CANNES: The winds were gusty and howling at Canne’s Le Croissette on the eve of the flag off of Reed Midem’s Mipcom Junior market at The Hotel Martinez.
One could see some summer wear during the warm day giving way to protective gear such as cardigans and sweaters as late evening grew. Would the response to this year’s Mipcom Junior be as cold as the cold evening wind?
The fear proved unfounded even as night gave way to day. This morning the sun shone bright and while it was breezy, the nip in the air was not as cold. In fact, it had given way to warmth and sweat was seen streaming down executives’ necks even as they got down to focusing on two days of trying to understand what kind of programming will be on offer globally for young international TV audiences during the coming season.
Pilots and finished series for half hours, and movies - both animation and features - were slated to be on offer. Programme acquisition executives from television networks and channels, distributors and sales people from production houses from countries as diverse as US to Hungary to Spain to France were all seen scurrying around.
The mood was extremely businesslike with the screening booths witnessing rapid activity as buyers made their bookings for VHS from the library of what they wanted to watch even as a young Frenchman dressed up as Pink Panther kept going around in the lobby of the Hotel Martinez keeping everyone distracted.
Prominent in the lobby of the Martinez was also the Licensing and Merchandising Lounge which had representatives from Cinar Entertainment, MGM, Warner Brothers, among others displaying their wares in order to strike deals to put their characters on products ranging from text books to shoes to clothing to toys and what have you.
Today’s major gigs were slated to be the opening conference (at 15 hrs Cannes time) on Licensing and Merchandising moderated by License USA editor-in-chief Joyceann Cooney. The two main speakers for this chat session were slated to be 4Kids Entertainment Chairman and CEO Alfred Kahn and Warner Brothers Consumer Products Executive Vice President Worldwide Marketing Jordan Sollitto. This was to be followed by an opening cocktail at the same venue.