March/April 2013 From Cover 36 (Continued on Page 38) bill for the dinner was 40,000 francs and Bill said he didn’t have enough money with him and Felix did not take credit cards or a check, so could we chip in? I asked Bill how much he had and he said 1,500 francs. After screaming with laughter and asking Bill how he could invite 40 people for dinner without having enoughmoney, he said he thought a credit card would be acceptable. Fortunately, Alan and I were carrying enough francs to help Bill out.” Pedro Leda’s first MIP-TV was in 1969. At that time he was a movies and TV series Latin American distributor for a company he had formed in Argentina with partner Leon Darcyl. He first heard of MIP through his partner, who traveled to Europe often and even attended the first MIP in Lyon in 1963. “All activities were held in the old Palais, mainly on the terrace overlooking the sea. I remember that there were not too many exhibitors and buyers. Negotiations were very relaxed. Everybody had all the time in the world! I also remember meeting the nephew of the then French President Charles de Gaulle, who attended MIP perhaps on behalf of a French ministry or state television. He certainly was very tall and looked a lot like his uncle.” Norman Horowitz: “It was probably in 1971 that I attended my first MIP-TV while at Screen Gems (Columbia Pictures) with my two associates, Herb Lazarus (we worked together in New York City) and Kenneth John Page, who was based in London. “To call the exhibition space at ‘The old Palais’ inadequate would be an understatement. To compensate for that we rented a salon at our hotel (The Carlton) and imported a Sony player and cassettes of all of our pilots for all of our ‘important screenings.’ “Allwaswelluntilwewereaskedtosee themarket director general Bernard Chevry. He said that he was happy that we rented space at the Palais but that many were complaining that we were taking people away from the market to the hotel. “As I recall, MCAwas also screening in the hotel and did not rent space in the market. “We complained that the screening space at the Palais was horrid and he offered us his space for (Latin America) and Bill Wells (Australia). “They could not have been more welcoming to me. This was a new world for me — pun intended. MIP-TV took place in the old crowded Palais and the activity was frenetic. I went for a run on the Croisette very early in the mornings before at least one breakfast meeting, then onto our stand meeting all newfaces, followedby a business lunch and then back to the stand. At least one meeting over drinks at the Majestic or Carlton, dinner (and every restaurant was a new great experience), back for drinks at the Majestic until 2 a.m., only to start all over again a few hours later. “I loved it! This was an introduction by fire, but an introduction to what has been my life for all these years since. I cannot think of a better way to be introduced to the world of television and the wonderful people who occupy it.” Vladimir Frantar was a buyer of drama first for JRT (Yugoslav Radio and Television) and later for TV Slovenija: “My first MIP-TV was in 1975. I remember that in 1977 there was MIP-TV in April and, in the fall, Canada’s CBC organized their Screening in Toronto in association with the British Global TV, where many European buyers were invited expense-paid. I was among them. “At MIP-TV in the old Palais there were about four floors with small booths for meetings. At that time I dealt mostly with European companies, like BBC, Thames TV, Granada TV, ZDF, Telepool, TF 1, Antenne 2, France 3, RAI, Beta Film, etc. and some Eastern European companies (like Czech, Polish and East German TV), but we also started with American companies, like Fox, WB, the next market. We happily accepted and there was the proverbial ‘dancing in the streets.’ “Everything was fine until Bernard, wishing to have the last word, told us as we were leaving something like: ‘And just in case you change your mind about what we had agreed, I’ll have you banned from the city and make it impossible to obtain hotel rooms.’ “We all had a history of being threatened by our clients, but none of us had ever been threatened by a supplier. “We did not return to MIP-TV. We stayed out of the market until, as I recall, 1979. While it was lovely coming to Cannes, Bernard was not going to mess with us. “At the same time, I’m ashamed to call what we did in Cannes ‘work.’ How bad could it be having a buffet lunch at the Carlton Beach Restaurant, eating the best food in the world and pretending that you weren’t looking at the topless women?” Giuseppe Proietti’s first MIP-TV was in 1974 as a junior sales person for Italy’s SACIS, the distribution division of Italy’s RAI. “Most of all, I was overwhelmed by my accommodations at the Carlton, a hotel also famous as the site of the first meeting of the League of Nations in 1922, which is commemorated by a plaque. At that time SACIS did not have a stand, and we paid just for the badges, which were collected at the Malmaison, the building adjacent to the old Palais. In order to find buyers, I first studied their photos in the guide and, later, I tried matching the photo on their badges, by going up and down the stairs of the old Palais, carrying a stack of brochures. When a buyer was a top programmer, the brochure was the only thing needed to make the sale; junior executives, on the other hand, needed screening material, in the form of videotape reels that I would subsequently send to them. At times it was more economical to invite buyers to Rome for the screenings than to ship material. All the buyers were from state-owned organizations and most TV networks were in black and white.” Larry Gershman: “In the mid-’70s I was hired by Viacom as VP of International Sales three weeks before MIP-TV. I was fortunate in that I had inherited the number one or number two managing directors in just about every major territory around the world: Howard Karshan (Europe); Jiro Sugiyama (Japan); Benigno Nosti MIP-TV at 50: Remembering The Good Ole Days The old Palais, circa 1978. By 1980 some 3,000 people attended MIP-TV Gathering at Sandy Frank’s orphanage visit during MIP-TV 1979 MIP-TV 1998: Armando Nuñez Sr., Chris Zhang, Susan Elkington, Chris Philip, David Ellender Don Ciaramella, Cindy Crawford and Dick Lippin at MIP-TV 1993
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