David Lyle, Adam Gee, Brandon Litman to keynote at MIPDoc 2012

CANNES, FRANCE: Three outstanding speakers are confirmed to speak on a wide range of topics in MIPDoc 2012's expanded conference programme: National Geographic Channels' David Lyle will give his insight on factual programming; Channel 4's Adam Gee will address multi-platform commissioning and One Day on Earth's Brandon Litman will share his experience on collaborative creation.

MIPDoc is teaming up with IndieGoGo, the world's leading open funding platform, to present the new MIPDoc International Pitch competition. The call for entries' deadline is Monday 27 February.

Held at the JW Marriott Hotel, Cannes, MIPDoc's 15th edition is expected to attract over 1400 documentary and factual programmes and more than 400 international buyers. The two day event opens on Friday 30 March - Saturday 31 March just ahead of the 2012 edition of MIPTV (Sunday 1 April - Wednesday 4 April).

David Lyle, CEO, National Geographic Channels US, will deliver the MIPDoc 2012 Media Mastermind Keynote on Friday 30 March in which he will share his expert vision on factual programming. Lyle's career spans 25 years across more than 20 countries, with a proven track record developing factual and unscripted multi-platform content. He now oversees the National Geographic domestic channels which include the National Geographic Channel, Nat Geo Wild and Nat Geo Mundo. A former president of Fox Look and Fox Reality Channel, Lyle also previously led the team that launched and guided American Idol to three seasons of incredible growth when he was president of Entertainment at FremantleMedia, North America, and produced primetime network shows and key series for major outlets including MTV, Lifetime, TLC, GSN, Pax TV, and Food Network.

Adam Gee, Cross-platform commissioning editor (Factual), Channel 4, will give a special Commissioning 360 Keynote about pushing the boundaries of multiplatform. Gee is one of the most experienced commissioners in UK broadcasting of multiplatform interactive projects around TV. He has won over 70 international awards for his productions, including three BAFTAs (British Academy Awards), three RTS Awards (Royal Television Society) and the Grand Award at the New York International Film & Television Festival.

Brandon Litman, co-founder of One Day on Earth, will deliver a new 2012 Collaborative Creation Keynote. Closing the two-day programme, this special feature will present the exceptional success of the second annual worldwide filming collaboration project, One Day on Earth. Through a unique partnership with the United Nations, Litman and his team are slated to create the largest archive of cause-based media shot in a single day, a diverse media platform and worldwide filmed archive that communicates both the joys and struggles of everyday life. The first two editions were filmed in every country in the world on the same day, October 2010 (10/10/10) and November 2011 (11/11/11).

The new MIPDoc International Pitch competition is open to all creators and producers to help them find financing partners, promote their film projects on a large scale and raise money using online crowd-funding tools. As digital platforms are becoming essential for producers to find partners and raise funds, MIPDoc has teamed up with the world's leading open online funding platform, IndieGoGo, to develop the competition. Created in 2008, IndieGoGo's trusted platform has helped to raise millions of dollars for over 60 000 campaigns across 211 countries.

MIPDoc International Pitch contestants need to submit their projects by completing the online entry form by Monday 27 February. The six selected projects will be pitched live in Cannes to an international jury of eminent experts on Friday 30 March. The live pitch session will take place in front of an international audience of producers, distributors and journalists from around the world. The winner will get editorial coverage, one-on-one onsite meetings with broadcasters, free entry to MIPDoc 2013 and a free submission of their winning programme to the MIPDoc 2013 digital library.

For more information about MIPDoc and MIPTV, visit www.miptv.com
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About MIPDoc

A two-day pre-MIPTV accelerator event, MIPDoc is where key international buyers, sellers, producers and commissioners of documentary and factual programmes can easily discover new content from the world's largest digital library, do business and network with over 800 expected participants.

About MIPTV

MIPTV is where 11 500 participants and 4000 buyers from 100 countries converge, united by their passion for TV - in all its forms -, shape and make deals, create bridges across the expanding TV industry and unlock new business opportunities.