Mip TV is just around the corner and, as ever, the content will be king. Here, Deadline walks you through 12 of the biggest formats and docs set to light up the Croisette featuring Hot Wheels, pianos, King Charles, Jimi Hendrix and more. Read on for the best-in-class projects heading to Cannes for the April 17-19 confab.
Hot Wheels: Ultimate Challenge
Distributor: Banijay Rights
Network: NBC
Episodes: 10 x 60
The IP bunfight has reached new heights of late and Banijay Rights and NBC are getting in on the action. If you didn’t have Hot Wheels as a child then you simply weren’t living it up. Following a deal with creator Mattel Inc, NBC landed the rights to turn this nostalgia fest into an epic car makeover competition series, hosted by TV personality and four-wheel aficionado Rutledge Wood. Produced by Endemol Shine North America in association with Workerbee, each episode sees two passionate car fans face off in transforming an ordinary vehicle into an extraordinary Hot Wheels showstopper. The winner takes home $25,000 and the chance to make it to the grand finale, where a trio will makeover another car in the hopes of winning a legendary prize – having their design made into an official Hot Wheels die-cast car. Banijay Rights is taking a hefty formats slate to Cannes, including Australia’s Love Triangle, the UK’s Date my Mate and Italy’s Boomerissima amongst others, and Hot Wheels provides the perfect opportunity to combine buyer nostalgia with their search for the next big unscripted sub-genre. And having the heft of NBC behind it will not hurt one bit.
The Piano
Distributor: Fremantle
Network: Channel 4
Episodes: 5 x 60
The Great British Bake Off producer Love Productions has nurtured a reputation over the years for producing reality shows with oodles of heart. With The Piano, Love has outdone itself. The series warmed hearts for Channel 4 earlier in 2023 where it became the GBBO network’s biggest launch for six years. Hosted by Claudia Winkleman, who is having a moment after helming The Traitors UK, The Piano sees talented amateurs invited to play on public pianos, sharing their stories and music with the general public. They all have emotional stories to tell but what they don’t know is that two acclaimed performers are secretly watching and one pianist will be given a once in a lifetime invitation to play on one of the world’s most prestigious stages. Reality shows with heart are all the rave right now and there was barely a dry eye in the house during some of these episodes when they aired on Channel 4. With the opportunity to buy finished tape or adapt for the local market (maybe even change the instrument?), buyers will no doubt be taking a peak when Fremantle offers The Piano up at Mip TV. The outfit will be hoping sales hit a crescendo.
The Unknown
Distributor: All3Media International
Network: Unknown
Episodes: Unknown
As the title suggests, we don’t know much about this one yet, but All3Media International will nevertheless be quietly pitching to networks next week. The Unknown comes from The Cube producer Objective Media Group and The Traitors creator IDTV, making it an attractive proposition, and pitching started a little while ago. Logline reads: The Unknown is a new psychological adventure reality, which asks “Do you dare to choose the unknown?” And that’s it. But if Objective and IDTV’s previous credits are anything to go by then buyers will be licking their lips. Moreover, The Traitors is set to dominate the Mip TV discourse, including a special insider panel session and some likely territory sales being unveiled at the start of the market. With that show leading the charge on the formats revival, eyes could soon be trained on The Unknown.
Don’t Stop the Music
Distributor: Newen Connect
Network: NPO3 (The Netherlands)
Episodes: 6 x 35
The best formats tap into nostalgia and Don’t Stop the Music goes that bit further by both tapping into one generation’s nostalgia and creating it for a younger one. Created by CCCP for Dutch broadcaster NPO3, the show celebrates a nation’s musical culture by introducing classic artists from the 80s and 90s to a younger audience in the ultimate music video, which is created by the original singer with comedy hosts. In the space of just a few weeks, the younger comedians must get to know the artist they’re working with, win their trust and gain their approval for a music video that will most likely pull them out of their comfort zone, before it’s performed to family, friends and fans. With easy adaptability and lower budget potential, Don’t Stop the Music will be undoubtedly one of French distributor Newen Connect’s most discussed formats at Mip TV, slotting into a catalog that includes plenty of scripted fare and competition show The Bodyguard.
