Your once-a-month recap for trends in the scripted sector, with news digests, interviews, analysis & more.

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From book adaptations and real-life dramas to vertical-video growth, romance commissions, anime, and regional momentum in Canada, Iberia, and Türkiye, a look back at the headlines that defined the summer in international drama.

What's Inside:

• Clutter Busters: Real People, Historical Backdrops, & Novel Takes
• A Minute to Win It
• In the Mood for Love
• Prime Crime
• Anime, Asian Gains & Adult Animation
• Globe-Trotting: CanCon, Iberian Ideation, Turkish Delight

Clutter Busters: Real People, Historical Backdrops, & Novel Takes

Peak TV may be over, but the challenge of discovery remains, translating into a continued need for something for audiences to hook onto. And this summer indeed saw a raft of announcements about book adaptations and shows inspired by real-life events and people.

In terms of book-based IP, Kill Jackie, a new eight-part revenge thriller from Fremantle and Steel Springs Pictures starring and exec-produced by Catherine Zeta-Jones, based on the novel The Price You Pay by Sunday Times best-selling author Nick Harkaway, writing as Aidan Truhen, was licensed to AMC+ in the U.S. and HBO Max across Europe. Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire is set to return for a fourth season at AMC Global Media under the title Anne Rice’s Queen of the Damned. Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa and Francesco Francavilla’s bestselling comic book series Afterlife with Archie is set for adaptation at Warner Bros. Television for Disney+, with Greg Berlanti on board as EP. FOX Entertainment Global is handling the international distribution rights on a new adaptation of the Henry James novel The Portrait of a Lady, set to air on PBS Masterpiece in the U.S. and BBC One in the U.K. WEBTOON Productions and Espotlight sealed a first-look deal for Spanish-language film and TV adaptations of Wattpad webnovels, while the Korean webtoon outfit Torycoms struck a partnership to elevate its IPs globally with U.S. and U.K.-based IP management company Rock & Rose Studios. Carnival Films, a division of Universal International Studios, secured an order from Peacock for The Break-In, adapted from Katherine Faulkner’s bestselling mystery novel.

ScreenMDM Scripted also covered a lot of commissions and sales of drama series set against the backdrop of real events or inspired by real people. Backed by the European Alliance and distributed by Mediawan Rights, the drama series Kabul, set against the backdrop of the real-life events in August 2021 in Afghanistan, was picked up by BBC Four and iPlayer. K 2000 and 100 Balas are producing a new Spanish original for SkyShowtime, Death in Llanes (Muerte en Llanes), adapted from a podcast about the murder of councilor Javier Ardines. Jeff Pope’s Etta Pictures at ITV Studios landed a commission from ITV for a scripted series about how social media is impacting children, telling the stories of families campaigning for online safety. VICE Studios’ award-winning Maternity: Broken Trust documentary is being developed into a scripted series by its Cuba Pictures label, with Jason Isaacs set to star. Netflix is prepping an adaptation of Brazilian author and playwright Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s autobiography, Happy Old Year, with Amaia and O2 Filmes.

In the world of reboots, remakes and revivals, Sony Pictures Television secured deals in every major region for S.W.A.T. Exiles, including a U.S. placement on STARZ, and Globo’s Anything Goes, a remake of a hit telenovela from the 1980s, expanded its reach with new deals in Chile and Peru. The fate of one of the biggest brands in international drama, Doctor Who, meanwhile, remains in question. The BBC shelved plans for the 2026 Christmas special as Russell T Davies and Bad Wolf exited the show, with the long-running brand being put out to competitive tender.

A Minute to Win It

The vertical video space is expanding rapidly into other genres, but it remains anchored in microdramas, a segment that generated a lot of headlines on ScreenMDM this summer. Mark Stern and Lloyd Braun launched Intelligent Animation, a new artist-led AI animation studio, with two shows slated for aTwist, the soon-to-launch microseries studio and platform co-founded by Braun, Jana Winograde, and Susan Rovner. ReelShort entered into a co-production alliance with South Korean content studio SHOWBOX for a slate of short-form series aimed at the global market. Southeast Asian microdrama producer Loomi Entertainment Group saw its first English-language vertical series, The Wolf King’s Forbidden Bride, land on DramaBox. One Life Studios licensed 60 Indian microdrama series to digital platforms in Southeast Asia.

