Cannes – Flooding caused by torrential rain in Cannes on Saturday night, 3 October has forced event organisers to move MipJunior to the Palais des Festivals while routes into the town were also disrupted. The severe thunderstorms began in the French Riviera during the evening and continued until midnight, causing flash floods that killed at least 16 people in South East France. In Cannes, shops and ground floor apartments were flooded, leaving many delegates stranded until the heavy rain subsided.
But the annual global television content market started in Cannes as scheduled on Monday morning, despite extensive damage across the town caused by the freak storm. With areas of the Palais and exhibition tents affected by the flash flood, which overwhelmed the town over the weekend, there were talks that Monday could be washed out and that the event would start on Tuesday.
But the organiser Reed Midem worked throughout the weekend from the early hours of Sunday morning to tackle the problems and swiftly confirmed MIPCOM would begin as per normal on Monday.
Laurine Garaude, Director of Reed Midem’s Television Division said, “The whole Mip team, the Palais staff and our Cannes partners are working nonstop to limit the disruption caused by this exceptional situation.”
The storm began around 7.30 pm on Saturday night and two months’ worth of rain fell on Cannes in the following hours, overturning cars, flooding ground floor restaurants and shops, and turning roads into fast flowing rivers. The mayor of Cannes David Lisnard was quoted by local media saying, “Some cars were carried off into the sea. We have rescued a lot of people, and we must now be vigilant against looting.”
The flood damaged the Martinez Hotel (best known for its opening parties and the signature red carpet reception) has led to the suspension of the MipJunior screenings which is now available online. Sunday’s MipJunior conferences were all transferred to the upper level of the Palais des Festivals. Hotel Martinez was not in a position to host any event.
MipJunior’s opening night party descended into chaos as delegates crowded into the beach marquee opposite the Martinez to take shelter from the storm. However, the tent soon became overwhelmed as the rain fell heavier and partygoers were urged to move out without any umbrella in hand.
The timing of the deluge left many delegates who’d arrived during the weekend stranded in the town’s restaurants and bars. At Ma Nolan’s, where British and Australian executives had gathered to watch the Rugby World Cup, TV executives from companies including Zodiak and Endemol became stranded for hours as a flash flood encircled the Irish Bar. Spirits remained high despite intermittent electricity and lighting, until staff announced that the bar was cut off, at which point several people took off their shoes and socks, rolled up their jeans, and waded home.
The disruption continued into Sunday morning with some exhibitors unable to access their stands and the press and media centre being closed. Internet and Wifiaccess were also down across the town for many days.
Delegates who arrived on Saturday evening were met with a chaotic scene at Nice airport. With roads washed away, the A8 highway impassable and all trains into and out of Cannes cancelled, people were forced to scramble over the last few remaining hotel rooms in Nice.
Zig Zag Productions CEO Danny Fenton was one of around 20 British executives who arrived on the last British Airways flight of the evening only to spend the rest of the night hunkered down in the lobby of a nearby hotel.
Other flights were delayed, cancelled or diverted to Lyon although normal service had resumed into and out of Nice by Sunday morning.
Russell Hicks, president of content development and production at Nickelodeon, endured a torrid journey back to Cannes after being driven out of town for dinner alongside his fellow keynote speaker, iCarly creator Dan Schneider.
“We didn’t realise what was really happening until we were driving home. There was a car sitting in the middle of the road with nobody in it and there was flood damage everywhere. Then all the roads started to close. We ended up driving all over France for about seven hours trying to find our way back to the hotel,” Hicks shared.
Commenting on the flash flood that hit Cannes over the weekend, Reed MIDEM CEO, Paul Zilk said, “Our clients showed remarkable understanding and with their help, coupled with that of the Palais des Festivals, the Mayor’s office and all our Cannes partners, MIPCOM took place with a minimum of disruption. Our thoughts are with all those who were affected by this terrible event.”
Reed Midem made the show calm and smooth ……….
The Sunday evening screening of The Art of More, presented by Sony Pictures Television, took place as scheduled in the Palais des Festivals Grand Auditorium at 6 pm. The U.S. drama The Player has been picked up in 105 territories around the world, including France (TF1) and Germany (RTL).
Sony Pictures Television has confirmed the raft of deals ahead of the series’ global launch at MIPCOM. The Player debuted in the U.S. on NBC last week. The drama is also headed to Spain (AXN), Australia (Seven), Latin America (NBCUniversal) and Southeast Asia (RTL CBS Extreme).
AXN acquired the series to air across Central and Eastern Europe, with further European sales to D-Smart in Turkey and VRT in Belgium. OSN picked up the rights for the series in the Middle East. In Latin America, Azteca will air the show in Mexico, as will Monte Carlo in Uruguay and WAPA in Puerto Rico. In the Asia Pacific, Viacom snapped up the rights for its general-entertainment channel Colors Infinity in India. CJ took on the show for OCN in South Korea and TV ONE did so for New Zealand.
