Netflix’s Nordic hubs lead drive for fresh talent
Drama Everything about content
Spring 2022
The impact of non-English drama’s boom
Streamers lead the charge for UK comedy
PLUS: Merman’s Clelia Mountford on comedy-drama | Line of Duty creator Jed Mercurio | Banijay Asia’s three-year-plan
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AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Non-English-language drama
Channel21 International | Spring 2022
Watch your languages f any show can lay claim to ‘breaking the Non-English-language drama is internet’ over the past year, it’s Korean drama going from strength to strength, Squid Game. Within 28 days of the Netflix but what does that mean for other original’s release, it became the most-watched are of the industry, areas debut on the global platform, clocking in 1.65 in including the M&A market billion hours of streams. Those stats translated into US$900m in value for and a remakes? Netflix, according to a leaked internal document By Ruth Lawes B from the streamer, prompting every other exec worldwide to hunt for the next Squid Game. Söderlund believes Eastern Europe will be the Squid Game is not the first nor will it be the last non-English-language drama to make international next hotspot for non-English-language drama waves. French crime drama Lupin and Spanish “because they have gained knowledge from thriller Money Heist are among other non-English producers in the UK and the Nordics and become dramas to rack up the views to the point where the more skilled. There’s barely a single Swedish genre is arguably no longer a trend but the status project that is not coproduced in an Eastern European country these days.” quo. Could the need for premium non-English That idea is backed up by Netflix, whose global head of TV, Bela Bajaria, revealed that 97% of dramas even be fuelling the red-hot mergers and acquisitions (M&A) American Netflix subscribers market? It certainly could watched a non-EnglishThere’s such be an attractive proposition language title in 2021, during the competition for smaller producers and Television Critics Association’s now, with big overall behemoths alike, with the former summer press tour last year. needing financial clout and That’s a meteoric rise of 71% in deals being done with just two years, according to the independent producers the latter seeking to expand its SVoD platform’s own figures. and talent, that in order international presence to stave off competition. Popularity, however, does to even remain part of Christian Vesper, president of not mean that production of the conversation, we global drama at Fremantle, says non-English drama is immune have to be that remaining active in the M&A from problems, according to aggressive as market is essential to growth. Nicola Söderlund, managing “For groups like Fremantle, partner at Swedish distributor well. working with companies that Eccho Rights. The exec says that Christian Vesper produce a high level of drama is ambition in the space has soared Fremantle our bread and butter and we need to such a degree it’s now virtually those projects in any language to impossible for producers to secure commissions for low-budget shows and drive our business forward,” he explains. “At the series that are anything other than very high same time, there’s such competition now, with big overall deals being done with independent quality. The solution is new financing models, Söderlund producers and talent, that in order to even remain explains, pointing to international coproductions part of the conversation, we have to be aggressive as the only viable option for many producers to be as well.” Meanwhile, Jimmy George, VP of sales and able to produce premium non-English-language drama. “Currently, we have maybe 20 coproduction acquisitions at GoQuest Media, the Mumbai-based projects in countries including Italy, Spain and company that boasts a well-stocked slate of Eastern Sweden,” he says. “We’re seeing that more unusual European dramas such as Serbian spy thriller Civil partnerships are forming as a result. On our slate, Servant, says the partnership between a large for example, we have a coproduction between distributor and a local producer boosts a project’s chance of travelling across the world. Germany and Serbia.” X
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My Brilliant Friend
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AHEAD OF FT THE HE H EC CURVE: UR U RVE VE: No Non-English-language N on n--En Eng drama
“M&As give production giants a jump start in local markets and helps the development of global projects. That’s because they bring their international expertise and experience and marry that with strong local stories,” he says. “The result is a project with extensive international appeal.” It’s logical, then, that the need to serve both local and global markets could be filtering down to the development process, with storylines being rehashed to appeal to both audiences. But Walter Iuzzolino, co-founder and curator at non-Englishlanguage streamer Walter Presents, warns against this approach. “More often than not, whenever you’re trying to tell a story to please the greatest possible number of people, you just water down your concept,” he says. “Audiences want hyperlocal content because they want to travel virtually and authentically. If you go to a Japanese restaurant, you want genuine sushi, you don’t want sushi with fish and chips crumbled on top.” As an example, Iuzzolino says that content based on the Sicilian mafia, such as The Hunter on Walter Presents, performs well among UK audiences, despite the mafia having no history in the UK. “Players such as HBO or Canal+ are now rolling out in more and more territories and are incredibly active. When they launch in a new country, they invigorate the local creative community because they create competition, raise standards and have higher budgets, which in turn raises the level of ambition among local producers,” says Iuzzolino. With international players like HBO Max funnelling cash into commissioning local originals, it could mean that English-language drama has taken a back seat. But according to execs, the opposite is true. A counter-trend has seen the likes of non-English producers and distributors, among
Channel21 International | Spring 2022
Sicilian mafia series The Hunter on Walter Presents. Right: Korea’s Squid Game led the way for non-Englishlanguage dramas
them France’s Federation Entertainment and APC Studios, launch UK divisions to produce content in English. France’s Newen, a subsidiary of the TF1 Group, owns a mix of production companies across Europe and beyond, with Tuvalu and Pupkin (Netherlands), Nimbus (Denmark), De Mensen (Belgium), Reel One (Canada, US and UK), Ringside (UK) and iZen (Spain) in its stable, with each company working with Newen’s distribution arm Newen Connect. Elsewhere, Fremantle has backed a coalition of nine independent production tion companies called The Creatives, a mix of non-English-language n-English-language and English-language producers ducers spanning eight countries, including the US’s Masha,
The problem with remakes is that with all these global platforms there will be conflicts surrounding holdbacks and rights. It’s harder for us to sell remakes now, compared with when platforms were more local.
