It is almost time for the 2026 edition of Series Mania – the top event for the fiction production industry in Europe which continues to grow in size and the geography of participants. This year for the first time the organizers are launching the Country of Honor initiative which will put the focus on Korea. The Buyers Upfront is also coming back with its second edition after a successful premiere last year.

Georgi R. Chakarov talks with Francesco Capurro, head of Series Mania Forum, about what’s coming to the the 2026 edition which will be held between March 24 and 26 in Lille, with the promise of last-minute surprises in the program.


Series Mania has turned into one of the main events on the international TV calendar. How did you prepare for this year’s edition?

It was challenging to prepare 2026. 2026 is shaping up tp be our biggest Forum yet, which makes me particularly proud given the context. It's true that after many years of growth, our industry is experiencing a sort of rebalancing with the decline in commissions, both from broadcasters and platforms. It's a challenging time for our industry. But despite that, I'm glad to see the people coming back, and probably because of this challenging time it is even more important to connect, to try to be involved and achieve and find other ways to finance shows. So, I think that our event is even more relevant in these difficult times.


Speaking about that, in terms of attendance what do you expect?

The figures are really good. We are a little bit above last year at the same time, one month before the start of the event. So, I expect an increase in the attendance.


In terms of regions, is it again Europe that dominates or there is an increase also from other territories?

Now, what's very interesting is that it's getting more and more global and I think that it's linked to what we are discussing about the industry. People need to collaborate and improve finance on a global stage. So, we welcome, for example, more and more people from Japan, a delegation from Singapore for the first time, there will also be Taiwan, Canada, Brazil, other countries that we already welcomed, some people from different countries of Africa, especially South Africa. And of course Korea, which is the Country of Honor.


Indeed, this is the first time you are introducing this new segment. Why did you choose Korea as the first Country of Honor?

It's true, it's the first time. First of all, Korea is a leader in production of series across Asia and also worldwide. They are extremely creative. They are exporting a lot of content. There is a huge fan base also in Europe, even if it's still a bit niche. But France and other European countries have shown huge appetite, and I think that it's great to see how we can collaborate more creatively speaking between Europe and Korea.
The second reason is that this year is the 140th anniversary of diplomatic relationships between France and Korea. So, it's also important political anniversary and it was well also to mark this.


Last year the novelty was the Buyers Upfront. How have you developed this initiative for this year and what impact do you expect it to have on sales and acquisitions at the Forum? What were the results last year and to expect for this one?

Yes, we decided to do a second edition of the Buyers Upfront because it was a great success last year. This year we replicate the same formula, one day before the Forum, on March 23, an invitation-only event where we will invite 130+ buyers and we have a jury of high-profile buyers: Oliver Jones, senior commissioner at Apple TV+ (USA), will be the jury president. The jury will include also Haruka Jorgensen, Content Acquisition Manager,WOWOW (Japan); Morad Koufane, Head of International and Young Adult Drama, France Télévisions (France); Nick Lee, Head of Acquisitions, BBC (United Kingdom); Fredrik Luihn, Head of Acquisitions, NRK (Norway); Margarida Pereira, Director of International Acquisitions and Sales, TVI (Portugal).

This prestigious jury will award the Buyers Choice Award to the series that feels the most appealing for the international market. We are currently finalizing the selection, but it is very encouraging that we received a lot of applications. For us it is important to position the Forum not only as a co-production market, but also as a sales and acquisition market. This is also the result of the closing of MIPTV, so we provide distributors with the space that they need to do their business.


Every year, you get to read (probably) hundreds of series in development. What are the trends that you have observed this time?

We have certainly less period drama, sci-fi or high-budget series. There is a lot of crime because that is what channels want, especially light crime. There is also a trend in reducing the number of episodes. We see more and more series between four and eight episodes, and very few longer than ten episodes.


There is another big trend that is hitting the headlines big time in recent months – vertical or microdrama. Are you considering adding this genre to the program of Series Mania?

Yes, everyone is talking about microdrama. We will have a panel about it but in Europe this trend is still beginning, unlike Asia where it is huge. We see that some big players are thinking about launching their own microdrama projects and I think we will see a different version of the genre than what we see in Asia which is mainly soap.


What will be the highlights in terms of keynotes and masterclasses?

We have a very rich program with more than 60 conferences. We will have Fremantle and Disney+ execs, also SkyShowtime, series premieres and then lots of panels about what is happening in the industry like the new global drama co-production alliances and some innovation topics.


What will be the focus of the workshops this year?

At Series Mania Forum, we position ourselves as a gateway for emerging creators to meet producers and industry partners. Our programming includes international pitching and training initiatives in collaboration with renowned partners such as the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, the Realness Institute, and pitch platforms like the Asia Co-Pro Pitch organized by the Taiwan Creative Content Agency.

Beyond these partnerships, we develop our own capacity-building activities through our training division, the Series Mania Institute, notably the traditional Writers Campus pitching session. This year also marks the first pitching sessions of Serial Bridges, a new initiative highlighting the strongest projects emerging from workshops run by the institute all over the world in regions such as Central Asia, Brazil, and Turkey. The winning projects from each workshop will be invited to Lille to pitch.


Do you also see a trend where Asian companies try to find co-production partners in Europe?

Yes, there have been a few co-productions between Asia and Europe so far, but there are some success stories, such as Drops of God and The Head. I’m sure we will see more in the coming years. Remakes also play a huge role in this. Japan is known for its successful adaptations of Mother, while Korea has many IP’s, particularly webtoons, which can be adapted into series. We will be holding a presentation on this topic.


And how about AI? How is it being used to help the creation, production and distribution of new series?

This year we will launch the Innovation Talks: Hands-on AI tools. We have invited some companies like Genario, Largo, Mathematic Film, Betaseries among others who will be talking about this and show the producers what they can do using AI. But it will be very concrete and not the general talk that we see at other conferences. So, lots of showcases of solutions that could be used to accelerate the production and productivity of the companies.


We also focus on the CEE region, and we noticed that you have two Polish series in the International Competition. What is you impression when it comes to development of the series production market in CEE?

Yes, this year again we have received a lot of projects from the region with excellent production value, and it is great to see this evolution of the content coming from CEE.