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IMPACTFUL STORIES IN CIRCULATION

ELEPHANTS IN THE FOG

NO GOOD MEN

A POET

9-MONTH CONTRACT

THE NATURE OF INVISIBLE THINGS

IF ONLY I COULD HIBERNATE

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DISCOVER ALTERNATIVA

9/24/26 9:33 AM

OCTOBER 12, 2026 / SPECIAL MIPCOM ISSUE

ice cold

Heated Rivalry turns Canada red hot

indian formats Unscripted ambition

euro all-stars

YouTube’s next generation

Nicole Wallace is Shifting Gears THE STREAMING ICON ON GLOBAL SUCCESS AND LIFE AFTER NOAH

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E DI T OR -I N -C HI E F

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OCTOBER 12, 2026

CALL SHEET

ON THE COVER Nicole Wallace photographed for Deadline by Violeta Sofia.

Scene Setters 10

The Big Combo Jane Turton on Banijay Entertainment merger. 11 David Harewood's Next Act The actor and producer talks Pierre and Othello. 12 Virtual Destruction Behind the scenes on Sky’s new show The Wargame. 13 N orth Stars Heated Rivalry means all eyes are on Canada's Crave.

Premiere

The YouTube Age Meet the next generation of European creators.

Cover Story

20 N icole Wallace The star of the Culpables trilogy on the global streaming phenomenon and her soaring career prospects.

Features 26

The Pride Of India The world’s most populous country sets its own agenda in the unscripted space. Kevin McKidd Heads Home The Scottish actor on life and work after Grey’s Anatomy. Founders Keepers Elisabeth Murdoch, Lucinda Hicks and Jane Featherstone on building the Sister Group. Pablo Larraín’s Next Chapter The Chilean filmmaker on his Netflix drama My Sad Dead. Ready For The Streaming Era BBC Studios supremo Marcus Arthur balances a digital future and legacy linear business. L aunching Lumina Entrepreneur Thomas Benski is backing creators.

Deadline Dozen 40

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alk Of The Town T We profile the best offerings coming to MIPCOM.

26 30

Netflix's Lock Upp breaks out in India.

Elisabeth Murdoch’s Sister Group sorority.

Hudson Williams goes off the ice for Crave's Yaga.

N E TF L I X / S I S T ER G R O U P / C HR I S T O P H ER L A W RE N C E/ C R A V E

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OCTOBER 12, 2026

EDITORS' LETTER

What is a TV market in 2026?

deals, and handed producers free rein creatively. A Netflix session at a festival had people queuing around the block. Now, these same queues are for YouTube as much as any SVoD. Helpfully, we have a handy rundown of the breakout YouTube creators coming out of Europe. Nevertheless, we have a bona fide streaming star on our cover. Nicole Wallace broke out in the Culpables franchise, which became a global smash on Prime Video. She tells us about moving on from the Spanish-language hit and into acting in English. Elsewhere, we have the low-down on India as an emerging formats hotspot, Elisabeth Murdoch on her company, Sister Group, Grey’s Anatomy alum Kevin McKidd and Chilean auteur Pablo Larraín on his series My Sad Dead. Please do enjoy, and remember that however the market changes, keeping across the news on Deadline will always give you an edge.

STEWART CLARKE Senior Vice President, Content, International JESSE WHITTOCK International Television Co-Editor MAX GOLDBART International Television Co-Editor 6

M A N DO G A N ED I A / G E TT Y I M A G E S

With industry eyes on MIPCOM, the Cannes get-together this year sees YouTube take center stage, while brands, creators and AI firms jostle for attention. The days of judging what is hot in a given year by checking out what is hoarding space outside the front of the Palais are over. It’s self-preservation by MIPCOM. MIPTV and MIP London have fallen by the wayside, but owner RX France has gone a long way to reposition their flagship event and launch a new conference at The London Book Fair. When the biggest international TV market in the world recalibrates, it’s usually because the whole industry has changed. A trip to Cannes will give us more intel about who’s ready for that new world and who’s getting left behind. The streamers arguably kickstarted a sea change in the international business that has gotten us to where we are today. These giants heated the market up, paid big bucks for splashy global rights

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MAKING NEWS ON THE CROISETTE AT MIPCOM CANNES THIS YEAR

PREMIERE Deadline is here to give you a rundown of all the major talking points in the global television sphere

Scene Setters Michael Gove in The Wargame

Hudson Williams in Yaga

The Traitors

S KY / T HE G A R D EN / C H A N N E L 4 / S P H ER E A BA CU S / B A N I JA Y E N T ER TA I N M E NT / C R A V E / C HR I S TO P H ER L A W R EN C E

David Harewood in Pierre

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PREMIERE Scene Setters

01 Independent's Day Jane Turton faces her next challenge of integrating All3Media into the Banijay Empire BY JESSE WHITTOCK

one of TV’s top players, and now wants to oversee its integration into the Banijay fold. She’s hoping to protect jobs where she can (though there is clear duplication in areas like distribution), and she likes the scale of a wealthy business backed by Jeff Zucker’s RedBird IMI and Stéphane Courbit’s Banijay Group that “isn’t just big for big’s sake.” Turton is also a proponent of change and is up for the challenge. “It is exciting,” she says. “It’s a big adjustment and that’s fine. It won’t do me any harm.” She’s also been inspired by Banijay’s ability to supercharge formats and produce them in-house, pointing to how Dutch murder mystery reality hit The Traitors might have rolled out internationally as an example. “If All3 had been in Banijay at the time, we’d have had that going out—bang!—across 25 territories in a week on Wednesday. But we were selling it piecemeal.” Given how fresh this all is, the focus since July has been hitting the year-end target and integrating with management. Around €50 milliom ($57 million) in cost savings are planned. The long-serving All3 international sales chief Louise Pedersen exited in July, along with others such as All3 group COO Sara Geater. At MIPCOM, Banijay Rights will be in town with content from the former All3Media International catalog, with Jane Cathy Payne leading the unit. Turton

“Cathy is working incredibly hard to get her team in place for MIPCOM,” says Turton. “She’s got a shiny new Banijay Rights team that hopefully can accommodate for people from both sides assembled in the roles in the right places.” Buyers might find seeing The Traitors sitting next to Survivor branding on the Banijay stand as initially jarring, but they’ll need to adjust fast. Banijay Rights now has a catalog of more than 265,000 hours from a combined business that owns more than 170 production companies. For context, BBC Studios is around the 45,000-hour mark and ITV Studios comes in near 100,000 hours. Federal future

Back on the production front, Banijay leadership teams have been set in the U.K., the U.S. and Germany. Collectively, the likes of Studio Lambert, Neal Street Productions, Endemol Shine North America, Filmpool, Initial and Two Brothers Pictures are all in the same house. A key strategic question for the immediate future is how All3’s well-documented “federal” model, where producers remain siloed and independent of each other, can mesh with Banijay’s geographic approach. Turton says people “overstate” the difference and that both companies are led by the same underlying north star: Creative leadership. “Can they develop and pitch, sell and produce the best shows, yes or no?” she says. “That is the only criteria for success.” ★

BA N I JA Y E N T ER T A I N M EN T / KA RL A T T A R D

The tectonic plates of the international production world shifted forever on July 9, 2026, when the merger between indie giants Banijay Entertainment and All3Media closed. The result created an entity larger than the BBC with annual pro forma revenues of €7.4B ($8.5B) and a catalog including MasterChef, The Traitors, Peaky Blinders, Midsomer Murders and Big Brother. Banijay boss Marco Bassetti was named CEO of the new-look company, which will be given its true unveiling at a swanky drinks bash on the eve of MIPCOM. For market watchers, a standout element of the C-suite org chart was All3Media’s long-serving CEO, Jane Turton, who became Deputy CEO of the combined entity. After spending 11 years crafting All3 into a major revenue-generating business, one might assume she would have decided to exit the fray. Given she was widely mentioned as a leading candidate for Director General job at the BBC and retains a reputation among peers and former colleagues as a top strategic thinker, the options elsewhere would surely have been plentiful. So, is Turton content now the dust has settled? “Of course, I wouldn’t have taken it otherwise,” she responds when she sits down with Deadline down in the lobby of an Edinburgh hotel. “Life is about making choices, and I’ve made a positive choice to stay.” Turton becomes increasingly passionate as she provides context about her mission. She had spent a decade burnishing All3’s reputation as DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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MIPCOM 2026

02 David Harewood’s Next Act

The Pierre star talks his upcoming Channel 4 drama and his longstanding relationship with Othello

C HA N N E L 4 / S P H ER E A BA CU S

BY JESSE WHITTOCK

David Harewood’s career is a lesson in patience. Beginning as an actor at the National Youth Theatre and working his way into film and TV in the early 1990s, the British actor has carefully built up an enviable resumé with roles in Homeland, Supergirl and the Oscar-nominated Blood Diamond. On stage, his relationship with Othello is groundbreaking. He was the first Black actor to play the titular character in Shakespeare’s play at London’s Royal National Theatre in 1997, a role he has reprised nearly three decades later. Deadline sat down with Harewood to discuss his first on-screen lead role in Pierre, an upcoming Channel 4 drama about a principled solicitor who finds himself in deep water when he challenges authorities. It debuts this month with Sphere Abacus shopping it in Cannes. He also dished on his upcoming roles and revealed a secret plan for his next interaction with Othello. It’s hard to believe Pierre will mark your first time as No. 1 on the call sheet. How can that be?

You’ve got to understand that

particularly here in England, it wasn’t possible for the first 25 years of my career. There weren’t any shows led by Black actors. Maybe Adrian Lester did it with Hustle and then, of course, Idris Elba with Luther, but it’s a pretty small group of Black actors who have had the privilege of being No. 1 in this country. My career started years before either of them, so it’s been a long road, but I’m happy that I’m finally here.

So, does Pierre have an equivalent to Columbo's famous “just one more thing” line?

I tried to give him one! He does ask the right questions and isn’t afraid to ask them. He has a fearlessness that gets him into trouble and takes him to some difficult places. By the end, he’s learned a lesson, and you certainly see what happens when you hit an immovable object. How was your return to the stage in Othello?

It was fantastic, although exhausting. Many people think actors work only for money or fame, but there are plenty of us who want that complexity. The reviews have been great, and people are already asking if you’ll do it again. Will you?

I am going to do it again, and next time I want to direct it. I have a

take on the play that I think would be quite unique. You’ve got projects such as War Season 2 and Hyde coming up. What else is on the horizon?

I have a film coming out in December called Zero A.D. It’s a beautiful, spectacularly shot film, and it was inspiring to be part of. Often, you get a job, fly somewhere, do your bit and go home. This was different. We shot it in Morocco, and the director and director of photography had an extraordinary vision. It’s a Christmas story about Mary and how she gets the baby Jesus out of Bethlehem before Herod does something terrible. I’m also going to Australia to make a CIA spy drama, and I’m involved in another new project with two well-known national favorites, but I can’t say anything about that yet. I’ll be doing a bit of comedy. ★

What’s unique about Pierre?

There’s a lot of dark material on television these days. This feels like a throwback to an old-fashioned good guy who goes above and beyond for his friends and community. It’s surprisingly refreshing when you see a character with the skills to help people who is determined to do so, very much against the advice of his colleagues. Sometimes I sit down and watch old reruns of Columbo because Peter Falk is such a lovable character. You know he has the skills to outwit anybody, and I think Pierre is that type of guy: a good man with his heart in the right place who runs into the harsh realities of a cruel, tough system.

David Harewood in Pierre.

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PREMIERE Scene Setters

03 AI Wargame

How artificial intelligence staged a Russian attack on Britain BY JAKE KANTER

Michael Gove in The Wargame.

Michael Gove, a senior British government minister for 14 years, looks anguished. His face is wrinkled in thought, his voice taut with tension, his hands so firmly clasped you can literally see the whites of his knuckles. Gove is facing an invidious dilemma—one he would later describe as a choice between something bad and something worse. A British fighter jet is circling a Russian submarine hours after Moscow sank a Royal Navy ship in a startling act of aggression. Gove must decide whether to retaliate by dropping a bomb or holding fire and risk looking weak. He gives the order and changes the course of history. Welcome to The Wargame. 12

The clue is in the title of this Sky series: The events unfolding around Gove are a game. But for the players, the artifice appears to have done little to dim the sense of authenticity. That’s a credit to Sky and producers at U.K. producer The Garden, who have translated a hit Sky News podcast into a gripping television spectacle. It’s also a credit to artificial intelligence. The Wargame takes viewers inside a mock crisis room, where Nicola Sturgeon

politicians, military officials and spies attempt to navigate a national emergency. Think Big Brother meets James Bond. Season 1 stages “a low likelihood, albeit high impact” Russian act of war on Britain, with Gove, who is currently a member of the House of Lords, doubling as Prime Minister in the crosshairs of the Kremlin. On his team are the likes of Nicola Sturgeon, the former First Minister of Scotland, and Christopher Steele, the ex-MI6 agent who wrote a famous dossier about Russia’s alleged kompromat on Donald Trump. Filmed over a four-day period, they respond to events in real time, with producers beaming in pictures of warfare as it happens. The Garden was only able to do this with the assistance of AI, which generated candid CCTV-style footage of military manoeuvres. Gove and his colleagues see the plane circling a Russian submarine; they watch as the fighter jet readies its payload for the prime minister’s order. These images would usually be added through VFX in post-production. “There are scenes that would have been very difficult to create on this particular timeline without the use of AI, so we've used AI as an additive tool to help us imagine scenarios like the sinking of warships or attacks on London,” says executive producer Nicola Brown. Sky’s unscripted chief Phil Edgar-Jones goes further. He says the series could not have been made without AI, meaning The Wargame is a genuine example of the technology being used to create

rather than kill jobs. Declarations like this will likely spark debate at MIPCOM about a technology that is dominating today’s news headlines and is a constant source of chatter at TV markets. The Garden worked with a company called AiMation to generate the visuals, all within the boundaries of Sky’s responsible AI guidelines. AI was also used to create deepfakes that were deployed in the wargame as Russian disinformation. Meanwhile, producers captured the crisis room action using fixed-rig cameras, a signature style that ITV Studios-owned The Garden has honed on series like 24 Hours in Police Custody. The results make for propulsive viewing, bringing to life fairly abstract conversations about the U.K.’s defense capability. Indeed, during a screening in London, U.K. Defense Secretary Wes Streeting joked that the series had written his recent “spending review submission” for him. He has been appealing to the U.K.’s real Prime Minister, Andy Burnham, for more money for his defense department. “It's television with a purpose,” says Sturgeon, who played The Wargame as Deputy Prime Minister. “It is entertaining, but it is also educational and very timely. I think it will spark a debate in the country about defense and whether we are adequately defended or not.” “It’s a big swing,” Edgar-Jones acknowledges. He’s confident, however, that the show could evolve to tackle other crises, such as pandemics or wildfires, in future seasons. Edgar-Jones also believes The Wargame could be adapted overseas as a format. NBCUniversal plans to take the show out to international buyers and will be discussing it at MIPCOM. “I get goosebumps watching,” Edgar-Jones adds. Sky certainly hopes others will feel the same. ★

S K Y / TH E G A R DE N

MIPCOM 2026

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From left: Williiams with Carrie-Ann Moss in Yaga; Noah Reid and Clark Backo in Yaga; The cast of Bulges. Caption

Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie in Heated Rivalry.

