International Insider: Big Week For ‘Peaky’; Seriencamp Shows German TV’s Mettle; Deals In The Cannes
Good afternoon Insiders, Jesse Whittock coming to you from Seriencamp in Germany this week. Strap in for the top TV and film news from the international sector this week. And sign up here.
‘Peaky’s Blind Ambition
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By order of the Netflix executives: There have been trickles of information about a Peaky Blinders movie ever since the BBC series came to a dramatic end after eight years and six seasons in 2022. Now, the news is official. The show that launched a thousand undercuts and laid the foundations for Cillian Murphy’s Oppenheimer Oscar win is easily one of the most popular dramas of the past decade, and it’s no surprise the entertainment world went crazy after Nancy broke the story Tuesday that a Peaky feature film is indeed coming. Netflix has greenlit a script from creator Steven Knight with Tom Harper, who helmed half of the show’s first season, attached to direct. Production will begin later this year, in association with BBC Film. Losing the next installment of the Shelby crime clan story to Netflix will be tough for the BBC, even if there were no plans for a feature at the UK’s public broadcaster or its film division. Plot details are tight, but Knight said it would be “no holds barred… full-on Peaky Blinders at war.”
Perfect Conduit: The ink had barely dried on the movie deal when we got word that Banijay, whose drama label Tiger Aspect has been involved with the BBC drama since its launch, was buying Peaky maker Caryn Mandabach Productions (CMP). Now that Banijay owns the Peaky brand, the Chicago-born Mandabach will have cashed in handsomely. In an interview with Nancy, she didn’t disclose the value but noted, “Let’s just say it’s more than enough to support my future efforts.” As part of the deal, Mandabach exits to launch a new business, Conduit Productions, which will have a development and production deal with Banijay. CMP will be rebranded as Garrison Drama (Peaky fans will know that reference — and if you don’t, please finish reading Insider and then stream the show with haste). Mandabach said Banijay would be “wonderful caretakers” of the Peaky brand, and it’s fair to say even the Netflix film won’t be the last we see of the Shelby world: Banijay UK boss Patrick Holland said creator Knight “has plans for future chapters of the Peaky Blinders universe.” At a swanky Banijay dinner for journalists last month, Holland had hinted that a big deal was coming, and the move comes fresh off the back of a string of big-name UK scripted acquisitions for the French-headquartered behemoth. Tommy Shelby and co constantly warned their rivals in the series, “Don’t f*** with the Peaky Blinders.” Sounds like decent advice.
Seriencamp Shows Germany’s TV Mettle
Camping out: The 10th edition of German TV fest Seriencamp took place this week in Cologne, bringing together top execs from Netflix, Amazon and the local networks, and hundreds of producers. For the first time, the event topped 800 attendees, which is no mean feat in a market that’s been hit hard by the TV advertising downturn and the exit of several major commissioners over recent years. Sources on the ground betrayed apprehension over how the local market will hold up for the rest of 2024 and 2025, with what we hear is potentially well over 100 projects currently in development hell. However, there was also significant optimism, and world premieres of German-produced shows I Am Scrooge and Concordia highlighted the creativity on show in the market. The former, a Beta-sold true crime drama about a man in the late-1980s who blew up department stores to extort money from their owners, played on Wednesday night to a packed room at the Cinenova complex. As we first reported on Monday, the man in question, Arno Funke, was in attendance and received a rapturous on-stage round of applause in the week’s most surreal moment. Before the event, I sat down with Concordia showrunner Frank Doelger (he of Game of Thrones fame) to discuss the science-fiction show, which is for several European broadcasters and Hulu Japan. The series is set in a seemingly utopian town in Sweden where citizens are watched by millions of AI-controlled cameras. Doelger told me about his initial vision for the show, how it would create a nuanced portrayal of surveillance and why the international make-up of its financing will become ever more important as global commissions dry up and local money shrinks. More here.
Award season: One highlight from the week saw Ku’damm77 screenwriter Annette Hess become the first recipient of Deadline’s German TV Disruptor Award. Presented following an onstage Q&A with Stewart yesterday, she was lauded thanks to her work creating several major German series, including the Ku’damm shows, Christiane F story We Children From Bahnhoff Zoo and Disney+’s The Interpreter of Silence, which was adapted from her novel Deutsches Haus. Hess, never one to mince her words, was on brilliantly punchy form and addressed everything from the gender pay gap in TV to her desire to direct. At the end of the ceremony, Hess grabbed the microphone and directly addressed the audience, saying, “When I saw it was the Deadline Disruptor award, I thought they must have talked to ZDF who had told them it is a woman who has been disrupting every deadline!” For more on this story and our full coverage from Cologne, click here— go on, do it.
