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PERSPECTIVE

Viewpoints from the frontline of content.

The great Cannes catch-up

By Siobhan Crawford 28-10-2024

C21 columnist and formats veteran Siobhan Crawford picks out her highlights, lowlights and key takeaways from last week’s Mipcom in Cannes.

This year Mipcom marked its 40th anniversary

I hope you are ruined. What a weird thing to say, right?

What I mean is, I hope you used your expenses in Cannes wisely to reward yourself for an incredibly tough year. I hope you slept on your flights home, or stayed an extra few days writing your follow ups in a sunny spot. I hope you feel revived and inspired from a Mipcom well spent with all your favourite people in one place. I hope you have taken all those positive meetings with a pinch of reality and if 10% convert, then smile. I hope that the late nights and early mornings have ruined you… in the best kind of way. Because if not, you did it wrong.

I may have been MIA from Mipcom but I still got the full low down, so let’s dive in and soothe any Fomo!

The MIP mystery illness: Drum roll… this year it was losing your voice! Not necessarily from screaming at Brown Sugar but an unidentified illness. Ah joys.

Fresh: It amazes me how Virginia continues to give us her best every year, speaking as a distributor it is pretty hard to hunt down 20+ shows and put your energy into some of them! The good news is this was the most diverse year yet and less group focused, it was Nordic strong but perhaps some Youtubey shows should stay in the Wit Garden to mature.

Tone: There was a notable lift in the mood this year, lighter than six months ago and the hope is that recent commissions are giving rise to optimism, but we are also a market who hopes. I think the news coming out of Cannes was more of things to come than now, with too much news on scripted.

The schedule: Let’s be honest, we are there to meet each other, so two hours+ for Frapa without a schedule breakdown will need tweaking, and the Glance session may need to sharpen to stay in the agenda. The Fresh is locked in. But keynotes from management, that is not a draw – get the commissioners in front of me from countries that are actually commissioning today.

Turnout: We always fixate on this, just over 10,700 attendees which is 5% less than last year, a few less buyers perhaps and from pre-Mip we were expecting a lot less Americans but apparently they got Fomo (and some magic money beans) to attend. But it was busy. Agendas full but perhaps the bars a little quieter than previous.

Scheduling wars: You know there are urgent formats and nice-to have-formats, it applies to Cannes diary scheduling too. Those people that cancel your meeting or move it three times… or cancel it two days before because you cannot accommodate them moving it, were rife this year. Remember, good people have good memories.

Content: Sadly we did not have ‘the one’ launch. ‘Same same but different’ is the phrase. Broadcasters seem fixated on bigger, better, fewer but honestly how many ‘urgent’ shows can actually be created. ‘Nice to have’ fills the catalogue of so many. If you have a great visual; a bus, a box, a hooded man, you seem to be destined for success. The highlights this year were The Box from Seefood, Virgin Island from Passion (but there are big questions), BBC Studios’ Silence is Golden and Nations Dumbest. We know there is a huge push for Japanese and Korean shows but they take longer to visualise in the West. Norway is the country too but you have missed the boat if you just join, there is a swarm post market.

The Darkside: I am just going to say it. The Mole. The Mole created the genre. In a group of 13 people, someone is working against you. We have to uncover…THE MOLE! But yeah, sure we can keep talking about traitors, masters, werewolves, powers etc and one day, maybe, we will leave the darkside and look for the angel, a benevolent soul who helps people without recognition. One day, but not today. We are stuck in the dark.

Small challenges for celebs: Linked to the above we have this second tier of ‘hot genres’ where we have little tasks and celebrities, with humour as the key, starting with the original Taskmaster and continuing on with The Detectives, Norway’s Dumbest, The Ultimate Celebrity Car Park Showdown. We get it… once something works it works.

Banijay Awards: Who knew that Banijay Group got so big they have their own ecosystem and Sunday awards gala! You can have a giant ‘B’ sitting on your shelf for one of many categories now.

Celebrations and gratitude: And if Banijay can have their own awards, maybe we can convince these awards folks that perhaps Fremantle or Banijay don’t need to win so many awards year on year and recognise our indies more, which started to happen this year with Underdog, Jury Trial and Poker Society among the winners.

Reverse pitch/Broadcaster first: Two distinct feelings. One is the rise of broadcaster-first pitches by distributors/content owners – cutting out producers from the first round, yet expecting them to pay premium option fees if you get ‘no’ in all broadcaster pitches; and second, meeting with clients to find they want to pitch ideas to you that they cannot launch locally or need deficit finance for.

Money at hand: There is money around. Last MipTV I saw six commissions come from one format immediately, the problem is what people expect for that money is more now. But I also think the money is with the ‘regular buyers’ only and that means we are all competing for the same people and those people can ask for more. Just beware.

Now, Mipcom has problems because of the industry conditions, we know that, but can we all please agree that we need to care for Mipcom. In the warm south, all of us together, truffle gnocchi, with one bar we love. We are all getting older and have been many times, the heavy agendas are taking a toll on our energy levels, we have the problem that we know 99% of the content prior to the market and have already started securing deals; we are selective about who we meet because we now know who is worth our time; and there is a feeling that London Screenings and Content London (and maybe now Paris Screenings) offer us something new and exciting… (in cold wet times of year I add). However, this market offers us the best, most complete overview of the year for content. Mipcom has become The Great Cannes Catch Up and I am still eternally grateful for it.

And your anthem, if the Sony boss is right about the two years of crap, if acquisitions and risk remain low, then the only song I can offer post market for this one is Kaiser Chiefs I Predict A Riot. And quite frankly, it would be right.

today's correspondent

Siobhan Crawford Founder Glow Media

Siobhan Crawford is a strategic-thinking entertainment executive focused on unscripted formats and originals, expertise in European market and the connection of it to the US market.

She worked in sales at DRG, Zodiak Rights and Banijay International prior to spending six years as head of sales and acquisitions at Belgian formats sales house Primitives. She more recently founded her own format distributor Glow Media.



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