Gaumont UK Options TM Logan’s ‘The Mother’; Newen Digital Launch; Rai True Crime Drama; ‘Aliens FC’; Ukrainian Content Club Docs; NATPE Budapest – Global Briefs

Max Goldbart
Updated ·5 min read

Gaumont UK Options TM Logan’s ‘The Mother’

Gaumont UK has picked up rights to TM Logan’s The Mother and will develop the thriller as a returning drama series. Released earlier this year, The Mother starts from the shadows, as a woman attends her own funeral after serving 10 years in jail for the murder of her husband. With two grieving sons in mourning, it’s evident she will stop at nothing to clear her name and reconnect with her children. Gaumont UK President Alison Jackson said she was “instantly fascinated” by the story, calling it a “tantalising addictive read with a brilliantly complex female protagonist.” Gaumont also has rights to Sixteen Horses, Dog Rose Dirt, and Dressed For War: The Story of Audrey Withers. It was most recently behind Netflix thriller Obsession starring Richard Armitage with Moonage Pictures along with Channel 5 thriller For Her Sins. The UK hub opened five years ago. The Mother deal was struck by Sheila David of Catapult Rights and Sarah Woolway for Gaumont.

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Newen Studios Launches Digital Arm

French powerhouse Newen Studios has launched a digital production and distribution label. Newen Digital will seek to generate value for the Newen Group’s production companies via IP with a remit covering AVoD and FAST. Olivier Levard has been promoted to Director and will lead the digital business, which has two principle goals: to be responsible for supporting the digital extensions and original content made by the Newen Group’s production companies and distributing IP from Newen Connect’s catalogues and digital first initiatives on digital platforms in France and internationally. The move follows Newen’s decision last year to bring oversight of its digital channels in house as it sought to take better advantage of YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat and TikTok. Levard said Newen Digital will “aim to put a team of digital platform experts at the disposal of all the group’s production units.”

Rai Drama To Detail Shocking Story Of Elisa Claps and Heather Barnett

Italian broadcaster Rai has greenlit a drama series reconstructing one of Italy’s  most shocking true crimes of recent years: the murders of Elisa Claps and Heather Barnett by Danilo Restivo. Starring Gianmarco Saurino (DOC, Rai) as Gildo Claps, Per Elisa tells of how Elisa Claps left her house to go to mass on a Sunday morning and was never heard from again, until her body was discovered nearly 20 years later in the attic of the church where she was last seen alive. Almost one decade later, in November 2002 in Bournemouth on England’s south coast, an interlinked murder took place as Heather Barnett, a single mother of two teenage children, was found on the ground at home, covered in blood and horribly mutilated. Per Elisa, which was filmed over 11 weeks in and around the southern Italian town of Potenza, is based on the novel Blood on the Altar by English journalist Tobias Jones and has been adapted by British writer Terry Cafolla and Italian writers Valerio D’Annunzio and Andrea Valagussa. Fast Films and Cosmopolitan Pictures are producing in collaboration with Rai Fiction and in association with ITV Studios.

Ukrainian Content Club To Launch Doc Slate At Mip TV

The newly-launched $20M Ukrainian Content Club is set to unveil its debut documentary slate at Mip TV. The Club was forged after the start of last year’s war in Ukraine and is seeking investment from global buyers to back projects. A panel including Ukrainian execs, those involved with the Content Club and the likes of Paramount’s Olivier Jollet will discuss the situation in Ukraine at next week’s Mip TV confab and will unveil the documentary slate. The documentary strand will follow the same procedure as the drama series slate, with the projects being vetted by experienced international experts before the finalists are revealed to the general public. “In these hard times, having strong partners and friends is invaluable, and we are fortunate to have the largest international content market and tradeshow backing the country’s entire industry,” said Kateryna Udut, CEO of Ukraine’s Media Resources Management.

Oscar Nominee Sam Morrison Sets ‘Aliens FC’ Animated Project

Oscar-nominated writer Sam Morrison is penning a kids animated film about a regular family who are mistaken for a famous soccer team by aliens, produced by Magic Frame Animation and Creation Entertainment Media. In Aliens FC, which will be presented at Cannes, extra terrestrials will whisk the family across the galaxy in need of their impressive football skills to help win their ‘local’ football league. Morrison has worked on Shaun the Sheep and Peppa Pig and was Oscar nominated for Netflix short Robin Robin. Magic Frame and Creation Entertainment previously partnered on animated series Buddy Bots and Paul Martin and the Magic Magnifying Glass.

Paramount & Sony To Screen At NATPE

Paramount Global Content Distribution and Sony Pictures Television will host screenings at NATPE Budapest, while a host of studios and super-indies have confirmed attendance. eOne, FOX Entertainment Global, Fremantle, Lionsgate, NBCUniversal Global Distribution, Paramount Global Content Distribution and Sony Pictures Television have all confirmed they will exhibit at the June 19 to 22 event, which will take place at the InterContinental Hotel in the Hungarian capital. It will be NATPE’s first since the event was acquired by Canada’s Brunico Communications. Organizers are expecting more than 400 buyers to attend.

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