Sweden’s SVT Orders ‘Whiskey On The Rocks’ From Skyverse Nordic
Sweden’s public service broadcaster SVT has boarded Skyverse Nordic comedy-drama Whiskey On The Rocks as its main commissioning broadcaster. The six-part series is still at script and production development stage and is being billed as a “premium, epic Cold War dramedy special event” directed by Björn Stein (Midnight Sun) and based on an original story from author Jonas Jonasson. It is among the first shows from Skyverse Nordic, which is a subsidiary of Sparkling, the Stockholm-based sister company to Humanoids that Deadline revealed back in May. The show reunites Jonasson with Skyverse boss Patrick Nebout and creative producer Henrik Jansson-Schweizer, who were collectively behind Sweden’s biggest export success, the Oscar-nominated The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared. A Scandinavian and international cast are being sought to play the drama’s protagonists onboard the submarine and in Moscow. The story is inspired by a notorious incident that very nearly escalated into a full-blown war between Sweden and the USSR in 1981, when a Soviet U-137 ‘Whiskey’-class submarine ran aground on rocks deep inside Swedish territorial waters — right in the middle of a sensitive Swedish naval exercise.
Netflix, EPC Announce Winners Of First Pitch Contest For Women Producers
Irish producer Anna Mannion of Tri Moon Films has won the inaugural edition of Netflix and the European Producers Club’s pitch contest for fictional series driven by women producers. Under the initiative, launched last March during Series Mania, a selection of projects by women producers affiliated to the European Film Club (EPC) was presented to Netflix’s content team in Amsterdam.Mannion picks up a €50,000 ($49,800) development award, while Romanian producer Ada Solomon at Microfilm won the second place €20,000 ($19,900) prize.Runners up were Mariela Besuievsky at Tornasol Media (Spain), Martichka Bozhilova at Agitprop (Bulgaria), Gabriele M. Walther at Caligari (Germany) and Olena Yershova, Tato Film (Ukraine, Turkey). They were each awarded €5,000 ($5,000) to help with development. Deadline revealed news of the competition back in March.
Keshet International Hires Blue Ant’s Fleur Wheatley
Keshet International (KI) has has named Fleur Wheatley as its London-based VP of Sales. She’ll be responsible for leading KI’s sales activities in the U.S., Canada, the UK, the Nordics, and with global and regional SVoDs and channels. Wheatley joins after a four-year tenure at Blue Ant International, where she most recently held the position of Director, International Sales and Acquisitions for the Nordics, Benelux, MENA, Greece and Turkey. She takes up her role today and reports directly to KI’s COO and President of Distribution, Keren Shahar, who said Wheatley would comprise part of the company’s “biggest delegation post-Covid.” Wheatley, who has previously worked for DRG and Fremantle, will focus on sales of formats, scripted and unscripted finished tape and pre-buy/co-production opportunities at KI, which is a subsidiary of Israeli broadcaster Keshet.
Welsh Producers Win Local ‘Gogglebox’ Remake Tender
Welsh indies Chwarel and Cwmni Da will produce Gogglebocs Cymru, the local language remake of TV watcher format Gogglebox. This marks the first time original producer Studio Lambert and UK broadcaster Channel have licensed the franchise to another Britain-based channel and producer. Gogglebox films families and friends as they watch and react to the week’s most talked-about TV. The Welsh version is expected to comprise 70% bilingual Wales-based programming — from the likes S4C, ITV Wales and BBC Wales — and the remaining 30% coming from UK Network broadcasters and SVoDs. Casting is now underway, with the first episode set to broadcast in the first week of November. Sioned Wyn, Managing Director of Chwarel, said: “We’ve been waiting a long time for something like this. The ambition is to make it not only the top-rated show on S4C, but the whole of Wales – and beyond.”
Red Arrow Studios International Takes ‘Kid Sister’ To Cannes
Red Arrow Studios International has acquired the global distribution rights to a pair of new drama titles: coming-of-age Kiwi comedy series Kid Sister from Greenstone TV and Summer Love, an eight-part anthology series from Australian producer Gristmill. The titles will headline the company’s Mipcom scripted slate, which will also feature the upcoming third season of crime drama Vienna Blood. Kid Sister comes from Simone Nathan (Our Flag Means Death), who also stars as lead character Lulu in the series, which launched on TVNZ On Demand in New Zealand earlier this year. It follows her as a Kiwi woman in her prime aged nearly 30 but who in the Jewish world is careening towards spinsterhood. Summer Love, for Australian pubcaster the ABC, follows eight very different sets of people rent the same beachside holiday house, where they experience some incarnation of love.
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