PBS Boards Adrian Dunbar Detective Drama ‘Ridley’ For North American Distribution
01.04.2022 - 15:57 / variety.com
Emiliano De Pablos In a move that suggests the golden age of true-crime content is also being established in Spain, Madrid-based Onza Distribution has pounced on worldwide rights outside the country to smash hit series “Crímenes” (“Crimes”), by Catalan journalist Carles Porta.Broadcast since 2020 on Catalunya’s public broadcaster TV3 under the Catalan title of “Crims,” the true-crime series’ first two-seasons topped free-to-air TV primetime slots in the region, snagging peaks of 22% audience share.Since January, adapted as “Crímenes” into Spanish language, it launched nationwide on leading paybox Movistar Plus’ premium channel #0 and its VOD service, also generating an enthusiastic audience response. Onza Distribution is presenting “Crimes” to international buyers for the first time ever at MipTV, which runs April, 4-6 in Cannes.With the combination of documentary material and the necessary fictional resources, “Crimes” recounts a series of criminal offenses extracted from recent real-life events in Spain.It invites the viewer to draw their own conclusions from the cases, based on the facts presented with precision, but not forgetting that it’s also entertainment.The true stories were selected for their social impact, the profile of the accused, the complexity of the plot or their surprising resolution.“True crimes are experiencing a great time.
PBS Boards Adrian Dunbar Detective Drama ‘Ridley’ For North American Distribution
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EXCLUSIVE: Snabba Cash and The Rain star Evin Ahmad is to lead Netflix’s upcoming female-led action adventure series Palomino, with filming kicking off in Barcelona later this year.
Emiliano De Pablos Munich-based Beta Film has closed a raft of major deals over Europe and beyond on Spanish TV dramas “You Shall Not Lie” and “La Fortuna,” two of the most successful recent originals produced by Movistar Plus, Spain’s biggest pay-TV/SVOD operator.Both series have been sold to Italy’s RAI and to HBO for its platform HBO Max for Eastern Europe, Benelux, the Nordics, Netherlands, and Portugal, among other territories.A six-part thriller by Pau Freixas, co-creator of “The Red Band Society,” “You Shall Not Lie” was sold to RTL Deutschland for Germany, where it will premiere on its streaming platform RTL Plus this spring.In France, the drama has been picked up by M6 with an exclusive window for its SVOD service Salto. Furthermore, Antenna TV secured rights for Greece and Cyprus, as well as Blue TV for Turkey.
Leo Barraclough International Features EditorThree-part documentary series “Delphine: My Story” tells how the artist Delphine Boël, the illegitimate daughter of King Albert II of Belgium, fought for legal recognition, and is now known as Princess Delphine of Saxe-Coburg. It has been sold to multiple territories, Warner Bros. announced at MipTV in Cannes Tuesday.HBO Max has picked up the show in numerous territories in Europe.
Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentStrand Releasing has acquired all North American rights to Alain Guiraudie’s “Nobody’s Hero” which is handled by Films du Losange and world premiered at the Berlin Film Festival. The movie, which opened the Berlinale Panorama section, is set in Clermont-Ferrand revolves around Frederic, a 35 year-old man who falls in love with with a middle-aged sex worker who is married.
EXCLUSIVE: Dave Logan, creator of Acorn TV’s Harry Wild and writer on Roald Dahl film To Olivia, is developing a crime drama TV series set in Malta with his Harry Wild co-writer Jo Spain.
John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentWorld premiering in the main Canneseries competition, “El Inmortal – Gangs of Madrid” marks the latest original series from Movistar Plus, the Spanish pay TV/SVOD arm of Telefonica, made with Banijay’s DLO Producciones and Telemundo Streaming Studios. Beta Film handles international distribution.It shows.
Holly Jones An eerily quaint and picturesque Galician town sets the scene for a chilling high-profile murder in “Rapa,” the highly anticipated follow-up to Spain’s Movistar Plus hit “Hierro.”After coming to the aid of bloodied Mayor Amparo Seoane (Mabel Rivera), lone witness and stymied professor Tomás (Javier Cámara, star of Almodóvar’s “Talk to Her”) becomes obsessed with her murder case and forms an unlikely bond with unyielding Civil Guard Sargent, Maite (Mónica López, “Hierro”). As word of the crime shakes the town, a community’s secrets rise to the surface.Produced by Movistar Plus in conjunction with Portocabo, led by Alfonso Blanco, and expertly directed by Jorge Coira, the six-part series offers up complex and riveting plot twists as questions arise regarding the salient nature between victim and perpetrator.
WarnerMedia EMEA & Asia President Priya Dogra has talked up the U.S. media giant’s plan to “ramp up investment in local creative communities across Europe,” with 40 shows in the pipeline for 2023.
John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentVery few The Mediapro Studio shows, indeed very few Spanish series in general, have lit a fire on the open market like “The Head,” an Antarctic-set thriller which lifts off as a murder mystery to constantly evolve into other realms. Starring Álvaro Morte, “Money Heist’s” Professor and Japanese pop idol Tomohisa Yamashita, written by Alex and David Pastor (“Hogar,” “Carriers”) and directed by Jorge Dorado (“The Department of Time,” “The Pier”), “The Head” broke viewership records on co-financiers Hulu Japan and HBO Asia and sold to over 90 countries including HBO in the U.S. The Mediapro Studio retained IP. “Sales opened doors to new markets and clients with whom we hadn’t worked before,” said Laura Fernández Espeso, CEO of The Mediapro Studio.
Anna Marie de la Fuente At a time when journalists are under attack in many parts of the world and the odious term “fake news” has become part of the global lexicon, Spain’s Mediacrest presents the topical drama series “Fake” at a key event in France-based Series Mania, the invitation-only Spain Pitching Breakfast, on Thursday.Leading the charge is industry vet-producer Gustavo Ferrada (“Klaus,” “Nobody Knows Anybody”), Mediacrest’s executive director of fiction, who joined the fast-rising Spanish production company in January.“Fake” is one of five selected projects from leading Spanish production companies seeking European partners, comprising Fedent España, Friki Films, Onza, Vertice 360 and Mediacrest. Created in-house by Mediacrest’s deputy head of fiction, Carlos Molinero and senior scriptwriter Nicolás Romero, the Strasbourg-based series of six 52-minute episodes follows a high-powered couple as their once idyllic relationship turns toxic.
Ed Meza @edmezavarIn their new Spanish series “Días Mejores,” showrunners Adolfo Valor and Cristóbal Garrido explore the difficulties of overcoming the loss of a loved one and the challenges of being left a single parent.They were inspired by the story of an acquaintance who, after the death of her partner, sought help in a grief therapy group. Hearing about the intense dynamics of the group and the participants’ struggles to move forward, Valor and Garrido concluded that it would make for riveting TV.“Días Mejores,” which translates to “Better Days,” premieres in the Malaga Festival’s ever more important Pantalla TV sidebar.The dramedy follows Sara (“Velvet” star Marta Hazas), a mother who suddenly finds herself a widow and unable to comfort her troubled young son.
EXCLUSIVE: Call My Agent! and Marianne writer Quoc Dang Tran has struck a first-look deal with Universal International Studios, becoming the first French writer to sign such a deal with a major studio.