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Nicola Söderlund Eccho Rights
Israel’s Spiro and Norway’s Maipo Film. The alliance was spearheaded by France’s Haut et Court, the prodco behind drama Les Revenants (The Returned). Carole Scotta, Haut et Court’s cofounder, says language was not even a factor when it came to forming The Creatives. “The barrier of language just isn’t an issue anymore,” she says. “Instead, the companies in The Creatives decided to join forces based on sharing similar DNA.” Walter Presents’ Iuzzolino says that UK and US drama “are in rude health and have never been better; it’s one monster hit after the other.” He argues the rise in the popularity and quality of non-English-language drama is having non-English-lan a positive knock knock-on effect on content in English. “It’s a great cultural and learning opportunity for all of us in the opportu UK, and indeed in America, because we are being exposed to different stories and different approaches approach to cinematography,” Iuzzolino explains. It is perhaps this increased exposure t to new methods that led to the me exec co-founding scripted venture Eagle Eye Drama ventu with backing from Channel 4. Eagle Eye focuses on producing Englishlanguage drama series lan inspired by hit foreignin language titles that have la come through the X co
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AHEAD OF THE CURVE: Non-English-language drama
Walter Presents platform. Its successes include crime drama Professor T, based on the Belgian series of the same name, commissioned by UK broadcaster ITV. Rather than slowing down the demand for English-language remakes of non-English drama, the latter’s popularity has resulted in a boom of the former, according to Fremantle’s Vesper. “In the last year, we’ve seen an uptick in enquiries regarding formats,” he says. This includes a UK adaptation of Forhøret, a Danish crime thriller produced by Fremantle’s Miso Film. The remake, titled Suspect, stars James Nesbitt (Bloodlands), Joely Richardson (Nip/Tuck), Anne-Marie Duff (Sex Education) and Richard E Grant (Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker) and has been commissioned by Channel 4. Iuzzolino adds: “There will always be a market for remakes because creators constantly want to dismantle the architecture of a drama, reimagine it and then rebuild it. Different interpretations can also be radically different and nothing like the original project. For example, creators constantly want to tackle Hamlet and they might completely alter the casting, change the era or make it an opera.” But Eccho’s Söderlund warns a market flooded by remakes and originals could lead to a rights management nightmare. “The problem with remakes is that with all these global platforms there will be conflicts surrounding holdbacks and rights. It’s harder for us to sell remakes now, compared with when platforms were more local,” he says. “Now, everybody wants to sell to the rest of the world, and if you have a remake of the same IP in another territory, the deals could clash. That means companies will have to accept less attractive non-exclusive deals and accept holdbacks.” holdbac trends As for the genre ge non-English-language in non-Engli content, all the execs agree that crime dram dramas are here to stay. “Having run Walter Presents for the past seven years – and G God knows we’ve tried – if you yo veer away from crime, psychological ps drama, thriller or family fam which are genres that work everywhere in the world, then sometimes difficult it’s sometime for other genres to translate,” Iuzzolino says. “The moment you m
Miso Film’s original Danish crime thriller Forhøret (top) and Channel 4’s UK adaptation Suspect
go to romantic comedy it gets tricky, because what the Italians find romantic, the Belgians may not, for example. The architecture and structure of a crime thriller just translates, whereas other genres are subject to the vagaries of local tastes.” “As for genre, crime will always be popular among audiences and I don’t see that changing. Youngadult is a booming area and is particularly sought after by buyers at streamers. Within YA, we’ll see short series with fewer episodes and episodes that are a lot shorter in time, because that is how younger people consume content,” says Eccho’s Söderlund. GoQuest Media’s George adds: “Squid Game has been a runaway success and it has brought the survival thriller genre back into the limelight. There will be a lot more dramas commissioned in this space. We’ll also see more magical realism, because in a way it reflects our present and strange times and that resonates strongly with audiences.” Fremantle’s Vesper suggests family and friendship dramas will be the next major non-
Sq Squid Game has been a runaway success and it has brought the survival thriller genre back into the limelight. There will be a lot more dramas commis commissioned in this space.
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Jimmy Geo George GoQuest M Media
Channel21 International | Spring 2022
English-language drama genre to grip global audiences. He points to the success of Italian- and Neapolitan-language coming-of-age drama My Brilliant Friend, which is based on the Neapolitan Novels series by Elena Ferrante and has been renewed for a third season by HBO and Rai, to illustrate his argument. Produced by Fremantle-owned prodcos The Apartment and Wildside, along with Rome-based Fandango Production in collaboration with Rai Fiction and HBO Entertainment, My Brilliant Friend follows a 60-year friendship between two people who meet in primary school in 1950s Naples. “My Brilliant Friend is historical and it has real depth, but it is ultimately a drama about friends, and it has some soapy qualities to it. Shows that are produced in that vein, we’re going to really see resonate,” Vesper adds. Those looking to commission such dramas should look to producers in Italy, Latin America and Scandinavia, according to the exec. While dark dramas and Scandi noir have proved to be ratings hits, Vesper also predicts a resurgence of Scandi drama beyond noir. “Scandi producers create great comedies too. I know comedy doesn’t travel, but there are some truly oddball things coming out of the Scandinavian countries that are really funny and I feel like could resonate in the current marketplace,” he says. Those wanting to replicate the success of Squid Game take note.
