Sky seeking scripted surge


By Andy Fry
June 1, 2015

Greenlight
Sky boss Jeremy Darroch
Sky boss Jeremy Darroch

At MipTV, Jeremy Darroch, CEO of European pay TV broadcaster Sky, gave a keynote interview during which he talked about the company’s ambition to increase its investment in scripted content. A key focus of his attention was the UK-based channel Sky Atlantic, which deals primarily in high-end scripted content.

Sky Atlantic launched in 2011 on the back of a wide-ranging content supply arrangement with HBO in the US. This was renewed and expanded last year, with the two companies announcing their intention to coproduce “epic” dramas.

Running in parallel with this partnership, Sky Atlantic has also assiduously built relationships with other key players in the international drama arena. In 2013, it coproduced The Tunnel with Canal+ in France (a detective drama based on acclaimed Swedish/Danish copro The Bridge). Soon after, it partnered with Endemol on arctic thriller Fortitude – a series that, despite a slightly indigestible narrative and the puzzling under-use of actors Christopher Eccleston and Stanley Tucci, did a good job of attracting new viewers to the channel and secured a second run.

In the last couple of weeks, Sky Atlantic has given further insight into its drama ambitions. First came the news that it is to coproduce The Young Pope, starring Jude Law, with HBO and Canal+. And now it has announced that it will partner NBC on 10-part plague drama Patient Zero (w/t). Like Fortitude, Patient Zero will be produced by Fifty Fathoms and will also star Tucci. It will tell the story of a global pandemic that turns those infected into predators, addicted to violence.

Stanley Tucci as he appears in Fortitude
Stanley Tucci, pictured here in Fortitude, will star in Patient Zero

Underlining the scale of the channel’s ambition in drama, Patient Zero is being written by Graham Moore (The Imitation Game) and directed by Marc Forster (World War Z). Commenting, Sky head of drama Anne Mensah said: “As we continue to bring our customers more original drama, I am delighted to be partnering with two creatives at the top of their game (Moore and Forster) in a thriller that will grip from the outset. We’re excited to be expanding our relationship with NBC/NBC Universal and it’s great to be working with Fifty Fathoms after the huge success with Fortitude.”

For the last couple of years, there’s been a gradual trend towards Hollywood movies being remade as TV series. There’s a commercial logic to this, because it means the spin-off shows can launch with in-built brand awareness. But creatively this trend has the potential to be quite claustrophobic, with films that only just managed to fill 120 minutes being stretched out across 10 hours.

Urban Cowboy, the 1980 movie starring John Travolta, is being remade for TV
Urban Cowboy, the 1980 movie starring John Travolta, is being remade for TV

Whether this movies-as-pilots-for-TV-series trend can work at an industrial scale will become clearer by the end of this year, because there are so many examples coming through at the US networks. CBS, for example, has greenlit Rush Hour and Limitless, while ABC is developing Uncle Buck (based on the 1989 John Candy comedy of the same name). Fox, having already announced plans to adapt Minority Report, has now revealed that it has given a script order to Urban Cowboy, a drama based on the 1980 romantic movie starring John Travolta. Craig Brewer (Hustle & Flow) will write, direct and executive produce the drama.

Interestingly, this movie-to-TV trend is also beginning to catch on outside the US production system. In the UK, Buccaneer Media has announced plans to make a TV series based on the 2014 indie sci-fi film Robert Overlords (produced by Tempo Productions). The plan is for the spin-off series to target a family audience – along the lines of BBC Worldwide’s international hit Doctor Who. Buccaneer will work with Tempo on the project, which imagines a world in which humanity has been enslaved by robots. Tempo’s Piers Tempest, who produced the film, said: “This series will really expand the canvas of the robot occupation and we are aiming to make an explosive show that the UK will be very proud of.”

The Wicked + The Divine is the latest comic to be adapted for television
The Wicked + The Divine is the latest comic to be adapted for television

Alongside movies, graphic novels/comics have become an increasingly important source of ideas for scripted series (see Michael Pickard’s feature about this trend). The latest idea to get a pick up is The Wicked + The Divine, from Kieron Gillen, Jamie McKelvie and Matt Wilson. An award-winning series about a group of people with superhuman powers known as The Pantheon, the property has been picked up by Universal and will be developed by Matt Fraction and Kelly Sue DeConnick via their company Milkfed Criminal Masterminds. MCM signed a deal with Universal in February to make TV shows based on comics.

Finally, BBC1 has announced plans for a new pre-watershed period drama series, to be written by Barry Devlin (Ballykissangel, Darling Buds of May). Titled My Mother and Other Strangers, this 5×60’ series follows the fortunes of a rural family, the Coynes, when a huge US Air Force airfield is built in their parish. Set in Northern Ireland during World War Two, it will be made by BBC Northern Ireland with funding from Northern Ireland Screen.

Commenting on the project, Barry Devlin says: “I wanted to write a series that had an exotic love story at its heart but that was set in a place I recognise. So I’m delighted the BBC has commissioned the series. It’s really great to be part of a story about Northern Ireland that is entirely originated and filmed here.”

In other scripted news, UK broadcaster ITV has acquired Poldark producer Mammoth Screen. Check out C21 Media for details.

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