Hi everyone! It’s Joce coming at you semi-live from MIPCOM, catching you up on everything that happened at Junior over the weekend and on Monday. The Carlton was hopping with meetings on the terrace both Saturday and Sunday, and the Noga was similarly packed with non-registered kids industry players. Overall, the 497 buyers who attended Junior seemed to feel there were fewer truly new projects amongst the screening lineup, despite the volume of titles presented jumping from 926 in ’07 to 1143 this year. The five shows that saw the most action were: Jimmy Two Shoes (Breakthrough), Timmy Time (Aardman), Leon (TV-Loonland), The Amazing Spiez (Marathon) and Olivia (Chorion).

As usual, Adina Pitt’s friends and family kick-off dinner was the hottest ticket in town on Sunday night, and a good time was had by all who attended the busting-at-the-seams networking extravaganza. The Hi-5 cast performed at the fancy-dress Southern Star dinner (I bought a new pink frock for the occasion!) with their usual high-octane enthusiasm, and those who teetered up the Suquet to join the fray at Cake’s late-night cocktail saw Disney Channel’s David Levine, Jetix’s Jacob Ahlin and kids industry vet Sarah Mueller all take home guitars. Chris Bartleman from Studio B Productions won a keyboard.

Business at the Palais was brisk yesterday, and several producers I talked to last night reported more at-market sales than they anticipated at the outset of the week, given the economic climate. Tonight, we’re all celebrating Joan Loft’s impending retirement from Contender with a little nightclub boogying, but until then, it’s meetings, meetings and more meetings. Signing off now. Talk to you again tomorrow.

-j