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“More than satisfactory” is how ZDF Enterprises CEO Alexander Coridass qualified the deals inked or under negotiation just a few days into the TV-industry trade fair MIPCOM in Cannes. The ZDF subsidiary is proud of the positive response elicited clear across the board for its programs. One of the most striking trends at this fall’s MIPCOM is the great demand for German crime series. The suspenseful, well-crafted series with superior production values satisfy an ever greater need for whodunits in various formats. The critically-acclaimed “KDD” sold to Latin America, Canada, the U.S. and Portuguese-speaking countries (Eurochannel). “The Fifth Commandment” will be seen in Spain (AXN), Italy (Mediaset) and Hispanic America (V-me). Spain’s AXN also acquired “Cologne P.D.” and “Hamburg Dockland.” Finland’s YLE chose “Stuttgart Homicide” and “Siska,” and the list goes on. So far, sales of German police thrillers total about 240 commercial hours. ZDF Enterprises’ new “factual series” have gotten off to a good start with “Licence to Drill” being snapped up by Discovery UK and “Delta Divers” by the UK’s Five TV. Docs continue to do well as one of the mainstays of ZDF Enterprises’ catalogue. Eight documentaries have been acquired by Australia and the UK, seven by Italy, ten by German-language countries, 16 by Far Eastern nations and over 80 hours by Greece (Hellenic Parliament Channel). Lovingly made, high-quality romances always find an appreciative public, and this fall romantic TV movies have attracted the interest of buyers from Switzerland (Pilcher), Estonia (Pilcher and Lindström), Germany (the Bastei Collection), Belgium’s RTBF (over 20 TV movies) and France’s TF1 (8 TV movies). Noteworthy is the sale of the first 250 episodes of “Julia – Way to Happiness” to Persia 1 for the Middle East, and episodes 501-789 of Estonia’s Kanal 2. Among the most successful children’s series are the ever-popular mermaids of Australia’s “H2O – Just Add Water.” All available episodes have been picked up by Spain’s Antena 3, Germany’s Turner, Poland’s MSZ and the Ukraine’s 1 plus 1. Another hit Australian series is “Dance Academy,” which should trigger a wave of interest in classical and modern dance in Switzerland (SF), Belgium (Vitaya) and, not surprisingly, in Latin America (Cartoon Network). All 104 episodes of the new 3D animated series “The Jungle Book,” the first joint production of ZDF Enterprises and India’s DQ Entertainment, have been acquired by Disney for Spain and Portugal. |