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CONTENT CONFIDENTIAL: Netflix Nordics
Channel21 International | Spring 2022
Putting down N lix’s recently launched Nordic commissioning hubs are tapping a greater Netf d diversity of local talent and voices as streaming competition continues to intensify. By Gün Akyuz
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Above: Comedy-drama Clark. Below: Boarding school-set Young Royals. Bottom: Swedish series Anxious People
decade has passed since the launch of Netflix’s very first original – not a US-set series but Norwegian crime comedy caper Lilyhammer. Pubcaster NRK commissioned the show, with Netflix acquiring the rights to season one and eventually joining as coproducer on seasons two and three. Last fall saw Netflix open its first commissioning hubs in Sweden and Denmark, with SF Studios exec Jenny Stjernströmer Björk arriving last September to become head of original series at Netflix in the Nordics. Björk, who reports to Larry Tanz, Netflix’s VP and head of original series for EMEA, is currently building a local home for the streamer’s original series across the region. A number of team members have already relocated from Netflix’s European HQ in Amsterdam to Stockholm as part of the move. But there have also been new appointments, including the arrival of Håkon Briseid, who crossed over from Norwegian prodco Monster at the end of January. He follows veteran NRK drama commissioner Tone Rønning, who joined Netflix in November last year, while the latest appointment to the Stockholm hub is Annika Sucksdorff, also from SF Studios. Two local Nordic offices operate for now, a main hub in Stockholm, serving as HQ for the whole region, plus a satellite office in Copenhagen dedicated to Danish originals. Asked at February’s TV Drama Vision event in Göteborg whether more local Nordic offices would follow in Oslo and Reykjavik, Björk said there are no plans yet, but added: “Global streamers move fast, so let’s see.” By the end of 2021, Netflix’s four million-plus Nordic subscribers had access to around 70 local scripted originals, spanning series and films, titles that are also available worldwide. According to Netflix, two-thirds of the streamer’s viewers globally have watched a Nordic-made original. With the Nordics a valuable source of Netflix originals, competition from other operators for the region’s creative talent and production
resources has made a country-level commissioning presence and closer ties necessary. The move echoes Netflix’s global efforts to establish country commissioning hubs to maintain its supply of originals. One of its most recent launches was in Canada, while it has also been ramping up investment in existing local hubs, including Germany. The move cannot come soon enough. Netflix has been coming under increasing pressure over slowing subscriber growth as global streaming competition grows. Its latest annual results and related stock market response reflect a marked drop in new subscriptions for the fiscal year 2021, when it added 18 million subs compared with 37 million the previous year. It has forecast a further slowdown during the first quarter of 2022. Björk strongly rejects any suggestion streamers like itself are focusing on volume of originals at the expense of quality in the race to retain subscribers. “We’re building a slate for the whole of the Nordics. We want to find the projects that we think are the best ones for us, and quality is all that matters to us,” she says. “We have so many big series being made all over the world coming to the audience at Netflix. So what we can do is good local series that resonate with our parts of the world, and those are few and selected.” Services like Netflix need “a cadence of projects” so viewers can find local shows. “But I would still say that it’s very moderate in numbers,” Björk insists. Among Netflix originals released in the past six months across the Nordics are two Danish shows: psychological thriller The Chestnut Man from SAM Productions, which premiered last September; Swedish crime comedy-drama Anxious People, which debuted in December; and comingof-age sci-fi drama Chosen, released in January. There is a pipeline of Nordic originals lined up for the rest of 2022. This includes The Playlist, a dramatisation of the rise of music streamer Spotify as a six-part limited series adapted from the book Spotify Untold by business journalists Sven Carlsson and Jonas Leijonhufvud. The Playlist is produced by Banijay Group-owned Yellow Bird UK and is directed by Per-Olav Sørensen (Quicksand, Home for Christmas, Nobel), with Christian Spurrier as head writer. Also highly anticipated is Swedish comedy-drama Clark. Due out this spring, the series focuses on real-life criminal Clark Olafson, whose actions during a botched bank robbery led to the coining of the term Stockholm syndrome. Set in the 1960s, the 6×45’ series is adapted from Clark’s autobiography and follows his criminal career as he turns into one of Sweden’s most controversial figures of modern times, says the exec. The series was pitched to Netflix by the Scandinavian
CONTENT CONFIDENTIAL: Netflix Nordics
Channel21 International | Spring 2022
Nordic roots Content Group, with Bill Skarsgård, who plays the lead role, and Åkelund already attached. Björk says Netflix worked very closely with the prodco to develop the project and story “into what director Jonas Åkelund wanted to make, and Clark is the result.” Netflix is also tapping the region’s appetite for local Christmas-themed dramas. A new, as-yet-untitled Norwegian series from Per-Olav Sørensen and his prodco Global Ensemble Drama is due out for this year’s festive season. In addition, the streamer has lined up a number of returning scripted successes. Among them are second seasons of romcom Love & Anarchy (Kärlek och anarki) from FLX; crime thriller Snabba Cash (Easy Money), produced by Nicklas Wikström Nicastro for SF Studios and adapted from the movie trilogy of the same name; and coming-ofage drama Young Royals, from Swedish prodco Nexico. Season one of Young Royals, which premiered last summer, follows a youngster on a voyage of self-discovery at boarding school as he faces becoming heir to the throne and making g some difficult life choices. The series was created by Lisa Ambjörn, Lars Beckung and Camilla Holter and exec-produced by Beckung. Also returning to Netflix for a second run is Norwegianlanguage drama Ragnarok, on May 27. The six-part Norse mythology-driven coming-of-age series, also produced by SAM Productions, was created and written by Adam Price and Emilie Lebech Kaae and directed by Mogens Hagedorn and Mads Kamp Thulstrup. When it comes to pitching original projects to Netflix, Björk says no doors are closed. “You go to the person you know, or you just send it to me. You can choose what’s best.” Her team only handles full commissions, with coproductions directed elsewhere, but these remain very much on the table. While keen to attract established creatives and top talent in front of and behind the camera, Netflix is committed to fostering new talent through its local commissioning presence. “It’s so important for us. Now we have a real home in the Nordics we’re building the team and growing the slate to be part of
the ecosystem and really contribute to the industry,” says Björk. Netflix is involved in a couple of initiatives, including the Danish Seriekolen programme, which trains young adults to develop their experience of making short films and broaden it into episodic storytelling and full series.
