Laurence Herszberg, Founder and General Director of Series Mania (March 15-22), announced the projects selected as part of the Co-Pro Pitching Sessions (March 19), the founding premise and most anticipated event of the Series Mania Forum (March 19-21).

An international jury of industry professionals will determine the best project among the 15 projects and prize the Best Project Award €50.000 to help develop the winning series. This year, the 16 projects were selected from 413 applications from 57 countries; four of them originated in the CEE region.

“Since its inception in 2013, the goal of the Forum’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions has been to help the high-end European and International drama projects find potential financial partners. Given the illustrious list of titles which have received their start at the Forum, we know for a fact that this works. This year we have seen a significant increase in projects coming from South America, especially from Brazil and Mexico and have noted the emergence of Asia as a newcomer highlighted by the presence of two Japanese companies in this year's selection,” commented Herszberg.

“Also, this year we received a number of stories inspired by true events and many projects based on strong IPs. While we saw a decline in dystopian themes in favor of more realistic projects and found that the submissions favored more traditional thrillers with an increasing number of dramedies. We look forward to unveiling the winner of the Best Project Award with €50,000 on March 19 in Lille,” added Herszberg.

The 2024 international jury of industry professionals includes: Jury President: Nina Lederman (USA), EVP Global Scripted Development & Programming, Sony Pictures Television; Marco Chimenz (Italy), Group Co-General Manager, Federation Studios; Jennifer Ebell (United Kingdom), EVP, EMEA Sales and Acquisitions at FIFTH SEASON; Marianne Furevold-Boland (Norway), Head of Drama, NRK; and Karin Marelle (United Kingdom), VP Program Acquisitions & Co-Productions, Starz.

The four CEE series projects are:

Judgement of Solomon - 6 x 45' - Bulgaria

Genre: Mystery/Drama
Produced by: Katya Trichkova for Contrast films LTD and Mirrormind LTD
Written by Teodora Markova and Nevena Kertova
Short synopsis: A 6-year-old Bulgarian girl starts recalling moments from her past life, which leads her family to cross paths with a Swedish couple, who have lost their daughter.


The Art of Magdalene - 6 x 45' - Poland, Ireland

Genre: Drama
Produced by Wiktor Piatkowski for Bahama Films and Jonathan Farrelly for PIO Media LTD
Written by Wiktor Piatkowski
Short synopsis: A hard-working and religious immigrant is fed up with being used and humiliated. She builds an international art dealing empire based on ignorance, superficiality and greed of rich people. Her financial pyramid grows faster when drug dealers start using it for laundering money.


The Left Hand of Venus - 6 x 45' - Greece

Genre: Historical Comedy
Produced by Ioannis Kostas, development producer Dimitra Barla, for Arcadia Media
Written by Nikos Panayotopoulos, based on the novel by Takis Theodoropoulos
Short synopsis: When French naval officer Olivier Voutier finds the love of his life on the face of the French consul’s wife of Milos Island, his only hope to conquer her is to steal the statue of Venus that has just been discovered on the island, before other suitors beat him to it.


Our People - 6 x 55' - Slovakia

Genre: Political Drama
Produced by Jakub Viktorín and Tomáš Hrubý for nutprodukcia
Written by Miro Šifra
Directed by Tereza Nvotová
Short synopsis: The murder of a journalist overthrows the balance of power in Slovakia.