Registration (Kings Place only) and continental breakfast (served at both venues)

Registration will be open 8am-4pm.

NEW VOICES: C21 Drama Series Script Competition

The annual C21 Drama Series Script Competition, coproduced between C21, Script Angel, Studio21 and WritersRoom. Six finalists pitch their projects to a panel of international drama executives to win the $15,000 option from Studio21.
Projects and finalists to be announced.
Moderated by: Ruth Palmer, head of event programming, C21 Media

Moderator Ruth Palmer
Head of event programmingC21Media

NEW VOICES: Shorts2Series

Content London showcases eight award-winning short films that are perfectly positioned to be made into TV series. Creators will be on hand to share their visions of how these fantastic projects could develop, and with rights available this is one not to miss if you are looking for the best new voices from the world of shorts to partner with.
Produced in association with Hollyshorts.
Moderated by: David Jenkinson, editor-in-chief and managing director, C21 Media

Moderator David Jenkinson
Editor-in-chief and managing directorC21Media

Drama Series Pitch

The Drama Series Pitch showcases 15 of the most exciting development projects from the professional community that are looking for partners to take them to the next level. Each of the projects will present a 10-minute pitch with the winner receiving a marketing package through C21Media worth £30,000.

The Drama Series Pitch is back for a 3rd year at Content London. From over 100 submissions, 15 projects have been selected to pitch for the first time to the international drama business.
Moderator: Jamie Mustard, author, The Iconist & Jimmy Akingbola, actor and co-founder, TriForce Creative Network

Judges:
Nadine Nohr, acquisitions consultant, Huanxi Media
Meghan Lyvers, SVP, co-production and development, CBS Studios International
Rola Bauer, managing director, Studio Canal TV
Philipp Steffens, head of fiction, RTL Television
Gina Marcheschi, head of scripted television, VICE STUDIOS

The fifteen shows selected to pitch are:

Alive: The Mystery of MOAG Station
Film UA (Ukraine)
Some time in the future, after the humanity had to abandon Earth, kids are being raised by AI on a spaceship floating in the depths of the universe. There are no adults around, as they are supposed to be on the upper deck running the ship. The teens eagerly wait till they turn 15 as they then take exams – a rite of passage of sorts – based on which they are allocated their place in the adult society. Except that it turns out there are no adults on the upper deck – everyone over fifteen just gets killed by the main computer. Children of the Underground – a group of teenagers, who managed to survive, have to fight for their lives and for the lives of all the other children on the station. What happened to the adults? Why are some portions of the spaceship sealed off? Are robots and AI the enemy they think them to be? Or is there something bigger and more sinister going on? This is a story of a group of brave teens coming of age and finding what it means to be ALIVE in a world that is nothing like they thought it to be.
Speakers: Kateryna Vyshnevska, Head of Development and Co-productions and Producer, FILM.UA Group
Elena Malkova, Producer, FILM.UA Group

Beyond Nature
Gutsy Animations (Finland)
Beyond Nature is a psychological thriller in six episodes. It reveals what happens to a person when the mind shatters, our link to nature is severed and ego takes over. Genre: psychological thriller Length: 6 x 50 minutes Language: English / Finnish When a young and successful visual artist Stella returns from London to her roots in Finland, her life changes completely. Dark childhood memories, Finnish mythology and disturbing visions of horror intertwine and result in works of art that seem to carry a curse and cause a series of dark incidents. Stella’s mind is shaken, and she starts to believe that she has caused the events. But are they caused by Stella’s dangerous art that has come to life, her shattered mind, or is there a murderer who is using Stella to further their own ends?
Speakers: Paavo Westerberg, Cinema Director
Marika Makaroff, CEO, Gutsy Animations