Canadian TV homes by the end of 2029. “The new target that we have in our mind is closer to one in two,” he says. In a market with an estimated 15.8 million TV homes, that means Crave will need to continue its growth trajectory to hit its numbers. Hudson Williams’ next turn

04 North Stars How Heated Rivalry made Canadian TV red hot

S A BR I N A L A N T O S / C R A V E / C HR I S T O P H ER L A W RE N C E

BY STEWART CLARKE

The mega-success of Heated Rivalry has buyers asking what is coming next from Crave, the Canadian streamer that greenlit the ice hockey romance hit. The streamer is part of Bell Media, and company President Sean Cohan is backing Canadian producers to produce the next Heated Rivalry as Canadian content becomes hot international property. The next season of the sports show drops in 2027. Cast members have hinted at a third run for the steamy series, which Cohan says is “the biggest global hit that Canada’s ever produced,” and there is more source material from which to work. He is not ready to definitively confirm or deny a third outing, but there does appear to be a direction of travel. “In success, this show continues,” he says. Cohan is more definitive on the future of Crave, which he says, historically, was an under-marketed and under-utilized gem. Offering a slate of Canadian originals differentiates Crave from the U.S.-owned

streamers, and HBO programming adds premium U.S. firepower. Bell’s pact for HBO fare was extended in 2024, and Cohan says it runs into the 2030s. Heated Rivalry delivered on Bell’s promise to generate shows that resonate locally and go global, with the associated financial and reputational benefits. That was one of former A+E exec Cohan’s goals when he joined the Canadian content giant in late 2023. “We talked about making great global and profitable shows and about elevating the Canadian creative brand, which has been misunderstood or underestimated,” he says. “Bell Media spends a ton domestically on Canadamade content and the question was: Why can’t we make that in a way that exports around the world? And then we went and did it.” Boosted by Heated Rivalry, Crave recorded just over 5 million subs in Bell’s most recent results, and is eyeing 6 million by end of 2028, but Cohan is thinking beyond that. He wants the streamer to be in half of

The next big thing in-the-making is Yaga, which features Heated Rivalry star Hudson Williams alongside Carrie-Anne Moss in a witchy folklore drama set in a coastal town called Whittock. The series will be heavily promoted at MIPCOM. Other Crave shows coming to the international market include queer softball drama Slo Pitch and Meatballs, inspired by the eponymous Bill Murray movie and starring Robbie G.K., another Heated alum. There is also Bulges, set in a Hooters-like bar, but where the staff are all male, and with Saved by the Bell star Mark-Paul Gosselaar starring. Sphere Abacus, the distributor that Bell acquired last year, is selling them all. “Canadian content was already on the rise— you had shows like [Fremantle-distributed] Sullivan’s Crossing, which had gone to The CW in the U.S. and Netflix around the world,” says Sphere Abacus Managing Director Jonathan Ford. “Heated Rivalry really increased that, and that led to channels and platforms around the world always wanting to know what the next big thing is coming out of Canada and, particularly, Crave.” Ford, an international distribution veteran, adds: “Canadian programming can fit with different audiences. Some storylines feel relevant to the U.S. market, perhaps more so than some British storylines and accents, but it’s also relevant to the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, and the quality of the shows appeals to the European markets too.” Heated Rivalry made Williams, along with Connor Storrie, a global star and Sphere Abacus has pre-sold Yaga to AMC in the U.S., Sky in the U.K. and HBO Max in continental Europe, among others. “The sales were done off the script and casting, partly because the storyline and casting of Yaga are so strong, but also there’s an element of having wind in the sails from Heated Rivalry,” says Ford. While Heated Rivalry set a high benchmark, now the heat is on for Crave and Sphere Abacus to deliver more made-in-Canada hits. ★ DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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PREMIERE Profile

The YouTube Age

Max Fosh

Content creators are crossing over into the traditional film and TV space in a major way, and YouTube is a key driver. Deadline spotlights the established and emerging European creators to keep your eye on… BY DIANA LODDERHOSE

Obsession

“Beyond authenticity, creators have an agile, data-driven approach to production that doesn’t match traditional television cycles,” he says. “A creator is essentially a storyteller and data scientist rolled into one. Once the camera turns off, they dive into YouTube Studio to analyze retention curves second-by-second, read community feedback and iterate format, tone and pacing for the very next upload. Forwardthinking broadcasters willing to experiment and embrace this agile approach are seeing the benefits for their reach and revenue.” But YouTube is vast and it can be hard excavate the right talent, so we’ve pooled together a bespoke selection of established and emerging European talents who are navigating the crossover into the traditional film and TV space and we hear them weigh in on why it’s a good time to be in the content creation space right now.

Max Fosh

U.K. British YouTuber and comedian Max Fosh, who first launched his channel in 2017, is best known for his viral stunts, cheeky pranks and large-scale social experiments. Some of his most famous work includes placing a “Welcome to Luton” sign near Gatwick Airport—two U.K. airports that are more than 50 miles apart—to confuse landing passengers, as well as infiltrating and competing in the Mr. Universe bodybuilding contest by exploiting a lack of strict entry qualifications. In 2025, he finished a worldwide standup comedy tour dubbed Loophole, performing 72 shows across 13 countries. His YouTube channel has amassed 5.2 million followers. When he speaks to Deadline, he’s just wrapped shooting BBC’s quiz game show Mastermind, where he was a contestant and he’s also appeared on Celebrity MasterChef in the U.K. When pressed about the shift of power YouTubers are now seeing in more traditional media spaces, Fosh says that “we’ve seen this coming for years.”

Léna Mahfouf

F O C US F EA T U R ES / DO M L E BR UN / N EI L S O N B A R N A RD / G ET T Y I M A G ES

This past summer the global independent box office was set alight thanks to two twentysomething YouTubers: Curry Barker’s microbudget horror Obsession and Kane Parsons’ low-budget psychological thriller Backrooms took a combined near $1 billion from cinemas worldwide. Finally, it seemed that Hollywood had succeeded in wooing Gen Z—and older generations—back into theaters. Not only did Barker and Parsons become the two youngest directors in cinema history to top the U.S. box office during their opening weekends—Barker is 27 while Parsons is just 21—but the tallies proved something more concrete: YouTube really is fertile ground for crossover talent that can deliver big returns. “Top creators are already operating as next-generation studios,” says Pedro Pina, YouTube’s VP for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Just a few weeks ago we saw creators walking down red carpets and premiering their work in prestigious film festivals in Venice and Cannes. These storytellers are showcasing their work on the big screen alongside the very best of traditional cinema, proving that great storytelling is great storytelling, wherever it starts. A big shift is that talent no longer needs to wait in boardrooms for permission. On YouTube, creators greenlight themselves.” Creators benefit from a direct, two-way relationship with their audience, something that is incredibly valuable and, adds Pina, this “authentic, personal connection” is what is driving the world of entertainment.

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“A big shift is that talent no longer needs to wait in boardrooms for permission. On YouTube, the creators greenlight themselves.” PEDRO PINA, YOUTUBE

Mahfouf. In 2022, she made history as the first French content creator invited to the Met Gala.

Torge Oelrich

Léna Mahfouf's This Is My Goodbye

“This is not a new thing for creators,” he says. “There have been waves of creators who have come in and out of the space and made millions of dollars and have retired, but now it’s within the cultural zeitgeist. YouTube is being taken more seriously.” Pointing to the success of Barker and Parsons, Fosh says their success is down to the fact that “they have had the opportunity to fail and to make stuff through trial and error on YouTube.” “It’s the only place that is a training ground for new talent in the U.K. Back in the day it used to be kids’ TV or radio, but now—with the cutting of local radio and broadcasting budgets—you have to have a name attached to something big now. There’s no other way for new talent to come through other than online. You are the master of your own destiny, and you can fail and you can try things.”

Y O UT U BE / L ÉN A S I TU A T I O N S

Yes Theory

Léna Mahfouf

FRANCE French-Algerian content creator Léna Mahfouf, aka Léna Situations, is perhaps one of the most well-known YouTubers to come out of France. She turned her lifestyle channel Lena Situations, which she launched in 2017, into a broader entertainment and fashion business. Her videos, which covered fashion, travel, friendships and everyday life, saw her earn a loyal fanbase, and her YouTube channel currently has 3.2 million subscribers. Her signature Vlogs d’août series became a defining part of her online profile—she wrapped the 10th and final season of that series in August. In 2021, Forbes France included her in their annual 30 Under 30 list for Cinema & Entertainment and the following year she began hosting a podcast dubbed Canapé Six Places. She’s partnered with Adidas and released a collection of sneakers, written a bestselling book titled Always More, has been a guest judge on Drag Race France and launched her own lifestyle and fashion brand Hôtel

GERMANY German comedian Torge Oelrich, better known as Freshtorge, started making videos on YouTube two decades ago from his hometown in Wesselburen, Germany. His comedy sketches and wide range of fictional characters has seen him become one of the most successful German-speaking YouTube creators. Before becoming a full-time entertainer, Oelrich trained and worked as teacher. He has since worked as an actor, writer and voice artist, making appearances in German projects such as Look Who’s Back in 2015 and 2020’s Potato Salad 3: The Musical. Citing his favorite comedy show as Little Britain, he admits that the show probably couldn’t be made today due to its borderline offensive humor, with the BBC recently removing some sketches from the iPlayer. He stresses the need to be mindful of content given that audiences are often quick to respond in the comments section. “For me, as a comedian and when I’m writing my scripts, I have to think about making sure my humor is not offensive,” he says. “You have to be really careful that you don’t hurt anyone.” He’s been working with German pubcaster ZDF on Battle of the Flags, an adventure-reality competition program which he created and stars in. Belgian distributor Primitives is presenting the format to buyers in MIPCOM this year. Developed in collaboration with production company Roses Are Blue to celebrate the 20th anniversary of his YouTube channel, the show blends an expansive outdoor game world with strategy, technological innovation and immersive visual storytelling. But outside of TV, Oelrich admits he loves the freedom and speed of being able to connect directly to his audience via YouTube and other forms of social media. “In the traditional space it takes sometimes years to see your idea come to life, whereas when I’m uploading my own content and sketches, I can do it right from my home. “The great thing is I can wake up in the morning, have an idea and upload the video in the evening so I can react to things happening in the world faster,” he adds. “With big TV companies it can take years.” DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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PREMIERE Profile

Yes Theory

SWEDEN-U.S.-CANADA-EGYPT Although founded in Montreal, Canada, Yes Theory members have diverse cultural backgrounds, with its founders hailing from Sweden, Egypt, the U.S. and Canada. Founded in 2015 by Thomas Brag, Matt Dajer, Ammar Kandil and Derin Emre, the group gained traction through their videos about travel, adventure and, in the wake of terror attacks in Beirut and Paris, inclusivity. Content often involves spontaneous trips, unusual challenges and interactions with strangers over the world. They became known for their motto “Seek Discomfort”, which encourages people to step outside their comfort zones and embrace new experiences. Over time the channel has grown into a large online community, and it’s seen members expand into the documentary space as well as live events. In 2022, Kandil directed Project Iceman, which followed extreme athlete Anders Hofman as he attempted the world’s first full-distance triathlon in Antarctica. They have more than 10 million subscribers on YouTube. “Creators can move so much faster than traditional TV and stay relevant to culture, which is evolving at an increasing speed,” Brag tells Deadline. “Creators have also learned to tell high-quality stories with much smaller budgets, often wearing many hats—from talent, to producer, director and editor. Serving as a jack-of-all-trades means that they’re able to add personal touches to every part of the process, ultimately making their stories feel more personal and approachable.”

Anna Cramling

SWEDEN Swedish-Spanish chess player Anna Cramling is one of Sweden’s largest and most internationally successful YouTubers. She holds the title of Woman FIDE Master, having represented Sweden in multiple Chess Olympiads. She boasts more than 1.7 million subscribers on YouTube and 500,000 on Twitch, and she regularly features in chess competitions, in interviews, where she plays with other chess champions, as well as travel vlogs. “Traditional media doesn’t always fully understand the storytelling that goes behind each video,” Cramling says. “A video on YouTube is essentially one story, and the better it performs, the more compelling the story probably is. I also think that traditional media,

Francesco Oggiano

ITALY After working as a reporter at Vanity Fair Italia for nine years, Italian journalist Francesco Oggiano decided to go it alone with the launch of his own digital newsletters in 2019 before joining startup Will Media in 16

Francesco Oggiano

Cramling on YouTube.

Anna Cramling

GTN R U TT ESER T OCSR. ED R UI TS C HIER O /EG ET TY I M A GE S / Y O U TU BE / A N N A C RA M L I N G

Yes Theory

2020. He eventually launched his own YouTube channel in 2024. His content, which he also posts on Instagram, focuses on current affairs, seeing him weigh in on stories such as the recent Macklemore and Ed Sheeran fallout, Prince Harry and Megan and the ICE shootings in Minneapolis earlier this year. While his subscriber base sits in the mid-tier (on YouTube he has 57,400 subscribers and 298,000 on Instagram), Oggiano believes that what matters is the “quality of the interaction—how much the audience responds, shares, returns and trusts you.” “That is where the strength of a community is measured,” he says. “A vertical niche of 20,000 passionate people is much better than a less focussed project with 200,000 followers.” He continues: “What I like most about YouTube is choosing topics, formats, duration and tone with a freedom that is hard to find elsewhere. I would love to combine this freedom with the resources and expertise of entities like Netflix or major studios to think bigger when it comes to production, writing, and formats. I see those entities as amplifiers of creativity.”

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Natalia Sisik

and people in general, underestimate the thinking that goes behind each title, thumbnail, and concept. It is all carefully thought through, to create the best packaging for the story as possible.”

Natalia Sisik

POLAND Prominent Polish internet personality Natalia Sisik has grown to become one of the top content creators in Poland. Initially building her presence on TikTok, she focused on lip-syncing, dancing and music cover videos with an ambition to break into the music industry. Her boyfriend and manager Jarek Kostrzewa, who was working at Universal Music at the time, helped her experiment with comedy and different types of content before the pair came up with News na dziś, a now highly successful daily news format aimed at younger audiences. “During the pandemic, we saw how much misinformation was spreading online, and we felt that it was the perfect moment to use what we had learned over the years and create something more meaningful,” she says. “That’s when we came up with the idea for News na dziś.”

Y O UT U BE / L I N G U R I O S A / N E W S N A D Z I S / T Ú DE C I E N CI A S Y Y O DE

Elana Herraiz Medina

She continues: “We don’t think it’s really about competing with traditional media. We’re doing something different. Creators understand the audience on a very personal level. We’re in direct contact with our audience every day, so we can quickly see what they care about, what they don’t understand and what makes them stop scrolling. Traditional media sometimes forgets that people don’t consume information the same way they did 10 or 20 years ago.”

Elena Herraiz Medina

SPAIN Elena Herraiz Medina, whose online handle is Linguriosa, started creating content on YouTube in 2019. Initially, videos were geared towards people looking to learn Spanish as a foreign language and understand grammar topics. After uploading videos that were more about breaking down different Spanish dialects, she got a huge influx of native Spanish-speaking followers. She has since co-hosted the revived Spanish public television game show Cifras y letras—the Spanish version of the long-running U.K. quiz show Countdown, on the La 2 channel—and she’s also co-hosted science and humanities podcast Tú de ciencias y yo de letras (literally “You're a scientist, and I'm a humanities specialist”). “The main difference between traditional media and content creators is that traditional outlets always link professionalism with rigid seriousness,” she says. “Normally, there are strict rules on how you should dress, speak, and behave, it's all far more formal than the authenticity expected on social platforms. “With the rise of AI, content that feels raw and human, proving that what you’re watching came directly from a real person and not a machine, has become immensely valuable. The less polished the content feels, the deeper it connects with a real audience. That's why social media is so powerful: People relate much more to creators being themselves than to traditional media personalities.” ★ Tú de ciencias y yo de letras

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Doors ARE

Opening

FOR

Nicole Wallace

Stewart Clarke

PHOTOGRAPHED BY

Nicole Wallace is good behind the wheel. In Culpa Mía, she power-slides her Porsche sports car to a street race victory and now she's shifting the gears of her career. With starring roles in Postcards From Italy, and motor-racing drama Throttled, the streaming icon is hitting top speed.

