With the television industry continuing its painful transition from the peak TV era, it’s perhaps a surprise that Series Mania is expecting more international executives than ever to attend its 2025 edition, running March 21-28.
Laurence Herszberg founded the event in 2010 with some 250 industry attendees. This year, organisers are expecting around 4,500 accredited professionals in Lille, up 5% from last year, and 84 exhibitors at the industry-focused Forum, 25% more than last year.
Despite a global tightening of budgets and Series Mania taking place just weeks after Mip London and the London Screenings, organisers say they have seen no slowdown in the quality or quantity of projects at both the festival and Forum.
“Peak TV may be over, but we received as many submissions as in past years. Perhaps in a year or two, we’ll see a decline, but most series we are seeing were decided before the more recent budget constraints,” Herszberg says.
Series Mania will have 24 international delegations attending this year, 15% more than 2024. “The market is becoming more international,” Herszberg says of the ever-expanding event.
Countries like Korea, Taiwan and Canada will be at the Forum this year alongside the usual large European delegations.
There will also be a big UK presence, which Forum director Francesco Capurro attributes to the fact, “Lille is a quick trip from London and since Brexit, many UK companies want to work with Europe”.
The US majors will also be in tow, typically with representatives from European affiliates.
Market focus
Series Mania has traditionally been known as a launching pad for series and a hub for development, financing and co-productions.
This year it is expanding to include an all-new Buyers Upfront set for Monday, March 24 just ahead of the Forum, which runs March 25-27. The initiative aims to link buyers with exclusive 12-minute previews of 10 upcoming series, curated by the festival’s artistic team. Among the 100 acquisition and commissioning executives expected to attend are Apple TV+, Max, Hulu, ITV, Mubi, NBCUniversal, Sky, Canal+, NRK, RAI and ZDF.
Herszberg says the demand for a more market-centric initiative has been building for the past couple of years, but that the end of Mip-TV hastened the process. “Buyers told us they needed another moment in the year in addition to Mipcom [in October].”
The sales market is also getting a boost from more Coming Next presentations this year. Nine territories are set to unveil their most anticipated series including France, Korea, Quebec, Spain, Sweden and Finland alongside content showcases from Prime Video, Netflix and NHK.
Talent and series
The festival has 48 series playing in its selection. Among the talent attending are Amanda Seyfried and creators Nikki Toscano and Liz Moore for US thriller Long Bright River, Martin Bourboulon for Apple TV+’s French-language opener Carême, Joe Wright for Mussolini: Son Of The Century, and Christina Hendricks for Ireland-set comedy drama Small Town, Big Story.
At the Forum, Sally Wainwright and Drama Republic’s Roanna Benn will unveil their new Mediawan-sold series Riot Women, while Happy Valley star James Norton and Heartstopper’s Patrick Walters will headline talent masterclasses. Gaumont Television France president Isabelle Degeorges will be honoured with the Woman in Series award.
Leading industry figures set for keynotes include Gerhard Zeiler, president of international at Warner Bros. Discovery, and Ruth Berry, president of international distribution at ITV Studios, as well as the heads of leading French broadcasters.
Top talent from the film world includes European feature directors Bourboulon, Costa-Gavras and Alice Winocour, producers such as Mediawan-owned 24 25 and Anatomy Of A Fall’s David Thion, and actors Seyfried, Karin Viard, Alain Chabat and Jonathan Cohen spread across series and juries.
“For the past few years, the world of cinema has been afraid of TV series snapping up talent, but the crossover has been more organic. The success of series can help to finance films and allow producers and major groups to take risks on more fragile films. It’s a virtuous circle,” Capurro says.
The projects at both the Forum and festival also underline several industry trends, among them a move by European producers to create large-scale co-productions, often in the English language, to bolster US and UK streamer and broadcaster sales prospects like Afghanistan-set drama Kabul (a co-pro involving 11 European countries).
Other noticeable trends include an increase in independently financed projects such as Cooper Raiff’s US comedy drama Hal & Harper, and early co-productions among different territories to boost budgets like political thriller The Deal and Bosnian-war set A Life’s Worth.
Talking points
Herszberg says the biggest challenge facing the industry at this year’s event is budgets. “Now that peak TV is over, what’s next?” she says.
That will be the central topic at the seventh edition of the Lille Dialogues which will also focus on the impact of AI. “AI is on everyone’s mind,” says Capurro.
Also top of mind and the subject of panels is the challenge of capturing the attention of young audiences and the intense competition for ad budgets between linear channels and YouTube and social platforms.
Capurro cites “two parallel movements” defining the 2025 edition, namely “a big need for co-production and co-financing for ambitious series looking for buyers” and “very local series that can be adapted overseas as remakes.”
The event has long been plagued with global shake-ups including a 2020 edition that was cancelled due to Covid, a scaled-back 2021 event, the Hollywood strikes, and last year’s post-October 7 edition which saw a reduced presence for Israeli series and executives.
This year arrives amid another wave of worldwide socio-political tumult, which for Herszberg makes the event all the more essential. “In a world filled with geopolitical upheaval, culture has a role to play in global tensions and should remain a place for freedom of expression. At Series Mania, we have and always will take the side of artists.”
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