Borderline
Ochre Moving Pictures (South Africa) and About Premium Content (France)
Daniel, an American lawyer who’s built a new life in South Africa, feels guilty about Jessica, his ailing wife who he feels he broke. Desperately looking for ways to pay for her expensive treatment, Daniel crosses legal line after moral line in his job. It all finally catches up with him when he finds himself at the centre of an embezzlement scandal. Disbarred, in debt and in serious physical danger, he has no choice but to flee Johannesburg to the Eastern Tripoint Border, a hot bed of international smuggling, to hide on Jessica’s family game farm, their last remaining asset. In dire need of money and with his back against the wall, Daniel becomes a smuggler and teams up with Jessica’s childhood friend Laylani, an ambitious ex-game ranger who will guide him through this dangerous and unpredictable world in exchange for ownership of his ancestral land, located on Jessica’s farm. A dysfunctional crime family is born. Borderline is an adventure fuelled and layered human drama that shines a new light on modern-day South Africa, revealing its many racial, social and environmental complexities.
Speakers: Erik Durbin, Lead Writer
Robbie Thorpe, Creator & Writer

Dark Hearts
ZDF Enterprises (Germany), Mnet (South Africa) and Quizzical (South Africa)
Edie, an investigative journalist, is stunned by the brutal murder of her estranged brother.
She is quickly drawn into the nightmarish aftermath when she’s reunited with her orphaned teenage niece and nephew. But then the two become suspects of the unimaginable crime themselves. The supposed motive? A huge inheritance.

Edie determines to find the real killer, digging deep into the contradictory world of post-Apartheid South Africa. In the leafy suburbs white privilege continues untouched while gang violence ravages desperately poor neighbourhoods. Edie follows elusive clues across these apparently impassable divides.
Meanwhile, she grapples with her own sense of guilt: she gave up her boy to be raised by her brother as his own. She is also at loggerheads with Detective Forty, who is fighting his own battle for justice in a crumbling police service. Suspects slowly emerge: the beloved housekeeper who was ‘part of the family’. A deranged high school student who was infatuated with the mom. A drug-addled hired killer from the badlands. But in the end it is a secret closer to home that holds the key.
The story dissects a tight community, structured around a very personal journey, in the vein of Big Little Lies or Sharp Objects. Dark Hearts is at once a gripping mystery, a complex family drama and a searing indictment of a country struggling to redeem itself from the sins of the past.
Speakers: Darrel Bristow-Bovey, Head Writer
Nimrod Geva, head of development, Quizzical Pictures

Extravagance
AT-Prod (Belgium) and Zeitsprung Pictures (Germany)
In 2008, a global financial crisis is shaking the markets. It was impossible to predict the crisis that struck without warning. But was it really? A look in the history books would have been enough to learn from the first world stock market crash, the first financial crisis and the fate of a particular man: John Law – The Man Who Turned Gold into Paper The series tells in 8 episodes the true story of the visionary Scotsman John Law, the first man in Europe to introduce paper bank notes and founder of the first stock company in France. He became immensely wealthy before going bankrupt. “John Law” is a financial thriller, a love story, an historical drama, and a lesson on greed, power, and going beyond limits. What Law has created has never existed before, and by the time he finally realizes the dangers of the project, he has lost control of it. It’s already too late. Extravagance brings together historical facts and characters in a breathless race dictated by the ever rising, the ever faster, the ever further. It shows characters who lose control over events they themselves provoked. Desperate, they try to lay rails that are immediately in danger of being knocked down by a train.
Speakers: Till Derenbach, CEO and Producer, Zeitsprung Pictures
Arnauld de Battice, Producer

Ice
Frontier Film, Viaplay and REinvent Studios International Sales (Denmark)
When the Arctic sky opens, obliterating an Inuit hunter in a bloody explosion, sole witness and cold war veteran, Viggo Lundsten realizes that everything he has believed in and fought for in his entire life, may have been a mere castle in the ice.
And now that ice is melting..
ICE is a thrilling action drama set and shot in Ilulissat, Greenland. When an old cold-war vet is wrongly accused of his friend’s mysterious murder, he launches an investigation together with his son and a talented young ice-core scientist to clear his name. However, the group quickly learns that much greater and more cynical powers are at work than they could ever imagine. Their investigation is no longer a question of finding the truth, but a matter of life and death. In a flurry of drones, AI weapons, deceit, politics, and ice-cold action, ICE tells a story about the expendable individual, about collateral damage and the great political play for the Arctic.
Speakers: Thorkil Lodahl: Producer and Director
Martin Miehe-Renard: Writer, director, producer, actor, singer-songwriter and musician