Violeta Sofia

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The Culpables movies were a streaming phenomenon

a version of the character that she liked playing the most. “There’s a moment in the third book and third movie after they hook up for the second time, and she leaves before he wakes up, and she’s crying in the car. That, for me, is so interesting, because it encapsulates who she is; she’s vulnerable, she’s emotional, and she loves with all of her heart, but she is very strong in terms of what she has to do to protect herself. And even if she loves this man, she will leave because that’s what she deserves.”

Life After Noah

Wallace says that Culpa nuestra is her favorite move from the Culpables franchise and it seemingly brought the story to a close but Ron’s fourth book Culpa Vuestra goes on to tell the story of Nick and Noah years on. It raises the tantalizing possibility of another movie installment, although nothing is confirmed. With three films in the rear-view mirror, is there still more in the tank when it comes to playing

Culpa Nuestra

Noah? “I think it would feel very weird,” Wallace says when asked about a possible return. She says she has not read the new book or had any conversations about reprising the role. “They’re much older and I just don’t think I would connect to it in the same way. “This project is such a big thing in my career and in my life, and it transformed everything for me; I would feel very weird coming back to it. I was doing the premiere for the last one last year, and I did close a chapter and go through the grief of letting it go and remembering the good parts and the bad parts.” Post Culpables, there is clear road ahead, says Wallace. “I’m excited to be able to kind of show more and prove myself again in other ways.”

FAULTLESS NUMBErS & rEMAKE rEACTIONS

he Culpables franchise has done the numbers for Prime Video. In 2024, Deadline was the first to report that the second installment of the franchise, Culpa tuya, was the streamer’s biggestever international launch at the time. That paved the way for Culpa nuestra, and Prime Video said this April that the three movies have been watched by more than 100 million people. Wallace says the success of the Culpables films first hit home when Deadline started reporting the stats and their

Culpa Tuya

international success. The massive numbers have seen her and Mercedes Ron ink deals with Amazon MGM Studios. English-language remakes of the Culpables films have followed, with My Fault: London and Your Fault: London doing well in Prime Video’s rankings. Asha Banks and Matthew

Broome play Noah and Nick, respectively, in the films. Our Fault: London has wrapped and drops in 2027. Wallace first heard about the Englishlanguage take on the Culpables movies on X. “They had two female directors, and they had more liberty to be able to change the dialog and change the storyline because

it was a remake,” she says. Wallace applauds Banks’ take on Noah. “She had a lot of fun with it and made her a little bit different than my Noah, which I think is fun and interesting. People love that version. Matt did the same thing.” More broadly, adaptations of Ron’s work dominate the Prime Video charts. As Deadline goes to press, five of the 10 most watched nonEnglish-language films on the streamer are adaptations of her work, with Drawn Together (Enfrentados) sitting top of the pile.

G U TT ER C R ED I T H ER E

that brought star Nicole Wallace to audiences the world over. After playing Nora in the Spanish version of teen drama Skam, she landed the role of Noah in Culpa mía (My Fault), the first part of the Culpables series from author Mercedes Ron. The series follows an on-off-on romance between Noah and Nick (Gabriel Guevara), the son of her mother’s new and uber-wealthy husband. Culpa tuya (Your Fault) and Culpa nuestra (Our Fault) followed, with the three Spanishlanguage films racking up more than 100 million viewers on Prime Video, the streamer says. Now, having taken on that big-ticket role, she is doing more romance, and moving into English-language films and series. Even if a fourth Culpables movie emerges (Ron’s fourth novel in the series Culpa vuestra was released earlier this year), Wallace’s next act moves her beyond Noah. Culpa mía was the start of a roller-coaster journey for Wallace. “I knew that it was a big book, but I didn’t imagine that it could have turned into all of this,” the Spanish-American actress says. “I liked that I could be this strong, independent female in this type of movie that I hadn’t seen before. Now, there are so many more characters like Noah in romance movies and I’m happy and grateful for that, but I think she was one of the first ones I had read.” As Nick and Noah’s lives play out over three films, they grow up on screen and Wallace says there is

She adds: “From that point on, the rest of the third movie is full, not of love for what she’s lived with this person. There’s that portion of the movie that feels very mature but still very Noah.” For Ron, Wallace’s performance held true to her books. The author says: “Nicole was the perfect choice to bring Noah to life. She showed a deep understanding and genuine affection for the character. She also understood the importance of Noah’s journey and development throughout all three movies. Her performance allowed the character to evolve naturally, but also keep the qualities that readers love about Noah.”

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P R I M E V I DE O

Summoning The Spirits

A pivot to a prestige period piece is a sure-fire way to show range. Wallace starred in The House of the Spirits, the Prime Videoseries adaptation of Isabel Allende’s classic novel, from Anora producer FilmNation Entertainment in association with Fabula, Pablo Larraín’s production label. She is one of three actors to play the ethereal Clara at different stages of her life in the drama. The story is an epic inter-generational tale of a family across decades of violent change. Clara is a clairvoyant with telekinetic powers and is the beating heart of the story. In the series, Wallace picks up from Francesca Turco, who plays Clara as a child. She then hands off to Dolores Fonzi, who stars as the older version of the character. She had to choose between The House of the Spirits and a movie project that was on the table. Her gut told her to choose the Allende adaptation and her reaction to landing the part, and assessment of the scripted series, suggests she made the right call. “I cried when I got the call and they told me that I was going to play her,” she says. “We’re in a moment where so much is coming in, there’s so much production, it’s hard to find [projects] that are going to stick. It’s that type of show that stays with you.” Wallace plays the young adult Clara at a crucial point in her story, as she confronts love and the supernatural forces shaping her world, and gets married to Esteban Trueba, played by Alfonso Herrera (Ozark). “She is in a very interesting period of her life when she’s found what she wants and why she’s on Earth, and she has this calling. That gets a little bit destroyed in one specific moment,” Wallace says. “But I wanted to also give her a lot of light because I think women have lived through these horrible relationships and moments in history and somehow they still hang on to love and they still hang on to one another.” Clara’s relationship with Esteban is tempestuous. She does not conform to the social norms of the day and advocates for women’s empowerment and suffrage while he is a DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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ruthless businessman and womanizer. In reality, Herrera was tender. “He was so scared, and was so careful, even in our kissing scenes, because of the difference in age,” Wallace says. “For me, it was nice to see that from him. Not because I want him to feel bad, but because that meant that he was putting a lot of thought into everything. He wanted to respect not only me but the scenes, and so it was honest.”

English Class

Postcards From Italy will be her first English-language project to reach audiences. Directed by Oscar winner Jessica Yu (Only Murders in the Building), the fish-out-of-water tale sees a privileged young woman from New York’s Upper West Side make her own way in Italy. Wallace plays Mia, a spoiled heiress who is sent by her grandfather to Palermo, Sicily, without money or her customary luxuries, to work as a real estate agent in the family business. “It’s a very different register for me,” says Wallace. “It’s a comedy and I’ve never done comedy. Mia is also the first character that I’m playing that is not super young. Even with Clara, although she feels very mature and she has kids, I’m still playing a 20-year-old. This is the first time I’m playing a 24/25-year-old, [which is] my age. That is something that people are going to see for the first time from me.” Speaking about moving into acting in English, Wallace says: “My whole personality changes when I speak a different language. I’m proving myself all over again because people like some voices in one language and then don’t like them in another, so anything could happen.” Next up for Wallace is Throttled, based on the first of Lauren Asher’s Dirty Air book series and set in a fictionalized version of the highstakes world of Formula 1. For Wallace, it is her first U.S.originated project and another English-language role. She stars opposite Off Campus breakout Josh Heuston, meaning the producers have recruited two red-hot actors who built their stardom in the world of YA. “It’s a romance, but it’s very sports

driven, so that’s something that’s very new to me,” says Wallace. She plays Maya, the sister of one of the Formula 1 drivers. “She’s a math major, she loves F1 and knows all of the engineering. She falls for her brother’s rival [Heuston’s Noah Slade], so there’s a conflict of interest and family loyalty going on, but also, it’s about a female in a very male-dominated sport. I’m excited to be able to dive in and [explore] how she experiences all of that.”

“I am a pretty good driver. I love speed and, yeah, love driving,” the star says. That worked out well in the Culpables movies, replete as they are with shiny fast cars as well as romance and drama. Having been to see F1 up close as part of her research, Wallace says the sport evoked a familiar sensation. “It feels kind of like production on a movie,” she says. “There are the actors who are the face of it, but there are

hundreds of people on the other side that make the whole thing work.”

Actor To Producer

Last year Wallace struck an exclusive talent deal with Amazon MGM Studios and now she wants to glean some producer smarts as she thinks about getting her own projects off the ground. “I’ve been pitching stuff,” she says. “That was a very big thing for me, to be able to just learn from the inside and also from the best.”

Photographed on location at the Casa de la Panadería, Madrid. 24

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In terms of producing, Wallace breaks down what she is interested in. “I obviously prioritize female protagonists and being able to tell stories about complicated, messy women. And there’s something about female rage that I’m very interested in. This is a very exciting moment with shows like Furious. And I love fantasy. I am such a fantasy nerd.” She will also stay connected to the young adult genre. “I would love to be able to do indie stuff, and I want to do horror, action, sci-fi and all of these things, but I also still want to be true to the people that have stayed with me,” she says. “I want to still do YA.”

A M A Z O N / M G M S T U DI O S / EV ER E TT C O L L EC T I ON / P R I M E V I DEO

Watch List

Life since the Culpables became a global hit has, Wallace says, been “a roller-coaster with pit stops on the way.” What does a breakout star do during those pit stops? Wallace rides her horse, hangs out with her friends (the same ones from before she was famous), and goes to the movies, enjoying blockbusters and indie fare alike (she enthuses about La bola negra, Spain’s entry for the Best International Oscar this year, which recently won the People’s Choice Award at Toronto). Embracing more mainstream pics, she watched Spider-Man: A Brand New Day five times in the movie theater and says it struck a nerve. “I came out of the cinema feeling like I was eight years old,” she says. “That feeling when you see a movie and you feel like your whole personality and world has changed. I hadn’t felt like that in a really long time and I realized, ‘Oh, this is why I like to act, and this is why I’m an actor.’”

Culpa Tuya

SPAIN: THE HOLLYWOOD OF EUROPE

The House of the Spirits

Amazon MGM’s Generational Deal

uoyed by the success of the Culpables, Amazon MGM Studios struck an exclusive talent deal with Wallace last year. She will star in its movies and series and also has ambitions to produce. Nicole Clemens is the Paramount+ alum now in charge of international originals for Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios. “Nicole is a generational talent and this is only the beginning for our journey together,” she says. “Her charisma radiates off the screen. Whether she’s charming audiences as Noah in Culpa, or breaking their hearts as Clara in The House of the Spirits, Nicole’s ability to connect with people all over the world is unmatched.” With some hits in the bank and an overall deal with Amazon MGM, Wallace and her team can now take the time to plot what comes next. “When you get a certain degree of privilege in the industry where you can choose projects,” says Wallace, “you have to find a strategy with your career and what type of projects you want to do. That’s something that I’ve been learning a lot these past two years.”

With Spanish and English series and movies now on her IMDb page, Wallace can start planning the next stage. She has a singing career and wants to do musical theater, but on-screen, the plan is a career that can take in both franchises and festival fare. She also wants to work with her sister Chloé, who is a director. “I love a big thing, coming from a franchise that has a remake and doing The House of the Spirits, and I still want to do those, but I also want to do the grungy, no-money movies.” If Wallace is Deadline’s cover star in 10 years’ time, what does she want to have achieved? “Maybe having done theater or musical theater, obviously Broadway or the West End is the goal, and having produced my own things would be great,” she says. Is there someone who has paved

the way? “I would love to [work] like Margot Robbie,” she decides. “She’s obviously at the front of a lot of the things that she does, but she also gives chances to other creators and writers and directors and actors.” Off the back of her success, and deep in career-planning mode, Wallace is determined not to get caught in analysis-paralysis. “I see a lot of actors that stop working because they overthink it so much and feel vulnerable about picking the wrong project and not getting called ever again,” she says. “I love to work so I’ve been trying to find somewhere between not just diving into whatever comes up, but also being grateful that I’m working, especially now that I’m doing things in the U.S.” Grounded but purposeful, Wallace clearly has no intention of taking her foot off the gas. ★

allace is in Galicia when she speaks to Deadline, while her cover shoot takes place at the headquarters of the Madrid Film Office in the historic Casa de la Panadería building in the city’s Plaza Mayor. The Film Office is supporting production locally, but countrywide, Spain has become a production hotspot. The production boom has not happened by chance. In 2021 Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez launched a fiveyear plan dubbed “Spain, Audiovisual Hub of Europe” to boost the country’s film and TV sector, backed by a €1.6 billion ($1.8 billion) investment and a strong desire to make Spain the Hollywood of Europe. With major streamer hubs now established, a generous incentive scheme, new studio spaces and a significant profile at the major festivals and markets, Spanish film and TV is firmly in the spotlight. The combination of public and private investment has buoyed Spain’s international profile, with stories that travel beyond domestic shores. The Culpables are a global hit, and in cinema, there were three Spanish films in competition at Cannes this year: Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s The Beloved (El ser querido), Pedro Almodóvar’s Bitter Christmas (Amarga Navidad) and La bola negra from Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi. At this year’s San Sebastián Film Festival, Óscar López, Spain’s Minister for Digital Transformation and Civil Service, pledged to continue investing in the Spanish audiovisual sector. He said: “When a public policy works, it should be maintained without a deadline. It is the golden age for our audiovisual sector.” DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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9/29/26 2:29 PM

PREMIERE Feature

Lock Up

India’s Unscripted Evolution The world’s most populous nation has grown from an unscripted adapter to a creator of mega entertainment franchises. There’s a swagger to unscripted TV producers in India right now. The rise in streaming coupled with a desire to push boundaries has seen the nation shift from a more passive importer of formats to one that is setting its agenda on a global stage. “The confidence is coming from the economics,” says Vivek Couto, founder, CEO and executive director at Singapore-based analyst Media Partners Asia. “Every major platform in India is building for scale and, sooner or later, advertising. Netflix is already laying the groundwork for a potential ad rollout in India over the next 24-36 months, and that pulls programming towards proven, repeatable, mass-audience formats.” This has manifested in three ways: a swathe of original formats from India’s production community; local remakes of international hits that 26

have been given major refreshes; and streaming executives willing to take a risk on them. JioHotstar has broken through with celebrity reality series Bhojpuri Bawaal, in a similar vein to The Fabulous Lives of Bollywood Wives, and it has also given Bigg Boss, the Indian version of Big Brother, a major refresh with six different language versions (Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Bangla) that all launched simultaneously in September this year. Netflix has driven the cultural conversation with “captive reality” series Lock Upp and Desi Bling. Prime Video has found success with Alliance, the first international remake of Talpa Studios’ competition format. “It’s competitive in India, but it's also a very prolific time for all the creators,” says Monika Shergill, vp of content for Netflix India.

It’s all being driven by a desire to push Indian creativity to levels that can cater to the country’s 1.4 billion people, who speak numerous languages and are all part of vastly differing cultures. That desire has done away with cheap, one-size-fits-all rehashes of global formats. There are more training programs, money is going towards new creative voices, and successful veterans are seeing their biggest and boldest ideas backed with the capital to make noise. “As a market we took to premium storytelling a little late,” admits Shergill. “What I’ve seen in the last few years is how many more young voices are coming in. What excites me is the expanding talent pool, the kind of work that is happening and the kind of bets we are able to make at Netflix. Everybody is taking bets in their own space.”

N E TF L I X

BY JESSE WHITTOCK

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“For Netflix, it's most critical to keep innovating because we are a pure-play entertainment service. We thrive by building fandoms and betting on new ideas and new spaces.”

