Paramount+ partners with Gaumont to boost int’l scripted slate

Lupin

Paramount+ has partnered with French production and distribution giant Gaumont to produce a slate of international scripted originals.

Lupin producer Gaumont will produce several original series in association with Paramount’s international studio, VIS, as part of the streamer’s plan to greenlight 50 new international scripted originals in 2022.

The partnership was announced during a Lille Dialogues keynote by Paramount’s president & CEO of international networks, studios and streaming, Raffaele Annecchino at Series Mania Forum. It will see VIS gain access to Gaumont’s network of talent and creatives in key Paramount+ markets, including Latin America and Europe.

The first project to enter production under the partnership is The Signal (known locally as Le Signal), a French horror thriller based on the novel by Maxime Chattam and led by showrunner François Uzan (Lupin).

The series tells the story of famous radio host Olivia Dormeuil who, after losing her beloved sister in a car accident, moves to an old house on an isolated island with her family. But the change of scenery soon proves more challenging than expected when the family’s unspoken fears begin to take ghostly form and some inhabitants of the island start to die in strange circumstances.

Raffaele Annecchino

Shows in development

Three other titles have also entered development, including Argentinean dystopian thriller Futuro Desierto (aka Desolate Future) about a robotics engineer who moves with his family to an isolated town in Patagonia where he is ordered to test the first humanoid robots in secret.

Writer-director Lucia Puenzo, whose film credits include XXY and The German Doctor, will co-showrun and direct multiple episodes with her brother, Nicolas Puenzo, co-director of Cromo and La Jauría.

German dramedy Anywhere is in the works from creator and screenwriter Jana Burbach​ (Bad Banks, Tribes of Europa), following Toni Falk, whose chameleon like hyper-flexibility skills help her in her career, but leave her lonely and lost, unable to form healthy relationships.

After a casual lover declares his love for her, Toni is struck by a curse that transports her to different versions of her life. Now, she has to somehow find a way home, to wherever that may be.

Meanwhile, French thriller Impact will be based on the novel by Olivier Norek, exploring one man’s battle against the catastrophic ecological situation of our planet.

After pollution killed his newborn daughter, Virgil Solal, goes to war, alone, against giants, with his message soon finding echoes all over the globe in the form of a herd of masked supporters.

The series is being c​o-created by Jean-Xavier de Lestrade (Murder on a Sunday Morning, The Staircase), Antoine Lacomblez (Laetitia), and Severine Werba (Spiral). 

“This long-term partnership with the storied and esteemed production company Gaumont is another example of our commitment to producing high-quality content that crosses borders and resonates with audiences worldwide,” said Annecchino.

“Our strong, multi-faceted and creative global content strategy combined with strategic investments and deep-rooted history of bringing compelling global and local hits to our audience sets Paramount+ up for continued success.”

“We are excited to start a global relationship with Paramount+ and contribute to its international rollout with four new shows in Europe and Latin America,” added Sidonie Dumas, CEO of Gaumont.

These originals will complement the 40 Gaumont projects, already in preparation or production across its six international offices, including Narcos season six, Barbarian season two and Lupin season two.

The slate also comes following the previously announced Paramount+ international scripted originals, including Sexy Beast, A Gentleman in Moscow, Simon Beckett’s Chemistry of Death, Los Enviados (The Envoys), Cecilia, Bosé, Miss Fallaci and At Midnight.