Meat Market
Unstoppable Film and TV (UK)
Meat Market is a drama series with huge international potential looking for commission. The series takes us on a thrilling ride through the world of modelling as we follow Jana Novak, a 16-year-old girl of Polish descent and from a South London council estate, as she starts her career and eventually hits the big time as a model. The series of hour-long episodes will follow awkward, yet witty, Jana after she is scouted by a top modelling agency and is plunged into the frenetic world of fashion. Set to take the YA generation by storm, Meat Market is a gripping expose and triumphant story tackling huge contemporary themes such as the hyper-sexualization of girls and discovering the power of your voice in the age of #MeToo and #TimesUp. From an almost monosyllabic schoolgirl, Jana becomes a young woman who, in the final episode of the series, makes a brave decision that will shape the rest of her life…
Speakers: Jason Maza, actor/producer
Noel Clarke, actor, screenwriter, director, producer and comic book author.

My Lionheart
Kindle Entertainment (UK)
My Lionheart is a 4x 60’ thriller. When far-right terrorists hijack a bus full of six-year-olds, teenage driver, Kamila, becomes drawn into a dark and twisted bond with white supremacist, Mark, as she battles to protect the children. Adapted from the YA classic After the First Death by BAFTA-winning Tahsin Guner, My Lionheart is a twisted love story played out against today’s violent and dangerous times.
This is a tense and adrenalized ride. There are no easy villains here. There are shades of grey. There is ambiguity. There is bleakness. But in Kamila’s bravery, in her willingness to reach out to the enemy, there is also hope.
Speakers: Tahsin Guner, Writer
Emma Stuart, Executive Producer, Kindle Entertainment

Nokia
Rabbit Films (Finland)
Year 1988. NOKIA invests in mobile phones to spearhead international expansion. Freshly out of law school, Katarina Tammi and Aki Makkonen get their first jobs forming the core of NOKIA’s new legal team. When NOKIA launches their newest phone, the market-leading Motorola smells NOKIA’s potential and sues the company in a patent court. Just before Christmas NOKIA’s CEO commits suicide. At a time when the destiny of the whole company is at stake, NOKIA suffers from catastrophic leadership vacuum. Katarina and Aki, the newbies, are left to survive on their own. Due to lack of cash, NOKIA panicks and cuts its investments into new mobile technology development. A young gifted engineer Salminen is furious and decides to continue his development work secretly at nights. Katarina and Aki travel under enormous pressure to the United States to defend NOKIA and the only help they receive is engineer Salminen, who joins them in Washington. Season one ends with a grand finale: Salminen helps the gladiator-like Aki and Katarina save Nokia with a last-minute revelation. And due to his secret work Nokia wins the race to make the first GSM call in the world in the summer of 1991.
Speakers: Minna Haapkylä, Head of Scripted Content, Rabbit Film
Olli Suominen, CEO, Rabbit Film

Shades
Bomb (South Africa)
Based on Marguerite Poland’s bestselling novel, “Shades” is an epic romance set on the tumultuous eve of the Anglo-Boer War.
It is 1899 when Walter Bromley, a young priest fresh from England, travels across the magnificent but daunting vastness of the Eastern Cape to St Matthias Mission where Christianity chafes against traditional Xhosa beliefs. He is instantly entranced by the lovely and wilful Frances Farborough, daughter of the priest under whom he is to serve – but she is promised to another.
Frances and her brother Crispin have grown up with Benedict Matiwane, a Xhosa orphan taken in by the mission. They are inseparable friends, but Benedict is caught between two worlds, the mission and the surrounding community who revere the shades (ancestors). When Benedict falls in love with beautiful Nomakwezi Pumani, her family reject him, this boy of no ancestry – and then an act of heinous racism rebaptizes him as an activist.
As Walter enters their world their lives are all about to implode. A series of tragic clashes – of different Gods, colonial wars, dispossession, natural disasters and the beginning of gold mining with its voracious hunger for labour – reverberate into our characters’ lives whilst they grapple with forbidden love, betrayal, rebellion and the weight of guilty consciences.
Speakers: Angus Gibson, Producer and director, Bomb Productions
Pat van Heerden, Creative producer, Bomb Productions