“Serieskolen enables us to help them get more indepth knowledge about how the industry works, but also how you make a series,” Björk explains. The winner is awarded Kr100,000 (US$15,185) to make a pilot for the first episode of a TV show, although this won’t necessarily lead to a commission, she concedes. More broadly, Björk says her team is also sharing its knowledge and experience with participants in the Serieskolen programme. Another Netflix-backed initiative is the fledgling Nordic Talent Development Programme. “It’s earlyy days and is something we will develop in the years to to come,” says Björk, highlighting discussions within around the industry about the current challenges arou und production capacity and skills shortages. “We want to take part in building a sustainable flow of talented people e entering this industry,” she says, s, revealing that a trainee is currently in embedded e
one of its Norwegian productions. “We’re going to continue to build those kinds of opportunities.”
Inset: Jenny Stjernströmer Björk. Above: Tall & Small’s coming-of-age sci-fi drama Chosen. Left: Psychological thriller The Chestnut Man
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NEXT BIG THINGS: UK comedy
Channel21 International | Spring 2022
Am I Being Unreasonable?
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hile the latest report on UK export figures by producers’ association Pact showed scripted drama remains the key driver of international exports for UK companies, sales of local comedy programming tripled in 2020/21 compared with the year before, accounting for 9% of revenue. Clearly we’ve all needed a laugh over the past few years. And the arrival of streaming newcomers Disney+, HBO Max, Peacock and Paramount+ alongside Netflix and Amazon Prime Video has helped to keep UK exports healthy during the pandemic. But what does this mean for the traditional half-hour comedies that the country is so famous for producing on linear TV? Despite the decent export figures, things ain’t what they used to be and the format is undergoing a steady evolution. As Cate Slater, director of content at TVNZ in New Zealand, puts it, few recent scripted comedies from the UK have cut through in the same way older series such as Miranda and Mrs Brown’s Boys once did. One side effect of the rise of streaming and fragmented viewing has been that the UK comedy scene lacks huge, breakout comedy hits, these being replaced by a crop of distinctive and quirky shows with word-of-mouth followings online. Meanwhile, the beauty of large libraries on streaming means cult hits from decades past are easier to find than ever. Jonathan Blyth, director of comedy at BBC Studios (BBCS), says shows such as I’m Alan Partridge and Gavin & Stacey have never been able to find a home in the US on linear TV due to the pressure of overnight ratings. But shopping them to streamers like
Carrying on abroad The ability of streamers to break down geographical borders means UK com comedies both old and new are finding audiences internationally. But how t is this changing what’s on offer back home? By Nico Franks HBO Max means an audience of US comedy fans are steadily discovering these comedy gems. “Off the back of the global streamers, US audiences are becoming much more literate when it comes to British comedy,” says Blyth, who adds the growth of the comedy-drama genre has led to new out-and-out comedies falling into the shade somewhat. “There is the notion that comedy doesn’t travel and traditional halfhour comedy often resonates a lot more in its home market. But this new generation of comedy-drama travels a lot better,” he adds. The pandemic and all the stresses that have come with it mean buyers are looking for more laughs, whether that means adding them to what previously would have been a pure drama, or picking up more out-andout comedies, little acorns that Blyth believes “can grow into great oaks if you get them right.”
BBCS is backing various UK prodcos for which comedy with international appeal is a priority, including Boffola Pictures, which was set up by former BBC comedy execs Shane Allen and Kate Daughton to create “high-profile shows that capitalise on the rising global appeal of British comedy.” y Rupert Majendie, die, head of comedy development at I’m Alan Partridge and Gavin & Stacey aceyy producer Baby Cow Productions, which was bought ht by BBCS in 2016, says regionality isn’t necessarily a barrier to a show’s appeal outside the UK. “Regionality comes up quite a lot when you talk to commissioners, but as long as the show ow has global themes es that will resonate, e, it will travel,” X
There is the t notion that com comedy doesn’t trave travel and traditional halfh comed often hour comedy resonates a lot more in its home market. ma But this new generation of comedycom drama dram travels a b lot better.
