A wealth of sunshine, US stars and eclectic deals from all corners of the globe brought vigor and optimism to the 12,400 participants of MIPCOM 2010 that closed today.
Among heavyweight studios making headlines were Lionsgate who brought to the Croisette acting duo Elisabeth Moss and Jon Hamm to promote the Emmy award-winning drama series Mad Men, and FremantleMedia who put Oliver Stone on stage with Sir David Frost to speak about the 10 part series The Untold History of the United States. Robert Redford came to celebrate the first anniversary of Sundance Channel in France and Belgium and praised the new opportunities for content producers offered by the fast growing world of digital TV and internet, but also warned of its dangers. "Web talent is going to increase, it's a democratic process, but it also brings a lot of junk! The important factor is for independent filmmakers and producers is to continue to have a point of view and a mission to deliver quality content to audiences, wherever they are," he said.
One of the most talked about European drama series at MIPCOM was the $30m historical series in 12 episodes The Borgia, written by US top writer Tom Fontana, majority produced by France (Lagardere's Atlantique Productions and Canal Plus) and Germany (Eos Production and Beta).
Scandinavian crime dramas, in original version or as US remake such as The Killing - aka Forbrydelsen sold by DR to Fox - were also hot properties. "The Millennium frenzy continues and helps boot new and older Scandinavian crime drama series," noted SVT head of sales Karin Tideström. She was particularly pleased with the interest received on SVT's new crime series Inspector Winter, sold for the DVD market in Belgium, and in negotiation for TV with France, Germany and Benelux. Tideström also sold an older Wallander series to the BBC and SVT's adaptations of Camilla Läckberg's novels The Stonecutter and The Jinx were picked up by DR.
Other Läckberg adaptations were on Swedish production house Tre Vänner's MIPCOM agenda. The company's founder Michael Hjorth and producer Helene Åhlsson were in Cannes to discuss The Fjällbacka Murders, 10x90' episodes written specifically for TV by the popular Swedish crime novelist as well as Läckberg's three last novels and her upcoming work, to be made as film and TV versions. Other Scandinavian dramas that caught buyers' attention was DR's brand new political series The Government (Borgen). The Danish broadcaster's head of Sales Helene Aurø was on the verge of closing a deal with Iceland. The second season of TV2 Denmark's dramedy Park Road (Lærkevej) sold by LevelK was picked up by France and a dubbed version will air on Canal Jimmy.
Within the documentary genre, Helen Aurø also had high expectations on Armadillo, back on DR Sales catalogue after a few months with TrustNordisk. White Slaves-Muslim Pirates, My Cousin-The Pirate, Blood in the Mobile and the upcoming Christoffer Gudbransen The Presidency were in high demand. The Regretters, was among SVT Sales' most sought after documentary and will be aired on NRK in Norway and SVT in Sweden.
Recently acquired by Time Warner subsidiary Turner Broadcasting Europe, NonStop Sales - part of the Millennium Media Group - was taking back to back appointments to negotiate rights across its wider and more varied catalogue, also embracing documentaries. Popular programmes were the pre-school animation TV series Who? Films for the Little Ones and the Moomins TV series.
The overall feeling from sales agents interviewed is that business has definitely picked up from last year, but that the spectrum of the financial crisis is still visible with channels in major territories (US, France, Italy) undergoing corporate restructuring or management reshuffling and buyers being much more focused.