Signals
SagaFilm (Iceland)
Bombs explode in the middle of the night. People are shot in broad daylight. Simultaneously Iceland is the target of cyber-attacks by an unknown extremist group. The police detective MAGNEA (37 years old) finds it hard to concentrate on the investigation; she has left her husband for many years to start living with a younger woman, SALKA (31 years old).
Salka is offered a job at an independent media company. Her beat is culture-journalism, but she intends to work her way into the hard news. She is tempted to go under the radar to get a real scoop. Not only does Magnea have to fight homophobia at work but also accusations that she is leaking information to the media – through her girlfriend.
Magnea and Salka cannot discuss work, if their relationship is supposed to work out. They both investigate the same case in different ways – without being able to compare their information. The intensity of the cyber-attacks increases. Daily life becomes difficult. The banking system is injured, the telephone companies are attacked – and eventually the country’s connection to the internet closes down. The society is close to collapse.
Speakers: Kjartan Thor Thordarson, Executive producer and co-owner, SagaFilm
Óskar Jónasson, Director and writer

The Aviatrix
Aquarius Film (Australia) and Apogee Pictures (UK)
Based on a remarkable true story, THE AVIATRIX explores the fascinating life of Jessie Miller, a Melbourne housewife who in 1927 meets RAF pilot Bill Lancaster who’s planning to set the world record by flying from England to Australia. She asks if she can accompany him: he agrees. They embark upon one of the most dangerous flights ever undertaken and travel across the world together. After been shot at over Libya, surviving a crash in the Sumatran jungle, and narrowly avoiding an emergency landing in the shark-infested Persian Gulf, they finally arrive in Australia a global sensation, and secret lovers. Lured to Hollywood by the promise of a film career, they soon become part of the Golden Era of Aviation and are riding the wave of fame and fortune when the Great Depression hits. Down on their luck, they become embroiled in a fatal love triangle that ends in murder. The celebrity trial of the decade begins: with Bill facing the electric chair, Jessie must sacrifice herself to get him acquitted. Bill goes missing shortly after, and it’s only thirty years later, when his diaries are found next to his mummified body, that Jessie finally discovers the devastating truth.
Speakers: Jo Monk, Producer and founder, Apogee Pictures (UK)

The Death of a Mermaid
Mastiff Denmark (Denmark)
Behind every fairytale, there is a nightmare Based on the book ’The Death of a Mermaid’ by best-selling authors Rydahl & Kazinski. Copenhagen 1834. He is young, penniless and a complete fiasco. Yet he has dreamt of becoming world-famous his entire life. But all dreams crashes when the 29-year-old Hans Christian Andersen finds himself accused of a gruesome murder he didn’t commit. Only if he finds the real killer can he avoid a death sentence. With help from Molly, a prostitute, and a little girl, the hunt for the killer leads him into the filthy underworld of Copenhagen and later to the Royal Family. When Hans Christian and Molly sneaks into the masquerades at the castle, they find the sad and horrifying truth about more gruesome murders. It is a tale of broken hearts at a time when the love between two men was utter taboo. It is a tale of a man who has attempted sex change and committed murder in the name of love. While unraveling the crime Hans Christian has to face his deepest fears and finds himself as a human and an artist. The sad tale of changing yourself for love becomes the inspiration for his first fairy tale, The Little Mermaid.
Speakers: Mia Marie Borup, Producer, Mastiff,
Anders Rønnow Klarlund, Author and screenwriter

