The hybrid content market in Cannes closed on Wednesday in an upbeat mood for sellers of Nordic content, able to negotiate more flexible deals to more buyers.
Although quieter than in pre-pandemic times, the 59th spring content market MIPTV was slightly busier than last fall’s MIPCOM, with around 5,000 participants (versus 4,500) from 80 countries, according to RX organisers.
“I was positively surprised by the number of attendees, that was better than expected and with a general feel of optimism,” noted Susan Wendt, head of TrustNordisk who launched at the market the Canneseries competition entry The Dreamer-Becoming Karen Blixen.
“It was fantastic and hugely valuable to see people in real life,” added Helene Aurø, sales and marketing director at REInvent International Sales, who handles the Canneseries Norwegian winner Afterglow, voted High School Best Series.
“Series Mania is a great place for the creative industry, but MIP in Cannes is a true buyers/sellers’ market for all types of content. Having a presence with a stand is important, not only to host our meetings but also to attract the casual industry passers-by and new buyers,” she said.
DR Sales’ sales executive Freja Johanne Nørgaard Sørensen who had back-to-back meetings at the joint Nordic pubcasters’ stand at the Palais, was equally bullish. “At DR Sales we’ve done well during the challenging Covid-19 period, but it’s hugely important to go back to normal in-person interaction. Unlike with the very business-focused online meetings, when you see people face to face, you get extra quality information about what people watch and trends in their domestic markets.”
Anais Neergaard, Beta Film’s VP International Sales & Acquisitions, underlined the overall smaller number of attendees - and notable absence of UK distributors. But for her, all relevant buyers from Europe were there. “Less quantity does not necessarily mean less quality,” she noted. “Also, with last minute attendees from streamers and local/regional broadcasters and pubcasters, it was a diverse market,” she said.
Regarding deal-making, the sellers interviewed underscored the brisk competition from an escalating number of streamers, deepening and widening the demand for content across all genres. “We indeed have an increasing number of buyers, with the streamers opening more countries by the day,” continued Neergaard. “The appetite for content is there, and it is sometimes a surprise - in a good way - to see which content ends where, as there seems to be no ‘obvious’ buyer for a specific kind of scripted content anymore,” she said, before mentioning the upcoming EU quota regulations for streamers, set to become “a strong driver for our European shows and eventually for MIPTV,” where those shows are sold.
Aurø for her part, underlined the trend of ‘bigger sales’ for single territories, with buyers signing multi-title deals, on both recent and upcoming series.
Both Aurø and Sørensen stressed among trends on the market, the greater flexibility in deal-making, both from streamers and broadcasters, adding complexity to the windowing strategies, but also income to rights holders. “You see shorter licensing periods and more non-exclusive deals outside the country of origin,” said Sørensen who witnessed a similar appetite for Nordic documentaries, with buyers increasingly active on the pre-sales market.
Meanwhile Eccho Rights ‘s managing director Fredrik af Malmborg who was holding meetings at a flat instead of his usual stand at the Palais, drew attention to the dynamic remake market, with the Swedish series Honour to be revisited for local audiences in the US and Middle East. The distribution and co-financing company also started to discuss the Icelandic show in pre-production As Long as We Live, created by star actress Aníta Briem (The Tudors, The Minister) for Glassriver and Channel 2 Iceland.
If MIPTV was a greater step towards normality, MIPCOM next fall should be fully back to business, as the large majority of exhibition space in the Palais has already been booked according to RX organisers.
Snapshot of selected buzzy Nordic titles at MIPTV 2022.
Beta Film reported sales of the Swedish spy thriller Agent Hamilton-New Missions to MHz for the US, on top of TV2 for Norway, DR for Denmark, NPO for Netherlands and Syn/Channel 2 for Iceland. The second season of the thriller starring Jakob Oftebro as agent Carl Hamilton created by Jan Guillou, is due to premiere April 18 on C More and May 2 on TV4 and TV4 Play.
Beta Film also sold the acclaimed Norwegian YA series Rod Knock from NRK, to France Television and Israel’s HOT Network.
Other Nordic titles spotlighted by Beta Film included Lone Scherfig’s Danish hospital drama The Shift, the upcoming Finnish show Helsinki Syndrome and Norwegian crime franchise Wisting. “We were very happy to have five Nordic Series with us for MIPTV; this was a premiere to have so many shows, including Estonia for TV4/C More which we started pre-selling. Beta Nordic Studios companies are becoming an important source of programmes,” said Neergaard.
DR Sales inked a rare distribution partnership with Singapore-based Bomanbridge Media outside the pre-sold territories on the Danish documentary A Game of Secrets by Niels Borchert Holm.
The film about the Football Leaks website and hacker Rui Pinto who revealed shady deals in the professional football industry, was pre-sold to the five Nordic pubcasters DR, SVT, NRK, Yle, RÚV, as well as RTS for Switzerland, Dogwoof for the U.K., HBO Max for Eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal, and Holland. (The deal was first announced in Screendaily).
DR Sales also enjoyed strong interest on the Canneseries winner Everything You Love (Student Award Best Short Series) and will soon announce sales on the returning season of the premium Norwegian drama State of Happiness.
REInvent International Sales announced the following deals:
MHz Networks in the US has acquired the C More/MTV3 Finnish crime shows Freezing Embrace (Solar Films) and upcoming Enemy of the People (Fire Monkey) as well as the Discovery+/Kanal 5 Danish thriller Fatal Injection (Kamikaze Film).
AMC Networks Southern Europe has acquired the Finnish drama and Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize nominated Transport, produced by Tekele for Yle, as well as the Icelandic comedy Ordinary People, produced by Glassriver for Channel 2 (Stöð 2).
SVT Sales brought a new slate of three YA dramas: Eagles (S1-2-3-4) with Head of Sales Paulette Rosas-Hott reporting a sale to Viaplay for the US and Canada. The two other upcoming short formats All That is Left (Allt som blir kvar) selected for the MIPDrama Pitching event, and Brother (Bror) also attracted buyers’ attention. The psychological drama All that is Left produced by Baluba, will premiere on SVT in May and in-house production Brother in August.
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