PARIS & LILLE, FRANCE – October 23, 2018 – After its highly successful move to Lille, France last year, Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania, whose next edition is set for March 22-30, 2019, with Series Mania Forum, the industry arm of Series Mania, set for March 25-27, 2019, today announced its 2019 “Call for Projects” with a deadline of January 9, 2019 for producers to submit their projects for the Forum’s annual Co-ProPitching Sessions.
From these submissions, 16 projects will be selected to participate and to be pitched in front of decision makers of the TV industry including co-producers, distributors, financiers, and TV channel representatives attending the Forum. As with the past two years, the Best Project presented during the Co-Pro Pitching Sessionswill be awarded a 50,000€ prize, as determined by a professional jury of leading industry executives. To submit online, free of charge, please go to: https://seriesmania.com/en/industry/co-pro-pitching-sessions
“The first edition in Lille was a huge success, beyond our best expectations,” commented Ms. Herszberg. “On the Festival side, we had more than 55,000 spectators who joined our numerous screenings, meetings and events organised throughout Lille. The Forummeanwhile welcomed at Lille Grand Palais more than 2,000 registered participants for three intense days of business and networking. The Swedish project We Got This won the 50,000€ award for development among the 16 high-end international projects that were pitched. We look forward to welcoming new submissions for 2019 and awarding the winner with 50,000€.”
“Since day one, our goal with the Forum is to be the preeminent showcase of what’s best in European television development and production,”commented Francesco Capurro, Head of Series ManiaForum.“We are delighted to be announcing our ‘Call for Projects’ for 2019”. A founding and essential part of the Forum, the Co-Pro Pitching Sessionsallows for numerous series projects to be released all over Europe. Since 2013, the Forum has been the driving force behind the release of series such as: Banking District(Switzerland), Eden(France), Keeping Faith (Great Britain), Manor House(Czech Republic), Stella Blomkvist(Iceland) Tabula Rasa(Belgium), Trepalium(France) and Warrior(Denmark)."
ABOUT SERIES MANIA
Created by Laurence Herszberg in 2010 in collaboration with artistic director Frederic Lavigne while both at Forum des Images, Series Maniabrings the best international series on the big screen and offers its audience (over 55,000 spectators in 2018 with 2,000 industry professionals) the unique opportunity to meet and learn from renowned showrunners, directors and television talent. Series Mania has developed into a unique event with wide recognition, entirely dedicated TV series, and aimed at both the general public and industry professionals. For this tenth edition, the Festival will once again be held in the charming northern French city of Lille (Hauts-de-France) where it will organize a competition featuring world premieres judged by a prestigious international jury.
ABOUT SERIES MANIA FORUM
Launched in 2013, Series ManiaForum, the industry arm of the Series Mania Festival, has become the place to be for all those involved in the creation of series from around the world. The Forum has seen many projects become a series, including: Liar, Tabula Rasa, Stella Blomkvist, and Keeping Faith, with many others currently in production or in advanced development. In 2018, the Forum launched its first annual Lille Transatlantic Dialogues, a high-level rendezvous bringing together major political, corporate, creative and economic players from the TV and culture sectors in Europe and the US. With more than 2,000 accredited professionals from over 35 countries in attendance in 2018, the Forum has become the place where industry talent and decision-makers meet to create the new generation of serial fiction.
