After Venice, Toronto and La Rochelle, the industry conversation is continuing at San Sebastián and will move on to MIPCOM, MIA and AFM. Looking further ahead, Series Mania in Lille could provide another important testing ground for an increasingly international approach to financing, developing and circulating content.
The fall festival and market season is already delivering a remarkably consistent message. From the Venice Production Bridge and the launch of TIFF: The Market in Toronto to the Festival de la Fiction de La Rochelle, international cooperation is becoming increasingly central to an audiovisual industry facing profound economic, technological and regulatory changes.
The same issues are now being discussed at the San Sebastián International Film Festival, where the industry program includes WIP Europa and WIP Latam, the Europe-Latin America Co-Production Forum and the fifth Creative Investors’ Conference, organized in collaboration with CAA Media Finance.
The trend was clearly visible in Venice, where the Gap-Financing Market generated 1,402 one-to-one meetings and the new Locations Market connected producers with film commissions, studios and incentives.
Rather than functioning simply as places to buy and sell finished content, these events increasingly operate as ecosystems where projects can find financing, partners, territories and routes to international circulation.
Next Stops: Cannes, Rome and Los Angeles
That conversation will continue through the fall. MIPCOM Cannes, running October 12–15, is positioning itself as a marketplace where the global content community can develop, produce, finance and distribute projects, while its 2026 edition expands into the Creator Economy, AI and brand-funded entertainment.
A week later, the MIA | Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo in Rome, October 19–23, will put development and financing at the heart of its co-production markets and pitching forums, including a new Animation Series Gap Financing Market designed for projects seeking international co-producers, co-financiers and co-commissioners.
Then, from November 10–15, the American Film Market in Los Angeles will bring producers, financiers, sales companies and buyers together around the development, financing and licensing of independent films. The formats differ, but the underlying need is increasingly similar: creating more effective connections between content and capital.
Series Mania Looks Toward the Next Cycle
The European Film Market (EFM), of course, will take place as usual in Berlin, reaffirming its well-established and essential role as one of the key meeting points for the international film industry. Looking further ahead, Series Mania Forum, scheduled for March 23–25, 2027 in Lille, could become another important stage in this evolving conversation, particularly for the series business.
Series Mania’s Co-Pro Pitching Sessions are built specifically around projects seeking international financing and co-production partners.
More than 400 eligible projects from 65 countries were submitted for the 2026 edition, and selected producers pitch directly to broadcasters, financiers, distributors and potential partners before moving into one-to-one meetings. The call for the 2027 edition opens on October 6.
Series Mania has also placed the new Council of Europe Convention on the Co-Production of Audiovisual Works in the Form of Series within this broader debate. The Convention establishes the first international legal framework specifically dedicated to independent co-productions of television and streaming series, with the aim of facilitating cross-border partnerships and strengthening legal certainty for producers.
From Co-Production Strategy to Industry Infrastructure
It would be premature to say that all these markets are moving toward a single model. Venice, Toronto, San Sebastián, MIPCOM, MIA, AFM and Series Mania have different identities, priorities and sectors of specialization. But their growing emphasis on financing forums, matchmaking, international co-production, IP, incentives and direct access to decision-makers points to a common pressure within the business.
International cooperation is becoming less an additional opportunity for individual projects and more part of the infrastructure needed to get them made. When the industry eventually reconvenes in Lille next March, Series Mania Forum may offer another indication of how far that transition has progressed — and how the series business is adapting to it.
Continue reading: American Film Market Teams With AMC A-List for 2026
