Shine has Parti to nurture Asian talent

Shine Group drama prodco Kudos Film & TV will work with indie Parti Productions to nurture Asian talent and develop Asian-themed scripted shows.

As part of an exclusive first-look coproduction deal that Kudos CEO Jane Featherstone and Parti’s founder Nishi Parti brokered, the pair will seek to develop and produce TV dramas for the UK and international markets.

This comes after the pair co-optioned the rights to a pair of novels from journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera, The Boy with the Topknot and Marriage Material, the latter of which is in development at UK pubcaster the BBC.

Kudos is behind recent UK drama series such as Sky Atlantic’s French coproduction The Tunnel, Sky 1 HD’s The Smoke, ITV’s Broadchurch and Channel 4’s Utopia.

Parti is best known for her feature film Honour, which released theatrically in the UK and US this year. She has worked as a creative consultant for 21^st Century Fox indie film label Fox Searchlight, and is also credited with  discovering the unpublished manuscript of Harry Potter, before subsequently securing film rights for a joint venture between Heyday Films and Warner Bros.

“I hope to bring both my experience and established relationships with Asian talent to Kudos to help produce some really groundbreaking, original and commercial drama that has yet to be explored on British TV,” she said.

“Along with Nisha’s wealth of knowledge of film trends and her keen eye for fresh talent, she has the ability to identify and conceptualise content that speaks to a diverse audience,” added Featherstone.

Dialogue around the opportunities – or lack thereof – for ethnic minorities on British television has been growing in recent months,