MIA director Gaia Tridente on 2023 event & what to expect

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Ahead of Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo (MIA)’s return to Rome next month, event director Gaia Tridente tells TBI what attendees can expect from the 9th edition of the fast-growing event.

Taking place from 9 to 13 October at Rome’s historic venues of Palazzo Barberini and Cinema Barberini, MIA offers a market, in-depth panel sessions with industry experts, excluisve keynotes and interviews, as well as pitching forums for animation, documentaries, drama and film.

What will be the main discussions points at this year’s MIA and how do they reflect the changing content landscape?
The main thematics for this year’s edition will be delivered in our conference line-up, whose path is driven by the main editorial genres we are working on for this edition: animation, drama, doc and factual, as well as film. Content is always the main pillar for all topics focused on in our panels.

On the scripted side, we will explore different topics such as: how small gems, apparently with only local appeal, become must-sees globally thanks to their uniqueness and high editorial value; the changing role of independent producers; and, the new studio’s paradigm. Amazing speakers will be protagonists of keynote conversations addressing content strategy plans, channels and streamers’ interface, spanning across multiple genres from non-fiction to drama and more.

The European industry is in turmoil – major takeovers are reshaping financing models, especially for big-budget series

In the session Drama Breakthroughs: Stories of Representation & Success, racial discrimination, coming out, gender dysphoria and religion are some of the issues addressed. In these stories cultural deconstruction is used as the keystone so that characters can finally find their place in the world. These TV shows come from different countries but they speak a global language.

We will also explore the point of view of international independent producers, with The Producers Role session featuring Nicholas Weinstock (founder & president at Invention Studios), Marc Helwig (head of worldwide TV at Miramax), Danna Stern (Your Honor), and David Levine (chief creative officer at Anonymous Content). They are all leaders who have lived through the shifts the market has gone through recently and are now international award winners, producing with platforms and working on important properties to adapt them to successful series. The main question that will be asked will be: how this role is changing and adapting to the new production and distribution paradigm?

Another panel, New Studio Models will investigate what the studios are today. In this session, Tesha Crawford (SVP of global scripted series at Universal International Studios) is joined by Kate Laffey (VP & head of content at Paramount Television International Studios), Brendan Fitzgerald (SVP of international co-productions at Sony Pictures Television), Francoise Guyonnet (executive MD for TV series at StudioCanal) and Elisabeth D’Arvieu (CEO at Mediawan) – they will explore the changing role of former global television distributors that today find themselves to be fundamental players in the development of content by becoming part of the editorial process. It will also look into the pivotal change in editorial approach embraced by some of the major global studios, finding themselves investing time, strategies, and resources in the construction of original content programming for their streaming platforms.

Nicole Clemens, president of Paramount Television Studios and Paramount+ original scripted series will also be the protagonist of a keynote conversation exploring her professional career and her key role in the Paramount Global media corporation, to outline the group content strategy plans, the studio’s portfolio, channel and streamer interface, and a dive into Paramount IPs and franchises.

You’re in constant touch with players across the sector – what is your sense of how the European scripted industry is faring?

MIA has become a catalyst hub for the entire European industry. At MIA, for the second year in a row, the drama heads of Europe’s public TVs will meet in the European Broadcasting Union’s annual drama assembly, which this year will also offer open sessions for MIA delegates with incredible new features to be presented during the market.

MIA will also be the platform for the work of the European Writers Club, the European Producers Club, the reflections of Creative Europe MEDIA, among MIA’s main supporters, and the many European projects participating in this year’s co-production market. The European industry is in turmoil, major takeover movements are reshaping some of the financing models, especially for big-budget series that increasingly needing to work to differentiated financial packaging models, more akin to those seen in independent film.

Gaia Tridente

What scripted sessions are you looking forward to and why?

We are enlarging our portfolio of content and for our animation division we will kick off with Marge Dean, head of Skybound Animation Studio, an Emmy-winning animation industry veteran and president of Women In Animation – she will keynote on the development and production of adult animated content, including Invincible for Amazon Prime.

Known for building both studios and animation pipelines, Dean has played a major role in shaping or reshaping entities including Columbia-TriStar TV, Warner Bros. Animation, Mattel’s Playground Production, Steve Oedekerk’s Omation, Technicolor Animation and Wildbrain Entertainment. Before joining Skybound, she served as Head of Studio at the preeminent anime distributor, Crunchyroll.

