London TV Screenings, Berlinale, BBC Drama: International Insider

Good afternoon Insiders, Max Goldbart here steering you away from Berlin and towards London for the Screenings. Please do read on, and sign up here.

London Calling (Once Again)

Heading to the capital: As Insider goes to press, execs, sellers and buyers are descending on the English capital in their droves for what will undoubtedly be the biggest London TV Screenings so far (yes, I know we say this every year, but it’s true every time). Around 30 distributor events are planned across the week, mostly on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and all within a square mile of Soho — giving the Screenings an old-fashioned feel that harks back to halcyon days. Founder members All3Media International, Fremantle, ITV Studios and Banijay are hosting the biggest events, while BBC Studios Showcase is hitting London for the second year in a row, with the BBC now working in tandem with its distribution rivals. And with non-stop chatter about the impending relocation of MIPTV from Cannes to London (remind yourself here), there is plenty for buyers to get their teeth into. Big-budget shows on offer range from the next Wolf Hall instalment, Jenna Coleman-starrer The Jetty, Studiocanal’s TV version of the Has Fallen franchise and Disney+’s Karl Lagerfeld biopic. Huge deals could be incoming. Need a bit of help? Jesse, Zac and myself have penned profiles of each exhibiting distributor — you can find the founders and Brits profiles here, and the rest of the world over here.

Tricky headwinds: MIP aside, the real chatter this week will be around the economic headwinds that are having an impact on every element of the TV sector. The market has contracted, U.S. buyers have retrenched and the ad recession isn’t going anywhere fast. All of these mid-term shocks are, of course, hitting the sales houses and their wares, although not necessarily always in the negative — as commissioning goes down, acquisitions often go up. The question really is where the money gets spent. Jesse therefore put together a deep dive outlining the state of play. The whole piece is worth a read, but a key takeaway is just how complex and creative deal-making has now become, with these players getting used to the notion that they simply cannot rely on U.S. giants to comfortably fill in funding blanks any more. In each of the interviews we’ve done so far around the Screenings, the tricky market has come up unprompted, and exhibitors will be thinking all the while about how they best wind their way out of this.

Lest we forget: The London TV Screenings are always a spirited affair, but this year terrible conflicts around the world are raging, and buyers are cognisant. I spoke to sources about how TV sales houses are responding to the devastation in Israel, Gaza and Ukraine, speaking with distribs in Israel and Ukraine along with international execs working hard to get projects from these nations out to buyers. “The good thing about working in the entertainment industry is that there are two purposes for us,” Sharon Levi, boss of Fauda seller Yes Studios, told me. “We have the ability to voice ourselves through content and to reflect the situations that are going on in countries around the world, and we have the ability to entertain.” In the main, those I interviewed were bullish. Keshet International exhibits at the Soho Hotel on Wednesday and there will be plenty of great projects from conflict-hit countries on offer throughout the week. More from my feature here.

Such a drama

“Peak caution”: Plenty of gloom in the debut speech from BBC Drama Director Lindsay Salt at a swanky gathering of press and producers in London on Wednesday, but plenty also to be cheery about. Laying down a marker with a state of the sector address that attempted to position the BBC as a beacon in a punishing market, Salt, who joined from Netflix 18 months ago, said drama has gone from “peak TV to peak caution.” “The industry as a whole has become – dare I say it – a little fearful,” she added, refusing to mince words. On cue, Salt unveiled her first dozen commissions, including buzzy offerings such as a James Graham adaptation of his soccer play Dear England with Joseph Fiennes, The Listeners starring Rebecca Hall and the debut writing project of can-do-no-wrong Sex Education star Aimee Lou Wood. There was a bit for everyone, and the slate was paired with a rare double-season order for Northern Irish police drama Blue Lights, which has reached four greenlit seasons before even airing the second. Hard to recall the last time the BBC bet so big on a show.

UK talent woes: Salt’s counterpart in the BBC Film team, Eva Yates, was in front of the ongoing UK inquiry into film and high-end TV a few hours before Salt’s speech. Yates and Film4 head Ollie Madden were candid when speaking about the UK talent pipeline, once the envy of the world. Both acknowledged a pressure on production budgets and debut films. BBC Film and Film4 have seen their budgets remain the same for a decade while costs have risen steeply, and inward investment has been a bit of a double edged sword. On Monday, I chaired an RTS session with the boss of the broadcasting union, Philippa Childs, and she aired similar grievances, urging broadcasters and the wider industry to be a little more honest about the state of things. It’s going to be a long year.

TV Comes To Berlin

Out to market: The 10th Berlinale Series Market ran this week as a sidebar of the main EFM. The mini-fest has developed a reputation as a cool addition to a packed early-year international TV drama calendar that also includes Series Mania and Canneseries. A new team has been organizing the conference following a number of exits after the 2023 edition, with a program focused on finding solutions to the tough financial spot international television finds itself in at the moment (did we mention that already?). We were on hand in the German capital to report on events, as the likes of Roy Ashton and Danna Stern debated pay deals and the streamer reset in a well-attended opening session on Monday, chaired by our own Stewart Clarke. Later on day one, Stewart was back in the moderator’s seat to talk about programs that have cut through and had social impact. A big draw was Mr Bates Vs the Post Office producer Patrick Spence, who revealed how the 12 lead actors had worked for, “in some cases, a fifth” of their regular fees due to their belief in telling the story, which chronicles the great miscarriage of justice in British legal history. The final session of the market brought probably the largest audience, as Jesse sat down with a panel of international comedy makers, including Taskmaster and The Cleaner star Greg Davies. The British stand-up, writer and actor received a spontaneous round of applause when he suggested comedy series need time to bed in – noting even Seinfeld didn’t pop with audiences until season four, and that new shows should get two-season orders. All Berlinale Series Market coverage can be found here.

