All the latest news from the global content industry on Thursday, 11 September

 

MIA unveils Co-Pro numbers & new initiatives

Rome-based Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo (MIA) has unveiled a raft of new initiatives for its 11th edition next month and revealed it has received almost 500 projects from 81 countries for its Co-Production Market and Pitching Forum.

MIA takes place 6-10 October and has unveiled highlights including a book adaptation forum focused forging ties with publishers, and Apollo Series, a new training initiative developed in partnership with Series Mania Institute and Goteborg Film Festival TV Drama Vision.

Further additions include UNBOX | Short Film Days, which has been created in collaboration with Alice nella Città to spotlight emerging short-film talent.

Vertical AI workshops curated by Largo.ai and the Industry Insider Bootcamp, a training opportunity presented by United Talent Agency (UTA), will also feature.

MIA 2025 takes place at the Palazzo Barberini and Cinema Barberini, with the backing of ANICA (Italian Association of Film, Audiovisual and Digital Industries) and APA (Italian Audiovisual Producers Association). Gaia Tridente again directs MIA’s operations.

 

Zinc profits touch £1m

The UK’s Zinc Media Group has delivered record financial numbers in the first six months of the year with revenues climbing nearly three-quarters.

The AIM-listed production group’s H1 revenues reached a high of £22.9m, a rise of 72% year-on-year, while it delivered also delivered a record EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) of £900,000.

This jump was credited to some of its biggest contract wins and buzzy programming, according to chief exec Mark Browning, who said the results strengthen the “deliverability of our medium-term targets of £50m revenue and £5m EBITDA”.

Revenue already secured for the current financial year stands at £38m, £7m more than at the same point last year, with a further £4m close to being added to the books.

 

Spain’s Boomerang TV expands scripted

Mediawan’s Boomerang TV has appointed Luis Santamaría as its managing director of scripted TV.

Santamaría will oversee all of the Spanish company’s scripted output and joins as the company rolls out Cut One, a new fiction label that will be led by Rafael Taboada.

Boomerang TV’s scripted out includes Perdiendo el Juicio and Netflix’s Entre Tierras, the latter of which claims to be the most-watched TV series in Spain in 2024. A second series has just wrapped filming, while upcoming premieres include La Suerte for Disney+.

 

Keshet Int’l to open Secret Royal Homes in Cannes

Keshet International (KI) will launch pre-sales for Secret Royal Homes at Mipcom.

The show, from Yeti TV, is an access-all-areas guide to stately homes with royal secrets. It was originally pitched to KI by the Welsh production company as part of the global content producer and distributor’s Greenlight: Factual and Formats commissioning initiative.

The 3 x 60-minute docuseries is one of four factual titles KI will be pre-selling to clients in Cannes, alongside Caledonia TV’s Hitler’s Favourite Royals, Hello Mary’s Subterranean Secrets, and Earthbound, from Ritual Arts and Amazing Owl.