Beta and Series Mania's new initiative, SeriesMakers, to offer €20,000 award

The Series Mania Forum has opened submissions for SeriesMakers. The initiative, supported by European content house Beta Group, is aimed at feature film directors who work in the world of series development. 

The initiative is led Laurence Herszberg, General Director of Series Mania, and Koby Gal Raday, Chief Content Officer of Beta Group. "The exceptional quality of the speakers and mentors that will be sharing their insights with our participants, as well as the three awards in a total of €120,000 promises a great first edition. We are very excited to discover the series projects from filmmakers from all over the world," Laurence Herszberg, General Director of Series Mania, said.

SeriesMakers was launched this year at Series Mania in Lille. Its ultimate goal is to support creatives who are required to develop new scripted series through the process of completing a pitch deck, guided by veteran directors, show runners, writers, and producers. It now offers a new award of €20,000 for emerging talent introduced by the Kirch Foundation will be established in addition to the Beta award for two selected projects of €50,000 each. In total, the program offers €120,000 in grants. The final deadline for all submissions is 15 September, 2022.

The confirmed speakers for the first online edition, scheduled for this season, includes Marti Noxon, Agnieszka Holland, Michael Hirst, Frank Doelger, Hagai Levi, Stefan Arndt, Cyril Tysz, Ossi Nishri, and Michael Polle. Each team will be closely mentored by experienced creatives, such as award- winning German producer Janine Jackowski, Israeli writer and script doctor Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz, international Development Producer Isabelle Lindberg Pechou (TROM) and Brazilian producer, director and showrunner Felipe Braga.

The experts eligible for the initiative include directors, who had at least one feature film screened in the official selection of an A-list film festival in the past five years (2017-2022). The eligible directors can submit in teams of either director-producer or director-writer. Ten teams with an idea for a TV series will be selected to participate in this tailor-made training program. A jury will award two teams with a € 50,000 grant each to develop a pilot script and a full package with additional support by Beta’s Content Division, led by CCO Koby Gal Raday. The two winning teams will furthermore be invited to Series Mania’s prestigious Forum to present their projects to the industry’s most influential decision makers, broadcasters, platforms, co-producers, and financiers. In addition, a third award, courtesy of the Kirch Foundation, will be given to an emerging talent.