Can Cannes change?

By Siobhan Crawford 06-10-2025

C21’s resident formats expert looks ahead to next week’s Mipcom in Cannes, the trends she’s spotted heading into the event, how the market has changed over the last 20 years, and where it fits in the 2025 format business.

It’s that time of year again…

My first MIP was in 2007.  I am a ‘veteran’ remember.

I was working as an assistant in my gap year and I had an amazing boss in Andrea Jackson – but sweet god Mip was a beast. Organising three diaries, arriving early and leaving late because the bunker stand had to be set up and packed away, not even considering the DVD haul that would follow. Navigating this big social giant yet not knowing anyone. Being 18 and starting a Mip wardrobe and quickly realising no kind of heels were acceptable in Cannes (plus, you met the Dutch and quickly realise trainers are the shoes of cool people). That the panini stand in the little weird park by the Palais will be the closest thing to a ‘quick sandwich’ when you are rushing. That Nice airport will never get any better over the years.

Through the stages of my life and career I have been going to Cannes… reaching the Mip highs of being elevated from the bunker to the catered(!) Banijay tent, having time to actually go to The Wit  Fresh sessions in the last couple of years and being unable to walk down the Croisette or into a café/bar/hotel without *wanting* to say hello to at least five people. The joy… and the difference.

So, what else has changed in Cannes and Formatland?

The long tease
Have you noticed that today, when you launch a format, you don’t actually have that format ready? The idea that a format is launched used to mean premiered, but now we have the mood of the format but not the actual format. Welcome to 2025, where the big tease is in fashion. We have a six-to18-month long wait from being mentioned to seeing the format and it means we are in the business of updating people on the progress and buying content on a promise, not on proof. It makes sense: everyone wanted privileged access and that means early in the life cycle. I really hope it was worth the wait but also it clearly shows that format IP theft is on the decline as there has been no mad rush for copycats of any teased formats.

To option or not to option
There was an idea on LinkedIn that we should do away with option deals, that the reality is producers spend their money on developing acquired formats and they should almost be ‘paid to sell’ formats, rather than buying options. Now we know one famous Dutch company does, to my knowledge, not work with option fees, and generally once a format is over 18 months old a free option may occur (depending on the distributor), but the question is raised – what role do option fees play in our community today when it can take two- to-three years to sell a format, and it requires localised pitching and preliminary casting? Can distributors still maintain a business if they do not get option fees? When content is at a premium in a slow market you are paying for access to a ‘rare resource’. Gone are the days of pan-territory deals, gone are taking options to block, mostly gone is option hoarding, you mostly seem willing to still wave chequebooks around for something new.

Shared pies
Unfortunately, these ‘rare resources’ are also impacting deal terms. It is no longer enough to pay a format license fee when commissioning some premium formats (or securing the option rights). Historically, the ‘two season order’ or the EP credit/fee  was the something extra that was required to secure format rights in a competitive environment, but now it is a piece of your pie… a share in producer fee that is required. This links to the fact that production know-how and quality control of formats by the format creator has become a part of the format.

The problem this creates is who the client is when margins are reduced – are we making an industry for the big boys and not the indies to play? I have seen first-hand how ‘some’ format owners add value and smooth a production by being involved, keeping in mind a US Pay or Play consultant role for a format owner is fairly standard now. Format fees are noticeably on the rise too: 5, 6, 7, even 8% format fee to secure a format. As more people create formats but do not invest in their longevity or quality control, perhaps this change is a welcome one.

Arrival of the streamers
I may be controversial when I say Formatland has mostly gone untouched by the global streamers. Okay, yes it has created new clients for us and every streamer seems to have a double-digit amount of ‘developments’, but the reality is global platforms don’t really contribute to our system in a meaningful way. Their ownership models and roll out of local versions impact none of us, except as viewers (and we will forever be grateful for Latin versions of Love is Blind!). That Amazon can buy formats as originals and potentially we can retain rights in ROW is potentially interesting, but they are closing the loops. The local streamers attached to linear broadcasters are increasingly commissioning content (a little too local and talent-driven to travel), even on a budget scale comparable to linear commissions, but the majority of Formatland continues to focus on traditional broadcast opportunities for formats.

The self-distribution anomaly
I am a proud distributor, and that’s good because the industry puts distributors in a box and rarely lets them leave it – we can’t cross into commissioning, we can’t go to production and so we stay, selling. But we are now seeing the rise of the disenchanted, who become self-distributors.

There have been a few success stories, most recently The Box but – even with the rise of flexible freelance consultants – I cannot believe this is sustainable or frankly as good as using a distributor, and by this I mean the physical beauty of the contract/deal. Ask any producer and they will tell you they already have a full-time job producing while international is a full-time job in itself. Distribution is also an accumulation of skills – stands and norms – over entire careers. This is a change that I hope is a blip, long live the indies.

Cannes I?
I think the biggest difference in Mipcom for all of us is the client list and who we meet. The list is now logical and strategic. Returning business and returning clients are where the focus is, yes meeting broadcasters IRL is vital for the information and updates, but Cannes is not to sell to them, it is to build rapport. This is evident in the fact our broadcasters go to Cannes to meet each other, just to compare notes!

The majority of us now attend Mipcom knowing all the launch highlights in advance and Mip can be missed by a select few because they feel confident in their pre-Mip pitches and conversations. We also know it is very unlikely big business will be done in Cannes anymore. Some distributors will want to pitch directly to broadcasters and when they get the ‘pass’ they can decide on the ‘lucky’ producer after Cannes. The Mondrian is never going to take the place of The Grand circa 2018,  Brown Sugar is now our second home. The 30 minutes is slowly becoming the 45 minutes as we decide quality might be better than quantity, but cemented is still our need for a place to sit, so the Mip producers hub is a winner. And the biggest change, we only get Cannes once a year, so we now have to squeeze everything into these four days.

This Mipcom will be what you make it. Historically it has been magical, it has been lonely, it has been hard work, it has been joyful. It has promised to be the start and been the end of something. But the potential to shape it happens when you touch down in Nice…

Mip well my dears, what is waiting for you I wonder?