‘The Baker and the Beauty,’ ‘Bloodlands,’ ‘Sea Beyond’ Set for MipTV Drama Buyers Summit
By John Hopewell
LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – ABC pickup to series “The Baker and the Beauty,” BBC One’s “Bloodlands,” Beta Film-sold “The Sea Beyond” and “Nasdrovia,” from Spanish powerhouses Movistar Plus and The Mediapro Studio, are all set for the 2020 Drama Buyers Summit.
Screening 15-minute excerpts from series – some complete, some works in progress – the 5th Summit, whose details were announced Thursday, will take place on March 29.
Based on the Israeli original, the highest-rated scripted series ever in Israeli, the re-versioned hourlong romantic comedy “The Baker and the Beauty” is now set in Miami, shownrun by “The Brave” creator Dean Georgaris and produced by Universal Television and ABC Studios, in association with Keshet Studios.
A first commission for “Bodyguard” creator Jed Mercurio’s Hat Trick Mercurio Television, with international distribution handled by Hat Trick Intl., Northern Ireland-set “Bloodlands” stars James Nesbitt as a detective hunting a legendary killer.
Otherwise, the lineup at this year’s Summit underscores the countries and companies now driving MipTV. As U.S. and U.K.-based companies pull out of MipTV – not that many made a big showing in recent years – continental European players look set to grab ever more of the limelight.
Germany’s Beta Film, for example, will introduce “The Sea Beyond,” produced for Italy’s RAI, part of Beta’s drive into young adult drama. Another big German player, ZDF Enterprises, along with Fuji TV, showcases soccer-world set drama thriller “The Window,” billed as the first ever European-Japanese scripted co-production.
A male cretin comedy drama , Movistar Plus Original “Nasdrovia,” produced with The Mediapro Studio’s Globomedia, forms part of a strong Spanish presence with Mediterraneo Mediaset España’s cop crime thriller “Disappeared,” produced, like a third Summit entry, Atresmedia-sold comedy drama “Benidorm,” by César Benítez’s fast-expanding Plano a Plano (“El Príncipe,” “Allí Abajo”).
France, meanwhile, leads the international distributor presence at the Summit with four titles.
Studiocanal and pay TV giant Canal Plus will introduce “Paris Police 1900,” a costume noir from producer Emmanuel Daucé (“Un village français”). Lagardère Studios Distribution is selling a pair of titles: Big Swedish action thriller “The Machinery,” from Anagram Sweden and Nordic Ent. Group (NENT), an innocent-on-the-run action-thriller teased by Viaplay at Göteborg; and a new season of supernatural detective drama “Beau Séjour,” the series which won 2016’s Series Mania, breaking out Belgian noir as a buzzy phenomenon,
France’s About Premium Content will introduce a second Belgian series, fantasy thriller “Unseen,” backed by Belgian public broadcaster RTBF.
Part of a burgeoning Russian drama series scene, free to air operator NTV Broadcasting Company (“The Road to Calgary”) will present “Wolf Trap.”
That’s another crime drama, one of such titles at the 2020 Drama Buyers Summit, which is hardly surprising. According to a 2019 Scripted Series Report, from Mediamétrie’s Glance, crime series alone accounted for 41% of prime-time series worldwide during the period, up three percentage points on the 2017-18 season.
2020 MipTV Drama Buyers Summit
(Details supplied by MipTV)
Beau-Séjour (Belgium)
10×45′ Whodunit with a supernatural twist
Production: De Mensen, VRT / Eén, VAF Media Fund / Flanders Image, NL Film Incentive, Gallop Tax Shelter, Belgian Tax Shelter and Creative Europe
Distribution: Lagardère Studios Distribution
Broadcaster: VRT / Eén
Benidorm (Spain)
13×50′ Comedy-drama
Production: Atresmedia TV series produced in collaboration with Plano a Plano
Distribution: Atresmedia
Broadcaster: Antena 3
Bloodlands (U.K.)
4×60′ Crime
Production: HTM Television
Distribution: Hat Trick International
Broadcaster: BBC One
Disappeared (Spain)
13×70′ Crime
Production: Mediaset España and Plano a Plano
Distribution: Mediterráneo Mediaset España Group
Broadcaster: Mediaset España
Nasdrovia (Spain)
6×30′ Comedy-drama
Production: MOVISTAR+ in collaboration with GLOBOMEDIA
Distribution: The Mediapro Studio Distribution
Broadcaster: MOVISTAR+
Paris Police 1900 (France)
8×60’ Drama
Production: Tetra Media Fiction & AFPI
Distribution: Studiocanal
Broadcaster: Canal +
The Baker and The Beauty (U.K.)
9×45’ Comedy-drama
Production: Universal Television and ABC Studios in association with Keshet Studios.
Distribution: Keshet International and NBCUniversal Global Distribution
Broadcaster: ABC
The Machinery (Sweden)
8×45′ Action Thriller
Production: Anagram Sweden, Nordic Entertainment Group, Film i Väst and Helsinki Filmi, with the support from Lindholmen Science Park, Film i Skåne, SFI and Creative Europe Media.
Distribution: Lagardère Studios Distribution
Broadcaster: Viaplay
The Sea Beyond (Italy)
12×60’ Young Adult Drama
Production: Picomedia and RAI
Distribution: Beta Film
Broadcaster: RAI
The Window (Germany)
10×45’ Drama Thriller
Production: Boogie Entertainment in coproduction with Fuji TV, ZDF Enterprises and Velvet Films
Distribution: ZDF Enterprises and Fuji TV
Broadcaster: TBA
Unseen (Belgium)
10×52′ Mystery Drama
Production: Kwassa Films
Distribution: About Premium Content
Broadcaster: RTBF & Proximus
Wolf Trap (Russian Federation)
16×50′ Drama, Crime
Production: KIT Film Studio
Distribution: NTV Broadcasting Company Russia
Broadcaster: NTV Broadcasting Company Russia
