News round-up for day one

Netfl ix, ITV among big Rose d’Or winners

Global streaming giant Netfl ix completed a comedy double at last night’s Rose d’Or Awards, which were streamed live here at Kings Place, while UK commercial broadcaster ITV won three prizes for unscripted.

Netfl ix’s musical special Bo Burnham: Inside was named Best Comedy, while France Télévisions and Netfl ix’s series Call My Agent, made by Mon Voisin Productions and Mother Productions, won in the Best Comedy Drama and Sitcom category.

ITV, which is usually better known for dramas and shiny-fl oor formats, won the News and Current Affairs

Bo Burnham: Inside was fi lmed during the pandemic

prize, and the prestigious Golden Rose, for its fast-turnaround documentary Storming the Capitol: The Inside Story, about the January 6 insurrection in the US. The fi lm was made by ITN Productions.

It also took the Reality and Factual Entertainment award for Long Lost Family: Born Without Trace, produced by Wall to Wall Media.

Other winners included Channel 4’s Help (Best Drama), Apple TV+ and the BBC’s 9/11: Inside the President’s War Room (Documentary) and BBC Studios format Strictly Come Dancing (Studio Entertainment).

Rose d’Or Awards chair Mark Rowland said: “It’s been an incredibly strong year, from the breadth of concepts and stories to the great on-screen performances and the production skill we’ve seen, across all genres. Given the many challenges the pandemic has thrown at TV production, this is an extraordinary achievement.”

BossaNova reveals new originals slate

BossaNova, the content creation, funding and distribution company led by Paul Heaney, is today unveiling its second slate of original productions.

Headlining the new line-up is Mysteries of the Ancient Dead (6x60’), made by Toronto-based Go Button Media in a new partnership with commissioning broadcaster Super Channel in Canada.

Seven Australia’s 7mate has ordered two new seasons (8x60’ and 10x60’) of Extreme Tow Truckers from long-term BossaNova collaborator Fredbird Entertainment. Viasat World and Germany’s ProSieben are attached as pre-sale partners.

Also on the slate is Hidden Histories of WW2 (8x60’) from UK regional producer Bright Button. Pre-sales have been agreed with Viasat World and Histoire in France.

Last up is Murder: First on Scene (10x60’), a project from UK indie Phoenix Television. BossaNova provided early-stage funding for the series, which was produced for CBS Reality and is currently airing on the channel in the UK.

Viaplay dramas visit new countries

Henriette Steenstrup in Pørni

Nordic Entertainment (NENT) Group-owned streamer Viaplay has extended the reach of two of its original dramas in a deal with Israeli distributor Keshet International (KI).

Monster Scripted and X-Filme Creative Pool’s Furia (8x60’) will now be available on Viaplay in 26 new territories, including Poland and the Baltics. A tense crime thriller written by Gjermund S Eriksson (Mammon), the show recently premiered across the Nordics on Viaplay and in Germany on ZDF.

KI has also sold the Viaplay original to Filmin in Spain, Cellcom TV in Israel and Mola TV in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore, following a pre-sale to SBS in Australia.

In addition, all three 6x30’ seasons of Pørni will be made available on Viaplay in further markets. Also from Monster Scripted, the Norwegian comedy-drama is written by and stars Henriette Steenstrup (Ragnarok).

KI has also completed new sales of Pørni to NPO in the Netherlands, on top of previously announced deals inked with Filmin and Cosmo TV (both Spain) and HBO Max in 39 territories across Latin America.

In another deal with KI, Viaplay has picked up Fallet (8x30’) for a range of markets. The Swedish satirical series, which pokes fun at the Nordic noir genre, was originally picked up by Netfl ix in a global deal in 2018.

Arrow appoints production heads

Stephanie Mavropoulos Carrie Pennifer

UK-based factual producer Arrow International Media has appointed two heads of production.

Stephanie Mavropoulos and Carrie Pennifer have taken up the newly created roles. They will be responsible for overseeing the company’s slate of premium content for major US and UK broadcasters and platforms.

Working across both Arrow Media and Arrow Pictures, Mavropoulos and Pennifer will each manage their own balanced slate of factual series, feature documentaries, fi lms and podcasts. They will report to MD Iain Pelling.

Mavropoulos joined Arrow when it was formed by Tom Brisley, Iain Pelling and John Smithson in 2011. She has led its production teams for over a decade.

Pennifer joined Arrow in 2012 as production manager on the Discovery series Ultimate Warfare. She went on to manage numerous series and one-offs, including three seasons of observational documentary series Ultimate Airport Dubai for National Geographic, before being made production executive in 2016.

Pelling said: “Production is the beating heart of Arrow and works side by side with our creative team. It enables us to make over 100 hours of high-quality content every year, and this number is growing. These new roles will enable us to accelerate the growth of the business, innovate and fi nd new ways of doing things, and better navigate the changing landscape.”