P R IM E V I D EO / N ET F L I X

MONIKA SHERGILL

For Netflix, Lock Upp has been the breakout hit of the summer. The show pits celebrities against each other in a jail-themed setting, where they compete in tasks and attempt to avoid elimination. Produced by Balaji Telefilms, the show hit 50 million hours of viewing within three weeks of launch, “the equivalent to 5,700 years,” according to Shergill. “Conceptually, we knew that this would resonate,” she says. “India loves captive reality—it has for years. We were looking at something which would be truly unique, that wouldn't be just people thrown together for no reason at all and called it a social experiment. It has become the most defining social conversation in India this year.” Lock Upp started in 2022 on MX Player, prior to Amazon’s acquisition of the service, and on Balaji’s own streamer, ALTBalaji. It performed to little fanfare, but after a competitive situation last year, Netflix acquired the rights and the format was retooled with loftier ambitions. “For a creator, there is nothing bigger than support,” says Ekta Kapoor, the Balaji Telefilms founder who created Lock Upp. Kapoor is effusive in her praise of Netflix’s approach in India. “They have catered to the whole spectrum of India, when actually India was catering for a one-size-fits-all kind of content,” she says. “Now, finally, we have different content and different conversations.” For Netflix and Balaji, Lock Upp represents a chance for an Indian format to become an international entertainment property, akin to what the streamer has done with franchised hits like Too Hot to Handle and Love is Blind. Shergill isn’t confirming anything at this stage but does say that “the format is getting a lot of interest internally.” Elsewhere on the Netflix slate are projects such as The Great Indian Kapil Show, a talk series that was in essence ported from linear TV, and India’s Got Latent, a reality talent format from comedian Samay Raina with a twist that simulcasts on YouTube. Over at Prime Video, the Amazon streamer has become the first international buyer of Alliance. This represents a shift from years gone by, when

it was unlikely an Indian buyer would acquire a format untested outside of its home territory. The deal points to a growing confidence in the country’s ability to make its own hits and be a testbed for others. According to Nikhil Madhok, head of Indian Originals at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios India, global platforms have changed the game. “The streaming market in India is huge, vibrant and full of innovation,” he says. “It has created a moment where, increasingly, this is the place where new formats are being introduced.” This hasn’t been limited to unscripted formats, he adds, pointing to how Indian streamers were the first to begin launching feature films before their theatrical releases. “Another example is One Mic Stand, which was a format that was created at Prime Video India and later adapted in Germany,” says Madhok. As for the effort behind Alliance—a competition reality show in which four teams must work together to win challenges while each character secretly looks out for themselves— Madhok points to a desire to create noisy IP in the same vein as scripted originals like Paatal Lok, Mirzapur and The Family Man. “We wanted to do the same in the unscripted space, which was in need of urgent reinvention,” says Madhok. “That moment happened in 2025 with our show The Traitors, which became an overnight sensation. It focused on gameplay, strategy, and manipulation to create drama versus seemingly scripted conflicts that audiences were tiring of. Alliance was born of that same grain.” The Indian version of The Traitors sees entertainment mega-star Karan Johar taking on the

Alan Cumming presenter role at the center of the action. Buoyed by the response to the company’s unscripted series, Madok explains how the franchise is being expanded further with a Telugu adaptation hosted by actor Teja Sajja. In the U.K., the BBC has even acquired the show for its iPlayer platform. Madhok expects the current burst of Indian creativity to remain with the SVoDs at the forefront. “Long-form streaming is opening new avenues for unscripted creators to experiment with formats, episode structures, and storytelling styles that traditional mediums simply do not allow,” he says. “That creative freedom is what's driving the reinvention of unscripted and will continue to do so in the coming years.” Shergill has a similar view. “For Netflix, it’s most crucial to keep innovating because we are a pure-play entertainment service,” she says. “It’s in our DNA. We thrive by building fandoms and betting on new ideas and new spaces.” For MPA’s Couto, a bigger picture of the unscripted boom driven by both local and global content is still being painted. “What’s changed over the past 12 months is how the risk is managed,” he says. “Instead of originating expensive formats from zero, streamers are buying proven audiences: Kapil Sharma came to Netflix after years on Sony, Lock Upp arrived via MX Player, and Desi Bling works from a template that had already succeeded for Netflix globally. “India is no longer just adapting formats. It is becoming a market they are built in and exported from.” ★

From left: Alliance; Lock Upp DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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9/29/26 1:33 PM

PREMIERE Profile

Kevin McKidd Heads Home

The Scottish multi-hyphenate launches an indie on home turf, and he's using his Hollywood experience to make it work BY STEWART CLARKE

When Deadline sits down with him in his New York hotel, Kevin McKidd is in the throes of filming Conviction, the Elisabeth Moss-starring Hulu legal drama from House creator David Shore. After that, he’s headed to L.A. to direct some episodes of ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, the show in which he starred as Dr. Owen Hunt before he said goodbye to the role in 2026 after almost two decades. Conviction is a buzzy series and could make a serious splash. McKidd plays the husband of Moss’ Neve Harper, a confident lawyer who finally has her shot at a career-making case: a high-profile murder where the husband is accused of killing his wife by setting their home on fire. The conversation, however, quickly turns to his native Scotland. McKidd is using the smarts he learned in the U.S. business to power up Ferryman Films, his indie label out of Edinburgh. “I’ve got access to this American skillset and these people who’ve been showrunners on big shows,” he says, “and then there are these Scottish writers with all this potential. It’s really been fun to see that cross-pollination.” One project he's working on but keeping mum about is Troubadour. “We’re developing

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A N C / DA V ID H IN DL E Y / R ED P L A N E T P I C TU R E S

that with Bruno Heller (Rome) who is the chieftain of it, but Kieran Hurley, who’s quite an accomplished Scottish playwright, is co-writing with him,” McKidd says. His new indie banner has partnered with STV Studios, the production and distribution arm of Scottish broadcaster STV run by former NBCUniversal exec David Mortimer. An adaptation of William Shaw detective novel The Red Shore is the first collaboration resulting from the deal. There’s also Friends Like These for the BBC in the works, a female-led show about a group of 30-something friends. Gillian McCormack (Counsels) is writing. A Guilty Secret One thing that has wrapped is psychological drama The Only Suspect, adapted by Simon Ashdown (Trigger Point) from the novel by Louise Candlish. It is for ITV in the U.K., with Farren Blackburn directing. Moving between the present day and mid-1990s London, it follows Alex (McKidd) and his wife, Beth, played by Amaka Okafor (Black Rabbit). The devoted couple’s seemingly picture-perfect suburban life hides a devastating truth linked to a dead body—Alex, it transpires, is the man who buried that body, and has been harboring the dark secret ever since. “He’s very much a kind of antihero,” McKidd says of his character. “That’s a really delicious challenge—to have an audience root for a character while also having major mixed feelings about them. I find those characters a fantastic knot to untie.” The setting for the 1990s part of the series is Camden, London, which was very much the epicenter of the U.K.’s Cool Britannia movement. It struck a chord with McKidd, given he was one of the

stars of Trainspotting, a defining movie of that era. He played the memorable and tragic character of Tommy in the Danny Boyle film and recently attended a 30th anniversary screening of the film in Edinburgh. “I spent my formative years exactly in the period of time in which we see the younger versions of these characters,” McKidd says. “I didn’t kill anyone, thankfully,” he quips. “But there are those mistakes that you make in your twenties as you’re figuring out life, which is what this show is all about. I was able to get into that character because it weirdly reflected my own life, going back to this place in the same way as Alex as he has to go back and face what happened in the 90s.” McKidd says viewers should buckle up for twists and turns. “Every episode keeps you guessing. Just when you think you know what’s happening, they pull the rug from under you. It has quite a dark psychology, but there’s a lot of humor in it too.” Red Planet Pictures is producing. The venerable U.K. label is majority-owned by Fremantle, which is handling international sales and will be pushing at MIPCOM. It is Red Planet’s second Candlish adaptation after Our House, one of ITV’s biggest new drama launches back in 2022. Fellow British crime novelist Ruth Ware has described Candlish as the “queen of the sucker-punch twist.” Red Planet’s Tom Mullens, who is exec producer on The Only Suspect, says that “is incredibly useful when it comes to playing the hooks, twists and turns needed to ramp up the tension.” Explaining why McKidd was such a good fit, Mullens says: “He’s such a clever actor with great dramatic range and a chameleon-like versatility, which was essential for the part of Alex,

Kevin McKidd in The Only Suspect.

“I'm always trying to be a moving target. That's what I want for the company.” KEVIN MCKIDD

a deeply complex character who goes on a cathartic journey across the four episodes. “Not only do we see a charming and manipulative Alex as he protects his secret, but we also see a man who loves his wife and is faced with an impossible choice, knowing that by confronting his guilt and telling the truth, he might also destroy his life and marriage.” Heading Home McKidd starred in several U.K.produced shows during his time on Grey’s Anatomy but still noticed a change when it came to filming The Only Suspect. “On [Grey’s Anatomy] we have three cameras rolling all the time, every take. But with The Only Suspect it was a single camera, which is pretty much where I started, in indie films in the ’90s and the early 2000s. “With three cameras, it can dilute what you’re doing. [Director] Farren Blackburn and the DP did such a good job at using that one camera and always placing it in the optimal position to get the most intense version of that setup.” McKidd’s own directing work has made him more of a team player. “Before, I was probably a bit of a pain in the arse. I was like ‘You know, my character wouldn’t do

that.’ Now I’m much more accommodating. I know what it is like to sit in that director’s chair.” With experience in front of and behind the camera, he says he’s also happy to relinquish control when an acting gig comes up. “When I worked with Ben Williams, who was brilliant [as the director of Hideo Yokoyama adaptation Six Four], and Farren, the first thing I said to them was, ‘I’m not going to come in as this actor-director who’s going to be rolling his eyes at your choices. I can take that chip in my brain out and just focus on being an actor. I’m just going to put my complete trust in you.’” Being an indie boss, meanwhile, is another skillset. It requires patience as the options are picked up, writers are attached and pitches made to buyers. “I’ve got this underpinning of being a theater actor, really, who fell into all this TV and film,” McKidd says. “Then I was plugged into the Hollywood system, having come from very independent grassroots. I’ve got one foot in both camps, and that can benefit my acting, but also the company.” With Conviction calling, McKidd signs off: “I’m always trying to be a moving target. That’s what I want for the company. I want to keep people guessing.” ★ DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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PREMIERE Profile

Founders Keepers The gang is getting back together at Sister Group. Elisabeth Murdoch, Jane Featherstone and Lucinda Hicks tell Deadline why they're dedicated to staying independent BY STEWART CLARKE

worked with Murdoch more than 15 years ago, joining her Shine business when the indie production group was headed by Alex Mahon, who later ran U.K. pubcaster Channel 4. Featherstone was running drama label Kudos, which was part of Shine, and she also worked together with Hicks at docs maker Dragonfly. Fast forward to 2025 and the gang is back together. Hicks is overjoyed to be reunited with the Sister Group founders. “Authorship is non-negotiable,” she says. “Jane’s not afraid to say no until something is absolutely right, and that DNA has underpinned everything she’s ever done, whether that is at Kudos, Sister Pictures, or the role she now plays in Sister Group. Liz is an extraordinary founder and entrepreneur who has shaped the group. “At a time in the industry when it’s tough—and I’m not saying we are immune to that—the energy that runs through our group is palpable. Why would I not want to come back and join forces with them again?” As Hicks notes, Sister is not immune to the shifting sands of the TV business. Indeed, the company only turned a profit for the first time in 2025. At that point, CFO Chris Fry told Deadline the company was entering its “next phase”, and one that will be driven by “delivering best-in-class storytelling from a U.K. base to a global audience”.

The U.K. component was pertinent after the exit of Cindy Holland, who stepped down as Sister CEO in 2024 and became an advisor to Skydance Media ahead of its Paramount deal. She then took on running direct-to-consumer at the merged business, with her former Sister colleagues Jane Wiseman and Efrain Miron joining her. Sister has interests in U.S.-based businesses Campside, AWA and publishing label Zando, and owns a small piece of Steph Curry’s Unanimous, which is out of L.A. The base, however, is now firmly London. “It’s been incredibly tough to be in the U.S. over the last couple of years, which is well known,” Hicks says. Speaking to Deadline from her London office, she adds: “It was a very purposeful decision to move out of the U.S. Our HQ is very much here now. There are definite advantages—beyond the cost base—to being here, in terms of talent and in terms of a lot of the businesses now being in the same city.” Disruption + Risk = Opportunity

As the traditional TV and streaming space continues to face challenges, producers are at the sharp end. The peak drama moment is over, with greenlights harder to come by as costs rocket and budgets remain under pressure. Factual and reality are similarly stretched. YouTube, free streaming and creators,

L U DO V I C RO BE R T / N ET F L I X

Sister Group has done three deals in less than six months and notably none of them are in the traditional TV space. Back in April, the company acquired a majority stake in digital outfit After Party Studios before cutting a deal in August with British broadcaster Amol Rajan. The company also invested in brands and marketing outfit Common Interest Group. Meanwhile, back in TV land, a new season of Black Doves is about to drop, Will Sharpe and Ayo Edebiri rom-com Prodigies is coming to Apple TV+ and Anna Friel and Connor Swindells-starrer The Dream Lands is set for the BBC. While market conditions are tough, Sister is betting that backing entrepreneurial-minded creatives will create a new-school indie. “No other group in this industry is assembled this way,” Elisabeth Murdoch says. “That’s not by accident. That’s the point. What Jane and I were both resolute about in 2019 was that independence, IP ownership and excellence were, and would increasingly be, what differentiates us.” Jane Featherstone picks up the thread. “What Liz and I envisioned had a simplicity: A home built on excellence for storytellers whatever the platform or medium, where authorship was non-negotiable, embracing the rough edges of human stories, and where talent is trusted rather than managed.” Outside TV, Sister Group already has interests in AWA, the comic book outfit founded by Marvel alums Bill Jemas and Axel Alonso and former News Corp. exec Jon F. Miller, podcast outfit Campside Media and animation studio Locksmith. It also has a stake in Koko, the iconic venue in Camden, London. Lucinda Hicks became Sister CEO 18 months ago, but the relationships go way back. She DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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Rajan. “He’s chosen to exit a large institution [the BBC] to build directly with an audience. That’s a defining media story at the moment, and we wanted to be part of it.” Changing Shape Of IP

L U DO V I C RO BE R T / N ET F L I X/ S IS TE R G RO U P

From far left: Lucinda Hicks, Elisabeth Murdoch, Jane Featherstone.

meanwhile, have come to the forefront. Some producers find it difficult to keep up. Murdoch acknowledges it’s a tough environment. “You can be both clear-eyed about the challenges and enthusiastic about the enormous potential,” she says. “The disruption that is breaking down existing models is the same disruption that lets producers and creatives not only now own or have a greater share of IP, but also reach audiences directly for the first time.” Featherstone says that change can also spark creative renewal. “The periods in history that produced the most extraordinary creative work weren’t the stable, well-resourced ones,” she says. “They were the ones where the ground was moving. Risk-taking is a word that’s used a lot, in a period of change it’s even more critical that creatives are backed to be risk-takers and that they and producers are rewarded fairly for that.”

sure the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. “The combination of being founder-led and having independence is really powerful,” she says. “We’re here to creatively and commercially back them; we can invest in projects as we have done with, say, Courtney Love’s documentary [Antiheroine], within Dorothy Street. “But as they go from startup to more meaningful scale-up businesses, they also have the bandwidth and the headspace to think a bit more about what it means to be part of a group. My role is to try and join those dots.” In terms of joining the dots, she notes Sister has built a studio for Amol Rajan within Koko. It follows the company inking a production and distribution deal with the popular British journalist and presenter, who is branching out after departing a high-profile role presenting BBC Radio’s morning current affairs show Today. “He’s a generational talent,” Hicks says of

Joining The Dots

The businesses in Sister Group are each run by their founder. In TV these include unscripted supremo Richard Bacon with his Yes Yes Media label, Julia Nottingham, who is behind Pamela, A Love Story indie Dorothy Street Pictures, and South of the River, which is Olivia Colman, Ed Sinclair and Tom Carver’s banner. If trusting these and the other founders is part of the plan, Hicks’ role is to make

