Series Mania made a triumphant in-person return last week, with scores of executives from companies such as Amazon and HBO travelling to strike deals and speak on panels. Here we look at the main talking points at the Lille event.

HBO Max in Europe introduced its commissioning team and set out its ambitions
As HBO Max continues to roll out across Europe after first launching in Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Spain and Andorra in October, Antony Root, executive VP and head of original production at WarnerMedia EMEA, laid out the SVoD service’s commissioning strategy.

The HBO Max team on stage at Series Mania

The executive described the direct-to-consumer service as a “local interpretation of the HBO brand in America with strong points of view, big authorship,” and said content needs to fall under four pillars: local first, broad appeal, distinctive storytelling and a diverse slate.

While HBO in the US has gained the reputation of being the home of high-end drama, commissioning the likes of The Wire and The Sopranos, Root was keen to point out that he was on the lookout for shows across different price points for HBO Max in Europe. “We can’t make everything a super high-expense drama series and that’s one of the things we’re working hard at,” he added.

Root was joined by Johnathan Young, VP and commissioning editor of original productions for Central Europe, Miguel Salvat for Spain, Christian Wikander for the Nordics and new hire Véra Peltekian for France.

In the new streaming landscape, talent is king
As well as the streaming wars, the battle for talent, both on- and off- screen, is shaking up the industry. During a keynote speech, Gilles Pélisson, boss of French commercial network TF1, said one of the motivations behind the planned TF1 and M6 merger was having the clout to offer stars competitive deals.

The Creativity: The Bigger The Better? session

“We are looking for new writers, producers and actors and it is all quite complicated and tricky,” he said. “Despite great success in France, it’s not enough at an international level to attract talent, so we need to have bigger means and resources.”

Talent deals announced at the Lille-based event included Universal International Studios signing a first-look deal with Call My Agent! writer Quoc Dang Tran.

Earlier at Series Mania, a panel titled Creativity: The Bigger The Better? featured executives from major production groups such as Federation Entertainment and Banijay, which has just acquired Italian scripted producer Grøenlandia Group.

Acknowledging that companies are all competing for the same talent, Lionel Uzan, co-founder and group CEO at Federation, advised fellow companies to foster a good work culture in order to sign up stars. “The question for talent is, ‘Why am I choosing this home?’,” he said. “There are bigger players than all of us, so if it’s not just the money what is it? It’s a mix of the corporate culture at firms and what you offer: the support, the day-to-day care, the ability to reach out to producers.”

Georgia Brown

Global players including Amazon and Paramount are hungrier than ever for local content
The world ‘glocal’ has been bandied about following the unprecedented success of Netflix’s Korean drama Squid Game, but buyers at Series Mania said they want content firmly rooted in local culture.

Among them was Amazon Studios Europe boss Georgia Brown, who said: “Lots of people come to us saying, ‘We’ve got this great international show,’ and that just doesn’t really work for us.” Instead, the executive is after series that “have their beating heart and DNA really set in a location.”

Raffaele Annecchino

Elsewhere, Raffaele Annecchino, Paramount’s president and CEO of international networks, studios and streaming, proved streamer Paramount+’s commitment to local projects by announcing a partnership with Lupin and Narcos producer Gaumont.

As a result of the deal, the fledgling streamer, which will be available in more than 60 markets by the end of this year, including Germany and Italy, has commissioned French horror/thriller Le Signal (The Signal), with François Uzan (Lupin) attached as showrunner. The drama is one of 50 international scripted originals planned to be greenlit by the streamer in 2022.

Consequently, expect more scripted format remakes
With the likes of comedy Dix Pour Cent (aka Call My Agent!) being remade locally in territories including the UK and India, scripted formats are on the rise, agreed executives from About Premium Content (APC), Red Arrow Studios International, Yes Studios and Mother Production during a Series Mania panel on the topic.

Netflix hit Call My Agent! (Dix Pour Cent)

Having the original format and multiple local remakes in circulation at the same time seems like it could be a rights management nightmare, but the panellists said that as long as the same distributor represents all versions, it’s more than possible.

“Then you have all the options in your hand, and you can coordinate what’s possible or not,” said Emmanuelle Guilbart, joint CEO and founder of APC. “To give you an example, in France, drama Keeping Faith was previously sold to Amazon and it didn’t prevent them from commissioning the remake.”

Rodrigo Herrera Ibarguengoytia, senior scripted acquisitions and coproductions manager at Red Arrow Studios International, called on buyers to be more open-minded when it comes down to the rights for remakes.

“It is a sticking point in negotiations with broadcasters,” he said. “But it is possible, especially when you have different versions with different traits, and you can see how it appeals to different audiences.”

The debate over bringing the showrunner system to Europe continues
The idea of using the US showrunner model in Europe was reignited in one session on the Wednesday. Big Light Productions CEO Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files) called on the European TV business to follow the US showrunning system and put writers in charge of large-scale scripted series.

Frank Spotnitz

“Right now is the most exciting time in television history in Europe. There’s so much opportunity and so much money at the moment, and the question to me is how is Europe going to respond. There is a way of making TV that has been very successful in Europe forever, which tends to be [led by] a non-writing producer or auteur, which works,” said the man whose prodco is behind The Man in the High Castle on Amazon and Leonardo on France Télévisions and RTVE.

He did acknowledge there has been “huge resistance” to employing the showrunner model. This has now faded compared with when he moved to Europe from the US over a decade ago, but nevertheless issues of power and job titles can get in the way of ensuring a show is the best it can be.

“What system, what chain of command will result in the best TV show?” he asked. Power struggles, overturning tradition and cultures clashes? Sounds like a great idea for a drama series.

South African drama Paradys wins copro pitching session
Fifteen projects were pitched at Series Mania’s coproduction pitching sessions, but it was South African drama Paradys that won the Series Mania Forum Best Project Award and the €50,000 (US$55,000) cash prize.

Paradys won the Series Mania Forum Best Project Award

Paradys is set in a whites-only enclave in the new South Africa, where two black cops investigate the murder of an elder’s son. It was created by Darrel Bristow-Bovey and Anton Visser, written by Darrel Bristow-Bovey and produced by Nimrod Geva for Quizzical Pictures. Executive producer is Avi Nir for Keshet International, which is handling distribution.

Antony Root, executive VP and head of original production at WarnerMedia EMEA, was on the jury for the prize, along with Noel Hedges, executive VP of acquisitions at Entertainment One (Germany), Yaël Fogiel, producer, co-founder and co-director at Films du Poisson (France), Daniele Cesarano, head of drama at RTI Mediaset Group (Italy) and Susanne Frank, director at ZDFE.drama and ZDF Enterprises (Germany).

Previous series launched at the copro pitching sessions include Keeping Faith, No Man’s Land, Banking District, Eden and Keeping Faith.