Jan Mojto’s Munich-based sales and production powerhouse Beta Film, whose Mipcom slate includes “Sisi” and “La Fortuna,” has closed pre-sales across the Nordic Region and in the Netherlands’ for the PBS-ITV period drama series “Hotel Portofino.” The British show, created and written by Matt Baker, stars Natascha McElhone, whose credits include “Ronin,” “Californication” and “Designated Survivor.”
“Hotel Portofino” has been acquired by DR for Denmark, SVT for Sweden, NRK for Norway, YLE for Finland and SYN for Iceland, as well as Dutch national broadcaster NPO. Further negotiations with several international broadcasters are underway.
In previously announced deals, ITV, BritBox, Sky Italia and Foxtel in Australia joined the drama, produced by Eagle Eye in association with Beta Film, while PBS Distribution took North American rights.
The six-hour series, centered around a British family who emigrate to open a high-end hotel in Italy, captures the long-established literary tradition of comic and idiosyncratic British “innocents abroad,” set against the historical backdrop of the rise of Fascism in Mussolini’s Italy.
The show, embued with the emancipated social attitudes of the 1920s, is set on the enchanting, beautiful Italian Riviera. Also starring are Mark Umbers (“King Arthur,” “Home Fires”) and Anna Chancellor (“Four Weddings and a Funeral,” “The Hour”), as well as Italian talents Daniele Pecci (“Orgoglio”), Lorenzo Richelmy (“Marco Polo”) and Rocco Fasano (“Skam Italia”).
The series is directed by Adam Wimpenny (“Blackwood”). Shooting wrapped in Portofino, Italy, and along the Croatian coastline this summer.
The show is executive produced by Eagle Eye’s Jo McGrath and Walter Iuzzolino.
