Leona Connell: Last News

Ben Croll Gallic TV has cause to celebrate. French broadcast hit world records with this year’s Summer Olympics opening ceremony, for instance. Drawing 1.5 billion global views, the locally produced television event was the centerpiece of the global broadcast year, carrying viewers on an ornate Seine cruise (granted, with a few controversial pit stops along the route). The subsequent, record-breaking games then cemented Paris as 2024’s premier TV destination — while encouraging hometown producers and international distributors to act on such familiarity. Indeed, from fizzy procedurals to frosty whodunits, much of the scripted fare hitting this year’s Mipcom shares a passion for local terroir and a belief that such specificity can offer programing a competitive advantage. “France’s great locations can be real assets,” says Newen Connect CCO Leona Connell, pointing towards South of France set procedurals like “Carpe Diem” and “Panda.” “We often refer to such series as ‘blue sky procedurals,’ as they are sunny in both location and disposition,” Connell continues.

Ben Croll Move over Scandinoir, because Gallic producers are giving crime the French Touch. Beloved at home and lucrative abroad, a new strain of audience inclusive procedurals has paved inroads on the international market. Indeed, fueled by the earlier success of long-running series “Candice Renoir,” and made stratospheric by smashes “HPI” and “Tandem,” the so-called “light crime” genre has become a new French delicacy.

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Ahead of its broadcast premiere on France’s TF1, “Cat’s Eyes,” the anticipated live-action show set in Paris and based on the cult manga series, has been sold by Newen Connect to a flurry of European broadcasters. The eight-part action-packed show was picked up by Germany’s ZDF and Italy’s Rai, among others. The show was previously sold to Belgium (RTL) and Switzerland (RTS).

EXCLUSIVE: More citizens will head to the polls this year for elections than any other in history, and the political fever has reached Series Mania.

Annika Pham Paris-based global distribution powerhouse Newen Connect has secured a first round of pre-sales on the French live-action drama series “Cats Eyes,” based on the original cult manga work ‘Cat’s Eye’ from Japanese artist Tsukasa Hojo. The female-led series, produced by Big Bang Production for top French commercial channel TF1, has been acquired by RTS for Switzerland and RTL for Belgium.

Newen Connect CEO Rodolphe Buet is happy to be back in person at the Berlinale’s European Film Market after the three-year Covid-19 hiatus.

EXCLUSIVE: Film and TV distribution division Newen Connect has announced the promotion of Alice Damiani to SVP International Film Sales on the eve of the Berlinale’s European Film Market.

EXCLUSIVE: Vardy vs Rooney: A Courtroom Drama, Channel 4’s dramatization of the notorious Wagatha Christie case, has sold to BritBox in North America and networks in Australia and New Zealand.

Ken Burns, Steve McQueen, Helena Bonham Carter Holocaust Docs To Feature On BBC