International Insider: Conflict Week Two; Big Questions At Mipcom; Saudi Setback
Good afternoon Insiders. We’re back after a busy week in Cannes and Max Goldbart is here helming your weekly dose of news and analysis. Read on and sign up here.
Conflict Week Two
Here for the long haul: We are approaching the two-week anniversary of the bloody Hamas massacre on Israel, and there is now a terrifying recognition that the region is in it for the long haul. This week has been about attempted damage limitation as Israel takes revenge on its attackers and Western nations rush to stem the flow of a crisis that is so far estimated to have claimed around 5,000 lives. Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak have both visited, attempting to walk a tightrope in pledging their support for Israel while stressing the need for international law to be observed and innocent Palestinian lives to be spared. Biden was the most successful, securing a deal with Egypt to deliver aid to Gaza to ease the humanitarian crisis. News teams worldwide have been keeping track of the conflict 24/7 and if you are going to read one piece this week I would recommend Mel’s analysis of the Palestinian journalists navigating a blockade, bombs, and evacuation to keep the news flowing out of Gaza. “Often when people cover a conflict, they go somewhere to cover a conflict. Here, our staff are living in the middle of a conflict,” AFP Global News Director Phil Chetwynd tells Mel. Dive deeper here.
More from Deadline
Events in disarray: In our world, Mipcom Director Lucy Smith kicked off the week by saying there would be increased security at the Cannes Palais. By this morning, four film festivals in the Middle East and North Africa – Cairo, El Gouna, Qatar’s Ajyal, and Tunisia’s Carthage Film Days – had been canceled as the packed fall film fest season shuts down in the region. In Europe, at least eight airports in France were evacuated for security reasons, leading to chaos for those traveling home from Mipcom, while the European Music Awards in Paris have been shelved by Paramount due to the “volatility of world events.” France has also been on high alert following the murder of a school teacher in the wake of the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7 in the town of Arras by a man wielding a knife. We wait to see what next week brings. All our coverage can be read here.
Big Questions At Mipcom
Correction and contraction: Jesse and I returned from Cannes a tad bleary-eyed yesterday. While Mipcom is always buzzy, major existential questions about the very future of the sector were posed throughout. Our key takeaways piece walks you through the big discussion points but, in sum, it was the extent of the upcoming market contraction and correction that dominated chatter in the halls of the Croisette and the wealth of after-parties taking place on the strip. Expensive limited TV series appear particularly under threat, according to multiple sources, while various producers communicated concerns that the sector may have diminished a fair bit by the time the next Mipcom rolls around, reshaping local production ecologies. There is of course plenty to be optimistic about – the worst of the recession appears to be over and the actors strike is surely coming to an end soon – but it is no doubt a tricky time. The likes of Personality of the Year Bob Bakish (pictured – right), Eva Longoria, Canal+’s Maxime Saada and Mo Abudu were on hand to discuss, while Andrea Riseborough was a late surprise guest promoting Channel 4/PBS series Alice & Jack in conversation with Deadline’s very own Joe Utichi.
Deals & projects: Mipcom has changed a fair bit over the years and TV deals really have become a 365-days-per-year business but that doesn’t mean there weren’t some juicy handshakes and buzzy projects for delegates to get their teeth into through the early part of the week. For ease, I’ve listed some here. Leading the charge, we revealed a James Franco-starring MENA TV series penned by Shades of Blue scribe Adi Hasak. On Sunday, we told you about Beach House Pictures doc Lost and Banijay Rights taking on Shine director Scott Hicks‘ projects about musician Ben Folds. Mediawan struck European deals for high-profile premiere series Zorro, and Fremantle did similar for Channel 4 format The Piano, while Planet Earth III sold to Australia. Perhaps the most fun market project doing the rounds was our exclusive on The Wombles being remade for TV, while we also brought news of Fast & Furious star Sung Kang’s The Ride Life doc series, a feature on Israel’s Supernova Music festival – site of the October 7 massacre – and Vix’s Todo Lo Que Fuimos. Plenty more here.