The In-Between World of Vikram Lall
Ginger Ink. Films Africa (Kenya)/One Fine Day Films (Germany)
When do we belong?
Vikram Lall, the Kenyan-born grandchild of an Indian railway engineer, lives in exile on the blank shores of Lake Ontario, Canada. One of “the most corrupt men in Africa, a cheat of monstrous and reptilian cunning,” he has fled the Kenya he loved, the Kenya he betrayed.
1953. Kenya. The Mau Mau uprising & Kenya’s struggle for independence. Vik (8) and his sister Deepa (6), play outside their parents’ shop with their friends; Njoroge, the son of the gardener, and Bill and Annie Bruce, children of a white farmer.
Amongst the adults, loyalties are tested, as power shifts from British to African hands. The Indians are left in-between, doubting their future, and each other. The Bruce family are murdered, and Vik, harbouring a secret that could ruin his family, begins a life of cold-hearted corruption, an expression of the otherness he feels. Even the assassination of his best friend Njoroge, does not push Vik to take a stand for anyone but himself.
Based on the best-selling novel by M.G. Vassanji, spanning Canada, India and Kenya through the revolutionary 60’s, turbulent 70’s & 80’s, to present day, this universal tale is of how the experience that we don’t really belong, shapes the actions we take.
Speakers: Ginger Wilson, Founder, Ginger Ink Films Africa
Sarika Hemi Lakhani, Managing Partner, One Fine Day Films

Tyin
Ango Productions at Lagardère Studios (France)
2004, Nice. Isabelle, Paul with their two kids Thomas and Eve, are a happy family of four. Until tragedy strikes: Paul and Eve disappear while on a hiking trip in Norway. Despite an intensive search, their bodies are never found.
15 years later. Isabelle (49) and Thomas (31) have made a new life in Cassis, when Paul and Eve’s bodies are discovered frozen near Lake Tyin in Norway. Isabelle and Thomas thought they were dead, but it turns out Paul and Eve are actually alive.
As soon as they get the news, Isabelle and Thomas head straight to Norway. But when they get there, they’re in for a shock: Not only are Paul and Eve alive after all these years, but they haven’t aged in the slightest. Paul is still 34, and Eve, 15. The same age they were in 2004.
Speakers: Ivan Sadik, Producer, Lagardère Studios
David Robert, Co-writer

Kateryna Vyshnevska
Head of development, co-productions and producerFILM.UA Group

Elena Malkova
ProducerFILM.UA Group

Paavo Westerberg
Cinema Director

Marika Makaroff
CEOGutsy Animations

Erik Durbin
Lead Writer, Borderline

Robbie Thorpe
Creator and writer, Borderline

Darrel Bristow-Bovey
Head writer, Dark Hearts

Nimrod Geva
Head of developmentQuizzical Pictures

Till Derenbach
CEO and producerZeitsprung Pictures

Arnauld de Battice
Producer, Extravagance

Thorkil Lodahl
Producer and director, Ice

Martin Miehe-Renard
Writer, director, producer, actor, singer-songwriter and musician

Jason Maza
Actor and producer

Noel Clarke
Actor, screenwriter, director, producer and comic book author

Tahsin Guner
Writer

Emma Stuart
Executive producerKindle Entertainment

Minna Haapkylä
Head of scripted contentRabbit Film

Olli Suominen
CEORabbit Film

Angus Gibson
Producer and directorBomb Productions

Pat van Heerden
Creative producerBomb Productions

Kjartan Thor Thordarson
Executive producer and co-ownerSagaFilm

Óskar Jónasson
Director and writer

Jo Monk
Producer and founderApogee Pictures (UK)

Anders Rønnow Klarlund
Author and screenwriter

Mia Marie Borup
ProducerMastiff

Ginger Wilson
FounderGinger Ink Films Africa

Sarika Hemi Lakhani
Managing partnerOne Fine Day Films

Ivan Sadik
ProducerLagardère Studios

David Robert
Co-writerTyin

Moderator Jamie Mustard
AuthorThe Iconist

Moderator Jimmy Akingbola
Actor, producer and co-founderThe TriForce Creative Network

State of the Drama Nation

Leading drama executives set the scene for three days of intensive discussion and debate about the biggest current issues and opportunities and future trends facing the global scripted business. How are business models evolving? Who’s buying what? What are the threats, opportunities? In a world of constant change what does the next five years look like for the global scripted business, and what happens next?
Further speakers to be announced.
Moderated by: David Jenkinson, editor-in-chief and managing director, C21 Media

Michael Wright
PresidentEPIX

Nina Lederman
Executive vice president, global scripted developmentSony Pictures Television

