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WWW.TVDRAMA.WS
AUGUST 2021 EDITION
World Screen Premieres: ZDF Enterprises’ Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles & All3Media International’s Deceit / NENT Group’s Filippa Wallestam
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CONTENTS
The Great Restart As we all know, it’s been an especially tough year for scripted producers attempting to navigate the complexities (and budgetary pressures) of producing amid Covid-19. Ricardo Seguin Guise Publisher Anna Carugati Group Editorial Director Mansha Daswani Editor Kristin Brzoznowski Executive Editor Chelsea Regan Managing Editor Jamie Stalcup Associate Editor David Diehl Production & Design Director Simon Weaver Online Director Dana Mattison Senior Sales & Marketing Manager Genovick Acevedo Sales & Marketing Coordinator Andrea Moreno Business Affairs Manager
Ricardo Seguin Guise President Anna Carugati Executive VP Mansha Daswani Associate Publisher & VP of Strategic Development TV Drama ©2021 WSN INC. 1123 Broadway, #1207 New York, NY 10010 Phone: (212) 924-7620 Fax: (212) 924-6940 Website: www.tvdrama.ws
Every day there seems to be a new headline about a shoot having to pause because of an infection, as the seemingly endless alphabet of Covid-19 variants plagues back-to-normal plans. But, against the odds, producers are making it work. Just look at the U.K., where, in the last 12 months, the Film and TV Production Restart Scheme has helped 640 projects get back on set. Unveiled last July, the program was established to deliver £500 million in assistance to film and TV projects that were ready to start or restart but unable to secure insurance against potential Covid-19 related delays and interruptions. Similar initiatives are in place in other territories. And with producers clamoring to get their projects finished, the demand for studio space appears to be surging. In the last few weeks alone, plans for expansive new soundstages have been announced in the U.K. and Australia. Expect much more in this space because the demand for great content is seemingly endless right now. The question is, is there enough great talent to deliver the quality that insatiable audiences have come to expect? —Mansha Daswani
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PREMIERE: SHERLOCK: THE RUSSIAN CHRONICLES The team behind ZDF Enterprises’ action drama discuss the Russian take on the world’s most famous investigator.
PREMIERE: DECEIT Emilia di Girolamo, writer and executive producer, introduces All3Media International’s new truecrime-inspired drama.
NENT GROUP’S FILIPPA WALLESTAM The executive VP and chief content officer at NENT Group discusses Viaplay’s expanding slate of originals.
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Red Arrow Studios International Blackout: Tomorrow is Too Late / Stella Blómkvist / Australian Gangster Red Arrow Studios International’s slate includes three thriller/crime series. W&B Television’s Blackout: Tomorrow is Too Late sees the past catch up with a former hacker when Europe is plunged into darkness by a sudden blackout. Season two of Sagafilm and Viaplay’s Stella Blómkvist follows the return of the eponymous lawyer, taking viewers deeper into the dangerous world of Icelandic noir. Australian Gangster, produced by Roadshow Rough Diamond, sees gangsters and the Instagram generation collide with Sydney’s social elite.
Stella Blómkvist
ZDF Enterprises The Window / Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles / Huss The ZDF Enterprises highlight The Window explores the cutthroat business of professional football through the eyes of players, agents, club owners, administrators and journalists. Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles brings Sherlock Holmes to 19th-century St. Petersburg to track down Jack the Ripper. “The action drama gives a Russian spin to the stories of the world’s most famous investigator,” says Robert Franke, VP ZDFE.drama. Inspired by Helene Tursten’s best-selling novels, Huss sees police academy graduate Katarina Huss pulled into a web of corruption and betrayal.
Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles
“We have a great range for the current season and are also presently in the process of putting the finishing touches to our fall/winter catalog.” —Robert Franke
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Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles
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herlock: The Russian Chronicles sees the iconic British detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle attempt to track down the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper, who has fled to St. Petersburg to evade punishment for his crimes. From Sreda and Yellow, Black and White and the streaming platform START, the late 19th-century-set Russianlanguage series is distributed by ZDF Enterprises. “The main thing for the team was to try to make the show stand out because our Sherlock should have his own tone, his own voice, his own habits,” says Nurbek Egen, director of the series. “We were really bothered about how to make it stand out in the market, so we could show how we respect the original idea, but also be a bit newer and do something special.”
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Alongside Sherlock’s mission to apprehend Jack the Ripper, the series finds the detective tackling a variety of cases of the week as well. He also has a love interest in the form of Sophia, who, along with Dr. Kartsev, helps him find his bearings in the unfamiliar terrain. “All of these stories present a mix of different genres,” says Irina Sosnovaya, a producer on the series from Yellow, Black and White. “It’s not just crime stories; it’s a blend of everything— mystery, thriller, a bit of horror, romance as well.”
“It’s not just crime stories; it’s a blend of everything—mystery, thriller, a bit of horror, romance as well.” —Irina Sosnovaya
Written by Oleg Malovichko, Sherlock: The Russian Chronicles also offers a reinvention of a character that has been popular since the release of a series of Sherlock films in the region in the 1980s. The show’s unique spin on the well-known character was a perfect fit for START. “When you do it together with a streamer, it gives you a lot of freedom,” says Daria Bondarenko, executive VP of sales and acquisitions at START and Yellow, Black and White. “We really liked the story and we thought this new take on Sherlock, this kind of fish-out-of-water story, would really be a match.”
