‘Gomorrah’ Writers Adapt Novel; Scherba Named WildBrain Boss; ITVX & Crave Acquire ‘Kid Sister’; Flourishing Films Takes ‘Dream Walkers’ To Cannes; Busan Names MD — Global Briefs

Jesse Whittock, Max Goldbart, Melanie Goodfellow and Liz Shackleton
·3 min read
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‘Gomorrah’ Writers To Adapt David Szalay Novel ‘Turbulence’

Gomorrah and ZeroZeroZero writers Leonardo Fasoli and Maddelena Ravagli has been tapped to adapt Man Booker-shortlisted novel Turbulence into a TV series with Envision Entertainment. The book, from David Szalay, comprises interconnected stories that follow 12 protagonists as they fly from country to country while enduring both real and emotional turbulence. Each episode will start and end in London. “We see Turbulence as a once in a lifetime prestige project which can introduce the best local talent to truly global audiences, an astonishing accomplishment in the era of streaming,” said Envision founder and CEO Michael Nakan. Fasoli and Ravagli are working on The Kollective, a TV adaptation of the Bellingcat journalism saga for The European Alliance.

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Josh Scherba Named WildBrain Boss

Josh Scherba has been named President CEO of Canadian kids firm WildBrain, as Eric Ellenbogen steps down. The long-serving Scherba was been President since 2018 but joined the company on its founding in 2006, then it was known as DHX Media. Industry veteran Ellenbogen has been Vice Chair and CEO since August 2019. Jim Fielding, WildBrain’s Chief Marketing and Brands Officer, has been appointed Strategic Advisor to Scherba and the board of directors. WildBrain owns properties such as Teletubbies, Peanuts and Degrassi and produces shows titles as The Snoopy Show, Sonic Prime, Strawberry Shortcake: Berry in the Big City and Carmen Sandiego from its studio in Vancouver. It also runs Canadian kids channels, has a significant AVOD YouTube business and sells content and merchandize.

Buyers Swoop For Jewish Spinster Comedy

A New Zealand comedy about a Jewish ‘spinster’ has sold to ITVX, Canada’s CBC and Israel’s Hot. Kid Sister follows Lulu, a young woman in he prime deemed to be nearing ‘spinsterhood’ by her orthodox family who finds out she’s having a baby with on-again, off-again non-Jewish boyfriend Ollie. The deals with the UK, Canadian and Israeli networks were brokered by distributor Red Arrow Studios International. Meanwhile, Red Arrow has struck deals with networks in the Benelux and Iceland for Those Who Stayed, the Ukrainian anthology series that entered production several weeks ago, while Swedish and Portuguese buyers have swooped for Red Arrow’s Vienna Blood.

Flourishing Films To Launch Justin Price’s ‘Dream Walkers’ At Cannes

Flourishing Films has acquired worldwide sales rights to Justin Price’s action sci-fi Dream Walkers for a Cannes market launch. It is his second feature after his directorial debut Hard Matter starring Tyrese Gibson, Frank Grillo, and Harvey Keitel. In pre-production, Dream Walkers follows a family living in a Dystopian future in which kids’ dreams come to life and are hunted before they mature enough to destroy the world. One family will risk anything to protect one of their own against the tyrannical faction hell-bent on keeping order in the new world. “We believe Justin has shown a rare knack for mind-bending plots and Dream Walkers is no different. We’re excited to present this film with an A-list cast to potential buyers,” said Flourishing Head of Sales and Distribution Efuru Flowers.

Busan International Film Festival Appoints Cho Jongkook As Managing Director

South Korea’s Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) has appointed Cho Jongkook as Managing Director to head the festival alongside current festival director, Huh Moonyung. Cho has previously served as secretary general of Busan Film Commission and the Korean Film Council (KOFIC), and prior to that worked as a producer, as well as a journalist and editor at respected Korean film publications Film Journal and Cine21. His credits as a producer include Oh Kee-hun’s The Customer is Always Right (2006) and Kim Eung-su’s Way To Go, Rose, which he co-produced. This year’s edition of BIFF will take place October 4-13 at the Busan Cinema Center and adjacent venues, while the Asian Contents & Film Market (ACFM) will take place October 7-10.

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