Cannes, France: This year’s 15th edition of the mipcom program market seemed especially focused. There was talk of the tough sell and less traffic on the floor, but the more meaningful message pointed to fabulous ongoing opportunities in drama, children’s and factual programming for serious-minded companies with quality product. Specialty channel buyers knew better what they needed this year, and the expanded role of digital technology and convergence offered the promise of new chances for business.

The well-schooled Canadians were impressive, an increasingly mature contingent among leading audiovisual nations.

The seventh edition of MIPCOM Junior underlined the growing importance of the children’s sector, with a 20% increase in buyers to 406 and a 10% increase in listed programs to 742. Animation was far and away the top program category, logging 8,303 out of a total of 10,752 program screenings, followed by drama, educational and documentary programs.

Shows from Canadian producers such as Decode Entertainment’s Angela Anaconda and Watership Down, Cinar Corp.’s The Baskervilles, Alliance Atlantis Communications’ My Friend Is An Alien and Cine-Groupe’s Lion of Oz and The Badge of Courage were among this year’s most-screened and sought-after shows.

In territorial terms, buyers said Asia seemed to be back on track, while business with Eastern Europe took a positive step forward, with sellers reporting interest in worthwhile mainstream programming and coproduction opportunities.

Canada’s leading pubcos stayed relatively low key, with few sales-related press releases issued during the market.

Cinar keyed on Journey To The West, Legends of the Monkey King and talks on new business with China Central Television; several lively female-skewed properties, including Mona The Vampire, launched at MIPCOM Junior; and two series in development, Twins and a second entry in development with bbc.

aac put its promotional sales dollars on the four-hour Alec Baldwin miniseries Nuremberg, on the positive fallout from multiple Primetime Emmy nominee Joan of Arc, and on four new tv movies, including Flowers for Algernon and Murder Most Likely, starring Paul Gross. Early demand was very strong for aac’s smart-looking new martial arts series Invinsible, to be shot in Canada in early 2000 in association with Mel Gibson’s Icon Pictures under the creative direction of Jet Li.

Fireworks Entertainment, a CanWest company, served up a generous breakfast offering in Cannes, taking a cover position for its new one-hour action series Wheels of Justice, starring Lucky Vanous and Billy Dee Williams and one mean-looking, 18-wheel rig. The show is being produced in association with cbs and Eyemark Entertainment.

Basking high atop the Palais des Festivals, Nelvana repeated as host of MIPCOM Junior. Promotional emphasis was on Maggie and the Ferocious Beast and a mix of edgier and revitalized traditional animation series titles, including new episodes of Babar.

Looking to advance its European standing, the company was especially pleased to report news of double-digit ratings for its 3D preschool series Rolie Polie Olie on France’s La Cinquieme. ‘It’s become the new flagship program for their children’s block,’ says communications vp Margo Raport.

The final delegate count at this year’s market was just shy of 10,500.

‘Brilliant market’

Lynn Chadwick, newly named vp at Salter Street Films International, says the market was ‘very busy, very successful. We had a brilliant market and I think we met expectations.’ In broader market terms, Chadwick says there was ‘a sense buyers seemed disappointed, there wasn’t much new or interesting product. That’s what we heard from [buyers from] the u.s., u.k. and Australia.’

Salter closed a deal for 28 episodes of the sci-fi drama Lexx in all Canal+ territories, with negotiations advancing for a major European sale for the cbc tv industry satire Industry/Made in Canada.

Citytv’s shocker

ChumCity International program sales at mipcom included Book tv to TV 12 in Singapore, tvtv to Sogicable/Documania in Spain, eight hours of MuchMusic’s Intimate & Interactive to Fox Family Channel in the u.s., and Egos & Icons and Sex Tv to XYZ Australia, which also renewed Fashion Television.

In new-format business, ChumCity’s vp/gm Stephen Tapp announced a full Citytv licensing agreement with Television Bucharest (TV Bucuresti) for an early summer 2000 startup in the Romania capital. Station principals are Chris Lowe and Vitold Chrzanowski, with start-up capital investment pegged at $25 million. Mary Powers, ChumCity’s communications and marketing vp, says negotiations are well advanced for a MuchMusic franchise in Tel Aviv and an extended 24-hour MuchMusic in Finland.

