Exposing the world’s uproar, series are an expression of our culture, the vision of creators immersed in society. More than ever, we know those stories feed the need for the audience to escape and discover, but also learn, travel through universes or enrich their vision of the world. 

As war overturns her country, Ukrainian producer Kateryna Vyshnevska has invited Maria Feldman, Israeli-American producer of Ukrainian origin, to discuss their views on the impact of war and adversity on creation. 

How to conceive the future for Ukrainian creators and audiovisual industry, and what can come out of the crisis? Do war and adversity foster creativity? Israel has long established itself as a hotbed of creativity. So what does it mean for Ukraine? As the war forces the industry and people to reinvent themselves, what does it mean for all of us?

BBC Media Action, the charity and international development arm of the British pubcaster, works in partnership with local media and development organisations around the world, seeking to promote social change, improve education and healthcare, and support human rights in developing countries, convening the communication and media (for) development, social and behavioural change through a social networking and shared knowledge strategy.

Ellie Haworth, Head of projects for BBC Media Action, and Sevda Shishmanova, Bulgarian director, former journalist and Head of drama at BNT, will exchange their views on their experience in the Eastern European context and illustrate how drama can be a force for good with concrete examples. Among other relevant projects, they will notably look back at the 5baksiv.net series which targeted young audiences in Ukraine in the context of the war in Dombass, seeking to address the problems they were facing, in particular hate speech and the polarisation of society, and aiming to support the country in dealing with tensions and divisions exacerbated by the war.

Ellie and Sevda will concretely illustrate how TV drama can create a safe space to address complex societal issues and dilemmas. They will dive into a softer approach, ideally based upon research, implying translated, nuanced and realistic images and discourse, and encouraging critical thinking.

For the past 11 years, Radio Télévision Suisse has been a discreet but loyal broadcaster, always reliable for the quality of their editorial choices and the pieces they offer us. We have decided to give them the floor, following the conversations started last year, to take stock of the editorial line, organisation and vision of European broadcasters that have been carefully chosen for the quality of the drama they offer. 

Can drama be a force for good in Switzerland? Izabela Rieben and Patrick Suhner, Editorial Drama Producers, will present their vision, discuss their choices, their methods and artistic and business collaborations, as well as the projects underway at the Swiss public broadcaster.

The discussion will be followed by a focus on RTS' new project Minor Offence.

Adam Kay is an award-winning writer and comedian. His debut book, This is Going to Hurt, a memoir inspired by his years as a junior doctor, offers a vital, witty yet dark and often shocking depiction of the National Health Service in the UK. Recently adapted into a series, with Adam serving as writer, and co-executive producer with Jane Featherstone and Naomi de Pear for SISTER and James Farrell for Terrible Productions, the piece is a perfect illustration of how the distinctive vision and voice of an artist can raise awareness in a powerful manner.

This is Going to Hurt is a literary sensation: a Sunday Times number one bestseller for over a year, it has sold over 2.5 million copies, making it the bestselling UK narrative non-fiction book of the 21st Century. Translated into 37 languages, This is Going to Hurt has won ten national awards including a record-breaking four National Book Awards. Adam’s bestselling follow-up, Twas The Nightshift Before Christmas, and two children’s books Kay’s Anatomy and Kay’s Marvellous Medicine also broke records in their respective genres. His anthology Dear NHS raised over £500,000 for charity. 

After serving as writer and executive producer on the TV adaptation of This is Going to Hurt for AMC+ and the BBC, Adam is currently showrunning a major new comedy-drama. He lives in Oxfordshire, England with his dog and husband (two separate individuals).

Adam will do us the honour of sharing his committed and distinctive creative vision with us: a powerful take on the question “Can drama be a force for good?”.

The International Icelandic star Aníta Briem played in films and series such as Doctor Who, Journey to the Center of the Earth or the Tudors. After an English career, she is back in Iceland where she continues to play top roles, among those, Trapped, presented in Fontainebleau a few years ago. Aníta Briem is coming to talk about her new series, As long as we live, but as a creator and screenwriter this time. Inspired by her personal life and experience, the series is about a former queen of pop, now a struggling mom in a stale marriage, longing for the thrills of her past life. Aníta Briem will share her vision of women’s characters, and the need for others and new ones, anchored into real life. She will share the stage with Hordur Runarsson, her producer, working on creating the best setting for a feminist and engaged series, that will raise her voice.

