Banijay, All3, eOne, Fremantle & ITVS unveil London Screenings event

Distribution giants All3media International, Banijay Rights, Entertainment One, Fremantle and ITV Studios have joined up to formally launch a London-based screenings week, which will take place following BBC Studios’s Showcase event.

The London Screenings will launch on 1 March following on from BBC Studios Showcase, which is scheduled to take place online-only from 22-24 February.

All3, Banijay eOne, Fremantle and ITVS have worked together informally for several years to ensure their respective London-based sales and screenings events do not clash, but this marks the first time the quintuplet have formally joined forces.

The companies said the event would be “officially named” as The London Screenings and will take place as an annual event, led by the group. The first installation will be held virtually next year, with a view to a return to live physical events from 2022.

A spokesman for the group said: “Over previous years, the week in London post-BBC Studios Showcase has become a destination for key buyers around the world. This has been down to the calibre of the events and presentations arranged by the key London-based distributors.

“Having listened to our buyers, the logical evolution is for those companies to bring buyers a fully curated series of quality showcases across two weeks, each planned to avoid screening conflicts and all under the official banner of The London Screenings.”

The sales arms of Banijay, eOne, All3, Fremantle and ITVS offer catalogues that amount to more than 170,000 hours of programming across all genres, ranging from All3’s veteran drama Midsomer Murders to Banijay’s long-running culinary format Masterchef.