Black Doves

In April, Sister bought a majority stake in After Party Studios, the digital-first producer that works with streamers, broadcasters, talent and brands. It was founded by YouTuber Callux (aka Callum McGinley) and director RVBBERDUCK (aka Ben Doyle), along with Base79 founder Richard Mansell. Joshua Barnett is the chief executive. “I remember when we very first met them and they said, ‘We’ve built a company that’s structured like a creator’s brain,’ and that’s the way they think about audiences and create and distribute content,” says Hicks. “Everything about the way they operate is different, and we are learning that understanding audiences is very much at the heart of our strategy. As an industry, we’ve not been great at that. Streamers and broadcasters have access to a huge amount of data, which they use in mysterious ways. As producers, we often haven’t had that before, and so now we’re very much trying to put that at the heart of what we do.” Sister has also taken a minority stake in Common Interest, the group that is run by its founder Anthony Freedman, and connects the worlds of advertising and brands with entertainment. “The most valuable IP doesn’t necessarily behave like a ‘show’, it behaves like a brand; it sits across platforms, and it has a voice and a community,” Hicks says. “Working with them is going to help us bring that very contemporary thinking about IP, but also give us the insight and the relationships with brands. CMOs say that they’re investing in production and entertainment, and currently most production companies do not have the relationships or the insights to be able to speak that language and make those connections.” M&A Future

Having been U.K. COO of Endemol Shine U.K. and then CEO of Banijay U.K., Hicks has had a front-row seat to a wave of industry-changing dealmaking. The 2020 M&A between those two outfits saw the creation of a super indie group, which paved the way for even more consolidation in the indie space. Now there are bigger entities still, with the new Banijay, for example, owning more than 140 production companies. Is Hicks’ job at Sister to build before a sale or transformative deal? She says: “You never say never, but right now it’s absolutely not on the agenda. On a personal level, and I think I speak for Liz and Jane as well, we’re having quite a lot of fun. It’s really fun being independent.” ★ DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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PREMIERE Feature

Pablo Larraín's My Sad Dead The Chilean filmmaker talks adapting Mariana Enríquez’s renowned psychological horror story into a miniseries for Netflix BY ZAC NTIM

“One could argue this is a movie spread across four episodes, or four episodes that become a movie,” Pablo Larraín says when asked about My Sad Dead (Mis muertos tristes), the new four-part project he has directed for Netflix. But the Chilean filmmaker, best known for his taut, visually expansive portraits of misunderstood women (Jackie, Spencer and Maria), adds that he discovered a distinct “beauty” in the serialized format, which offered the unique opportunity to explore a singular idea over a sustained period. In this instance, that idea was the fiction work of beloved Argentinian writer and journalist Mariana Enríquez. Pulling from characters from across Enríquez’s oeuvre but rooted in the narrative of her short story of the same name, My Sad Dead tells the story of Emma, a retired doctor who can see and speak with the dead around her, including her own mother. The arrival of Emma’s niece, Julie, and the murder of three local teenagers trigger a strange phenomenon that allows others in Emma’s neighborhood to see the dead, creating 32

a dangerous break in the balance between the living and the afterlife. Mercedes Morán, Dolores Fonzi, Alejandra Flechner and Carolina Sánchez Álvarez lead the project, which was produced by Larraín’s Fabula production house. The New Yorker first published the My Sad Dead short story in 2023, and it was included in Enríquez’s short collection A Sunny Place for Shady People, published in 2025 by Penguin. Enríquez’s work is wildly popular in the Spanish-speaking world. Larraín describes himself as a dedicated reader of her fiction and non-fiction work, which often appears in the Argentinian newspaper Página/12 and spans every topic from the work of Edgar Allan Poe to the career of Serbian tennis legend Novak Djokovic. “I’m not very precious about my work,” Enríquez says about the recent interest in adapting her stories for the screen. Last year, Laura Casabé directed The Virgin of the Quarry Lake based on one of Enríquez’s shorts, and the indie Spanish production house AF Films

has acquired the rights to adapt her 2009 short collection The Dangers of Smoking in Bed. “I like when other artists read my work and have new ideas. It is super modern and exactly how literature is supposed to work.” Larraín adapted My Sad Dead alongside Enríquez and Chilean filmmaker Anastasia Ayazi, whom he describes as a “fantastic and young emerging filmmaker.” “It was interesting,” he says of their contemporary writers’ room. “We would propose a structure, and then Mariana would make corrections and offer her observations. Somehow it was a quick process. But the shoot was long, we got the time we needed to do it.” Larraín says patience and creative autonomy were a welcome result of his working relationship with Netflix, who released his last film, El Conde. “The network really allowed us to do what we wanted. They didn’t have a heavy editorial perspective,” he says. Larraín describes this as a “very privileged environment,” but he doesn’t see his sojourn in the TV world as a creative escape from the cinema industry. “I haven’t been someone who has had to work under a very heavy industry system,” he says, adding that My Sad Dead was produced within a creative environment not too dissimilar from his feature work. “This is a TV series that was shot like a movie. It was not a project shot in the style or rhythm of a TV series,” Larraín adds. Narratively ambitious, auteur-driven series have been flying out of Latin America in recent years. In May, Netflix’s sci-fi epic The Eternaut swept the Platino Awards, with eight wins, including best series and best actor for Ricardo Darín. The show will return for a second season. The streamer’s One Hundred Years of Solitude landed rare Gotham TV and Peabody nominations after its buzzy launch. Larraín says that he is certain My Sad Dead won’t be the last screen adaptation of Enríquez’s work, which he describes as uniquely suited to visual interpretations. “There’s not a single line in her work that can’t be made visual,” he says of Enríquez. “There are very few writers that can make you see like this.” Despite Larraín’s praise, Enríquez says she certainly will not be writing directly for the screen. “I like the collaboration,” she says. “If people want the work, fine. But there is certainly no need for me to do it.” ★

P A BL O L A RR A Í N / N E TF L I X

Caroline Sánchez Álvares and Mercedes Morán in My Sad Dead.

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ENTERTAINMENT’S BREAKING NEWS SITE

For all the latest happenings in film, television and tech, Deadline is your source. From Box office numbers, to film and television premieres, to renewals and festival coverage, and everything in between!

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PREMIERE Profile

Readying BBC Studios For The Streaming Era Marcus Arthur on walking a tightrope in a streaming-first world where linear remains a money-spinner BY STEWART CLARKE

Marcus Arthur is running a huge and complicated business. Having been upped from CEO of channels group UKTV to chief exec of global channels and streaming at BBC Studios, he faces a sizable challenge. Positioning the commercial arm of the 100-year-old BBC for a streaming future while managing the traditional linear channels that still do great business in many international territories. BBC Studios has an enormous catalog of shows that it sells around the world—it’s rolling into

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MIPCOM with a shiny Dancing with the Stars spinoff—but its channels and streaming business remains a big earner, with revenues of £788 million ($1.1 billion) for the 2025/26 financial year. Arthur’s portfolio comprises channels and digital services spanning linear pay-TV nets, branded ad-supported channels, direct-toconsumer services and SVoD U.K. streamer BritBox International is in the mix, with Arthur overseeing it outside of North America. “Streaming is definitely our future, and building for a

streaming-first future is absolutely paramount,” Arthur says. “But linear is still hugely important right now for the profits that the businesses make and will be for the next five to 10 years. The art is that clutch-control between building for a streaming future, but still trying to maximize the benefit of the big linear businesses.” He adds: “The difficulty for broadcasters is that the new [streaming] paradigm doesn’t come about overnight. It takes time to develop your digital services and your routes to market.

And all the time you’re investing [in streaming], you still need to keep your linear businesses warm. You don’t get a free hit. You need to do both of those.” BBC Studios is not beholden to shareholders in the same way as a company like Comcast, which has split its legacy channels and streaming businesses. Arthur says these moves have contributed to a narrative that does not always acknowledge the value of linear. “People don’t always recognize that there’s still growth in linear in places like South Africa, or that

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you can still grow your linear share in Poland and other markets that we are in, like Turkey, because they have read about a few of the big broadcasters that have decided to bifurcate their linear and streaming businesses. There’s an equally long list of people who have decided to keep those assets together, whether that’s Fox, ITV or AMC. “The businesses that decide to keep them together are the ones who believe that they can still benefit from those linear sides of their business for a long period of time for their future profitability, and most of them are using those profits to invest in the digital side.” With a smorgasbord of channels, meanwhile, there will always be fine-tuning and rebrands. Drama network BBC First is an example: It was rebranded as BBC Belgium in that European country and there has since been an uptick in viewership with a launch lineup that included the likes of Wild Cherry, Foyle’s War and Call the Midwife. That rebrand followed a similar move in the Netherlands where BBC First was rebadged BBC NL.

U K TV / B BC S TU D I O S

Major Player

Last year, BBC Studios teamed with CosmoBlue to distribute channels and launch a new general entertainment network across the Middle East and North Africa regions and Turkey. Part of the deal was also the integration of the BBC Player service integrated into the CosmoGO streaming app. The BBC Player on-demand services can bridge the traditional and the new, providing a streaming service that can sit next to regular channels. “We’ve grown that to 21 products in the EMEA region,” Arthur says. “We have taken the existing channels' businesses and put the very best digital product alongside it. When we’re speaking to the pay platforms we have relationships

with, we’re now talking to them about a linear business that has a really strong digital future.” BBC Player is multi-genre, including drama, and there is also the scripted-focused BritBox service. In line with the plethora of business models within the BBC Studios channels and streaming business, BritBox runs as an SVoD proposition in Australia, going direct to consumers, while it operates in conjunction with regional pay TV platforms in the Nordics. Elsewhere, BBC Studios-owned channel group UKTV did a deal last year to launch content from its ‘U’-branded on-demand service on Channel 4’s streaming platform. It meant Channel 4 bolstered its streaming offering with UKTV programs including the Bergerac reboot, as well as classic BBC shows that air on UKTV channels including The Office and Red Dwarf. Arthur offers a progress report: “We have experienced very healthy growth and we have managed not to cannibalize our standalone service. That deal was great for Channel 4 because it got really good content from the BBC, the archive, and the UKTV originals. For UKTV, it took us onto a platform that, by nature, is younger and exposed us to a whole load of new people.” FAST Facts

Free Ad-supported Streaming TV (FAST) is a smart way to make the most of a big catalog and BBC Studios has been steadily launching channels. Arthur tells us that it is about to launch a suite of new channels in the U.K., pegged to some big-ticket Marcus Arthur brands.

Jay Leno and Jeremy Clarkson on Top Gear.

The services will carry the aforementioned U branding from UKTV, with Top Gear on U, EastEnders on U and Antiques Roadshow on U among eight launches. “You can test and learn with FAST,” Arthur says. “You can get channels up and see if they grow, and then move and change.” Across EMEA, BBC Studios said there were 53.6 million hours of viewing of its FAST channels in the first seven months of this year, a year-on-year increase of more than 50%. FAST can also plug the gaps where BBC Studios does not have services. “They’ve done exceptionally well for us where we don’t have any big pay deals or our own channels. It’s a very effective way to launch into marketplaces.” Charter For Change

Outside of the commercial Studios business, pubcaster BBC is making eye-watering cuts. For BBC Studios, the knock-on effect is a greater recognition of the importance of the cash it returns to the public service mothership.

BBC Studios has argued that U.K. regulation are putting its operations at a disadvantage compared to its peers in the international business. One bone of contention is its borrowing cap, which will sit at £750 million ($1 billion) in 2027. “We have a good track record, when we do have funds, of spending them well and getting returns, but whether we get more cash availability as part of the Charter is for the government and for [BBC director general] Matt Brittin,” Arthur says. Looking ahead for the next year, Arthur says the BBC iPlayer service will be modernized in terms of look and feel. And, of course, his channels and streaming division needs to make money. “We need to grow our revenues,” he says. “Despite the fact that advertising in the U.K. might be incredibly challenged, I want to grow our EMEA revenues. I want to grow our APAC revenues and our revenues in both Australia and New Zealand. “We want this to be a growth business, and to show that we have things in place that can make that true,” he continues. “I don’t want to just be managing businesses where the revenue is flat and all you’re doing is looking at costs. I mean, life’s too short.” ★ DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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PREMIERE Profile

From left: Oasis' Liam and Noel Gallagher.

The Catalyst System

The second phase of Pulse Films co-founder Thomas Benski’s game plan is establishing his new business Lumina Media as the go-to place for global talent BY JESSE WHITTOCK

In the week before he speaks to Deadline, the French-Brazilian entrepreneur Thomas Benski has been busy indeed. First, he was in Paris for a VC conference about gaming. He then touched down in London, where his next-gen company Lumina Media has an office, before heading back to his adopted hometown of New York City. This packed schedule is a small window into how Benski has been living and working after leaving Gangs of London producer Pulse Films in 2022. He is laser-focused on finding the next iteration of media and entertainment, whether that’s in gaming, consumer brands, the creator economy, film and TV or technology. Those “catalysts”, 36

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as Benski dubs them, could be anywhere. His company engages in around 75 productions a year, but Benski is not precious about where they originate. “I’m more interested in meeting different people and seeing different things than I am in just being on the same circuit,” says the self-described “outsider” who built a reputation in the industry for going against the grain. Pulse, which he formed with Marisa Clifford in 2005 before selling to Vice Media in 2016, was certainly a curiosity for a particular generation of British producers. Some from the more traditional world struggled to understand a TV and film production company that began life as a music video

producer and doubled as a commercials maker and talent house for directors. But these days, a multi-pronged approach feels like the only way to survive. Lumina is also following those principles. Lumina was formed two years ago with offices on both sides of the Atlantic and in the Middle East, and a business model that has verticals in talent and IP, innovation, creators economy and youth sports. Early investments were made to launch Omar Sy and Louis Leterrier’s Carrousel Studios as well as ’71 director Yann Demange’s Wayward Films and Jamie Johnson FC maker Strike. His long-term business partners Clifford and Davud Karbassioun were drafted in to lead multi-disciplinary

production business Magna Studios, which is the closest entity to Pulse in the group, while it also acquired a stake in Benedict Cumberbatch’s SunnyMarch Productions last year. Other investments have brought the likes of AI firm Perplexity and gaming biz Creators Corp into the fold. A fifth strategic focus is a venture capital arm that has made investments in consumer brands such as swimwear company Hunza G and luxury handbags business Métier. “What wraps it all together is this idea of talent and IP as the catalyst,” says Benski. “You can apply that to a consumer brand, all the way to a film and TV studio.” His thesis was borne out of a realization post-Pulse that he was a

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D I S N E Y / TH O M A S B EN S KI / L U M I N A / UK TV / DI S N EY

Thomas Benski

“builder”, not an investor. Initially expecting he would simply invest in other people’s businesses, he developed an idea for a creator-led operation that “was not just another studio and not just another production company,” but “a media company suited for today.” In effect, an alternative to the Hollywood model, based out of Europe. Benski had seen technology rapidly changing the business of media and began scouting for IP and talent, both of which he describes as “extremely scarce” at the time. “We were moving away from the golden era of streaming, where there was a huge amount of demand,” he recalls. The Lumina model appealed to the likes of Tetra Pak mogul Magnus Rausing’s BFK, film producer Charles Dorfman’s Dorfman Media Holdings and SVS Holdings, a firm founded by producers Marie Savare and PJ van Sandwijk, who have all invested in the company. Benski’s own investment vehicle, TBI, has been a major shareholder since day one. “I believe that to have more independence, to be able to cut through the noise, you need to put your money where your mouth is,” Benski says of risking his own capital. The model attracted Lupin star Sy, who said in 2024 as Carrousel launched, “Lumina and Thomas not only bring capital but a strategic and operational approach that offers artists like us the resources and expertise to go out and realize

our ambitions.” This, said Sy, came “at a time when talent is too often not at the table to benefit from a project’s long-term success.” In September 2025, Lumina invested a seven-figure sum in Arcade, the U.K.-based creator management firm that looks after The Sidemen. Jordan Schwarzenberger, the creator economy specialist who co-founded Arcade, is effusive in his praise of Benski’s vision. “Thomas and Lumina, I would say, have been the single most transformative thing that’s happened to our business,” he says. “What Thomas specifically gave us was rigor and structure, and the confidence to go after an intentionally built business with a creative core, without becoming too onerous and

corporate, and away from who we really are.” In total, Lumina has invested in 15 companies with combined total revenue of more than $100 million annually. The concept Benski sold them was based on that one word: “catalyst.” “That’s what Lumina is built around,” says Benski. “We find exceptional cultural catalysts. They could be talent, like Omar Sy or Benedict Cumberbatch, they could be audience-focused talent, like Arcade and The Sidemen and the community around them, or they could be a brand. “We see the ecosystem in a very wide fashion, not just as film and TV production output. That is, to me, just one of the pieces. “Instead of starting as a big group, we started from the catalysts and

“We see the ecosystem in a very wide fashion, not just in film and TV production output. That is, to me, just one of the pieces.” THOMAS BENSKI

built businesses around them. We bring capital, we bring strategy and we build infrastructure to transform that cultural momentum into owned IP, long-term enterprise value, and ultimately a direct relationship with audiences. The main thing is that I want to build the operating system for talent and IP.” According to Benski, focusing on talent over consolidation has been an important factor in Lumina’s lifecycle. “That is a very big North Star,” he says. “It’s effectively a more modern media group that’s betting on storytelling, creativity, ownership and audience, rather than scale for scale’s sake. We feel that might have been a relevant point a decade ago, but nowadays, with the way the ecosystem is evolving, we feel very bullish about our approach.” Deadline wonders what, in that case, he makes of transformative industry mergers like Banijay and All3Media, which will be at MIPCOM this year as a united front (under the name Banijay Entertainment) for the first time following their $8 billion merger.