SET YOUR SIGHTS ON SCOTLAND

The Rig received production funding support from Screen Scotland’s Production Growth Fund.

Join us for breakfast on Day 2, 8am Wednesday 1st December, Hall 3 to meet Executive Director Isabel Davis, the team and key Scotland-based producers when you can find out more about our attractive co-production opportunities. Together with great talent, competitive financing, outstanding crew, adaptable locations and fantastic facilities, Screen Scotland is driving the country’s development of the film and television sector with backing from Scottish Government and The National Lottery.

screen.scot @screenscots @screenscots screen@creativescotland.com

Rainmaker gets fi rst bite at Saf ron Cherry

London-based distributor Rainmaker Content has agreed a fi rst-look deal with Caroline Roberts-Cherry and Sally Lindsay’s multi-genre production company Saffron Cherry Productions.

The deal with the Manchesterbased fi rm will give Rainmaker the fi rst refusal on all new scripted drama from Saffron Cherry.

Saffron Cherry is behind recent Channel 5 and Acorn TV copro The Madame Blanc Mysteries, a six-part mystery drama coproduced with Clapperboard Studios, created and written by Lindsay and co-written by Sue Vincent.

Other titles on the fi rm’s slate include a fi lmed version of Talawa Theatre Company and the Royal Exchange Theatre’s King Lear, with a black-led cast starring Don Warrington.

Working with broadcasters in the UK and internationally across all platforms, the creative team behind Saffron Cherry includes Grierson Award-winning director and Baftawinning producer Roberts-Cherry as founder and MD, and actor, presenter and writer Lindsay as creative director.

Caroline Roberts-Cherry

Vicky Ryan, co-founder and chief operating offi cer at Rainmaker Content, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Saffron Cherry, an innovative production company with a strong track record in creating shows with strong roles. Their ambition to develop IP around new and established talent, local voices and stories fi ts very well with Rainmaker’s growing portfolio for the international market.”

Roberts-Cherry added: “Rainmaker shares our ambition to showcase arresting, engaging stories working with both new and established talent, and we’re delighted to be continuing our drama journey with them.”

CEE duo link up for Lego

TV Markíza in Slovakia and TV Nova in the Czech Republic are teaming up for an international adaptation of Banijay competition format Lego Masters.

The two broadcasters will coproduce a version of the format, in which pairs compete against each other to wow judges with inspiring designs using the famous toy brand.

The fi nished tape and format for the show are distributed by Banijay Rights, which also recently sealed remake deals with MBC in South Korea and Shenzhen TV in China.

Originally created by Tuesday’s Child Television and the toy manufacturer for Channel 4 in the UK, the show has also recently been picked up by TVNZ in New Zealand and Atresmedia in Spain, taking the number of international remakes to 18.

Lego Masters

C4 unmasks its Suspect

The fi rst images of James Nesbitt and Richard E Grant starring in Channel 4’s forthcoming thriller Suspect are being revealed today.

The commercially funded UK pubcaster commissioned the eight-part crime series from UK drama prodco Eagle Eye drama earlier this year.

It has since brought together an all-star cast that also includes Joely Richardson, Anne-Marie Duff, Antonia Thomas, Niamh Algar, Sacha Dhawan, Sam Heughan and Ben Miller. Fremantle is distributing the series worldwide.

In the show, Nesbitt plays a veteran detective who is called to a hospital mortuary for a routine ID check on what turns out to be his estranged daughter. He then sets out on a mission to discover the truth about what happened to her. IN BRIEF

Disney promotes, hires for TV animation

Disney Television Animation (DTA) has promoted one exec and hired another. Elizabeth Waybright Taylor has been upped to VP of development, having worked for Disney for 11 years. Lisa Fragner joins as VP of development. She was previously VP and head of development at the recently closed Blue Sky Studios.

Beta Nordic Studios takes 51% of Unlimited Stories

Beta Nordic Studios (BNS), part of German producerdistributor Beta Film, has acquired a majority share in Swedish prodco Unlimited Stories. BNS has taken a 51% stake in the company, which was founded in 2016 by Poa Strömberg, Patrick Ryborn and Linus Stöhr Torell. Its fi rst TV drama, Missing People, is being produced for Sweden’s SVT.

Blink Studios makes fi rst exec appointments

Blink Studios, the fl edgling fi rm led by former Entertainment One (eOne) TV head John Morayniss, has revealed its fi rst senior appointments, with Carolyn Newman joining as executive VP, global scripted, and Virginia Rankin as in-house executive producer. Newman, another eOne alum, joins from LA-based Will Packer Media.

ITV greenlights Davies’ Noele Gordon drama

The UK’s ITV has ordered a drama starring Helena Bonham Carter as Crossroads star Noele Gordon. Nolly is being written by Russell T Davies (It’s a Sin) and produced by Nicola Shindler’s recently launched Quay Street Productions.