Welcome to this week’s International Insider. Max Goldbart here bringing you the latest in what’s been a busy seven days in the world of international TV and film.
Sundance Global
Cha Cha Leo Grande: This year’s virtual Sundance Film Festival draws to a close on Sunday and hopefully avid Deadline readers have been keeping abreast of our U.S. team’s fantastic coverage of all the biggest deals, reviews and hits. A few big international offerings are making an impact over here in the States. Mike Fleming Junior, our Deadline reporter, had two great scoops Wednesday. The first was that Searchlight Pictures had closed a roughly-$7.5M deal to U.S. rights for Emma Thompson pic Good Luck To You, Leo Grandeand, hours later, telling the world about Apple’s global $15M grab for Cooper Raiff’sCha Cha Real Smooth,Starring Dakota Johnson Searchlight was selected ahead of many distributors. Leo Grande Hulu has hopes that Thompson, a retired schoolteacher and widower Nancy Stokes could be in contention for an award.Cha Cha Real Smoothfollows a directionless college graduate, also played by Raiff, who gets over his head in a relationship with a young mum and her autistic teenage daughter as he works a job party-starting bar and bat mitzvahs of his younger brother’s classmates. Intriguing. It is fascinating. Cha Chadeal is the biggest of the fest with just two days to go, although it falls $10M short of Apple’s CodaDeals from the previous year
Landing well: Meanwhile, global screenings were landing well at Sundance, with CNN Films/HBO Max’s secret and timely Navalny “documentary thriller” well received. The fly-on-the-wall feature was made completely in secret and charts the events surrounding the Russian opposition leader’s suspected Novichok poisoning. Here’s a teaser. Also well worth a read is Todd McCarthy’s review of Utama, Bolivian creator Alejandro Loayza Grisi’s debut feature, which aired as part of the World Dramatic Competition. “This is gorgeously made and brings to life a backwater existence in a distant land with skill and assurance,”Todd writes.
EFM Gears up
Hot projectsIt may be virtual (again) this year but the European Film Market has already begun to heat up, with the first of the high-profile packages arriving this week. Andreas learned that Eric Bana, Kiernan Schiffka and others are working together to create a thrillerBerlin Nobody(appropriate title) which comes from Scott Free, Augenschein and Protagonist. Kevin Macdonald was also signed up for the helm.The Icemanstarring Joseph Fiennes. We are hearing about several new packages that are being developed ahead of the market, so stay tuned.
It will work as it should:While the festival deals with continually changing Covid restrictions, the fact the EFM is officially entirely online at least means everyone knows where they stand (virtually). Tom caught up with market chief Dennis Ruh this week to discuss his second edition at the helm – will the poor man ever actually be able to oversee one in person? Ruh said that the delegate and exhibitors numbers are trending slightly higher than last years and that EFM would offer VOD catch up screenings this year to make the enormous selection of titles easier for attendees. Read the complete interview.
Jury dutyOver at the festival, the juries were revealed this week, including who will join International Competition prez M. Night Shyamalan to decide the coveted Golden Bears.
World’s Simon Heath: International Disruptor
Reporting for duty: For this fortnight’s International Disruptor profile, I sat down with Simon Heath, CEO of Line of Duty World Productions won the title of the UK’s top three most-watched programs last year. This is quite an achievement. Simon is approaching his 25th year at one of the nation’s greatest production powerhouses but, to my surprise, he had never been profiled before. “[World Productions founder] Tony Garnett ‘didn’t do press’ and if you’ve got a boss like that you tend to follow the tradition,” explains Simon. Continue readingAs he discusses landing hits and future British broadcasting, as well as the controversial Line of DutySeason six is closer.
French Windows
Netflix’s “significant first step”: French cinema stakeholders have long been seeking to overhaul the nation’s arcane windowing system and they took a big step forwards this week. Signed off by Culture Minister Roselyne Bachelot, the quid pro quo gives Netflix access to films 15 months after their theatrical release, versus the market’s lengthy 36-month waiting period. The streaming service, which is growing internationally, will pay 40M euros in return for producing at least 10 local films each year. The deal was described by a spokesperson for Netflix as “a great deal.” “significant first step”In December, Canal+ and Disney+ reached a similar agreement. Disney+ and Amazon were not signatories, but they have closed their windows at 17 month. Nancy received the news.
Coming Back To Linear
BBC Three’s a crowd: We are reaching “another layer of audience,”Fiona Campbell, BBC Three’s chief executive, declared that the channel’s youth-skewing network is preparing to return to linear television six years after it was taken off air. It may seem like a backward move in a world where it is becoming increasingly difficult to find young viewers. Fiona spoke exclusively to Deadline. Go deeper.
To Sing or Not to Sing
Sir Ian’s final wish: Although it may be easy to mistakenly believe that Sir Ian McKellen is a seven-time Laurence Olivier Award Winner, but speaking to BBC this week, the Lord of the Rings X-Men Star revealed He wants to win a musical. Sir Ian has already played Gus in Tom Hooper’s critically-panned Cats It turns out, he wants to hit some chords. Nearly 83 years old, the beloved UK star said that he sings in the shower quite often and is very happy to do so. “available but incompetent.”
The Essentials
🌶️ Hot one of the week: Cast has been selected for Amazon’s Good OmensSeason 2. Dune’s Siân Phillips is in but big hitters Benedict Cumberbatch and Frances McDormand are out.
🌶️ Another one: Gangs of London producer Pulse Films has been optioned the rights to budding British writer Moses McKenzie’s debut novel An Olive Grove at Ends. McKenzie will adapt.
🌶️ Another one: Hulu drama Washington Black Signed upAnother Dune Star, Sharon Duncan-Brewster A Discovery of Witches’ Edward Bluemel and Eddie Karanja are newcomers.
🚚 You are always on the move: BBC Studios Natural History Unit Has poached Netflix-backed Freeborne Media’s Laura Harris and promoted Jess Colman
🚚 More moves: It’s a Sin exec Nicola Shindler’s Quay Street has It doubled its staffYou can get everything you need in one go. Anansi Boys exec Richard Fee and others from Shindler’s former outfit Red Production Company.
♚ Checkmate: Netflix failed in its attempt to dismiss its $5M Queen’s Gambit Court battle with Nona Gaprindashvili (female chess icon). Dom Patten had more.
🏪 Opening a shopStudio Ramsay Global has opened its third hub in Glasgow. From where it will produceA second series of BBC One format Future Food Stars
🏆Award nominations: Xavier Giannoli’s Illusions Perdues The 2022 Year of the Dog César Awards noms list with Cannes Palme d’Or winner Titane Coming in at the lower end.
🍿 Box office: Paw Patrol: The Movie crossed the $100M international threshold while Kenneth Branagh’s Belfast It was a good landing in the UK and Ireland.
🎦 TrailerAndreas was the first to see the mafia Origin Series. L’Ora (Ink Against Bullets).
🖼️First look: AppleTV+ issued the debut images of Min Jin Lee’s Multigenerational Pachinko.
Tom Grater contributed to this week’s International Insider.