18 The Lille, France event won’t start until March 20, 2026, but organizers of the 16th annual Series Mania were so anxious to get word out about it that they began sending out information as early as November. The international press was informed four months ago that, while the “Festival” portion of the TV series screenings and competition will take place March 20-27, the 13th annual “Forum,” the industry segment that separates the public event from the business portion of the entertainment gathering, will be held March 24-26. The Forum will also welcome 83 exhibitors, which will be housed in two areas of the Lille Convention Center, the Lille Grand Palais — stands and tables on Level One and business lounges on Level Three. Among the exhibiting companies are All3Media, Banijay, Bell Media, Cineflix, Fox, and InterMedya. From her Paris headquarters, Laurence Herszberg, founder and general director of Series Mania, announced late last year that the Series Mania Forum will be hosting the second edition of its Series Mania Buyers Upfront, a prelude to the Forum designed to provide buyers with exclusive access to new series and facilitate networking opportunities with the leading distributors behind these series. The Series Mania Buyers Upfront is an invitation-only event for buyers, showcasing excerpts of up to 12 new series with global appeal. Curated by the festival’s artistic team, the selection will include series about to be released or still in post-production. The Buyers Upfront is also designed to provide the industry’s top buyers with access to series in the Forum’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, where a jury of international industry executives award a new series in development 50,000 euro (U.S. $59,500). The Buyers Upfront is set for March 23, 2026 at the Chamber of Commerce, the Festival’s headquarters, which is located in Lille’s historic city center. The event will kick off with an invitation-only brunch from Germany’s BETA, followed by the series presentation. In addition, a jury of buyers will present the Buyers Choice Award for the Most Promising Series and announce the winner at the Series Mania Forum Welcome Drinks that evening. The jury includes Fredrik Luihn, head of Acquisitions, NRK (Norway); Haruka Jorgensen, Content Acquisition manager, WOWOW (Japan); Morad Koufane, head of International and Young Adult Drama, France Télévisions (France); Margarida Pereira, director of International Acquisitions and Sales, TVI (Portugal); and Nick Lee, head of Acquisitions, BBC (U.K.). Oliver Jones, senior commissioner, Apple TV+ (U.S.) is the 2026 jury president. Plus, to mark its 25th anniversary, Fremantle’s Jennifer Mullin, Group CEO, and Andrea Scrosati, Group COO and CEO, Continental Europe, will share their strategic vision and reflect on 25 years of creative storytelling and IP development, from creation to distribution and monetization, at a special keynote event on March 25. Two additional keynotes — also set for March 25 — will see Angela Jain, head of Content, Disney+, The Walt Disney Company Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), and Monty Sarhan, CEO of SkyShowtime, take the stage and outline the EMEA originals strategy for Disney+, and the journey of the Comcast and Paramount-backed joint venture, respectively. Welsh showrunner Russell Davies and English producer Nicola Shindler will lead a Talent Masterclass, also on March 25. Davies and Shindler’s joint credits include Tip Toe, Years & Years, It’s a Sin, Nolly and Queer as Folk. They will discuss their new five-part drama series, Tip Toe, and unveil first-look clips from the Channel 4 series, exploring the creative ambition behind the show. Tip Toe, starring Alan Cumming and David Morrissey, explores the most corrosive forces facing the LGBTQ+ community today. For the Co Pro Pitching Sessions’ 2026 edition, 15 projects were selected from nearly 400 applications received from 65 countries, including six new territories (Palestine, Kyrgyzstan, Cyprus, Uruguay, Panama, and Malaysia). The Forum has selected Korea as its first Country of Honor. The Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), a government organization that oversees the promotion of the Korean content industry, along with eight Korean companies — Channel A Corporation, CJ ENM, EO Content Group, KBS Media, MBC, SLL Joongang, Studio S, and Whynot Media — will be in attendance at this year’s Forum. “This will be the first time we have highlighted a country at our event, and we are thrilled that it is Korea, whose excellence and creativity in film and audiovisual production are widely recognized,” said Herszberg. As of 2024, the size of the Korean content market was estimated at $43.169 billion per year, ranking eighth globally in terms of content market size. Last year, Series Mania Forum welcomed about 5,000 industry professionals from 75 countries. Buyers are the Secret to Series Mania Forum’s International Success The Lille Chamber of Commerce is the headquarters of the Buyers Upfront. One of the panels at last year’s Forum. The Lille Grand Palais will house more than 80 exhibitors. The busy market floor at the Grand Palais. VIDEOAGE February 2026 Series Festival Preview
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