21/02/2025 - International professionals from the world of TV series will come together between 25 and 27 March for the professional sidebar of the Lille-based event, also including the Lille Dialogues

Following on from its festival component (read our article), Series Mania has now unveiled the selection for its highly popular Co-Pro Pitching Sessions, which will unspool in Lille on 25 March within the framework of the Series Mania Forum.

Selected from among 406 submissions hailing from 72 countries, 15 projects (see our detailed list below) will go head-to-head in competition, with a 16th project due to be presented out of competition in partnership with the Berlinale CoPro Series. Countries represented on the European side this year are Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the UK, Greece, Serbia and France.

The jury for the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions will be presided over by American M-K Kennedy (StudioCanal) who’ll be joined by Denmark’s Henriette Marienlund (DR Drama), Spain’s José Pastor (RTVE), Germany’s Frank Seyberth (ZDF) and Canada’s André Béraud (ICI Radio-Canada Télé). The triumphant project will receive 50,000 euros.

With 4,500 professionals due to attend (showrunners, screenwriters, producers and buyers), in the company of 80 different exhibitors (including, for the very first time, StudioCanal, Movistar Plus+, Secuoya Studios, Lionsgate and Mediaset), the Series Mania Forum is set to launch its new Series Mania Buyers' Upfront initiative (read our news), as well as hosting the 4th Creative Bazaar (its incubator for unique residencies, workshops and training geared towards screenwriters and producers, boasting over 80 participants from 25 countries), handing out the Best Marketing Initiative Award for the third time, and overseeing multiple conferences, panel discussions, showcases (Netflix, Prime Video), Coming Next From sessions (notably for France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, the Balkans, Sweden and Finland, Flanders and the Wallonia-Brussels region) and masterclasses (involving Roanna Benn, Sally Wainwright and James Norton, among other names).

Last but not least, 27 March will see the Lille Dialogues - which bring together leaders from the global audiovisual industry with a view to developing a common line of thinking around the major challenges facing the sector, and which also encourage cooperation – analysing the subject of "Post Peak TV: a challenging time. AI, funding and changing audiences…".

The projects selected at the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions:

Competition

Antiparos (6 x 45') (Greece/Belgium)
Genre: comedy, crime
Produced by Dionyssis Samiotis, development producer Alexandra Orfanidou for Tanweer Productions (Greece), co-produced by Mark Denessen for Ginger Film Flanders (Belgium)
Written by Alexandros Tsilifonis and George Zafeiropoulos
Directed by Alexandros Tsilifonis

Cecilie Mars (6 x 45') (Denmark)
Genre: thriller
Produced by Karoline Leth for Zentropa
Written and directed by Christoffer Boe

Consultants (6 x 45') (Germany)
Genre: political thriller
Produced by Alexis von Wittgenstein and Gilda Weller for Violet Pictures and Henning Kamm for Real Film Berlin
Written by Richard Kropf, Bob Conrad and Hanno Hackfort

Heist (6 x 60’) (Belgium/France)
Genre: action thriller
Produced by Dries Phlypo for A Private View (Belgium) and Antoine Simkine for Les Films d’Antoine (France)
Written by Ben Braeunlich

Intimacy (8 x 42') (UK/Israel)
Genre: thriller
Produced by Ariel Weisbrod pour Sipur
Created by Dan Berlinka, Maude Sandham, Dan Buckland
Written by Dan Berlinka

Invisible (6 x 45') (Ireland)
Genre: mystery drama
Produced by Ciarán Charles, Darach Ó Tuairisg and Bernadette Hoban
Written by Matt Harvey and Marteinn Thorisson

Masquerade (8 x 55') (Iceland)
Genre: crime, thriller
Produced by Arnbjörg Hafliðadóttir for Glassriver
Created by Andri Óttarsson & Baldvin Z

Nest (8 x 60') (Belgium/UK/Taiwan)
Genre: crime comedy
Produced by David Vermandern for Cartouche BVBA (Belgium), Anouk Mertens for Neo Studios Limited (UK) and James Chia-Hao for Reel Asia Pictures (Taiwan)
Written by Koen Van Sande, Sven Huybrechts, Daniel Lambo and Lai Kin Chang

Nuclear Sunset Cruise (6 x 45') (Germany)
Genre: dramedy
Produced by Martin Lehwald, Marcos Kantis and Philipp Goeser for Schiwago Film
Written by Robert Krause and Florian Puchert

Phenomena - The Series (8 x 50') (Italy)
Genre: horror, soapy teen drama
Produced by Maria Grazia Saccà for Titanus Production
Written by Nicola Guaglianone and Menotti

The Chaplain (8 x 30') (Australia)
Genre: drama
Co-created and produced by Jude Troy for Wooden Horse
Co-created and written by Elise McCredie

The Institute (6 x 50') (Germany/Denmark)
Genre: thriller
Produced by Irina Ignatiew-Lemke for Boxworks Media (Germany) and Deborah Marlow for Nordisk Film (Denmark)
Created by Esther Gronenborn
Written by Esther Gronenborn and Astrid Ströher

The Lottery Ticket (6 x 50') (Spain)
Genre: dramedy
Produced by Secuoya Studios
Written by Carlos Villa

Tokyo Crush (8 x 30') (France/Japan)
Genre: comedy, romance
Produced by Jonas Benhaiem and Jean-Félix Dealberto for Salle Commune (France) and Hiroko Oda for Flag Inc. (Japan)
Written by Clémence Dargent

Wool (6 x 50') (Serbia/Iceland/Germany)
Genre: drama
Produced by Milena Dzambasovic for Film Road Production (Serbia), Jonas Margeir Ingolfsson and Milla Ósk for Act4 (Iceland) and Danna Stern for In Transit Productions (Germany)
Created by Milena Dzambasovic
Written by Milena Dzambasovic, Mladen Maticevic, Birkir Blaer Ingolfsson and Milla Ósk

Out of Competition

Ruth's Ghosts (6 x 60') (USA/Germany)
Genre: legal thriller with supernatural elements
Produced by Jennifer Fox for A Luminous Mind Production (United States), Tara Grace for Temair Pictures (United States) and Jana Lotze for Oma Inge Film (Germany)
Written by Jennifer Fox

(Translated from French)