Jamie Johnson FC

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PREMIERE Profile

can understand the logic of it, and I think there’s motivation to make it work,” he says. “I’m curious to see how they do.” Should consolidation come for Lumina in the future, it would most likely be in the creator economy space, Benski says, though there’s no sense he’s looking at that now. “We have the resources of a private equity company, but without any of the restrictions,” Benski says. “We’re trying to take advantage of that and, in fact, be an alternative to that hugely consolidated place.”

Proving the model In the company’s first 12 months, the focus was on demonstrating the model to talent and consumers. “We proved that,” he says, adding that Lumina has been “cashflow-positive since day one” and profitable since its second year. Besides getting into the black, year two has been about “proving there was a real business underneath,” he adds. Essentially, this means allowing its investments to scale: Arcade has recently expanded from its management roots to becoming a fuller entertainment operation, while

Cumberbatch’s SunnyMarch has been encouraged to lean into its Letters Live events. These attract big audiences, who listen to the likes of Olivia Colman, Jessie Buckley and even Queen Camilla reading remarkable letters aloud. “It’s absolutely unbelievable,” says Benski. “It’s such a natural evolution, or extension, of that business because it’s the community that Benedict, Adam [Ackland] and Leah [Clarke] foster. It sells out the Royal Albert Hall and Royal Festival Hall. So, yes, SunnyMarch as a cultural catalyst can do film and TV, but why couldn’t it also

The Sidemen

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G U TT ER C R ED I T H ER E

“I think it works once you’re already there, but I’m not sure creating another big roll-up from scratch right now would make sense,” he says, suggesting toplevel M&A is more an option for established players, but less so for emerging businesses. “Both truths can happen,” he adds. Benski has been watching Paramount’s on-again, off-again $110 billion takeover of Warner Bros. Discovery and expects it will go ahead, as he praises David Ellison’s much-debated commitment to releasing 30 movies theatrically each year. “I

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own a really substantial place in the live IP space?” Outside the system The willingness to scrutinize his own “thesis”, as Benski often calls his business model, is notable in an industry in which CEOs usually present journalists with black-andwhite certainty. Indeed, Benski has never been one to do things in a traditional way. By his own assessment, the BAFTA- and Grammy-nominated producer with credits for Gangs of London, Pig and No Distance Left to Run has “always existed outside

the system.” He has previously talked about attending Goldsmiths, a famed arts and culture college in London, where some of his ideas around creativity crystallized, and how his unusual upbringing informed his relentless ambition to play by his own set of rules. After moving to London aged 17 from his home in Milan, Italy, Benski had to learn the entertainment business on the job, initially driving camera trucks and working in art departments. Eight years later, at the age of 25, he and Clifford founded Pulse, which quickly developed a reputation as

A R CA DE / A P P L E

Real Madrid

“More than ever, we’re at a moment where storytelling is such a valuable skill. Storytelling is the differentiator between a company and a brand.” THOMAS BENSKI

a hipster music video producer before diversifying into commercials, film and TV. “I got into this business when I was very young,” says Benski. “I didn’t come from a business or development background. At first, I was affected by not feeling part of the system, and now I feel very blessed that I can just carve my own path.” He says filmmaking is “still something that fascinates” him, and adds that, “more than ever, we’re at a moment where storytelling is such a valuable skill. I know sometimes it gets taken as a little bit of a cultural elitist thing, but I really mean it. Storytelling is the differentiator between a company and a brand.” Lumina’s companies have built out a smart collection of productions. Magna Studios co-produced Disney+’s Oasis: Don’t Look Back in Anger from Peaky Blinders creator Steven Knight, and an AR/VR project for Apple and Real Madrid. “I’m so proud of what they’ve achieved in two years,” says Benski. “To have achieved that scale is pretty bonkers.” Demange is directing family thriller Lineage, starring Isabelle Huppert, Dani Benssalah, Adam Bessa and Raye, which launched in Cannes this year. Carrousel is a co-producer on the upcoming fourth season of Lupin on Netflix, and Sy and Strike are working together on Senegal’s first microdrama. They are currently in talks with “a major partner” to scale it across the African continent. Lumina Studios, Benski’s own production arm, is one of the partners behind Guy Ritchie’s

upcoming Jason Statham starrer Viva La Madness. “I can’t wait for that,” he says. “It’s really good.” Benski reveals he and Statham are teaming up to develop projects, though he won’t say too much beyond: “Statham is an absolutely generational talent at his peak, and is doing so well, but what I came to do was really try to help him own more. We’re building a slate of film and TV projects where we can have more ownership.” According to Benski, who counts Stanley Kubrick’s Apocalypse Now and Mathieu Kassovitz’s La Haine among his favorite films and The Sopranos as his top TV show, the industry has been “shy” about applying its storytelling skills in other businesses. “For me, the liberation of Lumina is the fact that I can do it now,” he says. “I can go and invest in a consumer company and bring that storytelling rigor, the knowledge of content creation, the understanding of talent, and the understanding of the value chain. “I’m quite amazed by the fact that there’s not more of that. I’m sure if I had different partners, they would have fired me if I said, ‘One of the big investments we’re going to make is Hunza G, a women’s swimwear brand.’ But I think there’s logic to it, and we stand by that.” As for the future, Benski is working on “a couple of big projects that hopefully will get over the line,” more hires and growth in the Middle East. “We’re very much in that expansion phase,” he says. What is clear is that you never know where he and Lumina will pop up next. ★ DEADLINE.COM/AWARDSLINE

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Shaka iLembe

Hidden Planet

Welcome to our selection of the most scorching titles headed to MIPCOM this year, The Deadline Dozen. Our editorial team, with years of experience and knowledge about what sells globally, has carefully researched and selected the projects we expect to drive the chatter on the Croisette and beyond. Up to No Good

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L I O N S G A T E / FO X E N T ER T A I N M E N T / F A B IE N N E BE R CH T OL F / S IL V ER R EE L

THE INTERROGATOR

LIONSGATE Length: 12 x 60’ Producers: Lionsgate Television, Fox Entertainment Studios Network: Fox (U.S.) ● What’s not to like about this one? A U.S. crime-ofthe-week story from the mind of Stephen Fry, and with the likes of Jenna Elfman and Michael Beach in starring roles. The Interrogator centers on former MI6 agent Conrad Henry and his team of outsider geniuses, who are brought in to solve cases after conventional policing and security hasn’t worked. Fry—considered a polymath for his abilities to act, write, orate and present—plays Henry, whose quirky charm, superior intellect and mind-bending behavioral maneuvers mean he can unpick the minds of world’s most dangerous criminals. Fry is no stranger to Fox, having acted in Hart Hanson’s drama Bones, and he writes The Interrogator with William Harper and Matt Pyken attached. Input from Fire Country’s Harper was also key to securing the straight-to-series order back in February, and the series is now heading for the 2026/27 broadcast U.S. season with The Lost Symbol writer-producers Dan Dworkin and Jay Beattie on board as showrunners. Appearing alongside Fry are Elfman, Beach, Jessica Sula, Maria Zhang and Luke Kleintank, the latter of whom also acted in Bones, though his time on that show did not overlap with Fry. Kleintank plays Voss, a former Special Forces operative and army whistleblower with the strong moral code who becomes a member of Conrad’s team of advisors. Zhang plays optimistic puzzle

master Florence, and Sula is Conrad’s estranged daughter and criminal psychologist Astrid. Beach is a jack-of-all-trades AV and IT expert and also best friend to Conrad, while Elfman plays his handler and boss Woodrow. Though Fox has made it a policy to have more ownership of its originals, Lionsgate is shopping the show at MIPCOM. There’s potential for this one to sell well, given the popularity of hits like Ludwig, the BBC drama that stars British actor David Mitchell (who, like Fry, was a member of student sketch group the Cambridge Footlights) as a genius puzzle solver who helps police.

the show reveals what happens in the three years between his disappearance in 1891 and return in 1894. Sherlock Holmes writer Arthur Conan Doyle left this period untouched, which gives The Death of Sherlock Holmes showrunners Claudia Bluemhuber and Pierre Monnard plenty of space to flex their creative muscles. Same goes for writers André Küttel and Simone Schmid.

Switzerland, Germany’s ARD Degeto and the Bell Media-owned Sphere Abacus. The series will broadcast on Sky in the U.K. and Ireland and also goes out on Sky in Switzerland and Germany. FFF Bayern from Germany and Italy's IDM Film Commission are supporting the series. A 2027 launch date is planned as Trying star Spall’s next leading role. Starring alongside him is Deleila Piasko, a Swiss actress best known for her role in Netflix’s World War II drama Transatlantic. The story is set against the backdrop of the Swiss Alps, as Holmes is found barely alive in the ice. A local woman, Alma

THE DEATH OF SHERLOCK HOLMES

SPHERE ABACUS Length: 6 x 60’ Producer: Silver Reel Networks: Sky, SRF (Switzerland), ARD Degeto (Germany) ● U.K.-based distributor Sphere Abacus, known best for selling Heated Rivalry, is changing up the pace with The Death of Sherlock Holmes. The show, which is among Sphere Abacus’ big MIPCOM market launches, stars Rafe Spall as the world’s most famous detective, and begins with one of his most iconic moments: The apparent death of Holmes at the hands of arch nemesis Professor Moriarty at the Reichenbach Falls. Here’s where the twist comes in: While the world assumes he has perished,

Bluemhuber from Switzerland-based Silver Reel created the show alongside Küttel and Monnard on the back of International Emmy-winning fantasy show Fallen. She set up a co-production that includes Sky and SRF in

(Piasko) and her son find him. Soon the village doctor is found murdered and the townsfolk turn on the boy, leaving the stranger as his only hope. Though Holmes remembers nothing, flashes of his razor-sharp skills of deduction begin to show.

1 The Interrogator 2 The Death of Sherlock Holmes

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STUDIOCANAL Length: 24 x 60’ (Two seasons of 12 episodes) Producer: Bomb Productions Network: MultiChoice (pan-Africa) ● This time last year, Deadline profiled Shaka iLembe, the South Africanshot story of King Shaka, the famous pre-colonial era Zulu ruler. Despite the show breaking viewing records on MultiChoice, no distributor had acquired the rights, and director Angus Gibson even told us that a U.S. network exec had loved a screener but nevertheless refused to believe audiences would follow a Zulu-language title. “We need some courageous broadcasters over there,” he said. Since that interview, France’s Canal+ acquired MultiChoice and significantly restructured the business. Part of that process has seen MultiChoice titles join the catalog of Canal+ producer-distributor StudioCanal. Ahead of the third and final season of Shaka iLembe, which is due to debut on Mzansi Magic, a network that’s part of MultiChoice’s M-Net, in Africa, StudioCanal will debut the first two seasons to international buyers as a key MIPCOM launch.

The show, set in the 18th and 19th centuries, stars Lemogang Tsipa as Shaka, a king in southeastern Africa’s Nguni Kingdoms. It traces his rise from boyhood, through the founding of the Zulu nation, and to his life as a legendary battlefield strategist and a visionary leader who shaped the course of African history. Starring alongside Tsipa are Nomzamo Mbatha, Wiseman Mncube, Dawn Thandeka King, Sthandiwe Kgoroge, Mondli Makhoba and Mpilo Mbatha. Season 3 will round out the story, and buyers will be able to communicate interest to StudioCanal sales folk on the ground in Cannes, as they also negotiate deals for the first two runs. StudioCanal will no doubt be flagging that Shaka iLembe, told in the isiZulu language, is the mostawarded show in the history of the South African Film & Television Awards, and is a big ratings hit. The European sales house has also been keen to frame the series as “what can be achieved when Africa’s most consequential history gets the epic, cinematic treatment and care it deserves,” and compares it to other epic series such as Shōgun and Game of Thrones.

MAYA

BANIJAY RIGHTS Length: 6 x 60’ Producer: Two Brothers Pictures Networks: Channel 4 (U.K.), Starz (U.S.) ● Maya is notable for bringing together two of the U.K.’s top talents: Daisy Haggard and Bella Ramsey, and networks from Britain and the U.S. in the shape of Channel 4 and Starz. The series follows devoted single mother Anna (Haggard) and her headstrong teenage daughter Maya (Ramsey), as they are forced into witness protection to escape danger. Leaving London behind, they move to a small rural town in Scotland, intent on leaving the trauma behind, but a pair of hitmen are determined to track them down. It’s a claustrophobic plot that gives Haggard and Ramsey space to show off their acting chops. Haggard is the creator and also makes her directorial debut alongside Jamie Donoughue (Doctor Who). She’s known for the BAFTA-nominated Back to Life, which she starred in and co-wrote with Laura Solon. The actress and writer has a long connection with Maya producer Two Brothers Pictures, stretching back to 2019

with Back to Life and then with 2023’s Boat Story, and she worked with Ramsey on Netflix animation Hilda. Ramsey is one of TV’s hottest actors right now, with previous roles including the fiery Lyanna Mormont in Game of Thrones, survivalist Ellie in The Last of Us and drug addict Kelsey in Time. This year, they starred in George Jaques’ Sunny Dancer, about a teenage cancer survivor sent to a ‘chemo camp’, which premiered at the Berlinale. They reprise their role in HBO’s The Last of Us next year. For Fleabag and The Tourist producer Two Brothers, the show is the first hitting the international market since its parent, All3Media, was acquired by Banijay. All3Media International has since been wound down as a brand and Banijay Rights will be shopping Maya in France this year.

