ITV

Category: Mipcom

  • Shirley Maclaine, Sam Neill to lend star presence at MipTV







    MUMBAI: Actors Shirley MacLaine and Sam Neill will join the new Miss World – Miss Zi Lin Zhang – and a clutch of international talent at the forthcoming television trade event MipTV featuring Milia in Cannes, which runs from 7 to 11 April 2008.


    UK-American producer and distributor Alchemy Television will host a media event on 7 April to launch their slate of four miniseries to the international marketplace. MacLaine will present the new mini-series Coco Chanel, in which she stars as the influential French designer.


    The event will also feature Neill talking about his character in Iron Road while Sir Derek Jacobi and Louise Rose will present Diamonds and Bradley Whitford will promote Burn Up.


    Zhang, the new Miss World, representing the People‘s Republic of China, will also be at MipTV for Zeal Entertainment who distributes the Miss World Festival internationally.



    British comedy will be at the forefront during this edition of MipTV. Actress, humorist, singer and dancer Tracey Ullman is bringing her new show State of the Union. Sanjeev Bhaskar will showcase the series Mumbai Calling, and comedian-presenter Brian Conley will host the International Interactive Emmy Awards ceremony which takes place at MipTV on 8 April with several international stars.


    Carla Peterson and Luciano Castro, the glamour couple in Lalola, will be in Cannes to mark the international success of this Argentinian telenovela.









    The mentalist Uri Geller will return to MipTV to support his new show Staya Erusa: Find the Book of Knowledge and his Israeli hit show The Successor.


    On the French production front, the artists of Sisterhood will be on hand in the shape of Thea Boswell, Charlotte Becquin, Emmanuelle Boidron, Julia Cecilion and Pierre Deny (Marathon). Singer-actress Priscilla will be in town with on-screen partner Alexia Degremont to present their new musical series Chante.

  • Granada to showcase new content at MipTV 2008








    MUMBAI: Content distribution company Granada International (GI) will debut a range of content at the television trade event MipTV which takes place in Cannes, France from 7-11 April 2008.

    The drama slate includes Bonekickers. Secrets from the past are brought roaring into the 21st century in Bonekickers, packed with historical mystery and contemporary action adventure. This witty and fast-paced series centres on a team of talented archaeologists working at the front line of history. They are led by the feisty and passionate Dr Gillian Magwilde (Julie Graham), who is following in the footsteps of her brilliant mother both professionally, and in her obsession with finding the greatest relic in history.


    Each episode is a window through to an exciting period of history, including the excavation of murdered 18th century slaves, the possible discovery of the True Cross, the looting of Babylonian relics from the Iraq War and the exploration of secret chambers underneath the famous Roman baths.


    Another new show is Lost In Austen. In the show a thoroughly modern heroine threatens to ruin one of the world’s greatest literary love stories in this reinvention of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. Hollywood actress Alex Kingston stars alongside Hugh Bonneville, Lindsay Duncan (Rome) and new Bond girl Gemma Arterton. Bored bank worker Amanda Price (Jemima Roper) literally becomes lost in her favourite Austen book, after she finds a strange portal in her bathroom and swaps places with its heroine Elizabeth Bennet.


    As she gets to know the Bennet family and encounters the famous Mr Darcy (Elliot Cowan – The Golden Compass), how can she keep this celebrated romance on track?










    Hollywood TV movies also feature in Granada International’s new high definition programming at the market, illustrated by Daughter of the Bride. Luke Perry stars in this family drama centred on a mother and daughter. Rose (Helen Shaver) and Roxanne (Joanna Garcia) are the perfect team as partners in a successful wedding planning company.


    But when Rose returns from a wedding dress research trip to Paris, she’s brought back something extra – a new fiancé! Roxanne’s resentment of her mother’s new love increases when he invites her own former fiancé to dinner. It doesn’t take much for Roxanne to try and stop the wedding. But when Rose confides that she only stayed with her unfaithful first husband to keep the family together, Roxanne realises her actions could ruin her mother’s chance for happiness with a man who truly loves her. Can she get the wedding back on track before it’s too late?


    The company will also showcase factual series including The Neanderthal Code. This is an evolutionary detective story, shot in High Definition. Neanderthals were humans that dominated Europe for a quarter of a million years and then mysteriously became extinct. Why did they disappear? And what part did we play in their downfall? The programmes travel the length and breadth of Europe, examining key locations where Neanderthals lived, meeting leading experts in the field, and using scientific expertise to reconstruct the Neanderthal’s world.