The Media Development Authority of Singapore (MDA) brought more than 600 hours of compelling Asian stories made for the global audience. This included new TV and animation programmes that made their debut at the Singapore pavilion. The 16 team delegation of Singapore media companies comprised of live action and animation producers as well as distributors like August Media, Infinite Studios, MediaCorp, One Animation, Beach House Pictures and Parade Media Group.
Victorious, a technology platform that powers interactive apps for the world’s biggest creators and their super fan communities, has announced that its Asia-Pacific and Middle Eastern operations will be headquartered in Singapore. Founded in late 2013, Victorious has launched the communities for some of the world’s top online content creators including Ryan Higa, and will be working with some of Singapore’s well-known creators and television networks Night Owl Cinematics, Tree Potatoes and FashionOne.
Singapore-based Beach House Pictures, one of Asia’s largest independent production houses, announced a co-production deal with Canadian production company Breakthrough Entertainment for tween TV series, Mr Midnight, based on the popular book series of the same name. Fans of “Mr Midnight” can look forward to the programme come 2016/2017.
Hub Media Group has been appointed by FiTA Studios Malaysia as the exclusive worldwide distributor for their upcoming film Chowrasta. Chowrasta is about a boy Hamid who shoulders the responsibility of caring for the family with his mother and how he overcame life’s adversities, and is based on the real life story of Dato’ Prof. Ir Dr. Sahol Hamid Abu Bakar, the Vice Chancellor of Universiti Teknologi MARA. Chowrasta will be released in Malaysia’s cinemas on 3 December. FiTA Studios Malaysia will also be co-investing in three of Hub Media’s co-productions; namely The Eco-Warriors, Project Inspire and Batoor: A Refugee’s Journey. Hub Media is the worldwide distributor for these three titles.
Telemundo Internacional announced the signing of an agreement to become the exclusive distributor of HBO Latin America Originals in Europe, Middle East, Asia, Africa, and Oceania as of January 2016. The announcement was made during the first day of MIPCOM 2015 in the Palais des Festivals, in the presence of local and international media.
The alliance not only grows the Telemundo International portfolio, but also confirms the positioning of the company worldwide, stated Marcos Santana, President of Telemundo International. “Our goal has always been to expand through the sale of the very highest quality products and through unique formats inspired by real life — content born out of the imagination of writers and creatives whose work goes above and beyond traditional standards. And this agreement, signed today with HBO Latin America, validates that effort,” explained Santana.
Scripps Networks Interactive and TVN have joined up for their first programming agreement since Scripps Networks acquired the leading Polish broadcaster earlier this year. TVN has secured the format rights to create a Polish version of DIY Network’s popular home improvement series Kitchen Crashers.
“Scripps Networks Interactive is already the leader in creating high quality lifestyle content, and through this collaboration with TVN, we will be able to bring our content to even more homes across Poland,” said Jim Samples, President, International, Scripps Networks Interactive. “Kitchen Crashers is an excellent example of some of the great home-themed programming that we trust will really compliment the great content that TVN already produces.” TVN’s President and CEO Markus Tellenbach delivered an impressive overview of the company’s ‘digital first’ strategy, focused on producing exclusive content for its OTT platform, Player.pl.
“TVN’s original online productions are developed specifically for today’s young media consumer – shorter episodes and a concentration on action to accommodate mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets as evidenced by Web Therapy, our first online original production starring Polish Oscar-winning actress Agata Kulesza,” Tellenbach said.
TVN online original productions include a polish version of the hit show Lip Sync Battle, Start u up!, the first Polish reality show dedicated to the online audience, Kuba Wojewodzki Standup, My love stories, a feel-good docu-reality series about love; and second seasons of spinoffs Kuchenne Rewolucje. Powroty (Kitchen Revolutions Returns) and Zony Hollywood. Wiêcej (Hollywood Housewives).
In addition to online original content and pre-premieres of TVN series, Player.pl offers full seasons of the world’s most popular hit series and Hollywood blockbusters. In addition, users can access a large library of specially curated kids’ content.
A record number of over 13,700 delegates from 108 countries, including more than 4,800 acquisition executives, of which 1,600 were acquiring for digital platforms, gathered in Cannes for the 31st edition of MIPCOM.
MIPCOM’s Country of Honour, Turkey, wowed delegates with a memorable opening night party and had media comparing the country’s lavish dramas with the recent international success of Israeli fiction.
Exports of Turkish TV series are expected to be worth US$350 million this year, an astonishing result given that international sales were valued at less than US$100,000 in 2004. Some 400 senior Turkish television executives and major stars attended MIPCOM. Istanbul Chamber of Commerce President Ä°brahim ÇaÄŸlar commented, “With a sharp rise in quality and branding in the sector, Turkey has now exported TV programmes and soap operas to more than 80 countries – from the Middle East to Eastern Europe. The Economy Ministry’s target is to achieve TV series exports worth US$1 billion by 2023.”
Underlining the growing international success of Turkish content, NBC will debut its legal drama Game of Silence in 2016 – the first U.S. adaptation of a Turkish original series. Among the host of Turkish talent in Cannes was superstar Tuba Büyüküstün and Halit Ergenc, lead role in the massively popular The Magnificent Century.