AI In Spotlight At UK Media Conference
Deloitering about: Max headed to London’s Park Plaza Riverbank hotel on Tuesday to hear about all things media (and telecoms…) at the niftily named Deloitte and Enders Media & Telecoms 2024 and Beyond Conference. Doyens from Disney, Netflix, the BBC and Google addressed the great-and-good of the UK industry and, as is becoming ever more common for confabs these days, AI was very much in the spotlight from both sides of the argument. In an intriguing talk about how news networks are gearing up for the July 4 election, ITN CEO Rachel Corp raised concerns that British news networks will be unable to counter deepfakes on polling day due to strenuous reporting restrictions. “If something emerges of Rishi Sunak high-fiving Vladimir Putin and it’s spreading then we can’t counter that,” she said. Not sure if Google EMEA boss Matt Brittin was listening, but later the AI champion turned things on its head by sniping at the press for the way in which it reports artificial intelligence debates, urging the media to go beyond “just writing the headlines” about the growing, invasive tech. Elsewhere, Disney EMEA chief Jan Koeppen revealed the Mouse House’s meaty production spend in the UK over the past five years, while Netflix Co-CEO Greg Peters celebrated that Tom Brady roast and what it says about the streamer’s new strategy. Find all the coverage from a packed day here.
ElectionLine Meets Al Arabiya’s D.C. Chief
The Arab perspective: The latest in ElectionLine’s A View From Abroad strand saw Jake interview Al Arabiya’s Washington D.C. bureau chief Nadia Bilbassy-Charters, a former Gaza City resident who has been directly impacted by the tragic consequences of the Israel-Gaza crisis, with 12 of her extended family members killed since the conflict began. Now based in the U.S. capital, Bilbassy-Charters says she often feels like the “lone voice” in White House press conferences asking difficult questions about the horrific Middle Eastern conflict. She says the war has “exposed people” and “shows clearly some biases.” With her job to inform an Arabic audience of 120 million about how decisions in D.C. impact the world, she has regularly popped up on U.S. networks with sharp and insightful probing of officials. This is a fascinating read about the conflict’s consequences and how it impacts even hard-nosed news journalists, and includes new perspectives on President Joe Biden and Donald Trump as they race towards the election finishing line on November 5. Read on.
Deals In The Cannes
International blooming: The summer box office is crawling into June with lackluster performance from big studio titles such as the new Mad Max and The Garfield Movie. The international market, however, is blooming with a series of intriguing deals locked this week. On Monday, Andreas revealed that Ali Abassi’s Donald Trump origins pic The Apprentice has sold worldwide, with deals in key markets including Italy, Spain and Scandinavia. UK, French, and Canadian deals are already set. A U.S. distributor is still yet to be confirmed. Our report suggests news on that front may be imminent, but anyone willing to take the pic stateside would have to brace themselves for a legal challenge from the Don. Elsewhere, Skydance has inked a whopping $80M-$85M global deal for the buzzy Chris Pratt Cannes package Way of the Warrior Kid. Andreas and Mike Fleming Jr, who broke the scoop together, called it “one of the single biggest package deals since Apple splashed on Emancipation back in 2020.” Pratt will be directed by McG (Charlie’s Angels, The Babysitter) in the pic, which is lining up a summer start. The Will Staples (Without Remorse) script is adapted from the kids novel by Jock Willink, the retired Navy SEAL who found a second career as a wildly popular podcast host, author, and motivational speaker. Skydance will bring the project to Apple through its overall deal there. In other Cannes deals, Andrea Arnold’s latest Bird sold worldwide following its debut on the Croisette. Capping off a buzzy week of business, we revealed that Studiocanal and Working Title have teamed for a D-Day movie titled Pressure.
The Essentials
??? Hot One: Netflix Brazil greenlit a film adaptation of Paulo Coelho’s novel The Pilmgrimage and a miniseries based on Edyr Augusto’s book Pssica, as Stewart revealed.
??? Hot, Hot, Hot: Jake and Max broke the news about a BBC drama on Nazanin Zaghari-Radcliffe’s arbitrary detention in Iran.
?? Baking: Cast was set for season 2 of Stan’s Australian drama Scrublands.
?? Exiting: Red Sea Film Foundation CEO Mohammed Al-Turki is stepping down.
?? Boy band: Simon Cowell is teaming with Drive to Survive maker Box to Box to find a One Direction-style music group.
?? “Bleak”: Commissions from streamers in Australia has fallen to a new low, according to a Screen Producers Australia survey.
????: BTS: Korean content streamer Kocowa+ struck a deal with the boy band’s label HYBE to launch programs and films over the summer, as Sara first reported.
?? Oh, Canada: Bell Media streamer Crave confirmed Will Arnett for Super Team Canada and acquired UK drama Dope Girls among a batch of deals.
?? Global Breakout: We went to Indonesia for our latest in the local hits strand, featuring religious romance drama series Santri Pilihan Bunda.
??? Interview: Stewart sat down with 3 Body Problem star Liam Cunningham to discuss the Netflix show.
?? Box Office: The Garfield Movie purred past $150M worldwide.
Max Goldbart and Zac Ntim contributed to this week’s Insider
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