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Jonathan Blyth Jona BBC Studios S
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NEXT BIG THINGS: UK comedy
Channel21 International | Spring 2022
says Majendie, who points to themes such as family and relationships, as well as the kind of “unconventional characters” in which Baby Cow specialises. Indeed, shows that reflect British culture are proving popular overseas, with series such as Channel 4’s We Are Lady Parts picking up awards at home and finding an audience on platforms such as Peacock in the US and Sky in New Zealand. “I am loving the diverse comedy coming out of the UK, such as We Are Lady Parts, a sharp and sweet series about an allgirl Muslim punk band,” says Kristin Prendergast, head of entertainment programming at Sky in NZ. It’s no secret that international audiences have always had a soft spot for UK comedy and comedians, whether that’s Monty Python, Tracey Ullman or Dinner for One, the comedy short from 1963 that has become a ritual on New Year’s Eve for millions in Europe but was only seen on UK screens for the first time last year. But Majendie has seen up close how streaming has led to a deeper appreciation of modern British comedy overseas. On a recent business trip to LA, Majendie says he had US talent quoting lines from old Baby Cow series to him, among them Nighty Night and Human Remains, both of which are incredibly dark and come from writer and actor Julia Davis. It’s something he believes is helping the company find partners for its new shows. Moreover, the roll call of US comedy royalty queuing up to land cameos in Matt Berry’s absurdist BBC comedy Toast of Tinseltown – from Larry David to Rashida Jones to Fred Armisen to Bill Hader to Paul Rudd – highlights how British comedy remains in vogue stateside. Meanwhile, a show like Succession is ostensibly a US export, but the fingerprints of British comedy is all
over the HBO hit via its creator Jesse Armstrong, co-creator of modern classic sitcom Peep Show, and its team of writers who operate out of Brixton in south London. Succession’s success highlights some of the key trends in Englishlanguage content over the past five years, namely the closer-than-ever ties between creatives in the US and the UK and the ongoing evolution and rise in popularity of the comedy-drama genre. This is also attracting different, often higher-profile talent to comedy. The pandemic, of course, helped free up certain actors’ availability while also adding another example to the list
We’re seeing the way audiences view international content changing. If the writing is strong enough and there is incredible talent attached, the way we’re streaming content is making scripted remakes almost less relevant.
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Karen Wise Rainmaker Content
of universal themes for people around the world. A case in point is Staged, the lockdown comedy that made its debut on BBC in June 2020 and saw actors David Tennant and Michael Sheen playing versions of themselves rehearsing for a play via video call. Full of guest appearances from the likes of Judi Dench, Samuel L Jackson and Phoebe Waller-Bridge, the series has been picked up around the world by buyers including Star Channel in Japan, Huanxi Media Group in China,
Hulu in the US, Canal+ in France, DirecTV Latin America and Hot Israel. “The international partners have been drawn to the talent of David and Michael, along with the guest stars,” says Karen Wise, head of sales at the show’s distributor, Rainmaker Content. “There’s an authenticity to the show that’s also captured audiences, and the relatability of Staged is something people have found funny and appealing at a time when people needed to laugh.” An ill-advised US remake make of the show is the subject of the second season of Staged, and there is an argument that the often derided but potentially incredibly lucrative crative US remakes of popular UK K comedies could soon be a thing of the he past. The reasoning goes that US audiences are these dayss more likely to have seen the originall version on some streamer, making the e process of producing another English-language sh-language version redundant. The figures back this up, as format sales by UK companies in 2020/21 were down 29%, although a whole host of other factors during g the pandemic could also be behind ehind the drop. Wise says: “We’re We’re seeing the way audiences nces view international content tent changing. If the writing is strong enough and there e is incredible talent attached, ed, whether it’s new or familiar liar faces, the way we’re e’re streaming content is making king scripted remakes almost most less relevant. There will be opportunities, but it has to o be the right remake. We’re seeing eeing TV evolve.” International remakess of UK comedies still happen n all the time and it is unlikely the business is going to turn its backk on a X
Above: The BBC’s original Ghosts (left) can be seen on HBO Max in the US while the local remake (right) is on CBS. Below: Roughcut TV is working on a US adaptation of Stath Lets Flats
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NEXT BIG THINGS: UK comedy
Top: Toast of Tinseltown boasts guest appearances by the likes of Aidan Turner (left, with Matt Berry). Right: Unexpected lockdown hit Staged with David Tennant and Michael Sheen. Above: Baby Cow’s Rupert Majendie and Steve Coogan
strategy that led to one of the most successful shows of all time in NBC’s version of The Office. Last year BBCS secured the first localised version of Baby Cow comedy Uncle in South Korea with TV Chosun; Fox’s remake of This Country, titled Welcome to Flatch, premiered on March 17; and Roughcut TV is hoping to get a US remake of Stath Lets Flats sold after it stalled in development with Fox. Meanwhile, the case of Ghosts, the charming 30-minute comedy distributed by BBCS, suggests there is room for both to sit side by side, with the US remake on linear and AVoD (in this case CBS) and the original on SVoD (HBO Max). CBS’s version has been bringing in around eight million viewers per episode, a highly respectable figure these days, and has been renewed for a second season. BBCS exec Blyth says as many as six more international versions could be made over the next
