MIPCOM Boss Lucy Smith On The Cannes Market

With MIPCOM days away, the international TV biz is about to descend upon the Cote D’Azur for a few days of back-to-back meetings, buying and selling, and some networking in favorite Cannes haunts. RX France organizes the event, which is leaning into the creator economy and branded entertainment this time. Lucy Smith, Director of the Entertainment Division of RX France, finds time ahead of the market to give Deadline the low-down.

DEADLINE: MIPTV is no longer and now we have MIP London and numerous of genre-specific and country-specific events. In that context, where does MIPCOM fit into the new-look calendar?

Lucy Smith: MIPCOM, for sure, has got this unique position of being the one global market that brings together all of these multifaceted parts of the industry. What we’re hearing from clients is that everybody is gearing up for this big moment in the year, which will bring a bump to business. Whether you’ve got new launches, whether you want to understand all these big changes that are happening in the industry, it’s the one time that you really take the pulse of the industry.

MIPCOM, despite a very busy calendar, has that unique position, because of its scale and because of the high level of decision makers coming from all sides of the globe, from Hollywood and all of the big markets.

DEADLINE: One bellwether is always the level of participation by the U.S. studios. It’s interesting that Sony has a bigger presence than for some time.

Lucy Smith: They’re back with the full global distribution team coming over from Hollywood. It’s an important moment. And all of the studios you would expect to be there will be, and they’re not only coming, but they’re also coming and doing premieres. You’ve got the advanced screening for Sony of The Miniature Wife, so they’re really understanding it, and coming back to use MIPCOM for what the market can deliver.

Warner Bros. Discovery, NBCUniversal and Amazon MGM will be here. Paramount, a Skydance Corporation has a big presence, again, coming with an amazing procedural (Blue Bloods), which is going to be picked up around the world. So, all of the studios are there. Obviously, Fox has had changes happening and we’ve got the new guard coming. Prentiss Fraser is now taking over on the international side and they’re all coming and using the market in a big way.

DEADLINE: There was a moment where some of the big players were holding back content for their own services, or global streamer deals took rights off the table. Now everyone is windowing and selling again and streamers are more flexible with rights. Is distribution back?

Lucy Smith: Yes, distribution is back, which means that we spend a huge amount of time and energy making sure we’ve got all of the buyers. You’ve got the traditional buyers, and you’ve got new buyers from FAST and AVOD. You’ve got of the whole spectrum from across the globe. We spend a lot of time and energy on that and we’re managing to maintain the same number of buyers that we had last year. And that’s coming from a huge effort to go out and identify them.

So, yes, for sure, distribution is back and windowing is there. There’s a resurgence in the sales and distribution market, which is obviously where MIPCOM has undisputable strength.

DEADLINE: That speaks to what MIPCOM has always done, facilitate buying and selling. Tell us about the push to embrace the creator economy, meanwhile, which is a newer initiative.

Lucy Smith: What we see, as everyone does, is the biggest shift of a generation with the creator economy. It’s here, shaping the landscape, so it was an obvious place that we knew we needed to develop. We know that as audience behaviors are changing, TV and creators are already finding all sorts of different ways of working together and we decided we really needed to lean into that in a big way.

Our main goal, and it’s going to be absolutely key, is that we are bringing the two sides of the industry together. It’s bringing the creator economy together with mainstream media, because it’s all going to be about collaboration around new ways of working, new ways to monetize, new distribution. And it’s a global business, and there’s a B2B part, and that’s why its home is at MIPCOM.

DEADLINE: You have also partnered with BrandStorytelling, which seems a new way for MIPCOM to cover off that part of the business?

Lucy Smith: Bringing agencies, brands, brand studios, together, is something a lot of our clients are asking about. It feels like the timing is right to do something more substantial. It’s not an easy area just to go into, which is why we found a partner. They are bringing BrandStorytelling over to do a first international version at the world’s biggest entertainment content market. It just made total sense.

We’ve started it off with two half-days. We want to continue this; it’s part of a long-term strategy.

DEADLINE: Unlike film festivals, which are built around premieres, screenings can be hard to pull off at a TV market where people focused on meetings and events rather than watching full episodes.

Lucy Smith: We have the amazing benefit of that ‘Cannes moment’ and that red carpet moment that comes with being there. That means that people see us as a place where, yes, you can come and do a screening. We’ve managed to create those big glamor moments that clients buy into. And then we have other screenings taking place, with other companies bringing new content. A lot will invite specific buyers that they want to reach and that is really important for them, and part of their marketing strategy. There’s two different ways to use those screening opportunities.

DEADLINE: There has been a lot of industry upheaval. But with windowing opening up and new ways of doing business emerging, is there an air of cautious optimism as we head into the market?

Lucy Smith: Yes, we feel that there’s a bit more optimism in the industry, we’re getting that feel from our clients. So much is happening, and we read it every day, we read all of your coverage. There are so many new ways of working, new business deals and new partnerships. And so, bringing everybody into this one big industry moment leans into that.

DEADLINE: How are your attendance numbers stacking up this time?

Lucy Smith: I don’t really live by numbers, I believe very much in having the right people and the right quality and getting those good conversations happening, but I know that our numbers are always part of the conversation. It’s too early to say where we’re going to land, but the way we’re tracking, is very much as we were last year.

You hear about T&E and various cuts in some of the bigger companies. Is it likely that some will send less people? Yes, I think so, but as long as we have the right people are there, that’s the most important thing.

At the same time, we’re bringing in a lot of new audiences and types of companies with all of the development we’ve been doing. We are bringing new blood into the market, but that takes time. It’s also really important to say there’s a lot of time that goes into how you actually help people connect and come together.

Deadline: What does the international spread look like?

Lucy Smith: We’ve got 100-plus countries, but it’ll usually get to 108 countries or something like that. We’re seeing growth from Latin America again this year.

There is a big presence with [country-themed] pavilions, and they also bring officials, and there’s often also government representation. There will be China, Turkey, Japan, Korea… among others. That government support helps ensure this remains an important event for [the countries].