Series Mania Forum has curated a lineup that speaks directly to the needs of scripted producers, distributors, buyers, and investors seeking new opportunities amid tightened budgets and contracted commissions, Francesco Capurro, director of the event, tells ScreenMDM.
What started in Paris “as a festival to celebrate the art of television,” has become a must-attend summit in Lille for those in the business of scripted content across the entire value chain, from creators pitching development projects to producers with completed projects being screened at the event to IP owners eager to meet with the wealth of buyers in town.
“We now have more than 80 exhibitors and 5,000 attendees from all over the world,” Capurro says in our latest ScreenMDM Talks podcast, which you can watch on YouTube below or on Spotify. The audio version is also available on Amazon Music.
As the landscape has shifted from the boom of the streaming wars to the dramatic rationalization of the last few years to renewed signs of optimism, the Series Mania Forum team has worked hard to stay on top of where the industry is now and where it’s going.
“It’s more challenging now,” Capurro says. “There is a decline in the number of commissions from platforms and broadcasters worldwide. In these times, people need to connect more and need to try to find new ways to co-finance and co-produce their shows. Events like ours are opportunities to get together and try to create those connections to bring stories to life.”
A key highlight this year is the spotlight on Korea, the first time the Series Mania Forum has featured a country of honor. Eight Korean companies will be present for a showcase of Korean content, and there will also be a spotlight on webtoons, providing a case study on how producers can build IPs across platforms.
“There are more and more opportunities for collaboration between Asia, especially Korea, and Europe in different forms—acquisitions, remakes, and also co-financing of some shows.”
The significant contingent from Korea is not the only sign of the increasing globalization of an event that began as a largely Eurocentric one. “We will also have delegations from Taiwan, Japan, and Singapore for the first time,” Capurro notes. “We always have a lot of people coming from Canada, Brazil, different countries in Africa, especially South Africa, and of course all over Europe.”
In terms of the types of projects being showcased, meanwhile, there have been fewer genre and period submissions amid commissioners’ belt-tightening efforts and an increase in cozy crime and shorter-run series, Capurro notes.
On the conference agenda, trends being explored include vertical content and AI technologies, as well as evolutions in funding and co-production models, while the keynote lineup features Prime Video’s Nicole Morganti and Thomas Dubois, HBO Max’s Sarah Aubrey, Disney+’s Angela Jain, SkyShowtime’s Monty Sarhan, and Fremantle’s Jennifer Mullin and Andrea Scrosati.
The Buyers Upfront is back for a second edition with an invitation-only event on March 23 at which a jury of top programmers, presided over by Apple TV’s Oliver Jones and consisting of NRK’s Fredrik Luihn, WOWOW’s Haruka Jorgensen, France Télévision’s Morad Koufane, TVI’s Margarida Pereira, and the BBC’s Nick Lee, will present the Buyers’ Choice Award for the most promising series.
Capurro also highlights the Coming Next From… sessions, with 11 different countries presenting some of the best they have to offer, and the Lille Dialogues, which address big-picture trends and regulatory issues.
All of our Series Mania Forum coverage will be housed here.
