Festival in pictures: Series Mania Forum looks to the future

In addition to the festival element of Series Mania, the industry segment of the event, the Series Mania Forum, which takes place from March 21 to 23, is a major draw for industry professionals. The popular event, centered around the co-professional sessions, panels and conferences, concludes with the one-day Lille Dialogues summit on 23 March.

This year, the forum expects delegates from Europe, North America, South America and Asia to speak to a range of leading industry executives. Specifically, HBO’s Casey Bloys will deliver a keynote address as part of the Lille Dialogues title, How HBO and HBO Max Are Diving into The Future.

The theme of this year’s Lille Dialogues is “Shaping the Future with the Audiovisual Sector” and other speakers at the summit are: Jan Mojto from Beta Group; Prime Video’s James Farrell; Sky Studios’ Cecile Frot-Coutaz; and a chat with TF1’s Rodolphe Belmer. (Belmer is the former President of Series Mania, replaced this year by Anne Bouverot).

“We want to address the bigger issues facing the industry as a whole and the challenges in media and how we can adapt,” said Francesco Capurro, Series Mania Forum leader, which is an area of ​​the event that expand in scope. “It’s great that we can attract some of the most important names in the industry as speakers every year.”

The Forum’s popular co-professional sessions will continue to attract industry professionals. This year, Series Mania received 460 applications from 66 countries, from which 15 were selected to present their projects to a panel of potential funders: broadcasters, distributors, producers, public and private funders.

“We are getting more and more projects from outside Europe,” says Capurro. “And increasing numbers from Africa such as Kenya, Nigeria and Senegal, which is very encouraging, as well as from other major markets such as Canada, Turkey and Taiwan.”

Projects include a dubbed fiction series Asthmaa biopic about Syrian dictator Asma Al Assad, war project unspokenfeaturing a man driving from Poland to Kiev at the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and a coming-of-age drama about the Bronte sisters The autumn Director Patrick Irwin.

This year, Series Mania received a record number of registrations, but according to Laurence Herszberg, general manager of Series Mania, the festival is limited to 3,800 visitors. “I want people to enjoy it and make the most of their time here,” she says. “I don’t want it to feel overwhelming.”

It is important to her to have a more intimate event where participants are free to socialize. “I want people to come because they know that Series Mania can be a place where they feel like they’re taking a step forward.”

Capurro agrees, adding: “We want to keep it cool. I think the fact that the forum is part of the festival adds to that atmosphere and also because we focus on the development side of things, there are a lot of producers and screenwriters who attend event.” Many of these participants are also from the series Mania Institute, a school that offers writer residencies and courses throughout the year and focuses exclusively on serial writing.

“People make good contacts here,” says Herszberg. “We are not a market and we do not close our business lounge, so we are open to everyone. I think the reason for our success, if I have to analyze it, is that we are open to any idea and need of the industry. And sometimes, just by listening to our delegates, we understand how we can be part of the solution.”