Highlights from the 2024 pre-MIPTV Unscripted weekend: Day 1 (part 2)

This afternoon at the 2024 pre-MIPTV unscripted weekend kicked off with a Fresh TV presentation, always a favourite at MIP Markets. For this session, MIP markets figure The WIT ’s Virginia Mouseler was presenting content from around the world made by a series of creators (a.k.a. youtubers), compiled in a ‘Fresh Garden’ presentation. She looked at how their work can be compared to what traditional broadcasters are doing in the formats arena.

Immediately after that, a preview screening of a selection documentaries was held in the Palais Stage, in collaboration with the CANNESERIES festival, which takes place alongside MIPTV in the Palais des Festivals.?

In the late afternoon, delegates flocked to the Riviera Stage for one of the weekend’s highlights: the MIPDOC Pitch competition. Five finalists from Italy, France, Armenia, Germany and the USA, who were shortlisted among 144 submissions from 36 countries, presented their doc & factual projects in front of an international jury of industry decision-makers, namely: Kristina Holstein from ZDF Studios , Perrine Poubeau from France Télévisions , Lauren Billingsley from National Geographic , Jack Oliver from Sky and Tracy Beckett from PBS International. The event was moderated by Ruth Berry.?

Taking the stage one after the other, finalists were given five minutes to present a sizzle reel of their project and deliver their pitch. They then engaged in 3 minutes of Q&A with the jury, answering queries about editorial, technical and financing aspects.

At the end of the session, the jury retired for a brief deliberation while the pitchers talked a little more about their projects onstage with Ruth Berry. And then the suspense was over: the jury returned and announced that the winner was “The Last Days of Kabul: Life and Death of a Republic”, produced by LOOKSfilm .

The project, which aims to relate the collapse of Afghanistan following the return of the Taliban to power in 2021, is based on an exclusive, tell-all interview with Afghan president Ashraf Ghani, who had to famously flee his country to avoid falling victim to the new fundamentalist regime. Congratulations, we wish a brilliant future to what promises to be an amazing documentary!

Simultaneously, a packed room at the Palais Stage was listening to representatives from NBCUniversal and the BBC relate the birth of Destination X, an adventure reality show that, they revealed, has surpassed The Traitors in becoming the world's fastest-selling new format. Originally created in Belgium by Be-Entertainment , the show was the sole focus of this presentation entitled ‘Destination X Case Study – Building a Global Format’. “We immediately saw that this was an idea with genuinely transatlantic appeal,” said Ed Havard , NBC Universal’s SVP Non Scripted Programming. No doubt that after having become a hit in Belgium, Destination X is on its way to a truly international future.