ITV Studios steps up European drama sales
February 25, 2020
ITV Studios has cemented its ambition to deliver European drama to international audiences with the announcement of a number pre-sales for the ambitious, archaic latin drama Romulus, as well as a raft of deals for its burgeoning selection of non-English language productions.
Cattleya, Groenlandia and Sky’s Romulus, which reconstructs the epic tale of the founding of Rome has been acquired by HBO Europe and SBS in Australia. The SBS deal also includes two further crime procedurals from Cattleya, Petra, an Italian adaptation of the international bestselling novels series from Alicia Gimenez Barlett, and Masantonio, which digs deep into the heart of missing persons investigations, uncovering the human story within.
In the US, Acorn TV has acquired Beaubourg Stories’ French crime drama Balthazar, which follows the investigations of talented forensic pathologist Raphael Balthazar (Tomer Sisley, The Messiah). Season 1 is available on the service and series 2 makes its US premiere on April 20th.
Also in the US, MHz has picked up an expansive package of European titles including the French dramas Pieges (ITV Studios France, Capa Drama and BE-Films), Les Secrets (Beaubourg Stories), Speakerine (Macondo) and Tu Es Mon Fils (EuroCorp Television and ITV Studios France); as well as the legal drama Aber Bergen (ITV Studios Norway); romantic Spanish thriller Felix (Telefonica); and Scandinavian thrillers Greyzone (Cosmos Films), Hunters (SF Studios & Harmonica Films) and Kieler Street (Anagram Norway).
Ruth Berry, Managing Director Global Distribution at ITV Studios, said, “We have been aware of the perfect combination of increasingly high-quality European drama production and growing demand for global content for some time now and are proud to have ventured into this space alongside all the talented producers we work with. I’m excited to share these phenomenal and ambitious dramas with our partners around the world.”