Stranded on Honeymoon Island
Distributor: Red Arrow Studios International
Network: VTM2 (Belgium)
Episodes: 6 x 35
Distributor Red Arrow, which counts Love is Blind and Married at First Sight amongst its catalog, has nurtured a reputation over the years for shopping shows that genre-blend, a perfect description for its latest format Stranded on Honeymoon Island. Imagine Married at First Sight but add in a desert island and the challenge of surviving against the elements and you start getting the idea. Created by Denmark’s Snowman Productions and produced by PIT, Stranded on Honeymoon Island takes four couples who are put together by experts a la Married at First Sight. Immediately after committing themselves to each other in an intimate ceremony, they are dramatically abandoned on their own deserted tropical islands for the adventure of a lifetime, and it is on these remote beaches that fledgling relationships are soon to be put to the test. Stranded will make up the centerpiece of Red Arrow’s Mip TV offering and Deadline understands a number of territory deals are soon to be unveiled. The adventure reality dating format could be the perfect example of the audience’s desire for genre-blending.
Scared of the Dark
Distributor: ITV Studios
Network: Channel 4
Episodes: 10 x 60
Gathering a group of celebrities in the pitch black and setting them tasks – why has it taken them so long to come up with this? Well, the wait is over. Beloved multi-hyphenate Danny Dyer, who is experiencing something of a career purple patch, will take the reins of Scared of the Dark and ITV Studios will have high hopes for a slew of Mip TV format sales, given its hilarity and repeatability. With celebs for the UK version including Paul Gascoigne, Chris Eubank and Olympic boxing champion Nicola Adams, the show sees celebrities enter a completely pitch-black reality space for a whopping eight days. To prove their mettle, each takes on a series of challenges designed to test either their primal fear of total darkness or their ability to function in the pitch black. If it all gets too much, they need only shout “I’m scared of the dark” and they will be escorted to safety. This one looks set to light up the Croisette, and sits on an ITV Studios slate that also features BBC Three’s I Kissed a Boy, helmed by Danni Minogue, and Canadian drama Essex County. Helping its cause will be a Channel 4 launch on the Sunday of Mip TV, with the network opting to strip the show through the week. Fortuitous timing indeed.
DOCUMENTARIES
A Jimi Hendrix Vision
Distributor: DCD Rights
Network:
Episodes: 1 x 90
Music docs are big business at the moment and this insider look at a lesser explored area of the life of one of the world’s ultimate guitar icons will likely be a frontrunner for major sales at Mip TV. Experience Hendrix’s production is produced by Hendrix’s sister Janie Hendrix and directed by John McDermott, who has worked on a number of docs about the Purple Haze singer down the years. The 90-minute feature details the creation of Electric Lady Studios in New York, which rose from a bankrupt Greenwich Village nightclub to become a state-of-the-art recording facility drawing artists over the years including Stevie Wonder, Blondie and Adele. With exclusive interviews from people who were present at Electric Lady’s formation, A Jimi Hendrix Vision could capture music enthusiasts and laypeople alike, jumping upon a music doc hype that has reached fever pitch since Peter Jackson’s Get Back. Expect plenty of interested parties willing to take a look at this one.
My King Charles
Distributor: Silverlining Rights
Network: Paramount+ U.S. & others
Episodes: 1 x 120 / 2 x 60
The new King’s Coronation is fast approaching so Mip TV is a perfect time for distributor Silverlining to seek more partners for the My King Charles doc. The show, which is being packaged as a two-hour feature or as two one-hour episodes, already counts Paramount+ U.S. and a string of global networks amongst its pre-buyers but there is still plenty of sales opportunity, and a UK network hasn’t come out the woodwork as of yet. Helmed by Diana: The Truth Behind the Interview indie Blink Films, My King Charles features a host of exclusive world-first interviews from former girlfriends, schoolfriends and relatives about the King’s early years. With interest in Charles having never been greater, especially given his high profile representation in The Crown, My King Charles takes viewers from his playboy twenties through to his troubled marriage with Princess Diana and more recent scandals. There are a fair few royal docs out there but this one gets to the heart of one of the world’s most powerful monarchs, and it couldn’t be being shopped at a more fortuitous time.