Aaaand back to cinema: After a highly politicized run-up, Carlo Chatrian and Mariette Rissenbeek’s final edition in charge was, in the end, fairly conventional. There were no real scandals or divisive talking points. For the most part, audiences have been focused on the films, which have been a mixed bag of quality. Check out Deadline’s festival reviews here. On Wednesday, Martin Scorsese rolled into town to receive the festival’s Honorary Golden Bear. Scorsese was handed the award by German filmmaker Wim Wenders, who described him as “the reigning king of cinema.” Scorsese’s remarks during the ceremony — which you can check out here — were brief. But Andreas spoke exclusively with the filmmaker before his Berlin bow, and you can read that here. It’s well worth it. On the business side, the European Film Market was piping hot. High-profile deals included our scoop that Sony pounced on After Yang filmmaker Kogonada’s next feature starring Margot Robbie and Colin Farrell in a $50 million deal. We also revealed the studio locked international on Past Lives filmmaker Celine Song’s follow-up Materialists. Dakota Johnson, Pedro Pascal, and Chris Evans are said to be in talks to star. Not done yet, check out Mel and Andreas’ hot-off-the-press deep dive into the future of the fest. With a sense that it is no longer attracting the huge studio premieres of yesteryear, will new management change things up? Read that here.

Fremantle Back In Splurge Game

Return to spender: Major European M&A this week with Fremantle pouncing for Death in Paradise, Magic of Disney‘s Animal Kingdom and Les Misérables (pictured) maker Asacha Media Group. Asacha only launched four years ago but has nimbly gone about its business, acquiring businesses all over Europe, including Tony Jordan’s Red Planet Pictures and France’s SRAB Films. RTL-owned Fremantle’s move brings an end to a relatively quiet M&A period for the American Gods super-indie, which had, as you may well remember, splurged at least $270M in 2022. That figure has almost been reached this year alone with the Asacha buy plus a deal for 80% of Singapore’s Beach House Pictures, Fremantle revealed, as RTL boss Thomas Rabe bullishly declared that the super-indie is now well on track to reach its lofty €3B ($3.2B) revenue target by 2025. It’s only February, but this one could well end one of the biggest deals of 2024.

Navalny

Outpouring: There has been an outpouring of support over the past few days for Alexei Navalny, the Russian opposition leader whose death was revealed by the local prison service as Insider was hitting inboxes last week. Navalny, who was imprisoned in an Arctic penal colony in the final stages of his life, was globally recognized as the most vocal Vladimir Putin critic of the past two decades. His criticism is immortalized in an Oscar-winning 2022 doc that is, I assure you, absolutely shocking and well worth a watch. Since his death, a queue of public figures ranging from the POTUS to Navalny director Daniel Roher have jostled for position to blame Putin, and the international world has watched on with concern. Notwithstanding X/Twitter’s ‘accidental’ suspension of her account, Navalny’s widow Yulia Navalnaya has been present in the public discourse throughout, a shining beacon of decency and dignity. She has vowed to carry on the fight for democracy.

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: The BBC Studios and Lionsgate deal that spawned hit CBS comedy Ghosts has come to an end, per Peter White from LA.

🌶️ Another: Bodhi Talent, the subject of multiple Jake Kanter investigations over the past fortnight, has filed for closure.

🌶️ Boiling: Sky found its Mozart in the shape of White Lotus star Will Sharpe for Joe Barton’s reimagining.

📈 On the up: Just about… Viaplay’s Q4 results showed signs of green shoots.

🤿 Deep dive: Liz told us how Vietnam is becoming one of Asia’s fastest growing markets.

🏕️ Festivals latest: Doc fest CPH:DOX set lineup including Pete Doherty’s Stranger in My Own Skin.

🏆 Awards latest: Oppenheimer swept the BAFTAs; Poor Things, Zone of Interest, American Fiction all won gongs.

🪓 Breaking Baz: Do follow our roving International Editor-at-Large to the BAFTA after parties.

🏪 Setting up shop: LA’s J Creative Entertainment moved into Asian American and Pacific Islander production.

🕵️‍♂️ Investigation: Ofcom’s latest into GB News concerns the UK Prime Minister himself.

🎬 Slate: Disney+ Korea unveiled projects with Moving and Kingdom stars.

🤝 Done deal: Banijay took a stake in Akala’s production outfit Immovable Pictures.

🌏 Global Breakout: Spinners, a Fast and Furious-esque Afro-European co-pro, was spotlighted Tuesday.

🍿 Box office: Bob Marley: One Love felt alright with $52M.

🎥 Trail: Lior Ashkenazi in Matthew Mishory’s Mosolov’s Suitcase.

Zac Ntim and Jesse Whittock contributed to this week’s Insider