    Through dramatic reconstruction, genetic sequencing and CGI, the programme explores the fascinating theory that Neanderthals interbred with our ancestors. Is it possible that Neanderthal genes still live on today?



    For children‘s broadcasters the company has The Pinky and Perky Show. This is a CGI series for 6–11 year olds. Pinky and Perky are a pair of loveable piglets who have just been given their big break in television – their own live TV show full of crazy stunts, wild games, anarchic cartoons and top celebrity guests. Their show is loud, messy and frequently out of control, which makes it a huge hit with the kids at home – and very unpopular with some of the grown ups at the TV station.


    They’re determined to get rid of those pesky piglets and have a thousand cunning plots and plans to get them thrown off television for ever. The show must go on, but can Pinky and Perky work together to save the day?


    On the format side the company will showcase The Colour of Money. Here contestants play super cash machines to try and make their fortune. In this tense format from 12 Yard Productions, 10 contestants face a bank of 20 different coloured cash machines, each containing an unknown amount of money.


    The contestants must decide how much they’d like to win – and the more cash they play for the harder the game. Players choose to withdraw money from 10 machines, shouting ‘Stop!’ before each machine runs out. If they wait and the cash runs dry, then the security system closes it down and they lose everything.


    Another format is The Chopping Block and is set in the ultra-competitive world of restaurants. Each week two under-performing restaurants are revamped and pitted against each other to try to impress a renowned food critic or chef and to win a cash prize.


    This is a food fight for survival as both businesses are scrutinised, management practices questioned and their customers surveyed. Cameras capture the behind-the-scenes action as it unfolds and the pressure mounts as they try to turn their restaurants around in only 48 hours.

  • CCI Entertainment to showcase ‘Scathed’ and ‘Stolen Lives’ at Mipdoc









     

    MUMBAI: Canada‘s CCI Entertainment will bring Scathed and Stolen Lives, two reality-based documentaries produced by Odd Squad Productions, to Mipdoc.


    Mipdoc takes place in Cannes, France later this week and is the precusor to MipTV.

    Available for the first time, Scathed and Stolen Lives offer a look at the devastation caused by auto theft and crystal methamphetamine use, two of the many dangerous temptations faced by today’s youth.







    CCI Entertainment EVP of distribution Jill Keenleyside says, “We are so pleased to be able to distribute these informative and edgy documentaries. Both films address extremely topical subjects in society today that should be a part of a global dialogue.”


    Scathed takes an in-depth look at crystal methamphetamine, the highly addictive narcotic that has created a deadly epidemic among youth. The story is told by teenage users, health-care workers, as well as police providing a harsh dose of reality that will educate and inform.








    Metro Vancouver provides the backdrop for Stolen Lives, a documentary that delves into the criminal act of stealing cars. Winner of 2007’s Founders Choice Award at the New York Independent Film Festival, the film looks to remind viewers that all too often someone pays the ultimate price.







  • Galleon Holdings to unveil ‘Super Soccer Star’ at MipTV ’08








    MUMBAI: Galleon Holdings is taking its latest multi-platform reality talent hunt show Super Soccer Star to international buyers at MipTV 2008.

    The first season of the new talent search show is co-produced by Galleon Holdings and Guangdong TV Sports Channel, one of China’s largest regional broadcasters, and Chelsea Football Club.


    Galleon owns the Super Soccer Star show and format. Following the establishment of the first series, it has planned to roll out the format and the brand to other provinces in China and other countries in South East Asia. The show is launching on 7 April on Guangdong TV in China.



    Galleon Holdings CEO Stephen Green said, “Super Soccer Star is poised to become a national show in China and in other territories in SE Asia. This is an entertainment format with family appeal and many levels of engagement for the viewer. We’re delighted to have the backing of a brand like Chelsea, one of the most recognisable football brands in the world and one of the best followed clubs in China. MipTV gives us the perfect opportunity to forge relationships with international and regional TV, online and mobile partners.”









    Super Soccer Star aims to promote football skills and fitness in teenagers. Soccer schools and coaches across the Guangdong province will send their most promising 14 to 16-year-old players to the show to participate in the selection process over the 13 episodes.


    One of the final episodes will be held in Chelsea FC, leading to the winner being granted a place to train at the Chelsea Academy.