ALIBI

YES STUDIOS Length: 7 x 15’ Producer: Plus6Four Entertainment Network: TVNZ (New Zealand) ● Easily one of the more unusual scripted formats

hitting the market this year is Alibi, a short-form crime drama out of New Zealand. Despite its short episode length, the show is designed for streaming services and even TV networks, but not microdrama platforms, having been created before the vertical video craze took off. The show is being billed as a “non-linear murder mystery”. The first six episodes can be watched in any order before the truth is revealed in the seventh and final one. Set in a small fictional town called Awatahi, the show explores the murder of 17-year-old Jodie Hunter. Each of the six main suspects get their chance to give their version of events on the day of Jodie’s death, effectively supplying their own alibis. Given the shape of the show, Israel’s Yes Studios will be shopping both the finished tape and format, with show co-creator David de Latour saying it “holds the potential to translate perfectly to different locations around the world”. “Episodes can be joined together for a range of more traditional slots, while digital and VOD platforms could create a real buzz about

BA N I JA Y R I G H TS / S TU D IO C A N A L

SHAKA ILEMBE

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could be taken by the unique nature of the format. Alibi was made back in 2021, but five years later comes the chance for the international market to find out whodunnit.

BAYWATCH

M I C H A EL BE C KE R / F O X

the audience’s ability to watch episodes in any order they choose,” says Sharon Levi, Yes Studios’ managing director. De Latour made the show alongside Gareth Williams and Hannah Marshall, the latter of whom is the co-creator of the Kiwi drama Ms. X. Marshall and de Latour are the directors, and the cast includes Madeleine Adams (Shortland Street), Joel Tobeck (Avatar: Fire and Ice), Xavier Horan (Shortland Street) and Melanie Vallejo (All Her Fault). For Yes, which is the sales arm of Israeli network Yes TV, representing the rights marks a move in third-party distribution. To date, it has primarily sold Yes shows such as Fauda, Shtisel and Your Honor. Yes has experience in scripted format sales, earlier this year selling Israeli comedy drama Significant Other to Babylone Hills Productions and Screenline Productions to make a French version. It had already been made for ITV in 2022. Though most of the headlines about shortform content have been about vertical video and microdrama, buyers

FREMANTLE Length: 12 x 60’ Producers: Fremantle, Fox Entertainment Networks: Fox (U.S.), Prime Video (various) ● It’s back, and it’s lighting up the beaches of Cannes this MIPCOM. One of the most iconic series of all time—conjuring up those famous images of David Hasselhoff and his fellow lifeguards running along sunshine-soaked shores— is being remade and shopped to buyers this fall. Baywatch is, of course, the globally recognizable show about lifeguards patrolling the beaches of LA and Hawaii, which three decades ago made heroes of its stars and creators. After nearly 250 episodes across 11 seasons, Baywatch gave the world the likes of Hasselhoff, Pamela Anderson and Alexandra Paul. The revamped Baywatch promises unmistakable red swimsuits and an all-new cast of lifeguards, who will continue to patrol the world’s most famous stretch of sand, delivering high stakes rescues, explosive drama and plenty of beachside heat. The ensemble cast includes Stephen Amell in the lead role of Hobie Buchannon, alongside Jessica Belkin as Charlie Vale, Shay Mitchell as Trina, Hassie Harrison as Nat, Thaddeus LaGrone as Brad, Noah Beck as Luke, and Brooks Nader as Selene. The Fox reboot is being showrun by Matt Nix (Burn Notice), while many of the original creators are back to EP,

including Michael Berk, Greg Bonann and Doug Schwartz, alongside new EPs Dante Di Loreto and Mike Horowitz. McG is also exec producing and will direct the series premiere episode. Fox holds domestic rights, while Fremantle is hoping this one will make waves abroad, having already sold to a number of key Prime Video territories. Expect billboards galore in Cannes. This one is sure to make a splash.

HIGH VALLEY

ZDF STUDIOS Length: 6 x 45’ Producer: Studio Zentral Network: ZDF (Germany) ● One only needs to look at the success of Disney+’s Rivals to see that shows featuring horses and high-stakes are always a hell of a lot of fun. In Germany, ZDF has landed on the next potential big one with High Valley, which is set against the striking backdrop of a renowned equestrian center as main character Ina shows extreme grit and determination to break into a seriously elite world. Ina (Lili Epply) seeks a fresh start at the prestigious Hohenfelden Equestrian Centre after a life-changing falling-out with her mentor. There, she encounters a community shaped by

financial pressures, personal dependencies and long-buried secrets. As she fights for her sporting future, growing evidence suggests that she is connected to the owner, Cora, through a deadly secret. The question posed by the show is how far she is willing to go to achieve her lifelong dream. Epply plays the lead in this fast-paced romp, which also stars Heino Ferch, Karoline Eichhorn, Joshua Hupfauer, Jörg Schüttauf, Jasmin Great and Margarita Broich. Through its authentic portrayal of professional equestrian sport, the show aims to offer a rare glimpse into a fascinating world, one that’s defined by prestige, pressure to perform and tradition. High Valley is penned by best-selling German author Juli Zeh alongside Lukas Becker, while Zeh also serves as creative producer in her TV debut. All of this could add up to a show that makes a big noise in Cannes at a time when high-octane drama like High Valley very much feels like it has a place in international TV. ZDF Studios drama boss Sebastian Krekeler has previously said he is confident the series will “captivate audiences far beyond the Germanspeaking market.”

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PARAMOUNT GLOBAL CONTENT DISTRIBUTION Length: TBC Producer: CBS Studios Network: CBS (U.S.) ● Einstein is set to touch down in Cannes, as Paramount launches its latest CBS series internationally. The titular character, played by Matthew Gray Gubler, is not the famous and iconic physicist, but his grandson, Lewis. Brilliant but lacking direction, he has a comfortable job as a professor—until his antics land him in trouble with the law. As a result, he has to help a local detective, Teri (played by Melissa Fumero), solve her most puzzling cases. Gubler stars and is also a producer. He is bestknown for playing criminal profiler Dr. Spencer Reid in another CBS procedural, Criminal Minds. He also directed episodes of that show. Einstein is an hour-long quirky procedural, which is familiar ground for CBS. Previous examples include Elementary and Elsbeth, the latter of which is still going strong on the network, which is also the home to the NCIS franchise and shows including FBI. Einstein is produced by CBS Studios and has had an interesting journey to market. Having picked it up for its 2025-26 season, CBS then pushed it to the following 2026-27 season. During that time the female lead Rosa Salazar exited, by all accounts a mutual decision, and Fumero came on board. Brooklyn Nine-Nine alum Fumero’s character, Teri, is a detective inspector for the New Jersey State Police. Sharp and disciplined, she demands a lot from her colleagues and feels conflicted about working with Einstein. 44

The series is an Englishlanguage adaptation of Martin Ritzenhoff and Matthias Dinter’s German TV movie and series, which played on public network Sat.1. It sold widely internationally. Monk creator Andy Breckman is behind the U.S. version and is also an exec producer on the show. A Monk connection can also be seen in the casting—Tony Shalhoub, who played Adrian Monk in the USA Network show and Peacock TV movie, has a recurring role in Einstein, playing the lead character’s father, and as such, the son of the great scientist. Other series regulars include Aunjanue EllisTaylor as Capt. Frost. Paramount Global Content Distribution is handling international sales. It is well-versed in launching procedurals. It is a tough sales market, but the genre remains popular with international buyers.

UP TO NO GOOD

SONY PICTURES TELEVISION Length: 6 x 60’ Producers: Playground, Sony Pictures Television Network: Channel 4 (U.K.) ● Glenn Close is Up To No Good in a new drama for Channel 4 in the U.K., which Sony Pictures Television will launch internationally at MIPCOM. Close is the star of bigticket movies, including

Fatal Attraction and Dangerous Liaisons, and more recently appeared in Spain’s international Oscar submission and festival favorite La Bola Negra. Here, she lends her star power to a U.K.-produced TV drama. She is joined by a host of well-known British actors in the show. Close plays Maud Oldcastle. She is described as brusque, cantankerous, ruthless— and also a killer. When a suspicious young detective, played by Bridgerton star Claudia Jesse, begins investigating a death in Maud’s building, she starts to believe there is more to her than meets the eye. Maud is then forced to reckon with her crimes, both present and past. The series is based upon Helene Tursten’s short story collections An Elderly Lady Is Up To No Good and An Elderly Lady Must Not Be Crossed. Penelope Wilton (Downton Abbey) stars as Maud’s sister. The cast also includes Richard E.

Grant (Saltburn), Gloria Obianyo (Andor), Anita Dobson (EastEnders), Ben Crompton (Game of Thrones), Tanya Reynolds (Sex Education), Mathew Baynton (Ghosts), Iain Glen (The Rig) and Meera Syal (The Wheel of Time). Nina Raine and Moses Raine, previously best known as playwrights, penned the scripts, making their debut as a TV writing duo. The first artwork for the series shows a formidable-looking Close standing near London’s Royal Albert Hall, as the series was filmed in the English capital. Lee Haven Jones (A Cruel Love: The Ruth Ellis Story) directs the series, which was developed and produced by Colin Callender’s Playground label for Sony Pictures Television. Sony has worldwide rights excluding the U.K.

QUEEN SILVIA

BETA FILM Length: 6 x 60’ Producers: Pyjama Pictures, Unlimited Stories Networks: Prime Video (German-speaking territories & Nordics), Sat.1 (Germany) ● Royal romance will be in the air at MIPCOM, with Queen Silvia set for a world premiere screening in Cannes’ Grand Auditorium. The series is based on the real-life story of Sweden’s Queen Silvia and King Carl Gustaf. Prime Video has the show for the DACH region and

Sat.1 is its German free-TV home. Beta Film has landed the international rights and is across sales everywhere else. Royal drama always resonates, and this one has the added benefit of being based on true events. It tells the story of how the reigning couple first met and fell in love. It’s a dramatic tale. German-Brazilian interpreter Silvia Sommerlath met Carl Gustaf, the Crown Prince of Sweden, while she was working at the illfated 1972 Munich Olympic Games, where he was a guest of honor. The drama starts at the Games, where Silvia ended up working in the crisis management team and crossed paths with the crown prince because he was a VIP guest. The first season focuses on the first four years of their relationship, from the day they met until the day before their marriage. Alicia von Rittberg (Call My Agent! Berlin) plays Silvia and Edvin Endre (Vikings) is Gustaf. Both will be attending MIPCOM to promote the series. Showrunner Carsten Kelber will also be in town. The series is set across Munich, Stockholm and, appropriately given the world premiere in Cannes, the French Riviera. Miguel Alexandre, Lisa Hofer and Pauline Wolff shared writing duties on the six-parter with Germany’s Pyjama Pictures and Sweden’s Unlimited Stories the production companies. Alexandre (Gran Paradiso), directs. Beta Film, meanwhile, has history with royal drama. It distributes the popular Dutch series Maxima and it has shopped RTL Germany’s Sisi into over 120 countries. There is also Maxima spinoff The Other Royals - A

C HR I S T O S KA L OH O R I DI S / C B S / JO Y N P A J A M A P I C TU R ES / A M A Z ON

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Maxima Story coming next year, and Ludwig, about King Ludwig II, is in the works and set to be one of the biggest-ever period dramas out of Germany.

I T V S T U DI O

THE ROCKFORD FILES

NBCUNIVERSAL GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION Length: 13 x 60’ Producer: Universal Television Network: NBC (U.S.) ● The Rockford Files is a modern-day take on the classic series of the same name. David Boreanaz steps into the shoes of Jim Rockford, a role that James Garner memorably held in the NBC series and CBS TV movies. Rockford, once again, is a charming and rougharound-the-edges P.I. He is back to solving cases after being released, having been wrongly jailed. The show, which filmed in Atlanta and Los Angeles, is set in and around L.A., and Rockford soon finds himself in the crosshairs of both the criminals and the cops.

Garner died in 2014, aged 86. SEAL Team alum Boreanaz has spoken about how he reached out to the late star’s daughter, Gigi, about taking the role. She gave him her blessing, writing on X: “He wanted to know how I felt about the reboot, etc… [I said] If anybody can do it, he can!” Michaela McManus (One Tree Hill) plays Kate, an East Hollywood detective whose romantic relationship with Rockford got complicated after he publicly accused fellow officers of framing him. Felix Solis (The Rookie) plays Nitty, Rockford’s best friend who has turned his life around and become a successful South LA defense attorney. Jacki Weaver (Clipped) play Rockford’s longtime trailer park neighbor; she’s a tough, outspoken activist and think-tank analyst. Boreanaz’s son, Jaden, also appears in the show. In the pilot episode, he shows up as a character who has an issue with

Rockford and ends up roughing him up. The Rockford Files hails from writer Mike Daniels, producers Sarah Timberman and Carl Beverly and Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group. NBCUniversal Global Distribution is selling the show. It is an interesting proposition for international buyers, with built-in name recognition from older viewers who remember the first show, or have watched it since. Boreanaz is also wellknown, with SEAL Team selling widely.

NUMBER 10

ITV STUDIOS Length: 6 x 60’ Producer: Hartswood Films Network: Channel 4 (U.K.) ● Have you ever wondered what’s going on behind the most famous door in Britain? Sherlock creator Steven Moffat had spent years pondering this question and is exploring the answer with Number 10,

Channel 4 and Hartswood Films’ upcoming drama about the inner workings of 10 Downing Street, home to the U.K. prime minister of the day. Starring Rafe Spall as the PM alongside the likes of Jenna Coleman and Katherine Kelly, Number 10’s creators stress that “the government will be fictional, but the problems will be real.” “Number 10 is about the building and everyone inside—not just the Prime Minister in the attic, but the conspiracy theorist who runs the café in the basement, the man who repairs the lift that never works, and the madly ambitious ‘advisors’ fighting for office space in cupboards,” the logline reads. “Oh, and the cat, of course.” The ensemble cast also features Joe Wilkinson, Akshay Khanna, Abigail Lawrie, Laura Haddock and Jing Lusi, and is penned by Moffat. Ben Palmer (The Inbetweeners) directs. Moffat and his longtime collaborators at ITV Studios-owned Hartswood Films have always shown keen interest in the inner workings of national institutions and this one looks set to uncover one of the biggest and most secretive, a setting that fascinates people from around the world, especially considering its occupant has changed so much over the past decade. Having been showrunner on Doctor Who and co-created Sherlock, Moffat has previously said of Number 10: “For me it’s all about famous doors.” With plenty opportunities for some fun marketing at MIPCOM, he and ITV Studios will be hoping his passion is shared by the people that matter in Cannes.

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BBC STUDIOS Length: 5 x 60’ Producers: BBC Studios Natural History Unit, The Open University Networks: BBC (U.K.), BBC America (U.S.) ● The BBC’s natural history output has set the global benchmark even with many more players in the field today than a decade ago. Hidden Planet is the latest in the canon, this time turning the micro-cameras on the world of insects. The five-part series shines a spotlight on insect societies, highlighting how ants, beetles and other bugs play the roles of parents, builders and sophisticated communicators as they strike alliances with larger animals and perform 46

incredible feats of strength and intelligence. The BBC has equipped the BBC Studios Natural History Unit with a mountain of the latest scientific work and top-of-theline cameras to aid the filming. In this case, the scientific theory has been combined with bespoke robotic systems and specially designed lenses to get to the heart of insect life. Worryingly, the series will show how their communities are increasingly under threat from humans. With BBC America already on board as a co-producer and backed by research from The Open University, BBC Studios hits Cannes with the closest thing to a surefire documentary seller on the Croisette this year.

THE BILLION DOLLAR HASH HUNT

BLUE ANT RIGHTS Length: 3 x 60’ Producer: Alibi Entertainment Network: Crave (Canada) ● Since completing a reverse takeover of Canadian compatriot Boat Rocker just over a year ago, Blue Ant Rights has spent time refining its sales and streaming businesses and is hoping the corporate reshuffling leaves it with a stronger distribution operation than before. MIPCOM will be a good test. Among the highlights of its slate is The Billion Dollar Hash Hunt, the latest doc series from Canada’s Crave, the red-hot streamer behind Heated Rivalry. This one

is billed as a “true-crime treasure hunt” that chronicles the story of former smuggler Billy Greer, who moved thousands of tons of hash for shadowy Dutch crime network The Octopus. Greer’s caper came to an end when 54 tons of drugs were seized and DEA agent Rick Carter sent him down for 20 years. It’s a familiar story until the plot takes a wild twist: Years later, Greer and Carter join forces to uncover what happened to the missing drugs. This opens the story up to startling confessional interactions, remarkable archive footage and a high-stakes present day search. With most docs in the true-crime space focused on building a picture of

the past, Blue Ant will hope bringing the narrative into the modern day gives it the edge with discerning doc buyers who need their shows to cut through. Given it was greenlit by a streamer, this one looks set to work on digital platforms as well as linear TV.

