Paris – MIPCOM 2015 will welcome a high-profile keynote panel to discuss the business strategy and creative process behind the BBC’s epic TV adaptation of War and Peace. This new adaptation of Leo Tolstoy’s famous novel is scheduled to air in the UK on the BBC in late 2015/early 2016, before rolling out worldwide.
The session is a major feature of the conference theme “A New Creative Excellence” and the panellists will provide an insight into what is involved in bringing a literary masterpiece to the television screen for a new generation, from financing to making event television for a modern audience.
The MIPCOM keynote will also feature an exclusive preview of War and Peace. The six-part series stars Paul Dano, Gillian Anderson, Lily James, James Norton, Jim Broadbent and Stephen Rea. The MIPCOM War and Peace case study will feature Andrew Davies, one of the most critically- acclaimed and commercially successful screenwriters, who adapted Tolstoy’s notoriously weighty tome dealing with Tsarist Russia in the Napoleonic era. Davies’ previous credits include adaptations of Sense and Sensibility, and Pride and Prejudice, as well as co-writing the screenplay for Bridget Jones’s Diary and its sequel.
Joining Davies will be Oscar-winning producer Harvey Weinstein, Co-Chairman of The Weinstein Company, who is Executive Producer of War and Peace. Weinstein is one of the most successful independent movie producers and distributors of the past three decades with Producer/Executive Producer credits that include Shakespeare in Love, Gangs of New York, Pulp Fiction, The English Patient, The King’s Speech and The Artist. During his tenure at Miramax and The Weinstein Company, Harvey Weinstein and brother Bob have received over 341 Oscar nominations and 81 Academy Awards.
Also on the panel will be the Executive Producers on War and Peace, Faith Penhale, Head of Drama at BBC Cymru Wales who oversees major drama series such as Sherlock and Doctor Who and Simon Vaughan, CEO of Lookout Point (UK), who was behind successful drama series Ripper Street and Titanic. They will be joined by BBC Worldwide executive Ben Donald, who has previously worked on international partnerships for shows such as Death in Paradise and Wolf Hall.
Organised by Reed MIDEM, MIPCOM 2015 will take place in Cannes, France from 5-8 October.
