Your once-a-month recap for trends in the scripted sector, with news digests, interviews, analysis & more.
ScreenMDM Scripted
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Co-production insights; Netflix reshuffles its content leadership and leans on licensing; K-drama deals keep coming; and crime, reboots, and known IP drive the month’s distribution activity.
What's Inside:
- High Drama: The Art of International Co-Pros with Brendan Foley
- A MIA Moment with Jane Tranter
- Navigating the World of International Drama
- Netflix’s Shift & The Licensing Opportunity
- New Opportunities: Asia & Genre
- Deal Activity: Distribution Recap
- Known IP Drives Commissions
High Drama: The Art of International Co-Pros with Brendan Foley
With credits that include the international hit Sherlock & Daughter, Brendan Foley has proven adept at creating original IP and bringing diverse partners together to get shows off the ground. He joined ScreenMDM Talks to share his expertise on the delicate art of high-end drama co-productions.
The Northern Irish creator and EP has experience working in more than 70 markets, giving him a unique perspective on the ins and outs of landing broadcast, streaming, and distribution partners. A former journalist, Foley’s recent credits include Sherlock & Daughter, the family- and YA-friendly period drama starring David Thewlis, Dougray Scott, and Blu Hunt that topped the rankings on The CW, rose to the top five on HBO Max in the U.S., and performed well in Scandinavia and Australia, among other markets.
A MIA Moment with Jane Tranter
ScreenMDM caught up with Bad Wolf CEO Jane Tranter at MIA to discuss the state of the global drama business. Tranter was in Rome for a fireside chat at the event, where she reflected on her storied career and incredible array of credits, from The Night Of to Succession and more. She spoke to ScreenMDM to share her reflections on where the scripted business stands today and how she’s viewing the new storytelling ecosystems of the creator economy and vertical video.
Navigating the World of International Drama
ScreenMDM surveyed three producer/distributors with distinct positioning to get a sense of what’s happening in the Western European ecosystem: Rebecca Dundon at multi-genre major Fremantle, which has a global scripted footprint; Samantha Cameron-Mowat of New Regency, which is using its London operation to drive forward a European slate; and Nicky Davies-Williams, from U.K.-based DCD Rights, an indie distributor that represents a growing slate of British and Australian drama.
This trend report explored the European scripted world after peak TV; finding the right funding mix, from deficit financing to soft money to investment funds; capitalizing on deep libraries; and the art of successful co-productions. Become a paid ScreenMDM Extra subscriber or ScreenMDM Club member to access it, or check out the digital. version of our MIPCOM edition.
Netflix’s Shift & The Licensing Opportunity
Just a few days after she was celebrated at MIPCOM with the Variety Vanguard Award, Netflix’s chief content officer, Bela Bajaria—who has spent the last decade scaling the streamer’s original content footprint globally—was let go to make way for Peter Rice. Speaking to analysts a few days later, as Netflix released its Q3 earnings, co-CEOs Ted Sarandos and Greg Peters addressed the restructure and lingering questions about the platform’s strategy for driving up engagement. “We’ve seen an opportunity to take our slate to the next level, especially in the U.S., where we can have an outsized impact when we create a big buzzy show that members love and talk about all over the world,” Sarandos said. “The excitement about him coming to Netflix from across the industry and from the creative community has been nothing short of overwhelming. He’s one of the really rare people in the industry who’s led TV networks, movie studios, and streaming services. He’s an at-scale quality and volume operator, and he does it across every imaginable form of entertainment: network, prestige cable, streaming, theatrical and TV films, and live sports. Most importantly, Peter Rice understands talent relations. And in a competitive market, creative talent have choices about where they want to work, and we want Netflix to always be the place they love to do the best work of their life. Peter is the exact right person to lead those efforts in the U.S. and around the world. That’s a key aspect of what I believe Peter can improve on looking forward.”
It doesn’t reflect a “fundamental shift in the strategy,” Sarandos continued. “We do need better execution in the U.S. Our content around the world is largely working. We see titles across Latin America, EMEA, APAC, driving engagement, subscriber growth, revenue, and profit. Now the U.S. is also working. It’s just not growing as fast as it could or as fast as we’d like.”
While questions remain about Netflix’s commitment to deeply local originals, the streamer has leaned heavily into licensing lately. It expanded its local slate in India via a partnership with Bengali streamer and studio hoichoi. Touted on its earnings call, the streamer also secured a landmark alliance with Globo covering 18 titles.
A recent Ampere Analysis report found that a significant 65% of acquired titles on Netflix are non-English-language, with Japan and South Korea as the top markets. Disney+ is at 50%, with Germany and Japan as its top markets. Prime Video is at 44%, while HBO Max and Paramount+ lag at 34% and 14%, respectively. This is an opportunity for distributors with compelling non-English-language IP, Ampere said. “Non-English content remains underexploited despite growing global demand,” said Tingting Li, research manager at Ampere Analysis. “In recent years, Prime Video, HBO Max and Disney+ have increasingly expanded non-English-language title licensing in multiple markets. Japanese, South Korean, French, and Turkish content present the top opportunities for international licensing, with strong audience appeal but still gaps in cross-border availability. For content owners and platforms, buying this content can bridge the gap between audience demand and international distribution.”