Sebastien Raybaud
Founder and CEOAnton

Lorenzo De Maio
PartnerEndeavor Content

Sofia Helin
Actor and producer

Gary Davey
Chief Executive OfficerSky Studios

Moderator David Jenkinson
Editor-in-chief and managing directorC21Media

IN CONVERSATION: Stolen Picture

In this creative in conversation session actors and writers, Pegg and Frost and industry veteran Ketley will take us inside their London based production company Stolen Picture. We hear more about their move into production, what they are working on, who they are working with, how they balance their worlds of on and off screen and film and tv and how they are looking to work with the international business.
Moderated by: Emma Smithwick, managing director, Rockfleet Productions

Simon Pegg
Co-founderStolen Picture

Nick Frost
Co-founderStolen Picture

Miles Ketley
CEOStolen Picture

Moderator Emma Smithwick
Managing directorRockfleet Productions

HOT PROPERTIES: Non English Language Drama

This Hot Properties strand shines a light on three upcoming non english language dramas expected to have an impact on the international market over the next 18 months. We hear the stories of created, developed, packaged and sold from those closest to the project.
This session features new projects: Reindeer Mafia, Freud and Rurik
Moderated by: Walter Iuzzolino, chief creative officer, Walter Presents/Global Series

Reindeer Mafia
Reindeer Mafia is a story about the son of a reindeer lord in northernmost Lapland. He starts an outlaw snowmobile club in order to fight back against the tyrannical power of his father who rules the fells through corruption and blackmail. At stake is not just the control of the fells, but the future of nature and Lapland.
Speakers: Liisa Penttila-Asikainen, Pete Eklund and Mika Kurvinen

Freud
Freud is a German-language Netflix Original coproduction with ORF, Satel Film and Bavaria Fiction. The series is directed by award-winning filmmaker Marvin Kren (4 Blocks), who also wrote the scripts together with Stefan Brunner (Tatort), and Benjamin Hessler (4 Blocks). Heinrich Ambrosch (A Fortunate Man) at Satel Film, Moritz Polter (Das Boot) of Bavaria Fiction and Marvin Kren (4 Blocks) are executive producers. ZDF Enterprises handles international distribution.
Blending a period setting with contemporary storytelling, Freud is a modern, mystery crime thriller series based on the life of the celebrated doctor. The extravagant Vienna of the 1890s, famous for its decadence and the dark underbelly of its high society, is the backdrop for mysterious murders and political intrigues in the eight 45-minute episodes.
Following the world premiere on ORF, Freud will be available on Netflix in spring 2020. Freud is supported by Creative Europe Media, Filmfonds Wien, Fernsehfonds Austria and the Czech Film Fund.
Speakers: Moritz Polter and Marvin Kren

Rurik
Billed as the most ambitious Russian language drama yet, Rurik is a dramatic and adventurous story of one of the greatest rulers of Ancient Rus, updated for the modern audiences and uniting the best onscreen and offscreen talent to come out of the region. Gloomy Middle Ages. Blood is being spilled everywhere. Rurik is growing up without a father in slavery and poverty, as the Vikings ravage the coast in the West, and a community of Slavic clans grows in the East, on the great trade route from Scandinavia to Greece. The clans need a leader who can unite them and make them stronger, and Rurik needs glory and power that will help him fight back against the offenders.
Speakers: Kateryna Vyshnevska, Valeriy Fedorovich and Lily Sheroziya

Liisa Penttilä-Asikainen
ProducerReindeer Mafia

Pete Eklund
ProducerReindeer Mafia

Mika Kurvien
Director and screenwriterReindeer Mafia

Marvin Kren
Director, writer and executive producer Freud

Moritz Polter
Executive producer, international TV seriesBavaria Fiction

Kateryna Vyshnevska
Head of development, co-productions and producerFILM.UA Group

Valeriy Fedorovich
Director, TV-3, producer and headPREMIER Studios

Lily Sheroziya
Marketing directorTV-3 and PREMIER Studios

Moderator Walter Iuzzolino
Chief creative officerWalter Presents/Global Series Network

