Spaniards drawn to French drama

Thrillers attract interest at Madrid market

By JOHN HOPEWELL

MADRID — Two Gallic costumers — “Nicolas Le Floch” and “A Family Murder Party” — proved standouts among new shows at the 8th Madrid Le Rendez-Vous TV mart, underscoring the growing popularity of non-U.S. foreign fiction in Spain.

The market, an annual showcase of Gallic programs organized by export org France TV Intl., saw steady biz, especially with regional pubcasters in Spain.

“There was a strong interest in French drama, largely thrillers,” France TV Intl.’s director Mathieu Bejot said.

Bejot added that those Spanish nets that have tended to pass on French fiction, Telecinco and Antena 3 TV, were now at least checking out the shows.

Recent standout ratings for foreign shows beyond Hollywood — access primetime comedy “Camera Cafe,” from France’s Calt, and “Without Tits There’s No Paradise,” from a Colombian format — help explain their interest.

“Nicolas Le Floch,” an upscale miniseries thriller set at the 18th-century court of Louis XV, has pre-sold to Japanese pay TV service Mystery Channel, said Emmanuelle Dugne, international sales exec at producer Phares et Balises.

“A Family Murder Party,” Agatha Christie tales set in 1920s France — a prequel skein to the 2006 series, will initiate its full sales campaign at late March’s Mip TV, said FTD VP, intl. sales, Eric Verniere.

Elsewhere, Le Rendez-Vous saw a steady stream of sales and announcements, largely on animation and documentaries, French export staples.

* Carrere Group pre-sold toon series “Anateme: The Children of Okura” to distributor Proserpa, docu “Mount Athos” to Valencia’s TVV, and two-part mini “The Tiger’s Empire” to new Spanish distributor Expressive, which has sold it on to regional web Telemadrid.

* Portuguese pubcaster RTP has picked up environmental toon skein “Inami” from Mediatoons.

* Calt has begun to roll out a “Camera Cafe 2,” with RTL TVI taking Belgium rights on the series.

* TVE, Spain’s state TV, has inked with Upside TV on Arthur Yan Arthus’ “6 Billion Others,” a docu miniseries, recording people planet-wide reflecting on common worries — anger, the afterlife and so on.

* Doc en Stock has licensed two doc films, both made for Euro TV Arte, “Operation Moses” and “The Truth Is Out There,” to Catalonia’s TV3.

Le Rendez-Vous took place under the cloud of tumbling ad revs and rampant market fragmentation at Spain’s incumbent broadcast nets.

Pressure on production budgets may encourage straight sales, said Calt’s international sales head Isabelle Azoulay.

Calt has been discussing a remake of King Arthur short format spoof “Kaamelott” with a Spanish broadcaster. Calt said it has “high expectations” of selling the French format to a Spanish broadcast network.

The recession works both ways, said Bejot. “There’s less money available, but there’s less money for production, so acquisition is cheaper.”

In general, however, the exact impact of the recession on TV acquisitions is very hard to tell, he added.

The 8th Madrid Le Rendez-Vous TV mart ran Jan. 20-22.