CBS Studios, Stampede sign first-look deal

CBS Studios has signed a first-look deal with recently launched Stampede Ventures International, a division of Greg Silverman’s Stampede Ventures.

Greg Silverman

Under the agreement, Stampede Ventures and CBS Studios will focus on sourcing, acquiring and developing scripted content for the international market that is creatively anchored outside the US.

JP Sarni, who heads international content and worldwide content acquisitions for Stampede Ventures, is developing book properties, original concepts and other IP for local and English-language production.

The slate represents projects from 15 countries, including Australia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Mexico, South Africa and the UK.

One of the first projects in the partnership will be a series adaptation of Icelandic author Ragnar Jónasson’s The Darkness, from his Hulda series of crime novels.

Set in Iceland, the 8×60’ crime drama centres on Hulda Hermannsdottir, a detective who is bracing herself for retirement but is blindsided when she’s told she has two weeks to clear out her desk months earlier than expected.

To fill her remaining time, she’s given a cold case to keep busy, reviewing the files about a young Russian woman who washed up on a remote Icelandic beach – a quiet death in a watery grave to which no one paid any mind. Hulda will begin to question those closest to her.

Andrea Janakas is attached to adapt the project, with Truenorth Productions providing production services. CBS Studios will have worldwide distribution and international remake rights to the series.