Beta Film Boards ‘The Pleasure Principle’ (EXCLUSIVE)

By John Hopewell

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – MADRID — Strengthening its activities in Eastern Europe as the region makes ever more ambitiously financed shows, Munich’s Beta Film has boarded crime thriller “The Pleasure Principle,” the first ever international TV production between three Eastern Europe countries.

Written by Maciej Maciejewski, a scribe on TVP’s Polish crime TV series “The Cop,” “The Pleasure Principle” is produced by Apple Film Production – the company behind “”The Passing Bells,” made for BBC, TVP, BBC America – and Arte, in co-production with Canal+ Poland, Czech TV and Star Media and in association with .

Currently in post-production, the crime thriller will the subject of a panel discussion at the Series Mania Forum on Tuesday.

The ten-hour series is helmed and showrun by multi-awarded director Dariusz Jablonski (“Photographer”), a Polish documentary filmmaker and producer. It stars Malgorzata Buczkowska (“I Am You”) in the main role, alongside Karel Roden (“The Bourne Supremacy”), Stipe Erceg (“The Baader Meinhof Complex“) and Sergey Strelnikow (“Ekaterina”).

Currently in post-production, shooting in Warsaw, Prague and the rustic Black Sea coast around Odessa, “The Pleasure Principle” kicks off with parts of young women’s bodies being found in the three different locations within a day of one another. Three different police criminal investigators from the Ukraine, Poland and Czech Republic conclude they’re the work of the same murderer and putting aside their differences, partner in a cross-border enquiry.

The trail leads to shady businessmen, lawyers for sale, corrupt politicians, professional killers and traces of a common past. But things are seldom what they seem to be…,” the film’s synopsis runs.

“‘The Pleasure Principle’ is a challenging project that has brought together the greatest talents from three different countries who are working to create not only a series, but also what feels like a ten-hour feature film,” Jablonski commented.

He added: “Together we are making a series that will show the imagination of our side of Europe.”

Beta Film has a longtime relationship with Eastern European production companies and broadcasters, partnering with HBO Europe onAgnieszka Holland’s multi-awarded “Burning Bush” and “Wasteland” by Ivan Zacharias and Alice Nellis. Robert Dornhelm’s 2017 mini-series “Maria Theresa,” also distributed by Beta, was shot for Czech TV, Orf, Rtvs and Mtva.