News

In today’s Mipcom Roundup, ITV closes format deals around the world for some of its biggest properties; History greenlights prison break factual series with Morgan Freeman; Beta Film sells several catalog titles across Europe and the Americas; and Nent Studios U.K. scores Joe Biden doc.

Formats

ITV Studios’ most popular format “Love Island” has landed in two new territories after commissions for the format were ordered by Atresmedia in Spain, where it will be produced by Boomerang, and Tvc for terrestrial and on 9 Vision Media for digital in Nigeria, the show’s first commission in Africa. Meanwhile the German remake of “Love Island” has been renewed for a fifth season this spring on Rtl Zwei.

Celebrating the 10-year anniversary of “The Voice of Holland,” which launched a global phenomenon, “The Voice Allstars” was also announced by ITV Studios. In the updated version of the classic program, familiar voices from...

Exclusive: Beta Film has secured a raft of deals with U.S. and international buyers on its TV drama slate.

Going into MIPCOM, Beta closed a deal with U.S. buyer MHz Networks for thriller Agent Hamilton (10h), which had its red carpet world premiere last year at MIPCOM in Cannes. The platform is also the new home for Canneseries-awarded Bauhaus – A New Era (6h) from director Lars Kraume (The Verdict), as well as former Canneseries and Geneva International Filmfestival contender The Typist (5h) by Nina Grosse.

Agent Hamilton was also acquired by AMC for Latin America and Rtp Portugal. The show stars Jakob Oftebro (Kon-Tiki), Katia Winter (Dexter) and Wallander lead Krister Henriksson and is based on the best-selling Hamilton novels by Jan Guillou. Producer is Dramacorp’s Patrick Nebout (Midnight Sun), German broadcaster is Zdf.

Additional deals for Bauhaus – A New Era include Denmark (Dr), Finland (Yle), HBO Latin America,...

CEO Martin Moszkowicz uses Twitter to critiise the cost of living in Munich.

A Tweet sent by CEO Martin Moszkowicz of Munich- based Constantin Film, critiscing the lack of support given to film companies by the German state of Bavaria, of which Munich is the capital, was the talk of the first weekend of the Munich Film Festival.

“Bavaria has significant competitive disadvantages for modern media companies compared to other federal states. #constantinfilm will soon begin with the relocation of units to other parts of Germany.” Moszkowicz tweeted on Friday June 29.

Constantin, Germany’s leading independent producer and distributor, is...

Screening at Canneseries as part of the Official Competition selection, “The Typist” follows Freya Becker, a typist with the homicide division of the Berlin police. Freya’s daughter, Marie, disappeared 11 years ago without a trace, but Freya is determined to uncover the truth, whatever the cost. The series is produced by Constantin Film’s Moovie, and is being sold by Beta Film. Oliver Berben, who heads up Constantin’s TV, Entertainment and Digital Media division, says that although a crime is at the center of the show, the series is “more a drama than a crime story,” and what “gets you hooked are the dramatic and character elements rather than just the suspense parts of the show.”

He adds: “What makes it special in my opinion is that it creates its own language and temperature for the audience. If you look at the German market in particular it is quite...

Cannes — Crime thrillers, missing girl mysteries: Both are staples of German TV. But, backed by Germany ’s TV industry drivers – producer Oliver Berben, at Constantin’s Moovie, broadcaster Zdf, sales company Beta Film – Nina Grosse’s “The Typist” underscores the new edge of scripted drama on European free-to-air TV, one of the big trends in Canneseries. That was already seen, when it comes to Germany, in “Shades of Guilt,” another Moovie, Zdf, Beta collaboration involving Grosse and also starring Iris Berben (“Eddie the Eagle”) and Moritz Bleibtreu (“Run. Lola, Run”). But that played second primetime.

“The Typist is a show which usually would have been aimed at a second primetime window, but the high quality and the star-character of the protagonists made it eligible for primetime TV,” said Jan Motjo, Beta Film CEO.

He added: “What’s interesting is the combination of the ambition to do something different, but still...

The event launches in Cannes this April.

Canneseries, the international TV festival launching in Cannes this April (7-11), has revealed the ten series in its official competition selection.

Scroll down for full line-up

The titles include Killing Eve created by Phoebe Waller-Bridge (Fleabag) and starring Sandra Oh and Fiona Shaw, and Aquí En La Terra, created by Gael García Bernal with Kyzza Terrazas and Jorge Dorantes.

The titles were selected by Canneseries artistic director Albin Lewi.

The festival was founded by David Lisnard, mayor of Cannes and presided by former French culture minister Fleur Pellerin. It will run alongside Miptv.

BBC America’s “Killing Eve” has been selected for this year’s first-ever Canneseries TV festival competition — making it the only U.S. show in a field of ten international productions. “Killing Eve” will be up for one of six awards handed out on April 11, along side new series from Belgium, Germany, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Norway, South Korea, and Spain.

The ten shows will be vying for Best Music, Best Screenplay, Special Performance Prize, Best Performance and Best Series trophies.

As previously announced, author and producer Harlan Coben has been named jury president for the competition, which takes place April 7 to 11. The U.S.-based Coben will be joined on the panel by actress Paula Beer (Germany), screenwriter and director Audrey Fouché (France), actress Melisa Sözen (Turkey), composer Cristobal Tapia de Veer (Chile/Canada) and actor Michael K. Williams (USA).

Coben’s new series “Safe,” which will air in France...

COLOGNE -- German director Nina Grosse on Wednesday was named as president of the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival's Perspektive Deutsches Kino section. The director of arthouse features such as "Olga's Summer", "Fire Rider" and Bavarian Film Prize winner "Der Glaeserne Himmel" (The Gassy Sky") will head the eight-member French-German jury that awards the section's "Dialogue en Perspective" prize.