Buyers are going to get a first look at ten international drama series that Series Mania has identified as global hits-in-the-making, with gnomes, Nazis, gamers, fertility clinics and the British PM all in the mix. There is a show from the producers Sherlock, another backed by HBO, and amid a mostly European selection, a Japan-Singapore co-pro and Australian comedy adding some global flavor.
The Series Mania Forum was traditionally a co-production-focused industry gathering that ran alongside the public-facing Series Mania festival. As the Forum became must-attend for the international scripted crowd, a market where shows are bought and sold has become part of proceedings. An invitation-only event for buyers was introduced last year, showcasing series with international legs. A jury of top buyers presents a Buyers Choice Award, with nuclear negotiations drama The Deal taking the honor last time.
This time there are ten shows in all. From Sherlock-producer Hartswood Films there is Number 10. Sherlock writer Steven Moffat, who will give a masterclass at Series Mania, penned the series about life inside 10 Downing Street, the home of the British Prime Minister. ITV Studios has sales on the show. Also from the UK there is Scotland-set legal drama Counsels, for the BBC and Germany’s ZDF Neo. All3Media is selling this one. As an aside, it looks like the last Series Mania outing for All3Media International as a standalone distributor given its parent company is merging with Banijay.
There are several French-distributed dramas. Wild Bunch produced and distributed Franco-Belgian series Alice tells the story of cinema’s first female filmmaker, Alice Guy. SND Groupe M6 will have R91, a French crime thriller set on board a nuclear aircraft carrier. Studio TF1 has The Dark Book: The Secret of the Egerias (a working title, and a very long one), a Spanish thriller about a criminal profiler.
Germany’s Beta Film has another Spanish project, In Vitro, following a micro-biologist working in a fertility clinic and made with the participation of HBO Max. The aforementioned Japanese-Singapore drama is Lost and Found, a thriller set in the world of gaming. From Australia there is comedy Gnomes, about a potential gnome apocalypse.
Scandinavia has a strong drama pedigree and Fremantle has Norwegian thriller The Traitor Within, based on the true story of Norway’s most notorious Nazi collaborator and the man sent to kill him. Elsewhere, OneGate Media has Blind. The crime drama kicks off when a blind bartender Nathaniel shows up at a police station covered in blood and claims that a pregnant woman has been kidnapped in his bar.
The Buyers’ event takes place in the Lille Chamber of Commerce on March 23.