Erik Barmack’s Wild Sheep Sets Mexican Rom-Com ‘Butterflies,’ an Adal Romanes Unscripted and Lucia Puenzo’s Gangster Epic (EXCLUSIVE)
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L.A.-based Wild Sheep Content, headed by former Netflix international honcho Erik Barmack, is adapting German No.1 bestseller “When Butterflies Fly Loops” for Mexico, as it branches out into unscripted with Adal Ramones, Mexico’s No.1 standup, and boards Lucía Puenzo’s gangster epic, “The Gunwoman (Pepita’s Legend).”
Starring Luisana Lopilato, and just announced, “Gunwoman” reps a “giant story” account, said Puenzo, of real life mobster Margarita Di Tulio, which is backed by a far-ranging consortium of good and great players in and outside Argentina.
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All three titles see Wild Sheep driving ever deeper into big IP in highly packaged and star-laden projects, while branching out in sectors and territorial reach – strategies which may well become text-book tactics as streamers and broadcasters pull back on commissions or buys over much of international.
Their announcement comes three days before Jimena Rodríguez, producer of “Three Idiots” and head of Mexico City-based Wild Sheep Latin America from its February launch, will co-deliver a MipCancun keynote with actor-producer Manolo Cardona at 11:11 Films & TV on Building IP in a Changing World, which looks like one of MipCancun’s most significant panels this year.
Launched by Erik Barmack, a former Netflix international chief with oversight over shows such as “The Witcher,” “La Casa de Papel,” “Kingdom,” and “Sacred Games,” Wild Sheep Content has sold 15 projects to nine global partners over its first two years of operation. MSC is backed by The Mediapro Studio.
The news in more depth:
‘When Butterflies Fly Loops’
Wild Sheep Latin America is teaming with TelevisaUnivision’s movie distribution arm Videocine, by far Mexico’s biggest distributor of national films, to develop a Mexican adaptation of “When Butterflies Fly Loops,” German bestselling author Petra Hülsmann’s second title, published in 2015, in the six-novel “The Hamburg Series,” big IP which has sold 2.3 million books in Germany alone.
Hulsmann’s six novels are set in a quaint idyllic Hamburg: Ottensen, cafe terrace Alsterperle, street-corner bars and Elbe beach. In the big screen Mexican makeover, the action moves to Mexico City, and from Hamburg soccer club to a TV network.
The basic premise remains, however, the same: a second chance life tale that doubles down on the unexpected, as the female protagonist’s life plan is thrown a curveball by a male figure who seems her complete opposite.
In the Mexican adaptation, with big hopes of advancing her career as a news producer, Isabel moves to Mexico City thinking she has landed her dream job at a big network. But to her surprise, this “dream job” is actually playing nanny to the network’s playboy star anchorman, Miguel.
Isabel wants to focus on her career but, as she spends more time with Miguel, the sparks between them become undeniable, the synopsis runs.
“What’s great about this project is the interconnectivity from one side of the world to the other through stories that can be embraced and felt by audiences regardless of their location,” said Rodríguez.
The movie is being readied for 2024.
Rodríguez added that “Butterflies” is penned by Angélica Gudiño and writing partner Juan Carlos Garzón, behind past successful Mexican romcoms such as “Thirtysomething, Single and Fantastic,” which grossed $6.9 million in Mexico for Videocine in 2016, and most recently “Sobreviviendo mis XV,” released this September by Videocine to $3.5 million in theaters by late October.
‘Mission Comedy’
Continuing its star-studded packaging in Latin America, “Mission Comedy” heads Adal Romanes, a household name in Mexico after his star turn hosting iconic comedic variety show “Otro Rollo” over 1995-2007, becoming Mexico’s most famous stand-up.
“The Mexican comedian,” said Wild Sheep Content’s Jocelyn Wexler, Ramones now stars in a back-to-the -roots unscripted traveling comedy show taking him across Mexico. It is created by Ramones and Gustavo Proal, who has written sketches for Eugenio Dérbez and is a project and IP developer for Enchufé TV’s Touché Films and has been head writer for Paramount’s Backdoor.
Wild Sheep Latin America is developing “Mission Comedy” with Jonathan Bouzali at Kuter (“Souvenir,” “37 Kms”), a Mexico City film production and services company. In “Mission Comedy,” Romanes road trips around Mexico back to the cities which marked him, seeing his triumphs and heartbreaks.
As he walks down memory road with also often famous comedian friends from his past, he’s also on a mission to find new talent. Romanes’ aim is to help them on their journey in the comedy world, inviting one budding stand-up to a real-life final season extravaganza showcase where they perform a three-minute set at an event which is designed as a huge in-person activation to help launch their careers and the show.
“Mission Comedy” “brings audiences into the private lives of some of the most popular celebrities in Mexico, and is visually stunning, highlighting the beauty of Mexico, while a comedy with characters audiences will care about, without the budget/development of a scripted series,” Wexler argued.
Set to visit Monterrey, Mexico City, Merida, Guadalajara, Chiapas and Tijuana, “Mission City” also rolls off the potent mix of comedy and travel, Barmack observed, citing Netflix show “Jack Whitehall: Travels With My Father” and “De Viaje con Los Dérbez.” a massive hit on Amazon’s Prime Video, staying in its top 10 for weeks not just in Mexico but across Latin America.
Given Ramones’ large fan base in Latin America, the show “could really grow into a franchise we can take from Mexico to other countries of Latin America and Adal has a big U.S. Hispanic following,” Wexler added.
‘The Gunwoman (Pepita’s Legend)’
Marking Wild Sheep’s expansion into Argentina, after titles in Mexico (Netflix Original “Invitation to Murder”), Chile (crime mystery series “Cromosoma 21”) and Brazil (kids/tweens sci-fi TV show “Mila and the Multiverse”), Wild Sheep Content has also boarded “The Gunwoman (Pepita’s Legend).”
It joins a consortium led by Argentina’s Zeppelin Studio, headed by Lucas Jinkis, as well as Historias Cinematográficas, Yair Dori, Bar Rimoni, Javier Furgang, 7395 Media and Non Stop Studios.
Wild Sheep Content will come in as an executive producer and co-financier as well as distribution partners in Asia and North America.
“It’s a really cool project, a big, big story, a kind of ‘Goodfellas’ in Argentina, made by one of the top couple of filmmakers in Latin America, period, with a top actress, and a period piece based on the most famous female gangster in Argentina,” said Barmack.
“We’re all equity participants, investing to get the film financed. With pedigreed filmmakers whose ambitions are larger than just a particular country, we are creating large structures like the U.S. studios do, having people who can help get the proper financing around the world,” he added.
“With Jimena’s leadership, there are a lot of different ways we can approach market challenges, with equity, which is what we’re doing with Lucia Puenzo’s film, with talent management, which is what we’re doing with Adal, or IP, which is what we’re doing with ‘Butterflies,’” Barmack noted.
“At this point we have relationships with Videocine, Cinepolis, Netflix, Amazon and Paramount. We’re pretty active in the market in Mexico, and Latin America has become our biggest markets by far,” he concluded.
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