Three Mothers, Two Babies and a Scandal
Distributor: Blue Ant
Network: Prime Video UK
Episodes: 3 x 60
Amazon Prime Video is pushing into the true crime genre. The streamer’s UK team unveiled its big true crime play last year and one of the most high profile shows to emerge is Firecrest Films’ Three Mothers, Two Babies and a Scandal. Blue Ant is distributing the three-parter, which tells the complex story of the internet adoptions of twin babies by two separate families on two different continents, and the Transatlantic custody battle and media storm that ensued. Each mother is given her time: Tranda, the birth mother, Vickie, the American adoptive mother and Judith, the Welsh adoptive mother, allowing the viewer to make up their own mind on a hugely complex case. The women at the heart of the case are speaking together for the first time. Prime Video is only airing in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands and the Nordics, meaning Blue Ant has plenty of Mip buyers to pitch to and has an intriguing story to pair with the pitch.
44 Hours
Distributor: Yes
Network: ARTE/SWR
Episodes: 1 x 83
The story of Gil Avni depicted in Israeli outfit Yes Docu/Einat-Emma Shamir’s debut premium doc is hard to comprehend. Avni was given a few hours to live after being taken ill and pronounced brain-dead, leading his family and friends to start saying their goodbyes, but, incredibly, he stayed awake for 44 hours before miraculously waking up. The doc from the Fauda outfit covers in painstaking detail one of the few known cases of a person waking up from locked-in syndrome and includes Avni recounting his experience in microscopic detail. It looks certain to make some noise on the Croisette as Yes stresses its new commitment to the premium documentary space.
Juan Carlos: Downfall of the King
Distributor: NBCUniversal Global Distribution
Network: Sky
Episodes: 4 x 60
Set in competition at the concurrent Canneseries, this four-parter from Emmy nominee Christian Beetz’s Gebrüder Beetz Filmproduktion tells the story of one of the world’s most intriguing royal figures. One of the bigger budget Mip TV offerings, Downfall of the King takes viewers from Madrid to London, Monaco, Geneva, Abu Dhabi and New York in a doc about a man who was once celebrated but was swiftly disgraced in his home nation. Carlos was a major figure in the post-Franco reform era but allegations surrounding his financial arrangements led to his abdication in 2014, and he has been in exile in Abu Dhabi for the past three years. Anything but a traditional doc, the show acts as more of a high-octane thriller, with twists and turns. NBC is selling everywhere beyond Sky’s UK, Italy and Germany territories and will be certain to drum up plenty of interest next week. A scripted show about Juan Carlos’ life is meanwhile in the works at Starzplay and Sony.
The Most Remote Restaurant in the World
Distributor: Viaplay Content Distribution
Network: Viaplay
Episodes: 1 x 80
Not content with running a double-Michelin-star restaurant in the Faroe Islands, the owners of KOKS are setting up in Greenland, and Viaplay is following them every step of the way. The Most Remote Restaurant in the World is part food doc, part travelog, part adventure format and follows the owners as they head to somewhere even more remote than the Faroes – Greenland’s village of Illimanaq. The idea is to help put Greenland on the map, with meals based on indigenous ingredients and sustainability at the forefront. However, the owners and project managers are soon faced with problems ranging from sourcing ingredients to staffing a high-end restaurant in a location inhabited by only 53 people. This kooky doc is leading Viaplay’s distribution slate at Mip TV alongside a second season of the drama Furia.