Industry

Before the big event MIPCOM (Cannes, 15-18 October 2018) will take place in France, Mediaset Distribution announces the closing of several important deals focusing its own activities on the scripted formats business.
Crime series Code Name Solo has been optioned for a local adaptation in Turkey and police-series Antimafia Squad has been optioned for a local adaptation in Latam and US Hispanic by W Studios, the independent production arm of Televisa and Univision.
According to Manuela Caputi, head of Mediaset Distribution sales – “scripted drama is our main focus now and we have a very big range of dramas to offer by concentrating our efforts on this growing genre. Scripted drama has discovered an incredible explosion and it an important business for us. We are now concentrated on the possibility to sell the format rights or our series for other adaptions”.

Mediaset Distribution is also presenting news titles for drama series:
Ultimo – Chasing Narcos (Ultimo-Caccia ai Narcos - 4x50’ episodes produced by Taodue) is the new miniseries that will be aired by Canale 5 next fall. ULTIMO, once again starring Raul Bova, is a courageous police captain famous for having tracked down the most ruthless mob bosses. This time, Ultimo will be sent undercover to Mexico in order to foil a very dangerous alliance between the Italian organized crime and a Mexican drug cartel that risks flooding Europe with cocaine.
Over anticipated, the second season of the crime series Code Name Solo (Solo 2 - 8x50’episodes produced by Taodue), in which the police agent Marco will continue his undercover mission and will do his best to find the young boss’ daughter, Agata, on the run at the end of season 1.
Confirmed the partnership with Esperanza Garay CEO of MGE (Mega Global Entertainment) an independent distributor of telenovelas and series from Chile and from zona A for the distribution of their catalogue in Europe, and Mediaset’s catalogue distribution in Latam and US Hispanic by MGE. The catalogue includes a large selection of different genres from classical telenovelas to comedies and unscripted formats.

According to Manuela Caputi: “the catalogue is really very rich with a catalogue of classical stories and comedy series, in particular some title are offering an interesting twist of comedy like the title Tranquilo Papa (Calm down Dad, 108 episodes) & Papa a la deriva (Dad adrift, 104 episodes). Moreover, there’s a huge prime time success, Forgive our sins (Perdona nuestros pecados - 205 x45’ episodes). The story focuses on a charming parish priest that causes a lot of troubles to the richest and most powerful man in town whose daughter is in love with him… The series was recently sold in Poland after a deal signed during last Natpe Budapest”.
The catalogue of telenovelas includes Hidden Truths (Verdades Ocultas) an enthralling telenovela of 185x45’ episodes (2 seasons) in which a poor mother of 2 little girls is forced to sell her youngest daughter to a rich restaurant chain owner, and who later will face a new opportunity to have her daughter back, when the man decides to give the restaurant to his now daughter (under a new name) as a gift. The 2 unaware girls will confront each other as they fall in love with the same man.
Last but not least, Amanda (109x45’ episodes), which is a passionate story of revenge, desire of justice and, of course, love …