Senior Management
Stuart Baxter, President, International Distribution

Key executives
Spyro Markesinis, EVP, Sales, EMEA and Asia, International Distribution
Dan Loewy, EVP, Sales, Americas and ANZ, International Distribution

London Screenings 2022

After The Trial

Type: Drama
Length: 6 x 60 minutes
Producer: Subtext Pictures
Broadcaster: Nine Network (Australia)

There’s a bold but simple concept at the heart of After The Trial – after long deliberation, a burned-out jury delivers its verdict to the court, but as they go their separate ways, four of them can’t leave the case alone, wondering if they delivered the correct verdict.

What follows is an attempt to uncover the truth, a twisting, turning crime mystery driven by its antagonists’ unique perspective and group dynamic, and the secrets their unsanctioned investigation reveals about the suspect and themselves.

“As in all good crime mystery thrillers, they decide to have a bit of a poke around,” says Noel Hedges, executive vice-president of acquisitions at distributor eOne. “It’s a fun concept that grows in intrigue – it’s not a courtroom drama but starts with the end of the trial and goes into a great labyrinthine crime story. It’s got a lightness to it too, with very playful relationships.”

Hedges says the six-parter for Nine Network slots neatly into the current trend for lighter crime stories. Citing HBO Max’s The Flight Attendant, BBC1’s The Outlaws and The Tourist, and Disney+ series Only Murders In The Building, he says: “We’re being asked for dramas with a lovely line of humour running through them that doesn’t detract from the stakes, but allows the story to be more entertaining without getting too dark and psychological.”

Writers Ellie Beaumont and Drew Proffitt, he says, are “very strong on story and great on the vernacular of popular television”. The duo, who previously penned Nine comedy drama House Husbands and SBS thriller Dead Lucky, and produce through their label Subtext Pictures, tap into a rich stream of Australian drama that excels in foregrounding relationships.

“They’re good on banter and irony - they’ve created some likeable characters and have written light and frothy dialogue,” says Hedges. “Australian writers really crack relationships that are funny and sad and touching - you just really like spending time with these people.”

Australia is, he says, “increasingly seen as a home to strong storytelling – not as ‘foreign’ drama or something you just remake, but something with big talent and great ideas”.

While Sullivan Stapleton (Blindspot; Animal Kingdom) is the thriller’s best-known face, Hedges is excited by Michelle Lim Davidson (The Secret She Keeps; Top Of The Lake: China Girl), who is stars in upcoming eOne show The Newsreader, and is one of the most talked-about actresses in Australia.

After The Trial is being shot in Sydney and Hedges says the sunny locations and slick but unfussy direction offer a welcome alternative to interiors-driven courtroom dramas and gritty, noirish crime thrillers. It is due to air in the first half of the year and anticipation is high that it will deliver as a serialised drama with a weekly buzz as viewers theorise about the twists between episodes.

While the story is close-ended, Hedges says there are ideas about how to extend the series, or even franchise it, to tell a variety of stories, while keeping its core concept.

Hot Picks

The Teacher

Type: Drama
Length: 4 x 60-minutes
Producer: Clapperboard Studios
Broadcaster: Channel 5 (UK)

‘We’re always on the hunt for great British drama in what is a competitive and crowded market’

The Teacher is a four-part psychological thriller that follows Jenna, an experienced secondary school teacher who is popular with students and staff alike. After getting a promotion, she goes out to celebrate with colleagues at a local nightclub when they bump into a group of their students.

Jenna, played by Sheridan Smith (The Moorside, Cleaning Up), drinks too much and has no recollection of what happens next. The following Monday morning at school, she is shocked to discover that one of the students, Kyle, has accused her of having a drunken sexual encounter with him. She is suspended from her position and taken into police custody for questioning.

With no memory of the night and seeing no reason why Kyle would lie, she accepts responsibility for her alleged actions. However, she later learns the accusation may be part of a vendetta against her.

The show will air on Channel 5 in the UK, while eOne has distribution rights for the rest of the world.

Explaining the appeal of the show, eOne executive vice-president of acquisitions Noel Hedges says: “We’re always on the hunt for great British drama in what is a competitive and crowded market, and we got involved with The Teacher for two reasons. First, we liked the shape of it – four-part British drama is popular with buyers because it can be scheduled flexibly. Second, it has a sharp, simple premise, which makes it good to pitch.”

