Netflix orders first Chinese original

Netflix has ordered its first Chinese-language original after teaming up with a Singapore-based production company and writer/director Sam Quah.

Sam Quah

Bardo is an eight-episode series about a man who has descended into crime and now waits in prison for execution. An encounter with a mysterious inmate causes him to experience events from alternative timelines.

Quah said the idea for the show “originates from current issues in modern society regarding real-life prisoners on death row, and the series addresses the beliefs these prisoners have regarding their own freedom.”

The Taiwan-based writer and director’s short film The Free Man was shortlisted for an Oscar in 2015.

Bardo will be produced by IFA Media, which is headquartered in Singapore and also has offices in Bangkok, Beijing and Taipei. The firm recently produced Taiwanese series The Teenage Psychic. The new show is being developed with Taiwanese lead writer Lily Chen.

China’s strict media regulations have so far blocked Netflix from gaining access to a market of a billion people as part of its global roll-out. However, Netflix reached an agreement with streaming service iQiyi earlier this year for its original content to be made available on the Beijing-based firm’s platform at the same time it is launched around the world.

“A supernatural premise, a production team that’s created regional hits and an up-and-coming director who’s received international acclaim: all of this has Netflix excited about Bardo,” said Erik Barmack, VP of international original series at Netflix.

“The story itself is steeped in local realities and dilemmas but the approach, the script and the dramatic feel is something completely new,” added Frank Smith, executive producer of Bardo.

In related news, Netflix has partnered with Canadian broadcaster CBC to co-commission a second season of Anne (With an E) from Miranda de Pencier’s Northwood Entertainment.

The 10×60′ season begins shooting this fall and will be available in 2018. It is inspired by the Canadian young-adult novel Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery.

Earlier this week Netflix ordered two original series from India, one based on a book by Aravind Adiga and another a supernatural detective series set in New Delhi, plus a horror thriller from Mexico.

During C21’s Drama Summit West event in May, the SVoD giant said it was aiming to triple the number of exclusive, non-US original series on its service over the next two years.