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12 to 18 months, while the UK version continues to sell both in the usual places like ABC in Australia and CBC in Canada as well as markets that traditionally don’t take UK comedy, like TikTok owner ByteDance in China. Ghosts highlights how the 30-minute comedy has evolved in recent years. Revolving around a collection of spirits from different historical periods who haunt the new occupants of a country house, it’s a neat twist on the wellworn sitcom trope of a flatshare full of dysfunctional housemates. “This new generation of half-hour comedies is beginning to go more global, following in the footsteps of drama. It’s moved a long way from that traditional British comedy that was very local and worked incredibly well at home but tended to struggle to cross over. This new generation is behaving more like drama,” says Blyth, pointing to Michaela Coel’s allconquering I May Destroy You (12x30’) and forthcoming BBCS-distributed
thriller Am I Being Unreasonable? (6x30’) starring This Country’s Daisy May Cooper. As a result, the development slates of UK comedy prodcos are likely to consist of two distinct styles of programme: on one side, locally focused comedies that tap into UK commissioners’ need to represent the nations and regions better; and on the other, higher-profile, internationalfacing comedies with dramatic elements or big names attached, some of which require a US partner given their inevitably bigger budgets. During Majendie’s aforementioned LA trip earlier this year, the exec and his Baby Cow colleagues, including Steve Coogan, were seeking a US partner for their upcoming Channel 4 comedy drama Chivalry (6x30’), which Coogan has co-written with Sarah Solemani (Him & Her). Seeking out US partners for comedies marks a shift for the traditional funding model, when a distributor would usually deficit-fund the show, wait until it delivers and then take it out as a finished programme. These days, trips to LA to find a partner, usually for a comedydrama, are common and there are now dozens of examples of coproductions of this kind, with the BBC and Channel 4 frequently jumping into bed with HBO, Hulu or FX to fulfil the ambitions of a show’s producers. But that’s only if Netflix, Amazon or Apple haven’t fully funded it already. Meanwhile, the future of UK comedy looks bright, with no shortage of talent or routes to market. However, one worry is that the foundations on which this thriving comedy ecosystem are based – nearly every series mentioned in this feature has some link to either the BBC or Channel 4 – risk being destabilised, primarily by a government whose funding freezes and threats of privatisation amount, in the eyes of many, to acts of cultural vandalism. As BBCS exec Blyth says, UK comedies have the potential, as little acorns, to grow into the mighty oaks of the international TV industry. But more often than not, it’s public service broadcasters that give tomorrow’s comedy megastars their first big break, providing them with an environment to grow. A UK comedy scene without that is no laughing matter.
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Frayed
Development slate
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eveloping shows that combine comedy and drama is something of a speciality of Merman’s, the London- and LA-based prodco behind hits in the genre such as Catastrophe, This Way Up, Frayed and There She Goes. “We’re never going to do anything really, really bleak. We also won’t necessarily do something that is all about the jokes. That’s not how we look at life. We navigate bleakness through humour,” says Clelia Mountford, summing up the prodco’s approach to scripted. The London-based exec began her career in theatre and radio, before taking on roles such as head of comedy at RDF and head of radio and TV script associate at TalkbackThames, then founding Merman with Sharon Horgan in 2014. “We seem to have a brand now but, honestly, it was mine and Sharon’s taste when we first set up because we wanted to make things that we liked rather than just what would sell,” she says. Happily though, Merman’s style of comedy-drama has proved extremely attractive to buyers, while Horgan’s on- and off-screen talents have seen her star rise and rise in recent years, resulting in output deals with Amazon Studios and then Apple. Another speciality of Merman’s is pairing up differing comedy-drama-hungry buyers from around the world, like subscription players Sky, HBO, Amazon and Hulu, with public service broadcasters such as Channel 4 in the UK or ABC in Australia. Merman’s show with the latter, Frayed, is a copro
Merman co-founder Clelia Mountford discusses the evolution of the comedy-drama genre and how this is impacting what the transatlantic prodco is developing. By Nico Franks with Sky, and saw its second season launch in February, with the action moving between London and Newcastle in Australia. But Mountford adds the days of buyers requiring a show they are involved in to be at least partly set in the country where they operate are ending, particularly when it comes to US players. “That’s been very freeing. With [Channel 4/ Amazon comedy] Frank of Ireland, Amazon and its subscribers just wanted to see a new corner of the world,” says Mountford. The exec points to There She Goes, the BBC/ BritBox series, as an example of how Merman develops projects that offer an alternative perspective on a universal situation. Ostensibly a family comedy, it is told from the perspective of a father and mother with a child who has severe learning disabilities. “We hadn’t seen that before, but people can still relate because it’s about siblings. It’s parenting. It’s school issues, all of that, but from a very different viewpoint. So that’s it: has this story been told before? And if so, how can we do it differently? That drives our development.” Rather than employ sensitivity readers to check for stereotypes, dialogue that doesn’t ring true or language that may cause offence, as is becoming
common in the literary world, Mountford says Merman instead finds individuals with specific experience of what’s being put on screen for the writing room. “If it’s about people of colour or the working class, make sure that those people are represented in the room or it’s their story that they’re telling. That is crucial, rather than someone else appropriating the story. It starts with those people telling their stories.” Meanwhile, the current incarnation of the comedydrama boom could be coming to an end, predicts Mountford, with the received wisdom being that audiences are after more out-and-out laughs rather than a hybrid of the two genres. Having begun our conversation saying Merman wouldn’t necessarily do a show that “is all about the jokes,” Mountford says she is willing to tweak the prodco’s development process if the likes of Channel 4 and the BBC do want more laughs on the page. “We all need cheering up after the pandemic with sort of escapist content. Big, silly laughs are great, but it means we have to pivot in the way we’re developing because we don’t necessarily start in that place. We’re just finding a way through that so we can still do what we do, but may tilt it slightly.”