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Deceit B
ased on one of the most controversial undercover missions in Metropolitan Police history, Deceit centers on a female officer tasked with winning the trust of the prime suspect in a murder investigation. The series, produced by Story Films for Channel 4 and distributed by All3Media International, comes from writer and executive producer Emilia di Girolamo, whose time working in a prison informed her approach to adapting the story. “For me to tackle true crime, it has to feel relevant,” says di Girolamo. “If you’re going to trawl through people’s lives and essentially examine their very darkest moments, you need a really good reason to do that. This case, at this moment in history, gave me that perfect opportunity.”
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The case at the center of Deceit—the 1992 murder of Rachel Nickell—dominated British headlines. Under pressure to catch the killer, a female police officer (known as Sadie Byrne in the series) is called upon to adopt the persona of Lizzie James to ensnare suspect Colin Stagg. “When the case against Colin Stagg collapsed, Lizzie James, the police and the criminal profiler who masterminded the operation were all sort of held to account, and their careers and reputations were left in tatters,” explains di Girolamo.
“All3Media International has a brilliant true-crime library, and I’m thrilled that Deceit is now a part of that.” —Emilia di Girolamo
In a market saturated with male-dominated true-crime stories, di Girolamo wanted the focus of Deceit to be on that of the female undercover agent. “I wanted to put her right at the heart and center of the drama in the same way that she was put at the heart of the operation,” she says. With its twists and turns, universal themes and cinematic scope, di Girolamo has no doubt that Deceit will intrigue audiences across the globe. “All3Media International has a brilliant true-crime library, and I’m thrilled that Deceit is now a part of that,” she says.
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Filippa Wallestam
NENT Group
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mong the most successful homegrown European streaming players, Nordic Entertainment Group (NENT Group) has built a loyal subscriber base for its Viaplay platform in the Nordic markets and has set its sights on expanding its reach. Alongside its robust lineup of sports and acquired international films and series, Viaplay has carved out an impressive reputation for its successful—and growing—slate of originals. Filippa Wallestam, executive VP and chief content officer at NENT Group, tells TV Drama about the strategy for original content as Viaplay expands its footprint and the continued need for acquired shows. TV DRAMA: How are you managing this expanding slate? WALLESTAM: It’s fair to say we have a fantastic team! We’re all very passionate about what we do. That’s the key. And we’re structuring more around what we really believe in. What projects are we prepared to fight for? If a potential project is a bit unclear in its fit with our strategy, we’d rather focus more on unique Nordic stories and big brand-building tentpole shows. We announced Billy the Kid recently; that’s a fantastic project for us to be part of [alongside EPIX in the U.S.]. We’ll continue to do those. We know the Nordics, so it’s relatively easy. We know the production companies. That’s why it feels natural for
By Mansha Daswani
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us when we’re expanding to work with Nordic talent like Lasse Hallström and Lena Olin. Even though they are super international and well-known, they are Swedish. It’s easier for us to get those connections. As we’re entering new markets, we are relying Huss is a Viaplay original inspired by Helene Tursten’s on local talent that we best-selling novels. recruit. Those are markets we haven’t been in. That is a new challenge, but the way of telling the stories is the same, and even in the new markets we go into, we want to stay true to our values. You need to adapt locally and tweak things in different ways, but there are many similarities. TV DRAMA: You’re doing English- and local-language productions. How do you determine what direction to take? WALLESTAM: It’s something we assess on a project-by-project basis. Some stories should be purely local. Other projects are naturally in English. It could be a location where they need to speak the language. For Hilma, we discussed if it should be in Swedish. We agreed that she is such an international person who is well known across the globe, so it makes sense for us to do it in English with a combination of Nordic and international stars. Lasse can work with both. It is on a case-by-case basis, but these big projects we do with big budgets, where we will finance most of it ourselves, will usually be in English.
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TV DRAMA: What role do acquisitions play on Viaplay? WALLESTAM: It’s changing. We’re creating our own productions and, of course, they become increasingly important. Our own content is starting to drive sales. Having said that, we have a lot of very strong, long-term relationships with the U.S. players. Those are collaborations and operations we intend to continue. They fill different purposes. We want to have a broad service, and we want to have something to offer everyone. It has been challenging to understand what we’re going to get from the U.S. But I’m excited about our output deals. We are working on our own and building up that layer, but we really value the strong relationships we have with the studios. Many are going D2C, which means we are working even closer with the ones that aren’t. There are many ways we can collaborate. TV DRAMA: Does being a regional versus a global player give you more flexibility in creating partnerships? WALLESTAM: That is one of our main advantages. Also, we don’t take the full upside. We’re interested in the markets we’re in, and even though they are increasing—we will be in at least 15 markets by the end of 2023—there is a lot of the world left. It leaves room for more collaborations and for the creators to get their shows financed but still have a significant upside in One of Viaplay’s highest-rated originals, Honour is set to return for a third season in 2022. the back end.
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