LA SCREENINGS: As international buyers wrap up their final meetings before heading to LAX, C21 highlights five shows that got acquisition execs talking and reaching for their cheque books at this year’s event.
International buyers are heading back to their respective territories from the LA Screenings with plenty to ponder. While the Los Angeles confab is now just one of many where new titles are unveiled, jostling for position with events such as the London TV Screenings, the week saw several new shows unveiled to buyers, who for the most part seemed impressed by what was on offer.
C21 and our Spanish-language sister publication Cveintiuno spent the past seven days dashing around LA to visit cocktails and screenings hosted by the US studios. Here are five of the shows that got chins wagging this week.
Domhnall Gleeson in The Paper
The Paper
Heading into this year’s event, this mockumentary was certainly the highest profile new series being unveiled. And despite having big expectations, early feedback suggests the show delivers in every way. Many of the buyers C21 spoke to in LA singled out The Paper – set in universe of The Office US and starring Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Nuñez and Sabrina Impacciatore – as their favourite show screened this week.
Arriving 12 years after the conclusion of the original US comedy, itself based on Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s UK show of the same name for the BBC, The Paper follows the ‘documentary’ crew that immortalised Dunder Mifflin’s Scranton branch, now in search of a new subject. They discover a dying historic Midwestern newspaper and a publisher trying to revive it with volunteer reporters
It is perhaps too early to tell whether this will translate to robust global sales for NBCUniversal Global TV Distribution, but there were whispers of fierce interest (and bidding) in both Canada and the UK. While the show is a Peacock original in the US, it would play well on linear too, said many buyers.
Grace Van Patten in Tell Me Lies
The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox
Feedback suggests this gripping pilot from Hulu ticked many of the right boxes: a true crime drama that puts a new and compelling spin on the international headline-grabbing story of Knox, the American student convicted of murdering her roommate Meredith Kercher in Perugia, Italy, before being acquitted after serving four years in prison.
The pilot is set in 2022 as Knox returns to Italy but also flashes back extensively to the 2007 murder. Grace Van Patten (Nine Perfect Strangers, Tell Me Lies) plays Knox in a limited eight-part series that is likely to draw keen interest from international buyers. The series is produced by 20th Television alongside Knox Robinson Productions, The Littlefield Company and Alt Ending Productions.
CBS sitcom DMV
DMV
This charming and funny CBS half-hour comedy, starring Harriet Dyer, Tim Meadows and Molly Kearney, had buyers laughing throughout during its screening at the Paramount lot. Set in the department of motor vehicles, the show follows the quirky minimum-wage employees who make the best of dealing with annoyed customers, finding solace in each other’s company.
Several buyers likened it to Colin From Accounts, the Aussie comedy that became an international hit in 2022 as non-US shows started to make their presence felt at the LA Screenings, in part because of a lack of local programming caused by the Covid pandemic. That show also starred Dyer, and DMV may yet have similar international appeal. Paramount Global Content Distribution holds international rights.
Elizabeth Banks and Matthew Macfadyen
The Miniature Wife
While Sony Pictures Television did not screen any full episodes during its star-studded Sunday-night showcase, opting instead for a series of trailers and teasers, one of the titles that sparked plenty of discussion was The Miniature Wife, a Peacock original produced by The Morning Show and Pachinko prodco Media Res and based on the short story by Manuel Gonzalez.
Led by Elizabeth Banks (Pitch Perfect) and Matthew Macfadyen (Succession), The Miniature Wife is a high-concept, relationship comedy examining power imbalances between spouses who battle each other for supremacy after a technological accident induces the ultimate relationship crisis. If the teaser is anything to go by, this one will likely get snapped up quickly.
Martha Plimpton and Mark Ruffalo in Task
Task
Warner Bros Discovery leant heavily on HBO and Max shows during its LA Screenings events, to the degree that its showcase featured no broadcast network shows – a sign of the times certainly. According to many buyers, the pick of the bunch was Task, a Philadelphia-set crime procedural starring Mark Ruffalo as an FBI agent who heads a task force trying to end a string of violent robberies.
The show reunites creator Brad Ingelsby (Low Dweller Productions), Studio LuluLala-owned LA producer Wiip and cable network HBO for the first time since their hit Mare of Easttown. This will no doubt stand in its favour, given that Mare received such strong critical and audience reaction when it debuted on HBO in 2021. Task is slated to premiere on HBO in September.