Hedges says the story works on several levels. At the outset, it appears to be about a teacher breaching her duty of care, but the unfolding plot reveals broader issues around safeguarding minors.

“Jenna still likes to get out and enjoy herself, and that makes her prey to jealousy,” he adds. “Someone is manipulating Kyle, which raises questions about how susceptible today’s children are to grooming.”

The Teacher was funded by C5 and eOne – without any need for pre-sale partners. And while the vendor has not signed any deals, Hedges says there is “a strong response from buyers”.

“The fact that it is airing on C5 shows it can work well in a linear context, but the four-episode format lends itself to bingeing if on-demand platforms are interested,” he adds.

Family Law

Type: Drama
Length: 10 x 60-minutes
Producer: Seven24 Films and Lark Productions
Broadcaster: Global (Canada)

EOne got hold of this Canadian legal procedural thanks to a long-standing relationship with producer Seven24 Films. Discussions between the two parties began early in the show’s life, from the “development process, throughout the time it was commissioned by Corus”, according to Spyro Markesinis, executive vice-president of sales, EMEA and Asia at eOne.

The 10-part series, commissioned by Departure broadcaster Global, follows a group of flawed family members who reluctantly work together at their father’s law firm. It stars Jewel Staite (Firefly) as lawyer and recovering alcoholic Abigail who is attempting to piece her career and family back together. As part of her probation, she is made to work at her the law firm of her father, played by DC's Legends of Tomorrow Victor Garber.

Besides practising family law for the first time, Abigail must also forge new relationships with her half-brother and sister (The Expanse’s Zach Smadu and Genelle Williams), whom she's never met. The result is a dysfunctional family law firm operating to help other families with their own issues.

Markesinis says the addition of another procedural to eOne’s library reflects the intense demand from buyers for this type of scripted programming.

“We had an internal presentation looking at what’s working in the US at the moment and not only did all four major networks have procedurals near top of their roster, but each had at least one spin-off that’s performing almost as well, if not better than, the original,” he tells Broadcast. “And it’s not just the US. There’s still huge demand for well-made, marketable procedurals across our distribution footprint.”

In particular, he adds, SVoDs are increasingly looking to procedural programming as a foil to their serialised heartland to attract viewers, while the “fast-emerging AVoD market” is also emerging as a lucrative space for these dramas. As such, “lines are beginning to blur” as to which buyers eOne might target for the show. With worldwide rights, Markesinis says eOne will be looking widely at the international market.

The series has already been renewed by Global for a second 10-part series, and Markesinis thinks its distinct tone is helping it cut through.

“It’s the balance between the humour and drama. It’s not a court room drama each week like so many other legal shows, it’s less of a “whodunit” and more of how can wrongs be righted,” he says. “The legal cases are told through the prism of our likeable, quirky and strong but flawed female lead playing a human rights lawyer and that brings a unique warmth to show that many legal procedurals do not feature.

“I think after what we’ve all been through this past year or so that’s not a bad thing.”

Moonshine

Type: Drama
Length: 8 x 60-minutes
Producer: Six Eleven Media, eOne
Broadcaster: CBC (Canada)

In Moonshine (fka Feudal), eOne has hopes that it is has stumbled upon the natural successor to breakout Canadian commercial and critical hit Schitts’ Creek. Like its illustrious predecessor, Moonshine tells the story of a dysfunctional family of adult half-siblings battling for control of the family business, gone-to-seed summer resort The Moonshine. Set in the small-town area of South Shore, Nova Scotia, the comedy-drama explores lust, legacy, greed and family dynamics.

Stuart Baxter, eOne president of international distribution, says the drama’s amorphous nature, coupled with the interest in off-beat family comedies a la Schitts’ Creek, gives Moonshine added edge in the scripted world.

“It’s a drama, but it’s also a comedy, it’s got a crime element, but it’s not a procedural,” he says. “It’s almost because it isn’t your average show, that makes it stand out.”

The show comes from Sheri Elwood, who also created dark Canadian comedy Call Me Fitz for HBO Canada, and also served as a writer and exec producer on Netflix dramedy Lucifer.

