DISNEY+ SWOOPS ON ‘RALPH & KATIE’
Keshet International (KI) has closed a weighty multi-territorial deal with Disney+ on “Ralph & Katie,”the new 6×30’ comedy-drama spinoff from “The A World.” Sale forms part of a wider agreement that includes all three seasons of “The A Word,” the BBC One drama. Disney+ has licensed multiple rights for both titles across all of Europe, (excluding the U.K.), the Middle East and Africa.
“The A Word” will be available on Disney+ across the Nordics and Belgium. Launches are also slated for Portugal, Italy, Spain and France from November, then Germany, Austria and Switzerland in the New Year. “Ralph & Katie” will debut in early 2023.
“Being part of the team which has helpedKeren Margalit’s‘Yellow Peppers’ develop from a beautiful family drama in Israel into a returning primetime BBC One drama, that has sold in more than 80 territories and spawned its own spin-off, is incredibly satisfying,” saidKeren Shahar,KI’s COO and president of distribution. “We are so thrilled that buyers are as captivated with Leon and Sarah’s performances as we are.”
Co-produced by ITV Studios and Keshet U.K., in association with Tiger Aspect for BBC One, “Ralph & Katie” is a feel-good comedy-drama set during a first year of marriage. “The A Word” is based on “Yellow Peppers,” an Israeli series written and created by Keren Margalit for Keshet Broadcasting.
KI is returning to Cannes with its biggest delegation since 2019. New titles include the biopic miniseries “Cuba Libre,” “Summer of Sorrow,” and “Too Much Love.”
CINEFLIX PRE-SELLS ‘LAST KING’
Cineflix Rights has pre-sold Helium’s ten-part Australian crime drama “Last King of The Cross” to Sky. StarringTim Roth, the series will air exclusively in all Sky territories in Italy, the UK, Ireland and Germany, the company has announced.
Inspired byJohn Ibrahim’sbest-selling autobiography, which follows his rise from a poverty-stricken immigrant to Australia’s nightclub kingpin, “Last King of The Cross” tells the story of two brothers who lose each other in their ascent to power.
Set in Sydney’s Kings Cross in the 1980s and 1990s, the cast includesLincoln Younes(“Grand Hotel,” “Tangle”),Claude Jabbour(“Eden,” “Stateless”), andCallan Mulvey(“300: Rise of an Empire”). Cineflix Rights is the exclusive international distribution partner.
RIGHTS ACQUISITION
Atresmedia Televisión has acquired rights to the word-guessing gameshow “Password” at Mipcom. The new adaptation of the format will be produced locally by Fremantle Spain. The format is a highlight in Fremantle’s entertainment slate at the market.
“Password” was previously revived in the U.S. by NBC, starringJimmy Fallonand hosted byKeke Palmer. The refreshed series launched as the most-watched new unscripted series premiere of the summer, across the U.S. broadcast networks.
STEVE JonES GOES BEYOND
Seasoned television executiveSteve Joneshas joinedBeyond Rights’ London-based team to fill the newly created role, as SVP of development. His brief is to develop original ideas for returnable, popular factual series that meet demand in the market. Jones has worked in the U.K. and Australia in a range of high-profile positions, including commissioning editor and executive producer, entertainment and factual, at Sky 1; executive producer, factual and factual entertainment at Discovery Networks Europe; development executive and series producer at CJZ Productions; and executive producer and development executive at Endemol Southern Star. He also co-foundedBig Little Fish Televisionin 2019, the U.K. indie he co-ran for more than two years.
RETURN TO SPACE
Australia’sSLR Productions has announced production on season two of the award-winning original CGI animated series,“Space Nova”forABC ME. The 15 x 22-minute season has received significant production funding from bothScreen Australiaand theAustralian Children’s Television Foundationas well as development funding from ABC ME and Create NSW.“Space Nova”will be co-produced withGiggle Garagein Malaysia and distributed internationally byZDF Studios, with ACTF representing the series across Australia and New Zealand. Targeting a six- to ten-year-old global audience, the first season sold to broadcasters or streamers in Germany, the U.K., Norway, Finland, Sweden, Poland, the U.S, Singapore, East Asia, Indonesia, and Brazil.
SLR gives the logline as: “On the brink of their greatest mission ever – travelling to the incredible Stardustian’s planet – the Novas’ ship is almost destroyed, throwing them off course and strandingtheir new friend Ziggy in parts unknown. Now, to find Ziggy and unravel a ‘universal imbalance’, the Novaswill have to challenge everything they thought they knew about space: see the unseeable, know the unknow-able, and find theunfindable.”
LION’S LAST ROAR
Zee Plus, the co-production and development arm of India’sZee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd.,has announced“The Lion’s Last Roar,” as its latest co-productionwith the U.K.’sTalesmith. The series, to be distributed internationally byTVF, is currently in production and will be available in March 2023. The premium documentary two-parter is filmed in 4K and explores topic of lion conservation. India is the only country outside Africa where lions live wild, but their numbers have collapsed. Zee Plus and Talesmith previously partnered on“Life of Earth: From Space”and“Life of Earth: The Age of Humans,” for Zee Entertainment and Smithsonian Networks.
SEX TRAFFICKING
“The New Abolitionists,” a documentary film byChristina Zorich, will kick off its Oscar-qualifying run on Friday at the Laemmle Monica Film Center in Santa Monica. The film tracks Zorich’s journey as she follows committed abolitionists, Christian ministries and NGOs, throughout Southeast Asia as they attempt to put an end to human sex trafficking in Cambodia and Thailand. The film is presented as part of “Kat Kramer’s Films That Change The World,” a selection of films and documentaries that raise awareness of important social issues, founded byKatharine Kramer.
ATF PITCHING
Singapore’sAsia TV Forum and Marketis to launch two pitching sessions, one in partnership with streamerVidio, looking at the Indonesian market, the other withWarner Bros. Discoveryin search for drama concepts for the Thai market. Finalists of both pitches will get to pitch their ideas to industry veterans during the ATF (Dec. 7 to 9, 2022) at the Marina Bay Sands Convention Centre, as part of the Singapore Media Festival (SMF) hosted by theInfocomm Media Development Authority. The market has previously announced other pitching sessions covering animation, formats, Chinese content and an IP accelerator.
