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German commercial broadcaster RTL has ordered a pilot based on a Spanish drama format, to be produced by Beta Film.
Munich-based Beta and its sister production company Rowboat are adapting El Internado (The Boarding School) for RTL under the working title Internat.
The series is set in a fictional boarding school, in a forest where strange events occur. It was originally produced by Globomedia for Antena 3 and first aired in 2007.
The Spanish series was later sold to Ukrainian broadcaster K1 and AXN Sci-Fi in Russia, where the format was adapted by CTC Networks and producer Amedia. A French version called L’Internat was also made for M6 in France.
Eric Welbers, MD of Beta Film, told C21: “It was a very successful Spanish series that has been adapted in Russia and we’re adapting it now for RTL.
“It’s an interesting concept of a mystery series combined with a soap.” Filming for the pilot will take place in Budapest in August.
Other projects at Beta include Flight of the Eagle, an English-language historical drama that will have a US showrunner. Shooting is slated for next year.
Beta and French prodco Atlantique Productions are currently filming season two of Tom Fontana’s Borgia for French pay-TV net Canal+, German pubcaster ZDF, Sky Italia, Netflix in the US and Austria’s ORF.
On its distribution slate, Beta is preparing to begin shopping another Fontana historical drama, Copper, which will launch on US cablenet BBC America next month. It holds sales rights for continental Europe, except Scandinavia, and Asia.
It is also selling Rommel (1x90′) and The Tower (2x90′), both produced by FremantleMedia-owned Teamworx, and Merlin (2x90′), produced by French outfit GMT.