Isme Bennie, director of programming and acquisition at Space: the Imagination Station and Bravo!, says while there was no identifiable or major buzz at mipcom, proceedings ‘were businesslike; the real buyers and sellers were serious; and there were far fewer hangers-on.’

If there was a buzz it was coming straight from Jay Switzer, vp programming at ChumCity, who lauded a new and mysterious Rene Harlan-directed series pilot called trax. Produced undercover by Pebblehut (Muse) Productions in Toronto this past summer, trax is a fast-paced cop series licensed by City and Fox in the u.s. in which the bad guys are really bad – a lineup of creeps, vampires and ghouls. ‘I think it’s a shocker, in a good way,’ says Switzer.

Health, comedy

demand grows

Sari Buksner, senior vp international sales and development, The Multimedia Group of Canada, says the many new specialty or theme channels are becoming more defined. ‘People know exactly what they’re looking for and meetings have become very efficient.’ And because many of the new services have output deals with production affiliates, she says buyers have become ‘more picky in terms of quality.’

mgc picked up international rights to Show Me The Funny, a new-format comedy clip show, and found buyers for its lifestyle programs from among the growing number of health-themed specialty channels, including a new u.k. entry and the recently launched Discovery Health (15 million subs and counting).

Buksner says there is lots of interest in Mucumba International’s timely General Pinochet expose Images of a Dictatorship and in Devine Entertainment’s Artists’, Inventors’ and Composers’ Specials, including u.s. interest from Disney and Discovery.

mgc sold across the board in docs, kids and light entertainment, but ‘we can’t get our hands on enough comedy shows that cross borders,’ says Buksner.

Major children’s franchise

Catalyst Distribution hit the market with a new Italian travel series called Avventura, while Jill Keenleyside, vp and head of distribution, and ceo Charles Falzon and partner Britt Allcroft advanced talks on a major movie franchise called Popcorn Pictures. Five coventured films are projected, with two – What Katy Did and Virtual Mom – already in production.

At mipcom, Catalyst and France’s TeleImages announced a coproduction agreement on a major new children’s series called Tales From the Longhouse. Based on traditional Native characters and mythology, the 26 half-hour series combines live action, puppets and cgi and stars the gracious Tom Jackson.

Incredible coprod deal

Paul Black, managing director at Minds Eye International, says deals are taking more time and buyers have more choice. ‘There are more people to see and it’s taking longer to get to the buy position.’

Minds Eye announced a European coproduction deal with Buena Vista International for the new season of Incredible Studio Story. Four of next season’s 13 episodes will be shot in the u.k. and France, with two more added for Germany in 2001. Black says the show’s $400,000 per episode price tag limits what can be done at the moment with Discovery Kids in the u.s., but ‘Discovery Europe may well want to do a series in Europe.’

Talking money

Michel Lavoie, vp children’s and youth at Motion International, says he used mipcom to scout coproduction and cofinancing for new shows on science and money. Talks were held with both Radio-Canada and tfo on a French version of YAA! To The M@x, while the ytv/Hearst Entertainment show Popular Mechanics for Kids was sold to Wham, an Encore multiplex group channel.

At the market, Motion vp Jean Bureau announced a pay-tv rights sale of Little Men to international drama buyer Hallmark Entertainment Network. Motion acquired the Little Men franchise outright from aac and has sold the show to USA Network and ctv, which has season one. ‘Free tv remains completely open,’ says Bureau.

Genre travel slant sells

Lizanne Rouillard, vp with Filmoption International, closed a slew of deals for music, wildlife and travel packages at mipcom. Highlights include 28 hours sold to Rai Sat in Italy, 20 hours to The Arts Channel in the u.k. and 33 mainly jazz hours to French-track Euro specialties Nostalgie and Muzzik.

The exporter also dealt 23 hours of Greenspace Productions’ Wildlife to TV3 in Spain and another package of Good Earth Productions’ Great Canadian Parks to Viajar and Odyssee, travel channels in Spain and France, respectively.