New Opportunities: Asia & Genre
Lots of K-drama news in the last month, including a slate joining CANAL+ Polska through a deal with CANAL+ Distribution; Beta Film scoring a batch of international sales for Snow White Must Die and Skam Korea—Fragile; Rakuten Viki launching the animated drama series The Painted Soul, co-produced with the South Korean production company Imaginus; and the expansion of Netflix’s slate, including a renewal on The Trauma Code. Netflix marked a decade of operating in Korea this month, with Sarandos on hand to mark the milestone. “For Netflix, Korea is more than a market,” he said. “It is where we discovered new possibilities, and where we learned how far a story can travel. And it is one of our most treasured partners for the future we are building together.”
In new frontiers for Japanese scripted, meanwhile, CANAL+ landed the rights to kiDnap GAME, a Fuji TV-led thriller co-production, with STUDIOCANAL taking on international distribution rights.
The genre space globally, particularly horror, is picking up steam in TV, as it has been in films for a while now. Antoine Disle, Orso Vesperini, and Olivier Compere have launched Forge Films Company. This new multiplatform genre studio has unveiled its first series, Lost in Hel, and rounded out its senior team with Léonidas Vesperini and Marc Lorber. This month, Prime Video also committed to a second season of Carrie, based on the Stephen King novel.
Deal Activity: Distribution Recap
Reboots, revivals, known IP, and the always reliable crime genre dominate this month’s recap of distribution deal activity worldwide. Wentworth: Beyond Bars, the continuation of the iconic Australian prison drama, landed at 5 via a deal brokered by Fremantle, which also scored a second-window deal on Baywatch in Italy with Rai 2. The RTÉ and BBC hit The Walsh Sisters landed a second U.K. window on Disney+ as well as a batch of deals across Europe at Cineflix Rights, following news of the show’s acquisition by Roku’s Howdy platform. Cineflix Rights also reached agreements for the English- and Scandinavian-language crime drama Hildur. The BBC acquired the new adaptation of Wallander, produced by Jarowskij/YellowBird for TV4, in a deal with Banijay Rights, which also licensed the Maigret reboot, produced by Playground, to UKTV as part of a 100-hour-plus package. The crime anthology Still Waters (Y Golau: Dŵr), from Long Story TV, APC Studios and Triongl, landed new international sales. ITV acquired The Galway Bay Murders, a six-part RTÉ commission with Kate Mulgrew and Colm Meaney, produced by Two Cities Television. Crime and romance featured in ZDF Studios’ 500-plus hours sold to 20 countries. RAI acquired from Beta Film a package of female-led drama series, including Barton Vet from Shaftesbury and BYUtv. Classic library shows fared well this month, including an HBO Max and Peacock co-exclusive for Boat Rocker Studios’ Orphan Black, and Friends returning to Channel 4. Meanwhile, on the Turkish drama front, it was a busy month for Eccho Rights, announcing an MBC presale on Hatmaker, as well as deals in South Africa and Namibia, and Portugal and MENA.
Known IP Drives Commissions
From scripted formats to book adaptations, producers are still turning to the known IP well to get properties off the ground. Fabel Entertainment secured the rights to adapt The Devil’s Business, Emanuele Midolo’s upcoming book about Archbishop Paul Marcinkus, with Tom Fontana on board as creator and showrunner. Cineverse is working with Trevor Henderson, creator of Siren Head and Cartoon Cat, to adapt the hit horror podcast Mayfair Watchers Society into a feature film, while The Black Tapes is a new supernatural horror series greenlit at MGM+ based on the hit podcast of the same name. ACT4 in Iceland, ZDF in Germany, and ZDF Studios greenlit a six-part English-language thriller with Kari Skogland directing, based on a novel by Skúli Sigurðsson and adapted for the screen by Ólafur Darri Ólafsson. Dori Media Group has joined forces with India’s Sphereorigins on a feature film about the recent attempted hijacking of an Israeli-bound flydubai flight. Hulu picked up Ryan Coogler’s reboot of The X-Files from Onyx Collective and produced by 20th Television in association with Proximity Media. Filmlance is producing for My Mother, the second installment in Karin Smirnoff’s bestselling Jana Kippo saga, for SVT. A Fábrica is adapting the Raphael Montes psychological thriller Uma Mulher no Escuro for Globoplay. BBC Studios’ hit light crime series Death in Paradise is getting its first remake, with an adaptation in the works for Croatia. Greece’s Alpha TV launched its remake of Nippon TV’s hit drama series Woman -My Life for My Children-, its second scripted format deal with the Japanese media group following the success of the Mother adaptation Na me les mama.
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