Series Mania Rendez-vous to Open With Hulu, Arte Show ‘No Man’s Land’ Case Study – Global Bulletin

Naman Ramachandran
·4 min read

In today’s Global Bulletin, Series Mania Rendez-vous launches with a case study, Tallinn announces DDA Awards, formats “Prince Charming” and “Meat the Family” score local adaptations; and Amazon renews India’s “Mirzapur.”

Series Mania Rendez-vous, a new monthly online initiative featuring exclusive curated content in the run up to Series Mania 2021, will kick off with a case study on war thriller series “No Man’s Land.”

Pitched at Series Mania Forum 2017 under the title “Fertile Crescent,” “No Man’s Land” received the €50,000 ($59,000) prize for best project as part of the co-pro pitching sessions and was selected in international competition at Series Mania 2020.

‘From Pitch to Screen: No Man’s Land’ will be available online for the week starting Nov. 24. “No Man’s Land” is an eight-part series for Arte and Hulu, produced by Maria Feldman for Masha Productions, Eitan Mansuri and Jonathan Doweck for Spiro Films, Caroline Benjo, Simon Arnal and Carole Scotta for Haut et Court TV, and co-produced by Arte France and Versus Production in association with Hulu. Fremantle’s Christian Vesper is co-producer and Fremantle distributes internationally.

Panelists confirmed for this case study include Feldman, Mansuri, Benjo, Vesper, and Alexandre Piel from Arte.

“No Man’s Land” will premiere on Hulu on Nov. 18 and on Arte Nov. 26.

AWARD

“The Personal History of David Copperfield” director Armando Iannucci and “Escape from Pretoria” filmmaker Francis Annan will be the first recipients of the inaugural DDA Spotlight Award at 24th Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival.

The award, which Tallinn Black Nights has introduced in timing with the 50th anniversary of global entertainment communications company DDA, honors artists and filmmakers whose recent work takes a concerted step forward in improving diversity and inclusion in the film industry and cinema culture.

Iannucci will be honored for his latest feature, “The Personal History of David Copperfield,” an inclusively cast adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic. The BIFA-winning, BAFTA-nominated film stars Dev Patel in the title role, alongside an ensemble cast including Rosalind Eleazar, Tilda Swinton and Peter Capaldi.

Annan is being honored for “Escape from Pretoria,” starring Daniel Radcliffe, Daniel Webber and Ian Hart, which Annan directed and wrote. The film tells the true story of anti-apartheid activist Tim Jenkin, who was sentenced to a South African prison for 12 years but then hatched a daring plan of escape.

Due to recently announced COVID-19 restrictions in the U.K. and much of Europe, Iannucci and Annan will accept their awards virtually on Nov. 15.

Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival will run from Nov. 13-29.

FORMAT ADAPTATIONS

ViacomCBS International Studios Distribution has struck a deal with ITV Studios Netherlands to license gay dating reality format, “Finding Prince Charming.” RTL has commissioned a local Dutch version as an exclusive series for its online platform Videoland.

Locally titled “Prince Charming,” seven 60-minute episodes were recently filmed on the Italian island of Sicily. The series will debut on Videoland Dec. 16, with 29-year-old Marvin Wijnans taking the titular role.

The format involves potential suitors attempting to steal the heart of a charming bachelor, with contestants eliminated each week.

The format’s German adaptation is now in its second season on RTL’s streamer TVNOW, and linear channel VOX. It was first launched on ViacomCBS’ U.S.-based channel Logo.

Meanwhile, “Maden flytter ind” (The Food Moves In), the Danish version of U.K. Format “Meat The Family,” premieres on DR1 on Nov. 12. Denmark’s public broadcaster DR commissioned Snowman Productions, a Red Arrow Studios company, to produce a local version of the social experiment format.

The format invites meat-loving families to share their homes with the animals they’d normally serve up for dinner. Three weeks later, the families must decide whether to give up meat and send their animals to a sanctuary, or have them slaughtered and eat their former houseguests.

Originally produced by Spun Gold TV based on a format by Rise Films, “Meat the Family” aired on the U.K.’s Channel 4 in 2019, provoking much debate and media attention.

RENEWAL

Amazon Prime Video India has renewed crime drama “Mirzapur” for a third season. Amazon announced Thursday that season 2, which bowed Oct. 23, has become the most watched show on the service in India, within seven days of release, with half the viewers who completed the series bingeing it within 48 hours of launch.

Produced by Excel Media and Entertainment, the series is created by Puneet Krishna and Karan Anshuman. The cast includes Pankaj Tripathi (“Extraction”), Ali Fazal (“Death on the Nile”), Divyendu Sharma (“Odd Couple”), Rasika Dugal (“A Suitable Boy”) and Shweta Tripathi Sharma (“Cargo”).

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