphenate Joséphine Draï, last year’s online MIPDrama edition included Italy’s RAI thriller Don’t Leave Me (distributed by Federation Entertainment), Canada’s CBC comedy-drama Feudal (distributed by Entertainment One), and the U.S.’s Acorn TV crime series Whitstable Pearl (distributed by Cineflix Rights). The 2022 edition of MIPTV has been reformatted to a three-day schedule, with MIPDoc and MIPFormats rolled in. (The two events were previously held the weekend before the market.) Both events will feature pitching sessions. The MIPDoc Project Pitch highlights documentary and factual projects for their original storytelling, innovation, and worldwide appeal, and the MIPFormats International Pitch foregrounds new non-scripted entertainment formats. Deadlines for both pitching sessions is February 22. MIPTV Takes Variants By The Horns, Positions to Face Industry’s Challenges MIPTV 2022’s exhibit f loor plan will be similar to, but bigger than the one set up at MIPCOM 2021. After two years of virtual editions, MIPTV returns to the Palais des Festivals for in-person business and festivities
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