In this edition, we’re also offering technological innovation programs and exploring digitisation and related economic development opportunities for companies in the sector, which can enhance the international competitiveness of the sector and create new business opportunities on a global basis. Inside the amazing venue of Palazzo Barberini, there is more room this year to discover new digital content and experiences, with VFX and virtual production demos, XR, interactive VR experiences and immersive storytelling.

The new MIA XR – Tech Pavilion will host a daily program of initiatives, showcases and masterclasses to broaden business horizons for all professionals who need to know more about this new world. One of the top sessions for this program will be an amazing discussion focused on the global VFX market with the BAFTA-nominee Jake Morrison, expert VFX supervisor for many Marvel Cinematic Universe productions (Iron Man 2, Thor). In this session, we will explore Morrison’s past projects and practices and delve into the future of high-budget VFX, strung between artificial intelligence and adherence to real life.

In the session Is This Still Post-Production? we will explore how, over the last few years, post-production has evolved exponentially moving from film to A.I. Paradigms, processes, and underlying technologies have changed. On one hand, post-production has become a real department (probably the most advanced) and on the other one has undergone a time shift and today we talk about post even when we are still in the preparation phase. The question therefore arises: does it still make sense to call it post-production? Speakers in this session will be Gisela Evert (post production supervisor for The Grand Budapest Hotel), Joost De Vries (producer & MD at APostLab) and Gemma Nicholson (founder, Post-super). MIA XR will also be the venue to experience VR pieces, such as the co-production work Gaudí, the Atelier of the Divine, a collective VR experience produced by Small Creative and Gedeon.

Tell us about some of the highlights from this year’s Co-Pro Market.

MIA’s Co-Production Market & Pitching Forum is one of the leading international co-production forums today. It is aimed at audiovisual projects of animation, documentaries, series and films, intended for theatrical distribution, television and streaming platforms.

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Selected works will be presented within the pitching forums of the four publishing divisions (Animation, Doc&Factual, Drama and Film) for the purpose of finding co-production partners, buyers and financiers. This year 62 projects will be presented, the majority of them are world premieres, a unique opportunity for international co-productions.

One year after its debut, MIA’s Animation Co-Production Market and Pitching Forum has achieved excellent results, selecting 15 projects from 24 countries. The selection includes three TV one-offs, three feature films and three TV series, mixing unreleased projects making their market debut at MIA with projects that are not new to presentation but nevertheless have shown solid progression in development, ready to be brought in front of an audience of institutions and financial partners to approach the production stage. A very strong and/or heterogeneous female presence can be seen in the 15 projects.

The Film Co-production Market will feature 15 projects (feature-length fiction films intended for theatrical release) coming from 13 different countries, and 6 of them are by female directors, and more than half of the projects explore women’s stories, confirming MIA’s sensitivity to issues of inclusivity and gender equality.

The Drama Co-production Market and Pitching Forum will feature 14 projects coming from nine countries. The Forum has its own recognisability and uniqueness in the international arena, it has also become a point of reference and a base of operation and cooperation for the national and international drama industry, becoming a first-rate internationalisation and co-production tool.

The Doc Co-production Market has achieved major goals that once again testify to the international status of the Rome market and the great confidence of international industry players. The selected projects will be presented to professionals from all over the world by production companies that have chosen MIA for the debut of these titles in the path of building their production architecture.
The complete line-up is available on the MIA website and MIA digital platform, a tool reserved for accredited delegates to discover attendees, contents, conferences, projects, and all initiatives for 2023.

What can attendees expect from the International Factual Forum?

The International Factual Forum is MIA’s Factual Showcase, a new initiative representing a perfect opportunity to present and promote ideas for factual formats and programs to buyers, executive producers, television networks, and streaming platforms. This session will present up to eight titles to celebrate and enhance talents and international formats, where some of the best titles produced in the last year will be screened. Titles selected will be unveiled soon!

On the factual side, James Townley, Banijay’s chief content officer for development, will be the keynote interview that will be launching the Factual works at MIA. He is responsible for driving the development and creation of original non-scripted IP, format acquisition and documentaries across the 21-territory group and its production entities. Co-leading Creative Networks, he supports and champions a strong pipeline of new formats with international appeal.