There is nothing as powerful as great storytelling, and TV series are the ultimate media for sharing stories with a wide audience.

Europe has some of the greatest talent in writing, creating and producing TV series, and we have our broadcasters to ensure these series reach the largest audience - if we work together.

The European Writers Club fosters great storytelling from a unified, European front.

By creating a network of creators, writers, independent producers, and broadcasters from all over Europe, together their aim is to uplift, promote and unite the continent’s greatest talent. Through tailor-made sessions, the EWC encourages sharing, exchanging and collaboration within the network. Our common goal? More eyes on the stories that matter – yours.

EWC is financed by the European Commission and our partners. Join their European network.

Let’s create stories together.

Speakers :

- Toni Grisoni, author, United Kingdom  

- Simone Emmelius, SVP International Fiction, ZDF, Germany 

- Jacobo Sutil, Director of the Galician Agency for the Cultural Industries (AGADIC), Spain, Partner in EWC

- Angelica Cantisani, Programmes Coordinator, TorinoFilmLab, Italy

- Thomas Gammeltoft, Head of the European Writers Club, Producer on behalf of Vision Denmark, Partner in EWC

By exposing the troubles of our society, by bringing all the marginalised out of the shadows, crime thriller is a public service. Often a militant act, with dark sincerity, it creates works with a unique atmosphere. Its great diversity and uncompromising reflection of our civilisations undoubtedly make crime drama the most relevant way of understanding the world. 

Created by Laetitia Duguet, the Maison du Polar shares its discoveries and favourites with fans and other curious people who are struggling to make a selection from an increasingly vast and complex market. The Maison du Polar is a website (lamaisondupolar.com) and a free bi-monthly newsletter, both 100% and positively dedicated to crime thriller (understood in the broadest sense: noir, mystery, neo-polar, espionage, thriller, etc.), from all eras (heritage pieces and new releases) andin all its forms (novels, films, series, documentaries, comics, news, podcasts, etc.)

The Maison du Polar invites two novelists to share their unique imaginations and experiences; two authors whose universes, characters and plots seem particularly interesting to consider for screen.

With committed thrillers addressing deeply contemporary themes - extremism, immigration, secularism, social injustice, the emergence of a deadly virus... - Diniz Galhos (translator and writer) and Fabrice Jambois (novelist) offer two very different storytellings and stylistic approaches, which share their originality and their obvious visual evocations. Two illustrations of fiction for a better world.

Kamila Zlatušková> has created the Serial Killer international television festival in Brno after a career as a creative producer for Czech television. She will expose a strong vision for Eastern creation to reach international standard and recognition and for creators to dive into their history and culture. By creating an international center for education in the field of production, she promotes quality production of all genres, aiming at a global impact and challenges the limits of tv production in Central and Eastern Europe. She will share her views and expectations with two drama commissioners in Czech Republic : Jan Maxa, director of content and new media for the pubcaster Czech TV and Lenka Szántó, creative producer for the Voyo platform. An occasion to learn more about drama production in the Eastern countries. 

Speakers : 

Kamila Zlatušková – Founder of the Serial Killer festival

Lenka Szántó – Creative Producer, Voyo

Jan Maxa - Director of Content and New Media, Czech TV

In recent years, European fiction has often attempted - with success - to transcribe and document real events. Without ever trying to replace journalistic objectivity or documentary insights, creators offer an alternative, human and subjective prism on these real events.

We know the role that emotion and identification play in raising awareness on contemporary issues. Fiction, better than any other genre, can play these assets in all sincerity. But beyond individual awareness, can it help us move forward as a group? Can fiction help us overcome our trauma by diving back into painful memories?

This is the challenge taken up by the creators of the Belgian series Lost Luggage, who chose to set their series in the context of the Brussels airport attacks. Through the eyes of their heroine, they were able to weave a web of individual and fictional stories into a great collective narrative with a very real resonance. A deeply European story, through which they will try to answer the question: can fiction heal wounded souls?