Despite initial pegging it as a “streamer-type play”, having read the scripts, Baxter feels the show would not feel out of place at a broadcaster, and is a beneficiary of commissioning broadcaster CBC’s move away from conservative procedural orders into “edgier, more unexpected” drama.

Therefore, buyer conversations in more mature markets like Western Europe and the US, have fluctuated between pay-TV, OTT, and public broadcasters. In France and the UK, for example, eOne has already seen interest from free- and pay-TV and public broadcasters, respectively.

Moonshine’s place on eOne’s slate is also emblematic of how important importance Canada is to in the company’s distribution arm but also as an “IP developer and producer”.

“The quality in Canada has gone up, validated by series that have been picked up by other territories. US networks are picking up Canada shows with regularity,” he says. “We have five Canadian dramas in production, Canada is an important strand of our content arm. We’re picking up shows that we think are quality and timely in terms of subject matter”.

View Archive

Between Two Worlds

Type: Drama
Length: 10 x 60-minutes
Producer: Seven Studios
Broadcaster: Seven (Australia)

Australian audiences’ penchant for glossy US series often belies the dramas made in the country, but the “unapologetically glossy and commercial” Between Two Worlds changes the paradigm, according to Dan Gopal, executive vice-president of sales in EMEA for eOne.

Without compromising on narrative and characters, typical of the crime-themed drama often produced in Australia, the Seven Studios-produced series provides the “escapist, guilt-free” television – demand for which has skyrocketed under lockdown.

Written by A Place to Call Home screenwriter Bevan Lee, the thriller follows the lives of privileged business mogul Phillip Walford (Picnic at Hanging Rock’s Phillip Quast) and his embittered wife Cate (Cold Feet star Hermione Norris) and a seemingly unconnected widow (Sara Wiseman), who lives an apparently blissful life with her two high-achieving adult children.

“We’ve had broad interest with buyers screening in most markets,” says Gopal, who sees the cast and plotline have opened the show up to wide interest. “In EMEA, we’re intent on selling pretty broad.”

Gopal says fervour has been particularly strong in western Europe, making countries such as the UK, France, Germany, Nordics, and Spain priorities. Given that the BBC and Channel 5 have both recently acquired Australian drama, Gopal feels a UK PSB home is possible, although in more conservative European countries, the focus would be commercial free-to-air.

With ten episodes ready to go, the order also feels manageable for audiences, who regularly get “fatigue” with some of the 20-plus episode US network shows, says Gopal.

“The advantage of having them in the can is that we can be fully flexible with our broadcasters,” he says. “Some will have gaps in the schedule and VoD services they need filling quickly, whereas others may want the more traditional weekly rollout.”

With creator Lee mulling over ideas for series two, Between Two Worlds’ returner potential is also piquing interest among buyers.

Nurses

Type: Drama
Length: 10 x 60-minutes
Producer: eOne; ICF Films
Broadcaster: Global (Canada)

A sales renaissance for procedural drama Saving Hope is a coincidental foil to Nurses, a drama that came out of eOne’s Toronto development team, and greenlit back in 2018. At the time, the company had been looking for a medical drama for several months, Stuart Baxter says, but wanted a twist to the conventional focus of previous examples in the medical genre.

Putting nursing staff “front and centre” rather than doctors piqued eOne’s interest, with the company also anticipating that the subject matter would make it “skew younger” in viewership, which is key for the company’s sales strategy and buyer demands.

The series, produced with Toronto-based ICF Films, is an ensemble drama following five newly appointed nurses who navigate the traumatic and emotional whirlwind of modern nursing, while trying not to let their personal lives seep into their life-and-death work.

With a “tentative plan” to begin pre-production and production on a second series soon, and a US home for series one currently being discussed, Nurses has created a buzz.

Lead actor Tiera Skovbye, at the head of a young cast, is also a draw, given her recent work on The CW and Netflix’s youth-skewing series Riverdale.

“At a time when we wanted to show strong female characters on screen, this youth-skewing take on medical dramas works really well,” says Baxter.

Interest from the US has come from both traditional linear players and streamers, with its story-of-the-week arc making it attractive to broadcasters and its “little bit of the soapiness” promoting its credentials for on-demand, binge-watching.

The series is an example of the strong, premium drama emanating from Canada, at the expense of US material, according to Baxter, who says scripted from the country is “more European than US”.