RUINS: RISE & FALL

BOSSANOVA MEDIA Length: 8 x 60’ Producer: Like A Shot Entertainment Networks: Warner Bros. Discovery (EMEA), SBS (Australia), Channel 4 (U.K.), TV2 (Norway), Sky New Zealand ● Every year for a decade, London-based BossaNova Media has held a pitching event dubbed Development Day, which brings together its biggest

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producers and clients. The idea is to fast-track greenlights and get factual projects out the door at a quicker pace. Paul Heaney’s company itself acts as the central commissioner, putting projects into production and then sells the rights to buyers who have already stated their interest. Ruins: Rise & Fall is one such series. The eight-part show was greenlit in April, with Heaney saying at the time, “Some projects you invest in are a bit of a risk, but Ruins: Rise & Fall isn’t one of them.” The reason for that is the unquenching market need for solid factual projects that can both be popular on linear channels and drive older viewers to streaming services. The series explores 24 sites around the world and is built on one idea: every ruin has two stories—how it rose and how it fell. Viewers are taken to ancient Sri Lankan rock fortress Sigiriya, the ruins of Ephesus in Turkey and Roman auxiliary fort Vindolanda in the U.K. and on to more modern places such as Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair in Poland and vast underground Nazi war factories. Archaeologists and historians tell their stories from the ambition and ingenuity that made them, to the conflict and catastrophe that transformed them into the ruins of today. Digital reconstruction will show sites being stripped back to before the first stone was laid to seeing them rebuilt and then torn apart through war, disaster, abandonment and decay. Given that several of the largest global territories are already off the market is a testament to BossaNova’s strategic foresight, so those buyers in the remaining territories should move fast.

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ALL HEART

BOAT ROCKER STUDIOS Length: 4 x 40’ Producers: Boat Rocker Studios Network: Crave (Canada) ● The second Crave documentary in our Dozen, this four-parter has been selected to satisfy the hunger for sports access docs. The docuseries’ full working title is All Heart: Canada Women’s Rugby and the Quest for Rugby World Cup Glory. It was ordered last year and will stream on Bell Media’s Crave this year. The series follows the Canadian team’s historic run to the World Cup final, where they were ultimately toppled by host country England, going down 33-13 in front of a sellout crowd of 82,000 at Twickenham Stadium in South West London. It goes behind the scenes, showcasing the culmination of years of hard work and sacrifice, with Rugby Canada and World Rugby providing director Kathleen James behind-the-scenes access to the players and coaching staff. James is known for making 2025’s Naomi Osaka: The Second Set, a tennis access doc that was sold to Fox Corp.-owned streamer Tubi for the U.S. market. Exec producers on All Heart include Jay Baruchel—the Canadian actor and filmmaker with credits including Knocked Up, How to Train Your Dragon and She’s Out of My League—and rock band The Tragically Hip, who are long-time supporters of women’s sports and fundraisers for the Canadian women’s rugby team. The title is only just hitting the market now despite its 2025 order, and takes a key spot in Boat Rocker Studios’ slate this year.

CAPTCHA

SEVEN.ONE STUDIOS INTERNATIONAL Length: 10 x 50’ Producer: Thinketers Network: LA 2 (Spain) ● Spain is known in the unscripted world for the likes of Operación Triunfo and El Conquistador, but it has primarily been an importer of formats, rather than an exporter. Germany’s Seven.One Studios International is hoping to add another name to the canon with Captcha. The game show is based around those ubiquitous internet verification tests that check if the visitor to a website is human or a bot. The format tests the statement ‘I’m not a robot’ by putting four contestants through a series of visual puzzles, logic games and AI-powered, web-inspired

challenges to prove their human credentials. Celebrity guests accompany the contestants, ideally helping and not hindering them, to an all-or-nothing final, where one test decides everything, including the true identity of the player. A final verification proves if they are human or not, and if they keep the cash that they have been accruing. The format has been already produced for Spanish broadcaster La 2, where it was a success across its first season. Seven.One Studios International, now part of the expanding MediaForEurope empire, will be looking to captcha interest with the show in a cluttered market for attentiongrabbing formats.

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HISTORY’S STRANGE FORTUNES WITH KEVIN BACON

both Bacon and Danson’s shows will take center stage for A+E, alongside the likes of Lifetime movie Buried in Barstow and miniseries The Bible Revealed.

TERRAIN: BATTLE OF THE FLAGS

PRIMITIVES Length: 10 x 25’ Producer: Roses Are Blue Network: ZDF (Germany), YouTube ● Germany has been the progenitor of some of Europe’s most creative entertainment formats and release windows in recent years with shows such as 7 Vs. Wild and Terrain. Battle of the Flags is now hoping to be its latest success story. The 10-part, half-hour format is the brainchild of German actor, comedian and YouTuber Torge Oerlich, known to his followers as Freshtorge. He began developing the adventure-reality show, which aims to generate an immersive gameplay experience, with Belgian format maker Roses Are Blue. German pubcaster ZDF quickly boarded the project. Inspired by gaming mechanics, Terrain follows ten high-profile creators

who divide into five teams and, taking a cue from The Traitors, compete in a purpose-built game environment set against a dramatic Scottish Highlands backdrop. Their mission is simply to capture the other team’s flag and defend their own. Unlike The Traitors, the gameplay does not compel them to form alliances, as the teams are fixed. The teams self-shoot their experience and wear specially developed third-person camera systems integrated into a bespoke vest to give the aesthetic a distinct look and feel of video games. At 25 minutes per episode, the show is designed for streaming services, and it has been given an innovative rollout in Germany this fall, when three episodes will launch on ZDF’s streaming service, with Episode 1 also available on YouTube. The following two episodes join the Googleowned service a day later, and the linear premiere on ZDFneo will follow later. Dedicated companion content will run on a standalone YouTube channel and ‘reaction programming’ will hit ZDF’s Twitch channel. Belgium-based

Primitives, has worldwide rights (excluding Germanspeaking Europe) and will present the show to buyers in the run-up to MIPCOM, with a full market launch also prepared. Having the creators film the action themselves creates a level of authenticity and immediacy that is particularly exciting for younger audiences.

DIANA UNHEARD

CINEFLIX RIGHTS Length: 3 x 60’ Producer: Love Monday TV Network: TBC ● Having gained access to the audio tapes that formed the basis of Andrew Morton’s explosive

book about the Princess Diana, Love Monday TV has made Diana Unheard, a documentary series that will air never-before-heard parts of the recordings. The producers hope that hearing Diana talk about her life, loves and family will reframe people’s perception of her, moving away from seeing through a lens of vulnerability and tragedy and showing her as self-aware, determined, and actively taking control of her life. Love Monday has made numerous shows about the British monarchy including Her Majesty the Queen: Behind Closed Doors for ITV and William

P R M I TI V E S / TI M GR A H A M / G E TTY I A GE S / F OX

A+E GLOBAL MEDIA Length: 10 x 60’ Producers: A+E Factual Studios, VaynerWatt Network: The History Channel (U.S.) ● History is filled with stories of the strange ways people won and lost their fortunes. In A+E Global Media’s latest talent-led unscripted series, the aim is to tell as many of those stories as possible. History’s Strange Fortunes with Kevin Bacon will see the Footloose, X: Men First Class and Crazy, Stupid, Love actor examine wild tales such as Elvis dropping $50,000 on a midnight sandwich one evening to million-dollar scams and gold rush windfalls. Expect greed, luck, obsession and the old adage that fortune really does favor the brave (and the strange, according to A+E). The talent-led model has dominated commissioning at The History Channel for some time, with numerous slates pairing well-known faces with lesser-known cases. Indeed, Bacon is just one of four star-fronted series in a March 2026 slate—the others being Extraordinary Origins with Ted Danson, Crime and Justice with Tom Selleck and History’s Greatest Machines with Dolph Lundgren. “Talent-led formats succeed on History because they unite inimitable personalities with amazing storytelling,” says Patrick Vien, Group MD for International at A+E Global Media. “Kevin Bacon’s global fan base paired with our universal fascination with money gives History’s Strange Fortunes broad international appeal.” At MIPCOM this year,

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MIPCOM. Stories about the British Royal Family have enduring international appeal. Interest is heightened when royal stories cover Princess Diana, who was one of the most famous women in the world, with people fascinated by her life.

FOX

MARRIAGE MARKET

and Harry: Love and Betrayal for Channel 5. Diana can be heard in revealing form in the tapes, which were conversations recorded with her friend James Colthurst in 1991. She talks about Prince Charles and Camilla (now King Charles III and Queen Camilla), as well as the then Prince Andrew, who has since been stripped of his royal titles following scrutiny of his ties to Jeffrey Epstein. As well as hearing the audio of the Princess, the three-part doc series explains how and when they were recorded, and the extraordinary lengths Diana went to in order to

ensure her story could be heard. For example, she devised a daring plan to have the tapes secretly smuggled out of Kensington Palace. Colthurst and Morton appear in the series, as does Michael O'Mara, publisher of Morton’s book, Diana: Her True Story. The recordings and Morton’s tome had a huge impact on the Royal Family and the whole British establishment. The timing of the new doc is appropriate, with 2027 the 30th anniversary of Diana’s death. Cineflix Rights moved for the sales rights and will bring the doc to market at

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FOX ENTERTAINMENT GLOBAL Length: TBC Producer: Fox Entertainment Studios Network: Fox (U.S.), Joyn (Germany) ● The Marriage Market is coming to market. A new reality dating format, the show is for U.S. network Fox, and the finished version and the format are launching internationally at MIPCOM. The Fox show is fronted by actress-comedian-podcaster Whitney Cummings. As well as a stand-up, she is the co-creator of CBS show 2 Broke Girls and creator of NBC’s Whitney. As a host, she fronted HBO’s Friends gameshow, Fast Friends. Billed as an immersive matchmaking experience and a new take on the dating show, the format features singletons who are tired of swiping and first dates and are ready to get hitched. The twist is, the would-be brides and grooms must hand total control of their love lives to their families. When two families think they have the perfect match, the couple are introduced and get engaged on the spot. Then the new pair and their families move in together and the matchmaking is put to the test. The families are still in charge and must decide if they have found them the one, or whether it has not worked out and their loved one needs to be

pitched back into the marriage market, giving them another shot at finding the love of their lives. The show has an international pedigree. It is borne out of a formats initiative that saw Fox work with international broadcasters such as ProSiebenSat.1 in Germany and TF1 in France to jointly work up new unscripted shows. Accordingly, The Marriage Market bowed in Germany first, on ProSieben’s streaming platform Joyn. Cheerio Entertainment, part of the German broadcaster’s production and distribution division, made the German version. Fox Entertainment Studios makes the U.S. version, which is slated for Fox’s 2026-2027 season. Alycia Rossiter, who worked on The Bachelor and The Bachelorette, is the showrunner. Fox Entertainment Global is handling distribution and will be looking for love— from buyers—in Cannes.

THE CHASE AROUND THE WORLD

ITV STUDIOS Length: 6 x 60’ Producer: Bright Entertainment Network: ITV (U.K.) ● Fancy joining the “smartest road trip in the world”? There’s no better way to give a stalwart format a bit of global appeal than by sending its icons and contestants on a journey around the globe. The Chase Around the World does just that, taking a tried-and-tested, colossally successful format and an additional bit of jeopardy, with firm potential for international sales. Much like splashy premium factual shows such as Race Across the World or Destination X, the show sees contestants travel across the globe, this

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WORDLE

NBCUNIVERSAL FORMATS Length: TBC Producers: Universal Television Alternative Studio, Electric Hot Dog, The New York Times Network: NBC (U.S.) ● The New York Times daily word puzzle game Wordle is coming to U.S. TV, and the format is coming to the international market. The game is a phenomenon. Developed by Josh Wardle, a Welsh software engineer at Reddit, players have to find a five-letter word. They have six attempts, with colored tiles offering feedback on the correct and redundant letters, and their placement in that day’s word. 50

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The New York Times paid a reported $3 million to buy Wordle and it has become a cornerstone of its digital and games offering. The game has racked up billions of users. Getting a word with a small number of guesses is a source of pride for players. The Wordle TV game show will bow on U.S. broadcast network NBC. Broadcaster, journalist, Today anchor and avid Wordle player Savannah Guthrie is set to host. She has form with the game, previously playing a huge version of the game in Times Square, New York. Universal Television Alternative Studio is producing with Jimmy Fallon’s Electric Hot Dog and The New York Times. Fallon, who has increasingly moved into producing, is an exec-producer on the show. He is a Wordle fan, even having a segment on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in which he and the team played the game live on air. The TV game show has been a few years in the making. It will take place over three super-sized rounds with two teams solving the Wordle puzzles in each half-hour episode. NYT execs have promised the show will stay true to the spirit of the game. The Wordle game show is on trend with several TV adaptations of games in the cards. There are TV versions of Monopoly,

Cluedo and The Settlers of Catan being developed. Historically, the likes of Scrabble, Boggle, Trivial Pursuit and Pictionary have all been adapted for TV. In terms of Wordle, NBCUniversal Formats, a division of Universal Studio Group, is across distribution and selling the format.

100 COOKS

WARNER BROS. INTERNATIONAL TELEVISION PRODUCTION Length: 9 x 60’ Producer: Lando Entertainment Network: Food Network (U.S) ● “Your number could come up at any moment.” That is the logline that greets chefs daring to take on Warner’s 100 Cooks, which found its

perfect American host in the shape of Terry Crews. A Food Network original, it is now being served up internationally. There may be a few out there now, but 100 Cooks feels one of the highest-stakes (or should that be steaks?)on offer. The 100 contestants enter the vast kitchen arena ready for a chance to call the shots. A randomized Challenge Mixer reveals the next test: From weeknight meals and party bites to holiday sweets or the best burger. The Cook Mixer then selects which competitors will step forward and take on the challenge. Nobody knows when they will compete, what they will be asked to do, how many cooks will join them,

or how many could be sent home. Everyone must be ready for anything, and as 100 becomes 50, the kitchen slowly empties and the competition intensifies until one cook eventually walks away victorious. In the case of the U.S. version, it was Bryce, an oil field worker from Montana. 100 Cooks was a big hit for Food Network and it’s no wonder Warner Bros. International Television Production is prioritizing this one in Cannes. Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Crews is a hugely recognizable name who brings a unique feel to the show, and so 100 Cooks could easily work as finished tape or be shopped as a format, for which territories would then seek a host who can similarly make a big noise. At MIPCOM, Warner is also selling TLC UK format Unacceptable, New Zealand’s Crackhead and the Buried with Michael Sheen doc about the Good Omens star’s investigation into toxic waste.

J A M E S S TA CK / N B C/ W BI T V P

time in a race to find all six Chasers in secret international locations, holding onto the show’s trademark general knowledge challenges but adding an adventure element. In the U.K. version, where the format originated, contestants played for £100,000 ($133,000), although this figure is not fixed for the international remakes. The six pairs went around Rome, haring after two iconic Chasers, the Beast and the Governess, as they journeyed towards Bradley Walsh at the finish line. The route took them through some of the Italian capital’s iconic landmarks as they answered questions that, if incorrect, could lead to serious consequences. The Chase Around the World rated well in the U.K. and is just the latest in a line of entertainment shows that have used travel as a bedrock. It both showcased the spin-off opportunities that such a strong format can open up, and also carries potential to run and run, given that the world is The Chase’s oyster. Local buyers will be licking their lips.

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