Blackport snares international broadcasters
Icelandic drama Blackport has reeled in its first international broadcast deals following its launch at MipTV earlier this year.
Buyers for the quirky drama include Topic in the US and Canada, SBS in Australia, AMC Networks International Southern Europe in Spain and Portugal, RTS in Switzerland and TG4 in Ireland.
Blackport had been previously pre-sold to DR in Denmark, NRK in Norway, SVT in Sweden, and YLE in Finland. It won the Series Mania grand prize in 2021.
The eight-parter is produced by Vesturport and Turbine Studios for Arte (France) and RÚV (Iceland), with APC handling worldwide rights.
ABC Signature to adapt TF1’s HIP
US production company ABC Signature, part of Disney Television Studios, is to develop an English- language adaptation of TF1’s hit detective series HIP (High Intellectual Potential).
HIP is produced by Septembre Productions, a Mediawan company, and Itinéraire Productions, a UGC company. The series is sold by Newen Connect, the distribution arm of Newen Studios.
The original series has been sold to more than 105 territories, while a Czech and Slovakian version have already been filmed for Nova and Markiza respectively.
Hugo Blick’s western The English strikes raft of European deals
Hugo Blick’s western The English, starring Emily Blunt and Chaske Spencer, has pre-sold through distributor All3Media International to Europe, Latin America and Asia.
Canal+ has acquired the series for France, Disney+ for The Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, Amazon Video for the Nordics and HBO Max for the CEE region, Spain and Portugal. The English has also been secured by Deutsche Telekom/Magenta TV for Germany and Cosmote in Greece.
A further pan-territory deal has been signed with HBO Max covering Latin America. Streaming service Pumpkin Film has secured the drama for China, and NAVER Webtoon has picked up rights for South Korea.
Produced by Drama Republic and Eight Rooks and written and directed by Blick, The English has a gala premiere at next month’s Mipcom. Commissioned by the BBC, The English will premiere in November on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer in the UK, and then on Amazon Prime Video in the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Alon Shtruzman to leave Keshet International
Keshet International (KI) CEO Alon Shtruzman is to leave the global content producer and distributor owned by Keshet Media Group at the end of 2022.
KMG’s activity outside the Israeli borders began in the early 2000s, with Prisoners Of War adapted by Showtime for US audiences as the multi-award-winning Homeland.
In 2012, KI opened the British production company Keshet UK, with Keshet Studios being established in 2015 in Los Angeles. KI later acquired German indie Tresor in 2017, and the British firm Greenbird Media in 2018.
Recent KI output includes two Apple TV+ productions: Suspicion, Keshet UK’s international adaptation of False Flag starring Uma Thurman; and Keshet Studios’ upcoming Echo3, Mark Boal’s adaptation of When Heroes Fly.
Further productions in the pipeline include A Small Light (Disney+/Nat Geo), alongside The Calling (Peacock) and season 2 of La Brea (NBC), both co-produced with Universal Television.
No comments yet