While Nurses is “clearly very US-centric”, he adds, culturally it is “a little softer, which works in Europe”.

La Garçonne

Type: Drama
Length: 6 x 60-minutes
Producer: Mother Productions
Broadcaster: France 2 (France)

The significance of La Garçonne to eOne is more than simply a high-end, glossy period piece with socially relevant themes wrapped up in a detective thriller. The drama, which airs later this year, was eOne’s first non-English-language acquisition.

“We needed to find projects that were high-quality and with which the stories were universal-themed,” says Baxter, noting that marrying the vision of a show’s writer and producer with eOne’s was the critical element to investment.

The pedigree of La Garçonne is apparent. Mother Productions had achieved global success through Netflix’s acquisition of comedy Call My Agent (Dix pour Cent).

Set in Paris in the 1920s, the drama follows Louise Kerlac (Laura Smet), who witnesses a murder and joins the police disguised as a man to hide her identity and investigate the case.

To that end, it offers buyers the familiarity of a period crime series along with themes of female empowerment in a male-dominated world.

Baxter sees the subject matter and the period setting as something audiences would have to “buy into” and therefore presents a “bingeing, book-type” experience, apt for a streamer. However, with more traditional broadcasters investing in non-linear viewing, pay-TV is also a viable option for the drama.

“In each market, we’re more looking at the genre and who’s in the period world,” he says. “A lot of broadcasters are careful just how much period drama they have.”

Baxter suggests they may run up to two period dramas at a time and would likely air no more than four per year, but that if one channel successfully launches a show, competitors are likely to look for their alternative. “Our sales team are targeting that,” he adds.

eOne digs into data to learn buyer mindsets

eOne had begun 2020 strongly, having cemented its position in the UK distribution landscape by posting £293.4m revenues in the 2019 Distributors Survey, a growth of 15.8% from last year and the second highest in the top 10 distributors.

Its status was further buoyed by the £2.9bn takeover by toy giant Hasbro in January, which added an IP library of some 1,500 brands to its more than 6,000-hour sales catalogue.

The deal was the pinnacle of a change in strategy in recent years, which has seen the producer-distributor looking to fuel its distribution arm with in-house productions to retain IP ownership and have greater exploitation leverage in the global market.

“Pure distribution entities depend on other people creating the shows, are less creatively involved and don’t fundamentally own the underlying IP,” says Stuart Baxter, eOne president of international distribution. “Five years ago, that was a big part of eOne’s business. It’s a much smaller part now and after the Hasbro acquisition, it’s going to become even smaller.”

As such, new president of global television Michael Lombardo is overseeing the development, creation, and ownership of programming, drilling down into the Hasbro library and tapping IP for projects.

Furthermore, Baxter says he now spends less than 25% of his time on pure distribution and more working with creatives on the international value of their shows.

One change he has identified during lockdown, however, is that the lack of new content has meant an “uptick in distribution”, with eOne seeing particular interest in library content that is “pertinent for the times”.

Another consequence of the coronavirus lockdown has seen the distributor become more forensic in its client engagement. Without the option of face-to-face meetings, Baxter says eOne has beefed up its online screening system.

This allows sales execs to see exactly what buyers have viewed, how much of a programme they’ve watched and if they went straight on to another episode. “We’re becoming, dare I say it, a little more data-centric, and we’re seeing lots of clients are fully engaged,” he says.

The system will have the added benefit of informing eOne’s development going forwards – though it does not ask clients to rate shows, as there were internal concerns this could be considered as a negotiation tactic.

“We were trying to understand the different motives for buyers – should we do a thumbs up, thumbs level, thumbs down system, or something more sophisticated? Ultimately, we haven’t asked them to rate shows and our thinking is the buyers prefer subtlety.”

However, in this extraordinary time, eOne is further tailoring its distribution to changing buyer behaviours. With more buyers able to watch shows at greater length, Baxter and his team are supplying more episodes, uploading more and offering programmes from older seasons.

While this results in more work for the team, the benefits are clear, says Baxter: “At home, buyers are less prone to pure sales fervour and more focused on their own evaluations. When we engage in discussion, what we’re seeing is they’ve watched more, they know the show better and they’ve done more research.”

Contact

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Website
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