BBC Series ‘The Split’ Gets Italian Version – Global Bulletin

FORMAT

BBC Studios has revealed a format agreement for an Italian version of Abi Morgan‘s hit show “The Split.” Locally titled “Studio Battaglia,” the screenplay has been adapted by Lisa Nur Sultan (Golden Globe winner for “On My Skin”) and is directed by Simone Spada (“Hotel Gagarin”). The Italian cast includes Barbora Bobulova, (“Sacred Heart”), Miriam Dalmazio (“Anna”), Marina Occhionero (“Monterossi”), Lunetta Savino (“Saturn in Opposition”), Massimo Ghini (“The New Pope”) Thomas Trabacchi (“Nico, 1988”) and Giorgio Marchesi (“Medici”) .

Originally produced by “Chernobyl” maker Sister in association with Little Chick, the six-part Italian series is produced by Palomar with Tempesta Film in collaboration with Rai Fiction. Production is completed and the series will premiere in 2022. Italy is the third market to license the format after Turkey’s MF Yapim adapting the series as “Evlilik Hakkinda Her Sey” (“All About Marriage”) for Fox TV in Turkey and Korean broadcaster JTBC licensing it in 2020.

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“The Split” was broadcast in the UK on BBC One in 2018 and co-produced with Sundance TV in the U.S.. The world of the divorce circuit provides the backdrop to the story of three sisters, each navigating complex relationships at work and at home. The second series, which averaged over six million and over 19 million streams, became the third most watched drama series on BBC iPlayer in 2020. In Feb. 2021 a third and final series of “The Split” was confirmed.

The deal was brokered by Tommaso Muffato, sales executive at BBC Studios.

APPOINTMENTS

Studiocanal’s Red Production Company has hired Margaret Conway as head of production, reporting into CEO Sarah Doole. Conway will oversee productions across the company’s scripted and factual slate. She takes up the role from March 21. Conway produced “Brassic” (Sky/Hulu) and her line producer credits include “Fresh Meat” (Channel 4) and “The Night Watch.”

Meanwhile, Ziyanda Ngcaba will take the helm at BBC Studios-backed South African production company Rapid Blue from Apr. 1, replacing Duncan Irvine, who will step down as CEO after 30 years. Ngcaba joined Rapid Blue in 2020 as executive producer and business director, before being elevated to managing director in 2021. During her time in this role, Rapid Blue produced the seventh season of SAFTA award-winning production, “Come Dine With Me South Africa” and original series “Homegrown Tastes South Africa.”

Irvine is moving on to a new venture, providing services to brands, broadcasters and production companies in the areas of content development, packaging and funding solutions.

PARTNERSHIP

Indian pop star Armaan Malik and Warner Music India have signed a strategic partnership for Malik’s music label Always Music Global. The label will release the musician’s Hindi-language non-film music, while working with him on building IPs, backed by the distribution network of Warner Music India.

SALES

U.K. sales firm 101 Films International, the sales division of Amcomri Entertainment Inc, has boarded world sales on feature film “18½.” Inspired by the Watergate scandal, the film is set in 1974 and follows a White House transcriber who is thrust into the forefront of events when she obtains the only copy of the infamous 18½ minute gap in President Richard Nixon’s tapes. The film is directed by Dan Mirvish (“Bernard and Huey”) and written by Daniel Moya (“Scroll Back”). It has had considerable festival play including at Woodstock, Tallgrass and Rome. The cast includes Willa Fitzgerald (“Reacher”), Bruce Campbell (“The Evil Dead”) as Nixon and Jon Cryer (“Two and a Half Men”).

Meanwhile, A+E Networks Global Content Sales has sold its hit format “Alone,” the self-shot survival competition series, to broadcaster SBS in Australia. “Alone Australia,” to be produced by ITV Studios Australia, will see ten Australian survivalists dropped into the Australian wilderness, where they’ll be challenged by the forces of nature and hunger, and isolation. The show has been on for eight seasons on the History Channel in the U.S. There have also been Danish, Norwegian and Swedish versions.

RE-RELEASE

Apple Original Films is re-releasing Oscar-nominated “CODA” for a limited theatrical run free-of-charge and with open captions in major cities across the U.S. and London, U.K., from Feb. 25 through Feb. 27. Audiences at a showing in Los Angeles can participate in a live Q&A with the cast and writer/director Siân Heder, which will have translators in ASL.

Seacia Pavao

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