It’s a busy time of the year. On one hand you have season premieres of new and major shows, on the other hand you have MIPCOM. This year the organisers are launching the MIPCOM World Premiere TV Screenings with Running Wilde and Mad Men, both from Lionsgate Television. Anyone who follows Mad Men, myself included, would love to catch an unaired episode of the highly rated show. In the season three finale Don Draper and a host of other principal characters break away from Sterling Cooper to start their own agency, stealing Rolodexes and files, and holing up in a little hotel in New York. In the TV industry, and the entertainment industry at large, it’s not an unprecedented move. Some of Hollywood’s biggest talent agencies started this way after all. And word on the street is, smaller players in the TV industry may be looking to eliminate the middle man and shop their shows on their own. But is this a good idea? As the characters of Mad Men are starting to find out in season four, once you get off the reservation, you’re fair game – and you had better read the fine print. In reality, events such as MIPCOM will never go away. There is too much at stake. As Don Draper told a client once, “You came here because we do this better than you.” Good luck at MIPCOM.
