For All The Talk Of New This And That, Old Gets The Cash

Michael Hedges October 20, 2018 Follow on Twitter

Television people are a predictable lot. The herd travels far and wide, nibbling here, kicking there, in search of the next big thing. Some stray, occasionally, but never too far. TV viewers seeking bright, shiny and new are definitely one step ahead. This is the continuing challenge.

Three themes are apparent at the closing of the 2018 Mipcom trade fair in Cannes. First, with relatively decent attendance - buyers, sellers and watchers - it was something of a snooze. There were 13,800 participants and 4,800 buyers, slightly fewer participants and about the same number of buyers from last year, when the weather was considerably better. In 2016 both numbers were higher as TV Land recovered from the Great Recession.

German media portal DWDL (October 18) summed it up: “Sorry. Unfortunately, Mipcom 2018 brought neither impulses nor trends, which is less a trade fair problem and more due to the current industry situation.”

Second, buyers are still in love with big-ticket historical drama, police and medical procedurals not so much. Several on the hot lists are series based on well-known novels that were once made into movies. In The Name Of The Rose, co-produced by Italian public broadcaster RAI and German Tele-Munchen Group, was snapped up by several public broadcasters, including the BBC, and Sky Deutschland. The story-line is based on Umberto Eco’s best-selling novel set in 14th Century Italy that was a movie hit in 1986 starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater.

Dracula is back for Halloween. Commissioned by the BBC, the evergreen Bram Stoker Victorian London story is a three-part mini-series. Netflix took global rights. Also for Halloween, Netflix has Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, based on the comic book series. It’s an exclusive and not on the market at Mipcom this year.

The WW2 submarine thriller Das Boot mini-series, a co-production of Bavaria Media, Sky plc and Sonar, was picked up in 100 markets, including in the US by Hulu. It’s based on the 1981 hit anti-war movie, which was based on the semi-autobiographical novel (1974) by Lothar-Günther Buchheim.

Also based on a novel turned into a movie is the six-part mini-series The Little Drummer Girl, produced by The Ink Factory and commissioned by the BBC and AMC. Endeavor Content handled the international sales at Mipcom, scoring Canal+ in France, NPO in the Netherlands, Moviestar+ in Spain and many more. It is based on the John le Carré spy thriller, published in 1983, turned into a largely forgettable movie a year later. The Ink Factor produced The Night Manager, also based on a John le Carré novel, for the BBC and AMC in 2016. It was a huge hit.

Getting considerable ink in the TV business trades are Escape At Dannemora, US prison-break original drama produced by actor Ben Stiller, and The Pier (El Embarcadero), a Spanish-language original from Atresmedia Studios and Moviestar+.

Reality-talent shows never fade, they just wrinkle. “Dancing is the new cooking, apparently,” said one TV seller, quoted by Deadline (October 19). With that in mind, the Tuvalu Media reality-travel-bad taste show Travel With a Goat was rather attention-getting. It features two celebrities traveling throughout the world with a goat, which they roast and eat on arrival. DOA.

Third, sellers are rushing to accommodate, shall we say, non-traditional buyers. It’s true that the giant home cinema screen still dominates TV viewing. But TV is rapidly becoming what folks see on their smartphones, in episodes of ten minutes or less. That would be the Facebook Watch app and the dozens of similar tiny screens made for Gen Z.

Mipcom ended (October 18) on a buzzier note. What big company will acquire legendary production house Endemol Shine? With roots in Big Brother and MasterChef, the company is currently a joint venture of 21st Century Fox and leveraged buy-out specialist Apollo Global Management. They have been looking for a buyer for six months. The 50% stake in Endemol Shine Group held by 21st Century Fox is included in the Walt Disney Company acquisition, set to close next year. Alas, Disney chief executive Bob Iger is not inclined to ride, as we say, in Evel Knievel’s sidecar. One by one, all the usual suspects dropped out of the bidding, ITV being the most recent, leaving French production conglomerate Banijay the favorite.