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Sales round-up: Red Arrow hits bullseye with scripted deals; Paramount+ traverses ‘Savage River’ for UK & Germany; Fremantle to shop Richard Williams doc
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Vienna Blood
Red Arrow hits bullseye with scripted deals
Red Arrow Studios International has inked several international deals for scripted titles including Kid Sister, Summer Love, Those Who Stayed and Vienna Blood.
Produced by New Zealand-based Greenstone TV, Kid Sister (5 x 30-minutes) has been sold to CBC Gem Canada, HOT and yes-DBS in Israel, and to ITV in the UK for streaming platform ITVX. The series launched last summer on TVNZ On Demand in New Zealand and has been commissioned for a second season.
Anthology series Summer Love (8 x 30-minutes) is heading to RTP Portugal and HOT in Israel. Produced by Gristmill for ABC (Australia), the series sees eight very different sets of people rent the same beachside holiday house, where they experience some incarnation of love.
New anthology show Those Who Stayed (6 x 30minutes) has sold to Lumière for Benelux; while in Scandinavia, the series has sold to DR in Denmark and RUV in Iceland. Co-developed by FILM.UA and Red Arrow Studios International, the series is coproduced by SVT (Sweden), NRK (Norway) and YLE (Finland).
Period crime drama Vienna Blood (9 x 90-minutes) is heading to TV4 in Sweden and RTP for Portugal. Produced by Endor Productions, a Seven.One Studios company, and MR Film in Austria, the series will air its third season in late 2023.
Savage River
Paramount+ traverses ‘Savage River’ for UK & Germany
Paramount+ has acquired Australian crime drama Savage River for the UK & Germany, amid a slew of deals for the show struck by distributor Dynamic Television.
The show, which debuted on ABC Australia last year, has also been picked up by MTV3 (Finland), TV4 (Sweden), NENT (Netherlands and Poland), OTE (Greece), CBC Gem (Canada), Streamz (Beligum) and Radio Canada (French Canada).
Produced by Aquarius Films, in partnership with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, the series stars Katherine Langford and follows 25-year-old Miki Anderson who returns to her hometown in rural Victoria after eight years in prison, determined to finally move on with her life.
However, the close-knit community of Savage River is not about to let her forget her past that easily. When a shocking murder rocks the town, Miki immediately becomes the focus of everyone’s suspicion. With the police closing in, she sets out to prove her innocence, uncovering long-buried secrets that will cast doubt on everything she thought she knew.
The series was created and written by Giula Sandler, Belinda Bradley, and Franz Docherty, with additional writing credits for Angie Fielder and Polly Staniford. It is directed by Jocelyn Moorhouse and produced by Angie Fielder & Polly Staniford.
On The LineL The Richard Williams Story
Fremantle to shop Richard Williams doc
Fremantle has acquired the global distribution rights for the documentary feature On the Line: The Richard Williams Story, about the life and career of tennis coach and father to Venus and Serena Williams.
Williams provides rare home video footage and candid interviews to detail the family’s unprecedented gate-crashing in the 1990s and beyond of a predominately white, upper-class sport. Newly discovered archival footage from the courts in Compton and a well-selected roster of interview subjects retraces the Williams sisters meteoric ascent through the tennis rankings in spite of racial oppression and unconscious bias.
The film is produced by ChaVam’s Chavoita LeSane, High Frequency Entertainment’s Duncan Montgomery and Jack Selby, Foundation 360’s Gary Ousdahl, and Stuart McClave’s McClave Lumber Company. Executive Producers include Brenda Robinson, Brit Marling, Ashley Coleman, Charlie McDowell, Alex Orlovsky, Mathilde Jourdan, Harry Gamsu, and Bright West Entertainment’s Alex Lieberman and Gary Lieberman.
The film, which premiered at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, will have its UK premiere at the 2023 Sheffield DocFest in June.
Channel 5 orders double Espresso docs
UK broadcaster Channel 5 has acquired two new documenties from distributor Espresso Media International.
Legend’s End: The Loch Ness Story (1 x 52-minutes) will airi on Channel 5 and The Secret Spitfires (1 x 52-minutes) will launch on 5Select.
Also airing on NHK in Japan, Legend’s End: The Loch Ness Story tells the complete and definitive story of Loch Ness and the monster that purportedly lurks there, from a detailed forensic examination of evidence – photographic, filmed, anecdotal and cultural – to the first-hand stories of those who claim to have seen the monster while being drawn to both the phenomenon and the place.
The Secret Spitfires, meanwhile uncovers the best kept secret in World War Two, told by the few that were involved in the mystery. After relentless bombing of the Spitfire factories in Southampton, the Germans were convinced they had halted the production of the Spitfires for good. However, Britain had a secret plan.
Through unique eyewitness accounts, never-before-seen footage and unprecedented access to some of the hidden locations involved in this important operation, the film revealsthe unknown story of hundreds of women, girls and a handful of men who built Spitfires in secret during the conflict.
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