Travel Channel in the u.s. picked up Off the Map and Gorica Productions’ Women All Over the World, with Rouillard saying the genre slant is emerging as the latest spin in the popular travel category. ‘They bought the first 13 and are looking at the next 13. dci is also interested.

‘We had three sales people at the market and we were fully booked with meetings every half-hour,’ she says. ‘[Program] prices are holding except for Brazil and South Africa where there [are] problems with currency devaluation.’

Ron Goetz, ceo with Regina’s Partners in Motion and gm/head of coproductions at newly acquired Compass International (see story p.8), signed a coventure agreement with Single Spark Productions of l.a. to produce the investigative doc history Kent State: Thirty Years Later. Broadcasters on the $400,000 project include tlc and Canada’s History Television.

Internet rights on hold

Allan Kent, vp with Octapixx Worldwide, export sales unit for Toronto nature doc producer Maxima Film Corp., says ‘traffic at the market seemed off this year, but the people here are serious buyers.’

Kent scouted out presales in Europe and North America for a big-budget John Stoneman doc called Wild Oceans, sold a reformatted (100 five-minute episodes) show called Ocean Crystals, and held talks with potential coproducers looking to develop Maxima’s watery, one million feet of unbroadcast stock footage.

Commissioned by PricewaterhouseCoopers to deal much of the former Paragon Entertainment library, Kent sales were brisker than anticipated, with many seeking ‘to buy the entire library.’

‘Seven people visited Octapixx at the market wanting to buy programming for the Internet,’ says Kent. At least one major u.s. studio announced Internet program rights were being withheld and Kent’s reply to buyers was no different – ‘No deal.’

‘We might test out one of the older titles but the fear is no control,’ he says.

24,000 half-hours

Gabor Kertesz, ceo of Imavision Distribution, laid down hard cash for a percentage of tv and home video rights in the French-track Canadian market for 24,000 half-hours from em.tv’s children’s library. In a deal with 4Kids Entertainment of the u.s., Imavision picked up domestic foreign-language rights to Pokemon, and in a case of programming rights roundabout, picked up Pippi Longstocking, Lassie and Weird-Ohs.

‘The Japanese booths [at recent markets] used to be completely empty. Now that’s changed,’ says Kertesz.

Scouting partners

Ina Fichman, producer with La Fete Productions, used mipcom to scout coproduction and cofinancing for children’s and family drama, including Peter Piper and the Plane People, a promising Gerald Potterton 3D animation preschool series; the live-action family adventure series The Mysteries of Blackrose Castle, about two young boys in spooky old Scotland; and Princess High, a ‘fish out of water’ tale about a foreign teenage princess obliged ‘to learn how to become an American.’

Fichman says home-side financing for some of the projects could include a distribution advance from sister operation Medimax International, the Quebec production tax credits and gap financing against presales from fidec.

Anchors away

In a chat on board the Decode Entertainment yacht, producer Neil Court and Alltime Entertainment’s Simon Vaughan reported Carole Postal’s New York-based licensing boutique had picked up the u.s. merchandising rights on Watership Down, the latest addition to a heady list of series’ partners including itv in the u.k., ytv, cbc and Canal Famille in Canada; Buena Vista Home Video for Europe and Autralasia; and Merchandising Munchen, a unit of Germany’s ProSieben.

itv started airing the series three times a week this fall, and Vaughan says the show has a combined 30 share. Decode and partners are delivering on four animation series this year as well as prepping for a spring start in Toronto on the paranormal youth mystery series The Zack Files, sold to ytv and Fox Family, says Beth Stevenson, vp production and development.

Decode also used mipcom to pitch new product The King, a traditional cel-animation concept from Funbag Studios, and Rabbit in the Hole (working title), a puppet series in development with Granada tv and Canada’s ytv.

Upcoming markets

Canadian producers, program sellers and broadcasters will do it all again, returning to the international arena at half a dozen markets in the next six or seven months, among them: MIP-Asia, Dec. 10-12 in Singapore; natpe, Jan 24-27 in New Orleans; mip-tv, April 12-17 in Cannes, preceded by mip-doc, Apr. 10-11; and the inaugural edition of Reed Midem’s World Education Market (www.wem.com) in Vancouver, May 24-27.