Month: October 2020

Few Brazilian series have won such plaudits abroad as high-end medical procedural ”Under Pressure,” which was selected for the Toronto Festival, swept French Fipa TV festival awards, and is hailed as a signature series in the drive by Globo, Latin America’s biggest media company, into non-escapist, international standard social issue series. As Brazil has become

Gaumont Germany is bowing its first major production this month with the premiere of the historical action series “Barbarians” on Netflix. The six-part miniseries promises to take viewers to the blood-drenched Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, in which Germanic warriors halted the northward advance of the Roman Empire in A.D. 9. Part of French film

Masked talent formats and survival shows for a pandemic-hit world are among the buzz-worthy projects identified by The Wit’s Fresh TV online session at Mipcom Monday. Virginia Mouseler, the format tracker’s CEO, framed her online session on Mipcom Online+ like a TikTok feed, complete with dance moves – all while listing her pick of fresh

Put Jared Harris into your television series, and it rockets your chances of having a hit show. The British actor talked through some of his career highlights – playing advertising exec Lane Pryce in AMC’s “Mad Men,” King George VI in Netflix’s “The Crown” and Soviet inorganic chemist Valery Legasov in HBO’s “Chernobyl” – in

Production on a “Britain’s Got Talent” Christmas special was paused on Tuesday after at least three crew members tested positive for coronavirus, Variety has confirmed. “As a result of a positive COVID-19 result received yesterday we have implemented our protocols and a number of crew members are self-isolating at home,” a “Britain’s Got Talent” spokesperson

Germany’s Maze Pictures has boarded Moscow-based Metrafilm’s KGB comedy series “Pawns,” from writers Michael and Lily Idov, who penned the award-winning 2018 Cannes competition screener “Leto.” The company, which has offices in Munich, Berlin and Lucerne, Switzerland, is also developing a miniseries based on “Ghosts of Berlin,” a book of supernatural stories by filmmaker Rudolf

ViacomCBS Intl. Studios (VIS), the fast expanding international content production arm of ViacomCBS, is driving for the first time into animation, partnering with Marc Anthony and Argentina’s Juan José Campanella, writer-director of the Academy Award winning “The Secret in Their Eyes.” First up is a development deal on animated series “Gloria Wants to Know It

After years working in film and theater, celebrated Spanish author, screenwriter and filmmaker Roberto Santiago (“The Longest Penalty Shot In The World”) has returned to TV to adapt his bestselling novel “Ana” for the small screen, starring Spanish star Maribel Verdú (“Y Tu Mamá También,” “Pan’s Labyrinth”). Angela Armero (“Velvet”) co-wrote the series adaptation with

Ahead of the start of Rome’s film and TV market MIA on Wednesday, Variety spoke exclusively to Giancarlo Leone, the head of Italy’s TV producers’ association APA, about the issues producers in Italy face, including COVID production protocols, a drop in TV ad revenue, and establishing new rules of engagement with the streamers. Italy, after being

ZDF Enterprises has partnered with Story House Productions on a new series that delves deep into some of history’s most notorious deaths. From the brutal murder of Pharaoh Ramses III to the mysterious death of Marilyn Monroe, “Cold Case: History” reinvestigates cold cases using state-of-the-art forensics and archaeological methods. Ralf Rueckauer, vice-president ZDFE.unscripted, said: “Developing

Having closed Latin America with HBO earlier this year, Beta Film has clinched first-phase sales in Europe on “Tell Me Who I Am,” an epic tale of a woman’s emancipation, and its cost, which celebrates its international premiere today at Mipcom Online Plus. First fruit of a three-year, three series co-production alliance between Spain’s Movistar

With depictions of pandemic catastrophes, war, failing empires, the divide between rich and poor, shooting rampages and massive power outages, Germany’s newest TV shows appear to reflect the current apocalyptic zeitgeist. German broadcasters and streaming services alike are going heavy on suspense, crime, psychological thrillers, action and adventure, often colored by themes of societal disruption

Movistar Plus, the pay TV division of giant European telco Telefonica, in 2016 started producing and releasing its own original series. In a second phase, it linked to prestige European production partners, first with Arte France on “Hierro” and now, with “Tell Me Who I Am,” a woman’s emancipation epic made with Telemundo Intl. Studios,

It is fitting in many ways that Movistar Plus’ “Riot Police” (“Antidisturbios”) saw its world premiere in a theater at one of Europe’s biggest film festivals: September’s San Sebastian in Spain. Feted by the domestic press — “the best Spanish series of the year,” trumpeted newspaper El Mundo — the Movistar Plus original series has

Spanish formats are having a moment in Europe and further abroad, headlined by successes such as “Dangerous Moms,” “Gran Hotel” and, perhaps most successful of all, Albert Espinosa’s “The Red Band Society” — the format was sold globally, including to the U.S. Espinosa, after a decade remaking his highly autobiographical Catalan original “Polseres vermelles” (“Red