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My Big Break Jed Mercurio Jed Mercurio, creator of Line of Duty and co-owner of prodco Hat Trick Mercurio Television, talks about how an unassuming advert in a medical journal led to his unplanned career as a showrunner. By Ruth Lawes
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ancashire-born Jed Mercurio was in the early stages of his career as a National Health Service doctor when he stumbled across an advert in a medical journal placed by Tony Garnett’s World Productions. The London-based production company, which is now owned by UK commercial broadcaster ITV, was on the hunt for medical supervisors for an upcoming hospital-set drama. Mercurio, who had never considered a career in television, responded to the call-out “completely out of the blue,” he told the Creative Coalition Festival earlier this year. The role was appealing, Mercurio said, because it was an opportunity to vent about the daily grind of life as a junior doctor in the West Midlands, where he had also enrolled in the Royal Air Force (RAF) with the intention of specialising in aviation medicine. “It’s a very steep learning curve and a real baptism of fire,” he said of his first year in medicine. “It’s notable for being very long hours, as well as chaotic in terms of not always getting the right level of supervision and dealing with lots of responsibility that may be beyond your level of training or competence.” Back then, in the mid 90s, Mercurio said he failed to see this side of the job portrayed on screen. “Medical drama then represented a very traditional and outdated view of what hospital life was like in the UK,” he added. Soon enough, World Productions set up a meeting with Mercurio, during which he explained how TV shows portrayed a “cleaned-up version” of hospital life, while characters based on doctors, consultants and nurses were unrealistic and based on stereotypes. “Ultimately, the production company asked me
DI Ray
whether I would do some storylining because I told them lots of anecdotes about what happened to me and my mates [in our medical careers], and they were illustrations of what hospital life was really like at that time for junior doctors,” Mercurio said. Following a stint working on storylines for World Productions, which also produced police drama Between the Lines, Mercurio said the executives “took a chance” and employed him as a scriptwriter. “That was obviously an incredible opportunity and was totally unexpected,” he said. “It led to a series being made and it changed my career.” That series was called Cardiac Arrest, and it was produced for UK pubcaster the BBC between 1994 and 1996. “Cardiac Arrest gained success and became a bigger assignment, and it was clear that, although I was very happy being a doctor, I couldn’t do both at the same time,” Mercurio said. He took a short sabbatical to work exclusively on Cardiac Arrest and went on to create other medical dramas such as Bodies, which aired on the BBC in 2004 and was produced by Hat Trick Productions. As well as the medical industry, Mercurio said he wanted to create a series about the police. Specifically, the police as an institution and how it “dealt with misconduct and situations where officers not only failed to serve the public but also colluded in crimes.”
This was the genesis for Mercurio’s ratings smash Line of Duty, which is produced by World Productions and follows an anti-corruption unit within the police. The final episode of season six was the BBC’s most watched episode of any drama since records began in 2002, with an average of 12.8 million viewers tuning in when it aired in 2021, according to the pubcaster’s own data. Also for the BBC, Mercurio created political thriller Bodyguard, which was broadcast for one season in 2018. Produced by World Productions, it stars Keeley Hawes and Richard Madden and was nominated for awards including Outstanding Drama Series at the Emmys. In addition to creating content, Mercurio executive produces other programming through his label Hat Trick Mercurio, co-founded with Hat Trick Productions. Its slate includes Trigger Point, a thriller created by Daniel Brierley about a bomb disposal expert that premiered on ITV in January. Hat Trick Mercurio is also behind upcoming ITV police drama DI Ray, created and written by former Line of Duty actor Maya Sondhi. The 4x60’ crime drama has also been acquired by SBS in Australia, VRT in Belgium and NPO in the Netherlands. He may no longer be piloting jets with the RAF, but there’s no doubt Mercurio is one of the international drama industry’s highflyers.
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India’s Call My Agent!
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Three-year plan
aunched in 2018 as a joint venture between production powerhouse Banijay and television executive Deepak Dhar, Banijay Asia is benefiting from the “huge rise” in streaming and OTT platforms Dhar identifies in Asia, which he says has driven significant growth in the scripted market. With the arrival in Asia of global streamers with original content ambitions, like Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+, alongside the already well-established local platforms and broadcasters, Dhar says there “has never been a better time for scripted creators,” particularly in India. “One of the trends that has emerged because of the rise of the streamers is the increased interest Streaming is helping to supercharge Banijay Asia’s scripted ambitions in the rich culture and history of India – from the over the coming years, according to Deepak Dhar. By Karolina Kaminska upswing in docudramas, like our cricket-based show Roar of the Lion for Disney+ Hotstar, to an increased audiences in India as, like the entertainment industry Chadha as exec VP and business head of scripted desire for content centred around historical events portrayed in the original French version, Bollywood content, to help expand the company’s scripted or exposés. These could be based on books or is a huge phenomenon surrounded by glamour, activities. Dhar says the prodco continually strives to attract new people to the team so it can fulfil its aim biographies, and this is a great opportunity to drama and intrigue,” Dhar says. “We wanted to keep in important elements to of producing “ambitious” projects across all genres. showcase India’s heritage to the world,” says Dhar, “We need to work with the best talent in the us, such as the LGBTQ+ co-lead Banijay Asia’s CEO. character, but also built out new business, as ultimately, scripted is all about the Another way Dhar sees the scripted layers such as the vulnerability of people that create these amazing stories. But market in Asia evolving over the