  • Rive Gauche to premiere ‘Scare Tactics 3’ at MIPTV









     


     


    MUMBAI: Rive Gauche Television will premiere the third season of Scare Tactics at MipTV.


    Scare Tactics is a reality revenge format series that follows people who lure their friends and families into scary scenarios that often turn hilarious on camera.


    Thirteen half-hour episodes will be made available to global buyers at this year’s market. The announcement was made today by Rive Gauche SVP of international sales Dorothy Crompton.










    In addition to the brand new third season episodes of Scare Tactics, Rive Gauche will also be offering broadcasters a total of forty-three completed episodes from the first and second seasons.

  • MipTV to focus on social networks on 10 April


    MUMBAI: Three social media industry personalities will deliver keynote addresses at the television trade event MipTV in Cannes, France on 10 April when the spotlight will be focused on social networking.

    MySpace/Fox Interactive Media MD international Travis Katz, Bebo president Joanna Shields and and Creative Commons chairman Joi Ito will deliver keynotes.









    These industry players will give their vision of entertainment in the age of content-sharing across different platforms, how to monetise content today, and the current position of the players involved, including creators, producers, distributors and brands.



    Since launching in 2004, MySpace has become the world’s largest social network, with 28 localised versions, in 14 languages. Katz will look at the global evolution of the social web, and examine the opportunities now available to content creators, consumers and brands as they converge in this new arena.








    With over 40 million members and in the process of being acquired by AOL, Bebo was the first network to combine original web content and interactivity by launching into broadcasting and commissioning online series like KateModern, Sophia’s Diary and The Gap Year. Shields will discuss these new formats and analyse their influence on consumer behaviour and impact on new forms of monetisation linked notably to the strong involvement of brands.



    Creative Commons offers an alternative system for protecting rights inspired by the free licence model. Ito will offer a new vision of downloading by suggesting that content sharing is not a “lost sale” but rather a “gained fan.” Ito will defend the opinion that this is a flourishing sector where all participants stand to win.



    In addition to these three keynotes, two panels will complete the lineup for the focus on social networking at MipTV. One will cover the theme of marketing and advertising; the other creativity and new content formats.








  • Studio 18 eyes MipTV to license film content in overseas markets








    MUMBAI: Indian film company-Studio 18 will be attending MipTV in Cannes this year. MipTV, a market for audio-visual content, will commence on 7 April this year and terminate on 11 April.


    Studio 18 will exhibit from Booth 9.16 (level 01) in the Palais.


    The international division of Studio 18 comprising Hemant Bhardwaj, Tanuj Garg and Gayathiri Batra are looking at licencing and syndication of their filmed content in the key overseas territories.










    The films up for business include 1971, Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd, Kya Love Story Hai, Awarapan, Jab We Met and Welcome. The list also includes other forthcoming films like Singh is Kinng and Golmaal Returns.

  • 27 projects selected for Content 360 festival in Cannes








     

    MUMBAI: Twenty-seven projects for interactive and multi-platform content have been selected for the final of the third international Content 360 festival competition, which takes place in Cannes from 7 to 11 April as part of the 45th MipTV featuring Milia.

    The 27 short-listed producers and designers were chosen from 285 candidates across the competition‘s eight categories by digital commissioners from Content 360‘s partners. These partners are the BBC, the Korean Broadcasting & Communications Commission (BCC), the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) and Ogilvy Interactive Worldwide.


    There are 400 project entries in total for this year‘s competition with 42 countries participating in it. Slovenia, South Africa, Finland and Norway are all making their first appearance among this year‘s 11 finalist countries.








    “The continued success of the Content 360 competition demonstrates the need for traditional media to meet today‘s digital creators. We are excited to bring to MipTV the latest content ideas for audience participation, social networking, personalisation and interactivity, across all digital platforms,” said Reed Midem digital media director Ted Baracos.


    The finalists of the Content 360 competition will be in Cannes to pitch their projects before an audience and a jury made up of executives from the audiovisual, digital and advertising sectors.

  • Fremantle to showcase range of shows at MipTV 2008








    MUMBAI: Television format creator and distributor FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME) will arrive at next month‘s television trade event MipTV with a range of programmes.

    From quality drama to popular music, teen heartaches to a top chef‘s personal crusade, there is something for everyone. MipTV takes place in Cannes, France from 8-12 April 2008.