In the Mood for Love

Reality dating formats on global streamers are losing out as platforms embrace first-run scripted romance commissions, Ampere Analysis said in new research. Scripted shows accounted for 83% of first-run romance commissions in the first half of this year, with 40% of those being literary IP-based; in the first half of 2022, the split between reality romance and scripted romance was about equal. Scripted romance’s appeal among the YA set is driving these gains. Almost half of the 18 to 24 set said they enjoyed the scripted romance genre in Q1 of this year, Ampere found, seven percentage points higher than the global average across all demos. The genre remains a reliable bet for this sector, having maintained steady interest since 2020 while others have declined, including comedy, action and adventure, and crime and thriller.

Prime Crime

Crime and thriller may have lost some share to romance, but there was no shortage of commissions or sales deals for the genre this summer, running the gamut from dark, gritty shows to light, blue-sky series. HBO Max acquired Russell T Davies’ Quay Street Productions drama Tip Toe from ITV Studios for 14 territories across Europe. The crime drama Mafia, distributed by Viaplay Content Distribution, secured placements in 41 international markets ahead of its Swedish premiere. With production underway on a second season, Great Southern Television’s Blue Murder Motel for TVNZ notched up a range of deals for APC. 5 commissioned Pernel Media’s Last Resort (w.t.) for 2027, with STUDIOCANAL handling international distribution.

Anime, Asian Gains & Adult Animation

Anime has entered the global franchise era, Parrot Analytics said in a recent study, as live-action adaptations almost tripled their share of global audience demand from 2025. The research, conducted with the Association of Japanese Animations (AJA), also highlighted soaring anime demand; the genre delivered $21.9 billion in global streaming and merchandising revenues in 2024. Live-action film and series adaptations of anime saw their share of global demand increase from 0.09% in 2020 to 0.26% in 2025. This was accompanied by a significant rise in volume, from 73 titles in 2020 to 395 titles in 2025. New adaptations unveiled this summer included Netflix slating a new Japanese live-action take on the manga-based Parasyte universe following a successful Korean adaptation in 2024.

Japan and Korea remain Asia’s biggest scripted content exporters, with anime and Korean drama taking root in a slew of markets, including India. The country is said to be the third-largest market for anime worldwide, and Prime Video India recently sealed a significant deal with CJ ENM covering more than 100 titles over two years. As Asian producers and platforms look to elevate their offerings, new collaboration opportunities are emerging, like kiDnap GAME, with Japanese broadcaster Fuji TV teaming up with PCCW Media’s MakerVille and Korea’s SimStory for the pan-Asian thriller shot in cities across the region.

The summer also saw increased activity in the international adult animation market, with Brown Bag Films unveiling Bad Pencil Animation, focused on genres such as horror, drama, comedy, and action; Banijay Kids & Family taking on the distribution rights to Belzebubs, a mockumentary-style adult animated series from Pyjama Films, co-produced by Movimenti Production and Mago Production; and TeamTO working with the U.S. animation studio Martian Blueberry on an anime-inspired series for adults, Junichiro Jackson.

Globe-Trotting: CanCon, Iberian Ideation, Turkish Delight

The breakout success of Heated Rivalry has reignited interest in Canada’s scripted prowess. Bell Media has been working to scale its scripted ambitions, recently signing a first-look deal with Jeff Frost’s Bristol Circle Entertainment for scripted content for CTV and Crave. This summer also saw Fiasco Global Media and Bonus Production Services join forces to drive the creation of new scripted TV projects out of Canada.

Major headlines out of the Iberian media industry this summer included Secuoya Studios and Telemundo Studios partnering to develop, produce, and finance premium Spanish-language content for international audiences. Meanwhile, MIP Cancun unveiled a pitching initiative for scripted projects with international potential from Spain, LatAm, Portugal, and the U.S. Hispanic market. Interest in content from Portugal is picking up traction, Carlota Vieira, content sales deputy director at SIC International Distribution, told ScreenMDM Talks ahead of NEM Dubrovnik.

We also spotlighted the Turkish drama industry in time for NEM, delivering insightful conversations with Müge Akar, group head of sales and distribution at ATV, Canan Koca at OGM UNIVERSE, and Aslı Serim, head of content at Calinos Entertainment.