next the celebrities to add intimacy to globally, the biggest challenge remains a shortage three years is in increased opportunities of talent and we are looking at this very seriously. storylines. for women, whose presence, he says, “Banijay Asia looks for IP that is Training is an extremely important part of this is growing both on- and off-screen. entertaining, story-driven and has a and Banijay is heavily investing in upskilling the “Female-driven scripted content thread of relatability. Some elements next generation. We are also very focused on our is really thriving, with audiences of the original versions are core to diversity and inclusion and responsibility strategies, demanding authentic and honest the storyline and others we can adapt striving to use our position in the market to effect female protagonists telling original and evolve specifically for our local positive change,” says the exec. stories,” he says. Banijay Asia will continue this philosophy over market.” Remakes of international shows are As well as its NBCUniversal the next three years, according to Dhar, in order also popular, with Banijay Asia last year Formats adaptations, Banijay Asia to “deliver engaging stories that resonate with striking a coproduction partnership with also has other as-yet-unannounced audiences all around the world.” NBCUniversal Formats to adapt Fox’s “Since the creation of Banijay Asia in 2018, we streaming projects in the pipeline. medical drama House, USA Network’s “We have a robust set of upcoming have produced more than 1,000 hours of content legal drama Suits and comedy-drama Deepak Dhar originals, one that examines the origin in four languages. We hope to continue to deliver Monk, as well as Freeform’s dramedy of India, another based on the life of premium content, strengthen our partnerships and The Bold Type. The deal followed the success Banijay Asia had one of India’s biggest superstars and a sports thriller maintain a strong pipeline of IP. Additionally, we last year with the Indian version of French comedy- based on the true story of a journalist, amongst will look to form commercial partnerships that can strengthen our brands and tap into an unprecedented others,” he says. drama series Call My Agent! for Netflix. Earlier this year, Banijay Asia appointed Rajesh area of opportunity,” Dhar says. “We felt Call My Agent! would resonate with
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Development slate Emanata Studios Mark Talbot, chief creative officer at Emanata Studios, reveals how the fledgling prodco from Scottish publishing giant DC Thomson is aspiring to become a British version of Marvel Studios. By Nico Franks
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K-based prodco Beano Studios and its owner, comic publisher DC Thomson, launched Emanata Studios late last year to develop the UK’s largest comic book archive for film and television. The mission? To create a British equivalent to Marvel Studios and its famous cinematic universe, worth an estimated US$25bn at the box office. The new company came flying out of the traps last year, its deals in the US with Westbrook Studios, Jerry Bruckheimer TV and Fox Entertainment signalling the demand overseas for comic IP with a quintessentially British spirit.
now has a range of projects in the works across drama, comedy and animation for adults and young adults, while Beano Studios continues to focus on younger audiences. In the US, where the Dundee- and London-based firm is represented by CAA, Emanata is working with Jada Pinkett Smith and Will Smith’s Westbrook Studios on a high-concept drama based on the first British comic book superhero, The Amazing Mr X, who features in the Dandy. Emanata also has a live-action comedy drama based on Dennis the Menace in development with Jerry Bruckheimer TV and CBS Productions, while Fox Entertainment has picked
A lot of the US comic characters teach kids about rules and being good citizens. But the DC Thomson comics are more about mischievousness, rebellion and hilarity.
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Mark Talbot Emanata Studios
Westbrook Studios is working on a drama based on The Amazing Mr X
The DC Thomson comics archive, which reaches as far back as the 1930s, includes such iconic titles as the Beano, Dandy, Commando, Hotspur, Victor, Jackie and Bunty and more than 2,000 stories and characters, among them Dennis the Menace, Desperate Dan, The Amazing Mr X, Nick Jolly the Flying Highway Man and Bananaman. Chief creative officer Mark Talbot moved over to Emanata Studios last year from sister company Beano Studios, which he joined from Hat Trick Productions in 2019. Emanata
up the rights to Bananaman. An adult animated series is also in the works with Fox-backed Bento Box (Bob’s Burgers). Over in the UK, Screen Scotland, backed by the Scottish Government and The National Lottery, has funded a drama written by Rae Brunton and based on the character Nick Jolly the Flying Highway Man, who featured in the Hotspur comic. It is also developing live-action dramas with each of Sky Studios and Drama Republic and two adult animated projects with MTV Entertainment Group, while UKTV has commissioned
a live-action comedy pilot script based on a yet-to-be-revealed but well-known Dandy character. Talbot, who is London-based and reports to Beano Studios chairman James Clayton and CEO David Guppy, is buzzing to be able to blow the dust off some long-forgotten but soon-to-be fondly remembered IP in the likes of Bunty and The Supercats. But what makes British comic book characters different from US superheroes, apart from having worse teeth? “A lot of the US comic characters teach kids about rules and being good citizens, like Superman, Captain America and even SpiderMan. But the DC Thomson comics are more about mischievousness, rebellion and hilarity,” says Talbot. “They’re not following rules. They’re causing chaos. They’re fundamentally good and kind people, but they have fun. And that’s what a lot of the IP inspires in the writers.” As the longest-running weekly comic in the world, which published its 4,000th issue in 2019, the Beano has legions of fans not just in the UK but internationally. As a result, Talbot is keen to develop projects for streamers with global appeal. Meanwhile, the process of developing comic book IP from decades ago for the screen offers Emanata a chance to put a modern twist on characters that are both well known and lesser known. “When you look at the readers of the Beano, it’s boys and girls and we want our shows to be there for boys, girls, men and women. We’re very conscious of making sure our slate is representative, and that could be in terms of sex, gender, race, ethnicity – all of those important things.”