Television

Cast your eye across many of the unscripted formats on offer to international buyers at Mipcom and one thing stands out — there are a lot of celebrity-driven titles out there. Some of the most high-profile international shows coming to market in October are Keshet Intl.’s “Showdown — Aviv/Eyal,” ITV Studios’ “I’ll Get This” and

A commonplace talking point over the past several years has been how social media seems increasingly poised to take down traditional content providers such as TV as the preferred diversion of the masses around the world. But what if there’s another path, one in which social media doesn’t compete with the global television market but

Spanish production house Dlo/Magnolia, owned by the giant Banijay Group, has revealed an ambitious TV drama slate, led by psychological thriller series “La Caza. Monteperdido,” a TV adaptation of Agustín Martínez’s best-selling novel “Monteperdido.” Filming in the Aragonese Pyrenees, the eight-episode, 70-minute high-concept TV drama is scheduled to premiere on RTVE’s flagship channel La 1

Announced on the eve of Mipcom, Endemol Shine China and one of China’s most-watched broadcasters, Hunan TV, have agreed to partner on the creation of new original formats for local and international markets. The plan is to create content appropriate for Chinese linear TV, while leaving the door open for future international distribution. The two

Kenan Thompson has played Bill Cosby on “Saturday Night Live” before, but now that the once-television icon has been sent to jail for sexual assault, the role has taken on new weight. In the third episode of the 44th “SNL” season, Thompson donned a black DOC jumpsuit to portray Cosby as a prisoner, getting a

October 13, 2018 10:32PM PT Seth Meyers couldn’t let his time hosting the Oct. 13 episode of “Saturday Night Live” come and go without stepping back behind the “Weekend Update” desk to resurrect his “Really!?!” segment. Joining Michael Che and Colin Jost, Meyers kicked things off with jabs at both Donald Trump and Kanye West,

CANNES — In one of the biggest deals to go on a major Mipcom title, involving some of Europe’s largest TV players, France’s TF1 has acquired Alex Pina’s Movistar + Original “The Pier,” sold by Beta Film, and produced with Atresmedia Studios. Numerous additional deals are already in negotiation, Beta Film revealed Saturday. Also produced

Mipcom 2018 just got a little bit more rock ‘n’ roll after Kew Media Distribution landed the rights to “Chuck Berry,” a new feature documentary about the music legend that also features contributions from several other music icons. Kew is launching the project at the market in Cannes after teaming with music film specialist Cardinal

Carsten Jensen’s bestselling historical saga “We, the Drowned” is being adapted for TV, and prolific director and cinematographer Mikael Salomon (“Band of Brothers”) is on board. Salomon will direct the seafaring epic, which will be produced in English by Denmark’s Marlowfilm Productions. Banijay Rights has snagged international rights to the series and will hold early-stage

October 13, 2018 9:34PM PT A feature documentary secretly filmed in off-shore camps in the Pacific that hold asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat will launch internationally at Mipcom. “Stop the Boats” has been acquired by indie distributor Limonero Films, which will take it out to international buyers in Cannes. The film is directed

October 13, 2018 9:31PM PT Distribution outfit Drive has inked several pre-Mipcom deals for royal documentary “Queen of the World” on the eve of the Cannes market getting underway. Drive netted the international rights to the show earlier this year. The two-part factual series looks at the Commonwealth – the international group of nations that

Netflix’s “BoJack Horseman” will be sold to networks internationally for the first time after Lionsgate scored a rights deal that will see it launch sales of the show at Mipcom, the biggest global program-trading get-together of the year. With Netflix and Amazon retaining global rights to their originals, some of the biggest shows in the world

It only took until the third episode of “Saturday Night Live’s” 44th season for Alex Baldwin to slip back into a suit, red tie and Donald Trump combover wig. The Emmy winning actor and new talk show host appeared in the cold open sketch, which focused on Trump’s Oval Office meeting with Kanye West (played

Hollywood composers Brad Breeck and Gabriel Hays have come on board to pen the soundtrack for TV series “Snow Queen: Gerda and the Keepers of Wonders.” Breeck is best known for his work on Disney’s “Gravity Falls” and the “Voltron” series reboot for Dreamworks and Netflix. He was the composer for MTV’s “Awkward” and Cartoon

The Art of Crime (season 2)Created by Pierre-Yves Mora, Angele HerryBroadcaster: France 2Production: GaumontA detective teams with an art historian on mysteries of French heritage.Sales: Gaumont BalthazarWritten by Clothilde Jamin, Clelia ConstantineCast: Tomer Sisley, Helene de FougerollesBroadcaster: TF1Production: Beaubourg AudiovisuelThe cop series follows a handsome and cheeky forensic physician working with a policewoman to solve

