LILLE & PARIS, FRANCE – November 20, 2018 – Following the tremendous success of last year’s event, Ms. Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania (March 22-30, 2019), and Ms. Brigitte Maccioni, managing director of UGC, one of the largest cinema operators in Europe, are happy to announce their partnership regarding the newly named UGC Writers Campus by Series Mania. Formerly known as Series Mania Writers Campus, this program is organized to kickstart the next generation of European series creators.
“Since the creation of the program, the Writers Campus’ objective has been to find the best emerging talent, bring them together with renown showrunners, and allow them to share their creative vision. It has been designed as an incubator for the writers of tomorrow, where they can simultaneously develop their own projects and engage with industry executives,” said Herszberg. “By supporting this program, UGC is demonstrating its ambition in aiding the creation of original series in Europe, and I’m delighted with this agreement between our teams.”
For the next three years, UGC will sponsor this English-language, high-quality and immersive writing workshop for 20 emerging TV drama writers throughout Europe. Participants will experience an intensive week surrounded by the best authors taking place along Series Mania. Under the editorial supervision of Lorraine Sullivan, the first edition of UGC Writers Campus by Series Mania, in partnership with Paris College of Art (France) and the SACD, will run from March 20-27, 2019.
“I’m very proud of this partnership between UGC and Series Mania – the most important international series festival in Europe – regarding UGC Writers Campus,” said Maccioni. “The UGC group, in all its activities – production, distribution, theatrical exhibition – is always encouraging new authors and diverse cultural projects.”
In addition, Ms. Herszberg announced that the Call for Applications for interested writers is now open with a deadline of January 9, 2019. Eligible candidates are writers who have had at least one professional experience on a broadcast TV drama series or have graduated from a partner school. The link for submitting applications is: https://www.cognitoforms.com/SeriesMania/UGCWritersCampusApplication
Throughout the week, participants will have the opportunity to be mentored by experienced professionals and writers, including one-to-one sessions discussing their projects, and to attend dedicated workshops, conferences and masterclasses. In a final showcase held during the Series Mania Forum, the industry arm of Series Mania taking place from March 25 to 27, the Campus's work will be presented to industry professionals and projects will be heard at roundtable pitching sessions.
UGC Writers Campus by Series Mania offers its participants global knowledge of the contemporary narrative techniques and strategies. An essential focus of the workshop teaches how to engage international audiences and produce innovative content in line with industry demands.
ABOUT SERIES MANIA
Created by Laurence Herszberg in 2010 in collaboration with artistic director Frederic Lavigne while both were at the Forum des Images, Series Mania brings the best international series to the big screen and offers audiences (over 55,000 spectators in 2018) the rare opportunity to meet and learn from renowned showrunners, directors and television talent. Series Mania has developed into a unique event with wide recognition that is entirely dedicated to series, aimed at both the general public and industry professionals. For the 2019 edition, from March 22 to 30, the Festival will once again be held in the charming northern French city of Lille (Hauts-de-France). As usual, it will include a program of world premieres and series selected for competition, overseen by a prestigious international jury.
ABOUT SERIES MANIA FORUM
Launched in 2013, Series Mania Forum, 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 come to fruition, including Liar, Tabula Rasa, Stella Blomkvist, and Keeping Faith, with many others currently in production and in advanced development. In 2018, the Forum launched the first edition of 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 is now the place where industry talent and decision-makers meet to create the new generation of serial fiction.
ABOUT UGC
The UGC group is one of the biggest movie distributors in Europe: with more than 500 screens (including UGC Ciné Cité Les Halles in Paris, the most frequented movie theater in the world), UGC owns one of the largest francophone theater networks. Its subsidiary UGC Images produces and distributes both successful popular comedies and ambitious auteur movies such as the ones directed by Jacques Audiard (A Prophet, Rust and Bone, The Sister Brothers…) or Terrence Malick (UGC will distribute Radegund, his next movie, in 2019). UGC recently launched UGC Series, a unit specially dedicated to TV productions. Their first foray, Jacqueline Sauvage, c’était lui ou moi, with Muriel Robin and Olivier Marchal, was one of the most watched French fiction programs of the last eleven years.
