Que Sera, Sera in Cannes: a Mipcom lowdown
Siobhan Crawford07-10-2024
©C21Media
Formats veteran Siobhan Crawford’s monthly column looks ahead to Mipcom in Cannes and picks out the hot formats to watch from the distributors’ slates.

Mipcom is here and you know I am a Mipcom junkie! The Fresh, Brown Sugar, Burrata at De Laura… 2am bedtimes (if you are lucky and/or smart). But we are there to work, so let’s get a head start with the launches coming at you from hard-working distributors.
The disclaimer
We are deep in the well created by The Traitors and we don’t seem to be trying to get out of that genre anytime soon. But there are two other problems. The first is quality of content, you cannot sell everything as a format, because some shows are not good enough as formats to occupy the ‘format slots’ in international schedules. The second is the limited access to content is seeing a rise of duplicates on the market.
If Banijay controls so many great brands and a prodco sees an opportunity for a format but can’t access it, they decide to create something that sits very close to it. The same way the streamers would rather ‘create’ a format for worldwide streaming than have to negotiate out the unavailable territories of an existing format. Which is just to say, do not expect all your content to sell in the international market.
All eyes on me
OK, I have omitted the big ones but the list is still long, we are including a few companies that are not format houses because formats are ending up in unusual places due to advances being paid, retention of rights by broadcasters and generally people just trying their luck. And a few names are absent, because they are not launching, or maybe they are just holding titles till February for the screenings.
Acun Medya: Cash Kitchen is a new cooking competition format where 16 contestants battle it out for ultimate culinary glory while keeping a check on the cost of their caviar.
All3Media: Bad Boyfriends has a hangover feeling from 2010s Tool Academy. Buy It Now.. Dragons Den but better and is a worthy format coming from this market. And Turn on the Charm…a new dating reality format that just feels a little blah in this competitive dating world.
AllRight: a Danish Trio is coming your way; the headliner is psychological reality game Double Cross where agents and double agents will have to seek each other out, Shaped by History is a celebrity interview format seeking to understand how much their family history influenced their lives and social experiment Friends Again will chain friends up to get them to better understand each other.
Be Entertainment: Lift You Up has been announced as a primetime studio talent series coming soon, with a lift mechanism – we can’t help but ask will this be a Rising Star successor? And The Landlady, which sees one celebrity play agony aunt to a group of students for an entire academic year by living with them.
Can’t Stop Media: Burger House could be a weirdly unexpected hit this market as celebs take on the challenge of opening a burger joint, My Recipe is the Nation’s Best has some Best Home Cook vibes but on a grander scale and Breaking History Live.
CJ ENM: Artistock Game (will be needing a new name for international roll out I fear) and Trust or Lust, offering money and asking people to decide that age old question of which they want to play for, money or love…
Fox seem sworn to secrecy but we know boardgame Code Names is in development
Line Up: fresh from their expanded relationship with Japan’s NHK, supersized Quiz 100 and Unknown Championship seeks to highlight unusual skills in everyday jobs.
M6: Reality’s Biggest Brain pits celebs’ intelligence against each other, while studio conflict resolution format Who’s Right/Wrong and the food genre remain strong in France with The Best Traditional Restaurant
MediaPro: stand-up comedy format Ask Berto is seeking to find answers to people’s dilemmas and Replicant Sheep (need a new identity!) will dive into realms of books. Let’s hope Acotar is where it starts!
Mediawan: going in for the tough topics this market, The Big Salary Ranking dives into the taboo subject of salaries and The Bully Glasses use VR technology for a unique perspective in schools.
NBC: Love Undercover is giving footballers a chance at finding love in another country where their identity is unknown, plus we see joyfully named game Tic Tac Dough (money, not food!) for GSN and Top Chef VIP increasing the stakes.
Paramount: the grapevine says quiz format Flipside and a reboot of Hollywood Squares is on the cards.
Passion: When Couple to Throuple came to Peacock it was so obvious an idea we should have seen it. This is better! Virgin Island. Let’s pray we get some spicy Southern versions too. Virgins leaning into intimacy… yes I will watch it behind my hands but still. Ring ring… Netflix….when will you commission this? Love My Face is a sidenote.
Phileas: Dancing with Robots in association with Beta Spain will see a robot take the role as partner in this competition format, plus Unnoticed which seeks to locate celebs in disguise on the streets.
Primitives: two celebrities take on a challenge to build a boat to travel the country in The Goldfish and On the Road to Love is a new daily reality dating format where people who live in vans pick up singles along their travels in the search for love.
Rabbit: Ruin Or Bargain will bring the feelgood as young couples acquire their first new homes and they are complete renos.
SeeFood: The Box. Who is in the box and what challenges will they face when they come out, it is all a mystery but this reality competition format will air Q1 2025, but if you wait that long, the rights will be gone. Enquire now!
SevenOne/RedArrow: Love Costs is a Spanish studio dating format with FBoy Island intentions but the studio setting makes it flexible to all scales and budgets.
Sony: coming with all the love in dating reality formats is The Matchmaker, as seen on the CW, and a new in-house development Ageless Love plus 1, paper format launch expected.
Studio Canal: not normally a format house but we include them as they launch the follow up to DreamSparks hit format The Power from MIPTV, Werewolves. Format artistry is reaching new quality levels!
Talpa: broadcasters and preferred production partners are at play here – we have seen a lot of new formats coming but physical meets Mensa with Muscles & Brains co-distributed with Acun Medya and the launch of iconic boardgame Trivial Pursuit are the headlines.
TGC: with six new titles, among them Don’t Laugh At My Song which has strong Silent Library vibes but with music and milk; The Mall is a reality competition set entirely within a shopping centre and Football Dream commits to discovering talented young footballers.
X-Line: the line-producer of Destination X is distributing the successor format. Another emotional mountain climb for the market in The Backpack of Life.
ZDF: a more gentle factual format Hack My Yard, but you can always ask about Wanna Bet while you are there.
When I start thinking of anthems for these columns it is because I am searching for energy, setting a tone but sometimes it’s for the LOLs. When I thought about Mipcom, one song stood out: Phil Collins In the Air Tonight (3:40ish onward obviously). But then I thought of my dear friend S, who believes the positive feedback from each meeting will mean a sale and I want to protect his optimistic heart. So for him, we will also have Katy Perry Hot and Cold. Remember the ‘art of a quick no!’ to let people down/forecast correctly.
Go forth and MIP well darlings. x