Faced with the rising competition from global streaming services and the inflation of sports rights, French networks such as TF1, France Televisions and Canal Plus have ramped up their investment in international drama series in a major way to sustain ratings, boost their brands and lure millennials. Public broadcasting group France Televisions is spending €280

International TV drama’s golden age is continuing. As buyers and sellers from around the world congregate in Cannes, Variety speaks to the stars, writers, and distributors of 10 of the scripted series that will be the talk of the Croisette. The Bisexual (pictured top left)(All3Media Intl.)Desiree Akhavan wrote the first draft of “The Bisexual” right

British animator Julia Pott, the creator of Cartoon Network’s new children’s series “Summer Camp Island,” said it spoke “to people who are craving gentleness,” during a presentation of the show Saturday at MipJunior in Cannes, France. Pott compared her animated series, which follows two friends at a magical sleepaway camp, to “Gilmore Girls.” “Nothing bad

October 13, 2018 1:40AM PT Lucky Pics, a joint venture with Banijay-owned Brainpool, is set to produce “Catch!,” a sports event show which will showcase Luke Mockridge (“Lucky Man”), the Canadian-Italian comedian who lives in Germany. “Catch!” is being created as a high-energy entertainment series following four celebrity-led teams who fight out for eight rounds,

Tandem Films, in co-production with fellow Spaniards Gloriamundi Producciones, Brown Films AIE, Producions A Fonsagrada and Argentina’s Pampa Films will launch their first animated feature, “La Gallina Turuleca” (“Turuleca the Hen”) in August of 2019. Banking on the international success of the already well-established Spanish and Latin American character, the Madrid-based production company attended this

CANNES — Federation Kids & Family, the Paris-based premium  family content distributor, has closed U.K. rights on “The Ollie & Moon Show” with Tiny Pop, the U.K. pre-school TV channel owned by Sony Pictures Television Networks. Produced by Cottonwood Media, FK&F’s production arm, in association with Sprout and France Télévisions, the buddy slapstick comedy features

CANNES —  Who says Chinese animation doesn’t travel? Created by Grace Tian at Beijing’s Magic Mall and produced by Magic Mall and the U.K’s Cloth Cat Animation, “Luo Bao Bei” has performed 35% above slot average on Australia ABC 2, Eurodata TV’s Avril Blondelot will point out Saturday at MipJunior in the market’s major overview

Finland’s Kalle Kujala, backed by Family Vijakainen Holding & Investment, has established a new production company called Walking Walnut, which will focus on transmedia original animated content for kids. Brazil’s Spirit Animation Studios are co-producing and animating while the Finnish government is backing the accompanying educational content. The company, its first series and the show’s

October 12, 2018 11:21PM PT A new “Angry Birds” TV series is being hatched and will take the game-inspired bird-throwing franchise into longform territory for the first time. The new show will be aimed at 6-to-12 year-olds and is slated to launch in 2020. Finnish firm Rovio, which owns the “Angry Birds” property, has tapped

CANNES — France’s TeamTO and China’s UYoung Culture & Media Co. have struck a longterm development, production and distribution alliance. The agreement gives the Beijing-based UYoung, one of China’s foremost children’s entertainment production-distribution companies, the opportunity to co-develop and co-produce TeamTO shows. UYoung has also acquired Chinese distribution rights to the series, as well as

“Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big Adventures!” is being added to the timetables of a host of broadcasters around the world, including the ABC in Australia, Super RTL in Germany, Televisa in Mexico, and Treehouse in Canada. Mattel owns the “Thomas & Friends” property and gave the TV series a major overhaul in “Thomas & Friends: Big World! Big

October 12, 2018 11:13PM PT Growing kids distributor Jetpack has landed two new animated series that it will launch internationally at MipJunior. The U.K.-based firm has snagged international rights to “Oswaldo,” which hails from Brazil, and “Barefoot Bandits,” which is on air in Australia and New Zealand. “Oswaldo” has the distinction of being the most-watched

Something about Melania Trump keeps people hopeful — insistently so, despite so much contrary evidence — that there’s a bigger story at work. Maybe it’s simply her circumstance, existing as the immigrant wife of a President whose misogyny and xenophobia are such pronounced parts of his personal brand. Maybe it’s the occasional glimmer of seeming

October 12, 2018 7:01PM PT Marvel’s “Iron Fist” will not return for a third season, a Netflix representative confirmed to Variety. “Marvel’s Iron Fist will not return for a third season on Netflix. Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is proud of the series and grateful for all of the hard work from our incredible cast,

SPOILER ALERT: Do not read if you have not yet watched “I Want to be Here,” the fourth season premiere of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend.” The final season of “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” started with Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) in prison after shoving her stalker ex Trent (Paul Welsh) off of a rooftop. She went into prison willingly, as an