This year’s Eurovision Fiction Experts Group will take place in Fontainebleau, France, within the framework of Série Series – a television think tank dedicated to the creation and promotion of European TV series and the professionals who make them happen.

More than 650 screenwriters, directors, producers, broadcasters and distributors will gather near Paris for three days of screenings, meetings and masterclasses from 1-3 July.

Liselott Forsman, EBU Head of Fiction Bureau and YLE Executive Producer of International Fiction Projects, says EBU Members will be welcomed on the eve of the event, Tuesday 30 June.

“The TV drama we’re seeing today is both big business and a serious culture field,” said Ms Forsman. “As a result, there’s a rise of good European content and co-production forums. Série Series is a partnership that came very naturally. Today, audiences want stories with depth, that give a perspective on society and offer up complex characters. This is traditionally the domain of public service media (PSM) drama. In Fontainebleau we will focus both on business and on content – from a public service media point of view. Our aim is to help EBU Members deliver quality drama and comedy to the world.”  

Event producers Marie Barraco and Laetitia Duguet says the fourth edition of Série Series welcomes the involvement of such an important industry group as public service media.

“We are thrilled to host the EBU Fiction Group in Fontainebleau. As Serie Series is a high-level meeting of series creators, designed by, and for professionals, there’s real satisfaction in helping to create a broadcasters’ conclave that triggers new ideas and discussions among European drama professionals. Série Series seeks to be a think tank as well as a practical tool in the hands of fiction professionals, to offer the right setting to network and stimulate exchange on a European level. We are very happy to form this new association with the EBU and contribute to the quality of public service drama.”

Head of Television Bettina Brinkman says the decision to connect the Eurovision Fiction Plenary to the Série Series event is a major step in developing a key European TV series network.

“Série Series represents an opportunity for our Members to be part of a bigger community of fiction experts from around the world who will be invited to the festival in Fontainebleau,” said Ms Brinkman, “with an opportunity to still showcase the most contemporary and innovative programme formats at the annual Eurovision Creative Forum in Berlin come September.”