Tatino Films is pleased to announce the launch of the POP UP SERIES INCUBATOR, a new development program designed at supporting European producers and scriptwriters whose aim is to boost their series projects.

5 international creative teams will participate with goal to develop European IPs into well-defined series concepts. They will notably benefit from hands-on development, expert mentorship and, last but not least, financial support: each team will receive a grant of 10 000 Euros for their work during the Lab.

The call for this inaugural edition is now open, with the deadline for submissions set on December 10, 2024.

Presented and organized by Tatino Films, co-financed by the European Union and supported and hosted by La Région Grand Est and the Karlovy Vary IFF, the program Pop Up Series Incubator will take place from January to August 2025.  The eight-month program will consist of a variety of onsite and online activities, including:

- A 5-day intensive bootcamp on 11.-15. March 2025 in Reims (France)

- A 18-day Pop Up Film Residency in April/May 2025 in Europe (either in the Faroe Islands, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia or Sweden)

- A 2-day Industry Showcase on 7.-8. July 2025 at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (Czech Republic).

Participants will work on their projects with the following mentors:

- Maria Cervera (Spain)

  Producer & Head of Content at Cattleya Producciones (ITV Studios)

- Julien Lilti (France)

  Scriptwriter & Series Head Writer (Hippocrate, Germinal, Oussekine)

- Naomi Levari (Germany)

  Producer & Development Executive at Black Sheep Film Productions 

- Johnathan Young (UK)

  Producer & former executive for HBO Europe/Central Europe.

Experts and consultants will be announced once the projects are known.

5 producers will be selected on the basis of their IPs and development plan, while 5 to 10 screenwriters whose profiles and ideas best match the selected IPs will be chosen, with the help of our advisory and selection committee: 

- Isabelle Degeorges (France)

Producer & Director of Gaumont TV France (Lupin, Becoming Karl Lagerfeld)

- Jess Loveland (UK)

Head of New Writing working @ BBC Writers and Drama

- Natalia Libet (Ukraine)

Producer & Winner of Best Project Award @ Series Mania 2023 (Unspoken)

- Anna Rozalska (Poland)

  Co-founder of Warsaw-based talents agency Match and Spark

- Danna Stern (Germany/Israel)

  Content Executive and Founder of Yes Studios.

The team is led by Matthieu Darras, CEO of Tatino Films. Nadja Dumouchel acts as Head of Studies and Marija Fridinovaite as Program Manager.

For more information: https://www.popupseriesincubator.com 

Interview with Matthieu Darras

CEO of TATINO FILMS

What motivated TATINO to set up this Pop Up Series Incubator program?

The impulse to create Pop Up Series comes from our observation and analysis of the rapid evolution of the European audiovisual landscape, as well as from the many exchanges we have had with TATINO programs alumni. In recent years, we have also enhanced our scope of expertise by running series development programs for major players such as Canal+ or Netflix.

What is it that you have your observed?

Intellectual property (IP) has become the buzzword of the audiovisual industry. When it comes to drama series, this is especially true: the challenge for professionals is all about their capacity to identify, to develop, and to exploit IP’s. Most of the upcoming shows of streamers are adaptations of existing IP’s in a way or another - whether these are literary/audiovisual works (films, books, podcasts, etc.) or even true stories. The reason for that is simple: building an audience or generating attention from scratch is seen as way too risky and unlikely considering the financial implications of drama series production.

What does Pop Up Series intend to do?

The ‘IP Adaptation Game’ is mostly reserved to big players. And the current movement of consolidation of the industry is dizzying - there’s not a single week without the announcement of a company being acquired by a bigger one. Pop Up Series wants to create opportunities for audiovisual talents that are not necessarily in the orbit of international behemoths such as Banijay, Freemantle, or Mediawan, to adapt their own IP’s into compelling series projects. We believe that next to the tentpoles adapted from massive IP’s, there’s room for more niche and/or innovative series that tap into under-explored IPs, thus contributing to offer fresh and meaningful stories to diverse audiences.

How will your program support these talents?

We want to focus our attention on independent producers and scriptwriters that are already quite experienced, even if they do not have necessarily series credits yet. There are many talented producers out there in Europe, who have had their eyes on IP’s, sometimes even optioned them, but have not been able to properly develop them into fully fledged and compelling series proposals. Especially for producers that are not active in one of the 4/5 main European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain), the streamers’ revolution has not brought as many opportunities as anticipated - it’s challenging to play the ‘IP Adaptation Game’.

What prevents producers to develop high end series?

Many hindrances come on their way: access to writing talents, financial resources, a knowledge of the specifics of series development, etc. Pop Up Series intends to help 5 carefully selected drama series ideas based on IP’s overcoming these obstacles and loopholes. Not only we will be offering a creative framework with dedicated expertise and consultancy, but also networking and collaboration opportunities. And money!

What is there for scriptwriters in the program?

When it comes to scriptwriters, the idea is to offer them access to promising projects, and to join international creative teams. Except for a handful of well-recognized writers, the internationalization of writers’ rooms has remained somehow limited. This is due to the fact that important players tend to work with the same small pool of talents, while independent producers do not have really the resources to scout and to test new scriptwriters to work with. This is where Pop Up Series Incubator comes in by matching producers and scriptwriters on the European level.

Can you provide details on your experts and industry guests?

The program’s Head of Studies is Nadja Dumouchel, and the program manager is Marija Fridinovaite. Our team has worked together on similar groundbreaking development programs in the past, such as European Short Pitch or Full Circle Lab. Our team of mentors is made of well-recognized scriptwriters, executives and producers, such as Maria Cervera, Naomi Levari, Julien Lilti, or Johnathan Young. Our advisory & selection committee, which includes Isabelle Degeorges, Jess Loveland, Natalia Libet, Anna Rozalska, and Dana Stern, will help us in scouting and identifying promising IP’s and talents.

What about your partners?

Pop Up Series is supported by the ‘Writing European’ action of the European Union, while the Region Grand Est in France and the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in the Czech Republic, both of which we have been working already with on other projects, are hosting partners respectively for the Bootcamp and the Industry Showcase. I think this will be

What makes the Pop Up Series Incubator special?

The program is unique because over an 8-month period, we offer a comprehensive trajectory of project development that combines several modules: a bootcamp, a film residency, and industry showcase, etc. We dedicate a lot of efforts and means on only 5 very carefully curated projects. Our Pop Up Film Residency network brings the human touch and the European dimension. That’s the fun part as well! Who would not like to go out of their daily routine, to head to the Faroe Islands, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia or Sweden, and to spend few weeks there to intensively work on writing a series?