LonDON SCREENINGS
The London Screenings have revealed its full line-up of distributors, with the likes of Lionsgate and Sony Pictures Television officially joining the winter TV showcase in the U.K.
The Screenings, which will take place from Feb. 27 to March 3, have added Eccho Rights, Newen Connect, Viaplay Content Distribution, Lionsgate and SPT to its ranks. The new additions take the total number of host companies to 26.
The full list of participating companies includes: Abacus Media Rights, about Premium Content, Blue Ant Media, Bossanova Media, Cineflix Rights, DCD Rights, Fifth Season, Hat Trick International, Keshet International, NBCUniversalFormats, Paramount Global Content Distribution, Passion Distribution, Red Arrow Studios International, Studiocanal, TVF International and Warner Bros. International Television Production.
The event’s founding distributors are All3Media International, Banijay Rights, Entertainment One (eOne), Fremantle and ITV Studios.
A London TV Screenings spokesperson said: “For the 2023 edition of The London TV Screenings, our biggest yet, the group has come together like never before to curate all of the content and buyer events across the week. We’ve worked hard to minimize clashes and maximize the experience for clients, many of whom are sending multiple buyers, to make it a truly must-attend event in the annual calendar.”
The first in-person London TV Screenings was held in February, and was attended by 500 international buyers.
In pre-pandemic years, broadcasters and streamers would fly to the U.K. from all over the world to attend the BBC Studios Showcase, a glamorous multi-day event in Liverpool at the tail end of winter.
There, BBCS offered exclusive previews of its latest shows and formats, served alongside a dinner show featuring such musical guests as Nile Rodgers and Fatboy Slim. After being wined and dined, these buyers would then travel by train down to London, where they’d have meetings with other international TV distributors, such as Fremantle, ITV Studios and Warner Bros., which over the years began setting up snazzy presentations of their own. The week’s activities became known, unofficially, as U.K. Screenings, and in 2021, distributors struck out on their own and formalized the mini market as London Screenings.
BRITISH TV
Seven of the top 10 British shows came from the BBC, latest figures show for 2022. The number one show was Jamie Dornan-starrer “The Tourist” which racked up 11.4 million views in BARB’s 28 Day 4 Screen Data report.
In second, third and tenth place were ITV shows “Trigger Point,” “The Thief, His Wife and The Canoe” and “Our House.” The rest of the top ten was filled out by BBC shows including “The Responder,” “Call the Midwife” and “Sherwood.”
“In a time of so much competition and choice, the sheer scale of BBC drama in 2022 clearly demonstrates how the BBC continues to punch well above its weight,” said the BBC’s chief content officer Charlotte Moore. “In our centenary year, millions have turned to the BBC for our ambitious range of world-class drama from writers at the top of their game. Despite all the millions spent on global platforms, I’m proud of our hit rate and our unrivalled commitment to telling stories from across the U.K.”