    In the drama category, leading the way is Australian scripted series Satisfaction. Created by Australian producer Roger Simpson, Satisfaction is the inaugural production by his new company Lonehand Productions. Set in and around an up-market city brothel, this steamy original series sheds the spotlight on the world of five “high-class escorts” and their manager as they juggle the pressures of their private lives alongside their hidden profession.


    Teenage woes prove a fertile backdrop for two new shows. Nearly Famous follows a group of performing arts students who have got a whole load of talent and a taste for tequila. Familiar faces include Talulah Riley, Jimi Mistri and Ralph Brown. Ade Edmondson stars in the role reversal sitcom Teenage Kicks as a middle-aged divorced dad who moves in with his kids in a crazy attempt to recapture his long lost youth, much to his offspring‘s dismay.


    Following on from the recent success of FME‘s stablemate Murder, the new reality series DEA offers viewers a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of the Drug Enforcement Agency. From US channel Spike TV, each episode will follow a group of Special Agents and Task Force Officers in the DEA Detroit division, as they fight the daily battle in the city‘s ongoing war against illegal drugs.


    FME also continues to bolster its music content with the second series of Live From Abbey Road. The most famous recording studio in the world invites viewers through its famous doors once more to meet a host of new and established global A-list artists. Shot in HD, the 12 x 1 hour second series, available for international sale on both TV and DVD, will not disappoint with an exclusive lineup of performers including James Blunt, Sheryl Crow and recent Grammy winner Herbie Hancock.


    Staying with a melodic theme, FME will present The Night James Brown Saved Boston. This is a documentary by filmmaker David Leaf, telling the uplifting story of how a concert by R&B singer James Brown, on 5 April, 1968, the day after Dr Martin Luther King. Jr was assassinated, prevented a riot in Boston. While the rest of the US burnt, Brown‘s music literally kept the peace. Eye witness accounts, grainy footage and nearly two dozen of James Brown‘s classic songs come together to mark the 40th anniversary.


    Another milestone in musical history is celebrated in Never Mind the Bollocks: 30th Anniversary Concert featuring the Sex Pistols‘ critically acclaimed concerts at London‘s Brixton Academy commemorating the release of the legendary punk band‘s first album. Fittingly directed by Julian Temple (The Great Rock and Roll Swindle) Never Mind the Bollocks features all the band‘s classics including “God Save the Queen” and “Pretty Vacant.”


    Cookery superstar Jamie Oliver serves up two new specials, Jamie‘s Fowl Dinners and Eat to Save Your Life. In the revealing Jamie‘s Fowl Dinners, he hosts a gala dinner to dramatically demonstrate the reality of how chickens live and die to put food on our plates. And in the other off-special, Eat to Save Your Life, from Firefly productions, he investigates the hidden threats of popular convenience foods using 18 volunteers with self-confessed bad diets as “human guinea pigs.”










    The Baywatch Beach Body Work-Out is a new fitness DVD featuring Lauren Jones, star of Fox TV‘s Anchorwoman series. Inspired by global phenomenon Baywatch, participants are put through their paces by Lauren, on the beach, ensuring a body well fit for the summer.


    Kiddies get a look in too with CGI animated series The Backyardigans. Aimed at children aged from 2-10, The Backyardigans centres around 5 adventurous kids who use their vivid imagination to turn their backyards into completely different worlds.


    FME CEO David Ellender says, “FME is excited to be able to offer such a diverse roster of programming at this year‘s MipTV. Our expanding catalogue means that we have more titles than ever. And there‘s a healthy mix of high-class drama, landmark music shows, ground-breaking documentaries along with strong reality shows, appealing to audiences the world over.”

  • France Telecom CEO Lombard to deliver keynote at MipTV







    MUMBAI: France Telecom chairman and CEO Didier Lombard will outline the telecom giant’s audiovisual strategy as part of the conference programme at the television trade event MipTV which takes place in Cannes from 7-11 April 2008.

    Lombard will deliver the keynote address on 9 April under the title Inventing a New Media TV Experience, in which he will present his vision of France Telecom – Orange’s mobile and internet brand – in the audiovisual sector through its TV Everywhere service.


    This draws on the group’s technological and marketing innovations to offer television “where I want, when I want, how I want,” available across all screens, with on-demand content, interactive services and personalised advertising.








    Reed Midem director of television division Paul Johnson says, “Didier Lombard’s presence at MipTV featuring Milia 2008 shows how much convergence between telecoms and traditional television has become a reality. With 170 million customers throughout the world and as many potential viewers, France Telecom is a major player in the international content market.”