Speakers : Nathalie Basteyns, Tiny Bertels and Ivy Vanhaecke (Lost Luggage)

In charge of the French private channel's fiction department since 2018, Anne Viau has established a strong vision and an editorial line which she will share during this session centered on Série Series 2022’s topical theme, "Can drama be a force for good?". At a time when the audience is more than ever in the need for comfort, how does TF1 build a feel-good, positive, yet ambitious fiction line up, with notorious protagonists, emblematic characters and highly anticipated mini-series? How do TF1 dramas answer a complex and all too often gloomy societal context? What is the positioning of its editorial team and what in what direction are the current developments going?

Anne Viau will share her optimistic vision during a 20-minute presentation.

After its sensational arrival on the French TV scene with the Oussekine series a few weeks ago, the Disney+ platform is being scrutinised by creators who see it as an exciting space for artistic expression. Pauline Dauvin, its vice-president in charge of original content, will come and present their organisation and their policy revolving around creators, and share her vision and expectations for a booming sector. As she is convinced that local production is essential to anchor the brand in France, her ambition is to increase the amount of original content available, with a strong determination towards strong and distinctive original works, and to allow creators to fully express their voice. Pauline Dauvin will not fail to mention her commitment to a fiction that can be "a force for good", as promoted by this season of Série Series, discussion her ambition to represent the full diversity of our society, in front of or behind the camera.

In recent years, podcast has given a place to new voices, representing a free, open and valuable space for expression, particularly in the fields of feminism, intimacy and a unique and original approach to society. The development of original audio fiction is also investigating this promising field, opening up new creative horizons. A pioneer in native podcasting, Nouvelles écoutes is recognised as one of the most demanding and creative French studios. Its managing director, Julien Neuville, will present, with Claire Hazan, production director at Spotify, collaborations and synergies in the drama field and present innovative co-production and development experiences for the serial world, including 1 euro per minute, their co-production with Gaumont.

She came to Fontainebleau a few years ago to present Skam. Marianne Furevold-Boland is coming back for a deep and relevant conversation with Amy Black Ndiaye, the creator of Norwegian series I Am Earth. They will tackle new voices and perspectives in drama, creating a safe space and developing trust within the creative process.

They will also come back on the importance of music in the project's narrative and character-driven series. 

What if other ways of engaging the audience were possible?

Starting from I Am Earth, created and played by Amy Black Ndiaye for NRK, this session will be a dialogue between a committed creator and a producer who keeps inventing new ways to address the youth.

moderated by Marike Muselaers

Created by Laetitia Duguet, the Maison du Polar shares its discoveries and favourites with fans and other curious people who are struggling to make a selection from an increasingly vast and complex market. The Maison du Polar is a website (lamaisondupolar.com) and a free bi-monthly newsletter, both 100% and positively dedicated to crime thriller (understood in the broadest sense: noir, mystery, neo-polar, espionage, thriller, etc.), from all eras (heritage pieces and new releases) andin all its forms (novels, films, series, documentaries, comics, news, podcasts, etc.)

The Maison du Polar invites two novelists to share their unique imaginations and experiences; two authors whose universes, characters and plots seem particularly interesting to consider for screen.

With committed thrillers addressing deeply contemporary themes - extremism, immigration, secularism, social injustice, the emergence of a deadly virus... - Diniz Galhos (translator and writer) and Fabrice Jambois (novelist) offer two very different storytellings and stylistic approaches, which share their originality and their obvious visual evocations. Two illustrations of fiction for a better world.

For authors, getting their rights recognised or finding solutions to conflicts or disagreements can be a difficult task. However, there is no shortage of structures dedicated to their defence: SACD, AMAPA, trade unions and professional organisations, etc. All too often authors get discouraged and give up on their defence. How, then, can we simplify the path to better protection for authors? What recourses exist? What are the pitfalls to avoid? How can practices be made to evolve in a more virtuous direction? Initiated by the SACD, this meeting will provide answers to help authors see clearly and assert their rights.

Discussion with representatives of the SACD, the AMAPA, the French Screenwriters Guild and the U2R.