Crouching Tiger Fest
Chinese cinema spotlighted: Our Asia expert Liz Shackleton was covering the Pingyao Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon International Film Festival (to give it its full name) this week and had several intriguing sit-downs with some of the continent’s buzziest names at a boutique event that focuses on non-western movies. Best Director winner Geng Zihan discussed her debut feature A Song Sung Blue Wednesday, about a teenage girl who is left with her father for the summer when her mother gets a job in Africa. She talked about the use of color palettes, censorship, and emerging filmmakers in China. Meanwhile, Choy Ji spoke about shifting Hong Kong-Mainland China ties in cross-border drama Borrowed Time, Zhang Yu delved deep into her rape survival drama Killing the Violet and satirical comedy The Movie Emperor was spotlighted by its director Ning Hao. In a week in which Chinese delegates headed out to Mipcom, the future of this region’s film and TV industry continues to intrigue. All of Liz’s coverage can be found here.
British Broadcasting Cancelations
“Difficult decisions”: Daytime TV shows with more than 5,000 combined episodes were axed this week by the BBC and Channel 4. Long-running drama series Doctors and chatshow Steph’s Packed Lunch will be no more from next year, as the broadcasters grapple with the need to make cost savings while embracing a digital future. “Difficult decisions” have to be made, according to the channel’s respective content bosses, who both stressed that the money saved will be reinvested in shows from their regions. The Doctors cull irked Britain’s TV drama community, with the show having launched the careers of some of today’s best UK scribes and been seen by many as a model for diversity. But continuing dramas like Doctors struggle to attract co-production funding, and with the license fee still frozen, more “difficult decisions” could be incoming.
Saudi Suffers Setback
‘They Shut Us’: Saudi Arabia has become a major production option for many Hollywood and international shoots in recent years, as the country has gone from purposeful outsider to a nation determined to be the Middle Eastern market leader. Films such as Anthony Mackie’s pic Desert Warrior and Gerard Butler’s title Kandahar shot there recently, and many more could come, as our exclusive interview with MBC Studios Managing Director Christina Wayne revealed this week. However, the country suffered a setback when Neill Blomkamp’s alien abduction thriller They Found Us shut down during pre-production ahead of shooting, as Andreas revealed. The AGC Studios-backed pic, which was one of a handful being made in collaboration with Saudi production center Neom, is reworking its financing. While Saudi Arabia is hundreds of miles from the Israel-Gaza crisis, Andreas’ story noted that getting insurance on indie flicks like this could become harder and travel more expensive and difficult to organize as the conflict rumbles on. There are, at present, other big productions filming in the country. Whatever the case, They Found Us cast, including star Joel Kinnaman, will not travel to the Gulf state until there’s a resolution, which should hopefully come in the next few months.
The Essentials
🌶️ Hot One: James McAvoy will make his directorial debut on a movie about two Scottish lads who conned the international music industry.
🌶️ Another hot one Sherlock co-creator Mark Gatiss is adapting Arthur Conan Doyle’s Lot No. 249 for the BBC.
🌶️ Another one: New Europe Film Sales has taken international on Northern Irish director Aislinn Clarke’s second feature Fréwaka.
🏆 Awards: Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Evil Does Not Exist won Best Film as London Film Fest drew to a close.
📈 Ratings: Beckham scored for Netflix with a chart-topping performance.
🧑 New job: For BBC Studios’ Caroline Stone, who moved to the UK branch of French film company Pathé.
🤝 Done deal: Newen Studios bought Marie Guillaumond’s Felicita.
🏪 Setting up shop: Australia’s Causeway Films opened a London office and appointed Daniel Negret as its Chief Executive Officer.
🖼️ First look: At Diana’s final days in The Crown S6 P1
🎥 Trailer: For Tiger 3, the latest installment in producer Aditya Chopra’s YRF Spy Universe.
Jesse Whittock contributed to this week’s Insider
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