Fremantle’s Fiction Valley Ties With ‘Dirty Lines’ Creator Pieter Bart Korthuis
Fremantle label Fiction Valley has struck a three-year deal with Netflix’s Dirty Lines creator and showrunner Pieter Bart Korthuis. The agreement will see Fiction Valley, which is run by Annemike van Vliet, develop and produce a slate of scripted drama series from Korthuis, one of Holland’s leading creatives. The pair have already tied on Dirty Lines, Netflix’s series about late-1980s Amsterdam and Korthuis’ other work includes political series The Year of Fortuyn and Penoza. Fiction Valley’s credits include Suspects and a remake of The A-Word. “Pieter’s extraordinary talent as creator, writer, director and showrunner is unique and beyond limits,” said van Vliet. Striking talent deals and acquiring labels is a key plank of Fremantle’s strategy at the moment and the group signed a landmark deal with Angelina Jolie earlier this year.
Beta Cinema strikes UK and North American pre-sales for tragicomedy ‘My Neighbor Adolf’
Germany’s Beta Cinema has had a solid start to the Cannes Films Festival by pre-selling rights to English-language tragicomedy My Neighbour Adolf to several buyers. Cohen Media Group has taken North American rights, Signature Entertainment picked up the UK and Ireland, I Wonder took Italy, Lumix Media snapped up rights in South Korea and Tohokushinsha grabbed them in Japan. The film, set in Colombia in May 1960, follows a grumpy Holocaust survivor who suspects his new neighbor is Adolf Hitler. Leon Prudovsky (Five Hours From Paris) is director, with David Hayman and Udo Kier starring.
NENT Group Rebrands To Viaplay Group
Scandi content player NENT Group has officially changed its name to Viaplay Group. The move was rubberstamped by shareholders at an AGM earlier today. It is a reflection of NENT’s focus on streaming, as SVoD Viaplay is rolled out to key territories including the U.S. and targets 70 international original launches this year alone. Speaking to Deadline in February, Chief Content Officer Filippa Wallestam said she is seeking U.S. distribution partners to entrench the streamer in the nation.
Channel 4 Seeks Next Big Entertainment Show Via Pilot Scheme
Channel 4 has launched an initiative with Screen Scotland to fund the development of new entertainment ideas, with the plan of launching a pilot during the Christmas period with a Scotland-based indie this year. The pair’s ambition is to continue with this piloting model to launch new ideas around Christmas in the hope that they have potential for further commissions. The initiative will be overseen by Channel 4 commissioners Phil Harris and Steven Handley along with Screen Scotland’s Dani Carlaw, all of whom will shortly host a briefing for Scottish production companies to explain next steps. The BBC initiated a similar process recently, releasing a tender for entertainment formats that would have to be based in Scotland, which resulted in the commissioning of The Tournament and Bridge of Lies. Harris, who heads up Entertainments and Live Events commissioning for Gogglebox network Channel 4, said: “The entertainment team has made a concerted push to broaden our supplier base and on-screen content and our partnership with screen Scotland is the latest step in that process.”
‘Moonage Daydream’ to open Sheffield DocFest
Brett Morgen’s Moonage Daydream will open the 2022 Sheffield DocFest in the UK on June 23. The film is billed as a “genre-defying immersion into the art and sounds of David Bowie.” It will take place at Sheffield’s City Hall, 50 years after the great musician and artist Bowie first played the historic. Universal Pictures Content Group is releasing the film internationally. The festival runs from June 23-28, with a full line-up to come on May 31.