TERRITORIES: Coproducing with Russia

In a country that has a wealth of top talent and rich stories, and where audiences have traditionally favoured Hollywood productions, we look at the opportunity emerging with the fast growing home-grown streaming platforms. What are these local streamers looking to buy, produce and coproduce and who from? How can multi-faceted deals bring Russian and International producers together and who’s got the money?
More speakers to follow.
Moderated by: Ali May, writer, creator, presenter

Olga Filipuk
Chief content officerKinoPoisk HD

Sofia Kvashilava
Genral producer, Okko Ent. and CCORambler Group

Alexander Rodnyansky
Producer

Moderator Ali May
Writer, producer and creator

Networking Lunch (served at both venues)

Sponsored Screening - The Commons (Sony Pictures Television/ Playmaker)

In the near-future, a neuropsychologist and her family attempt to live a normal life in a world disrupted by climate change, limited resources, disparity between classes, disease, and cutting edge science/technology.

Starring: Joanne Froggatt (Eadie Boulay), David Lyons (Lloyd Green), Ryan Corr (Shay Levine),
and Rupert Penry-Jones (Dominic Boulay).
Executive Producers: David Taylor, David Maher, Graham Yost, Shelley Birse, Fred Golan.

Panel: David Taylor, Playmaker MD and The Commons EP, David Maher, Playmaker MD and The Commons EP, Shelley Birse, Showrunner and Rupert Penry-Jones, Actor

Moderator: Wayne Garvie, President, International Production, Sony Pictures Television

Sponsored Screening - Society Bites (Norwegian Drama Showcase)

Can drama series help us understand our Society better? In this session we will discuss a bundle of Norwegian drama series in which social awarness does not stand in the way for engaging a broad audience. Rather, these works constitute a trend in Norwegian drama that utilizes current societal themes in the making of compelling and captivating drama series.
Meet the people behind the brand new series: 22. July, Witch Hunt, Furia and Nudes and executives from NRK and NFI.

Photo credit from the series: 22.July, Photo: NRK.

Speakers:
Ivar Køhn Head of Drama NRK
Anna Bache-Wiig Creator WITCH HUNT
Siv Rajendram Eliassen Creator WITCH HUNT
Nina M. Barbosa Blad Producer NUDES
Gjermund Stenberg Eriksen Creator FURIA
Pål Sletaune Creator and Director 22. JULY
Moderated by: Mona B. Riise Norwegian TV and Radio Host

Sponsored Screening - The Finnish 25% Cash Rebate (Audiovisual Producers Finland)

Panel discussion: Would Finland’s incentive work for your next production? Financing and production practicalities in Finland

Finland’s production incentive allows for more opportunities to shoot, co-produce and do post-production in Finland. Our panelists will reveal why Finland appealed to them, and what their experiences were in the fields of scripted drama and VFX. The session will also preview trailers from highly anticipated upcoming shows like SHADOW LINES and returning Netflix series DEADWIND season2 and BORDERTOWN season3.

Come and learn about generous incentive opportunities, locations, post-production and what services Finland can offer your next production!

Panelists:
David Berron (SWE), Director CRYPTID
Matti Halonen (FIN), Producer / Fisher King
Antti Kulmala (FIN), CEO / TrollVFX
Alan Sim (UK), Executive Producer / Elisa Viihde
Moderator:
Kati Royle (FIN), Independent TV and Film Script Consultant

IN CONVERSATION: Jamie Mustard and Holt McCallany

Jamie Mustard, author of The Iconist and Holt McCallany, lead actor, David Fincher’s Mindhunter discuss why some of the most innovative and critically acclaimed shows are getting lost and how producers and creators ensure their shows stand out and reach their audience.
Moderated by: Melanie Stokes, MD, Kindle Entertainment

Jamie Mustard
AuthorThe Iconist

Holt McCallany
Leading actorMindhunter

Moderator Melanie Stokes
Founder and managing directorKindle Entertainment

CASE STUDY: When The Dust Settles

Writers Ida Maria Ryden and Dorte Hogh take us inside When The Dust Settles, a multi-plot drama for pubcaster DR that portrays the lives of eight Copenhagen citizens, during the days before and after a tragic terrorist attack shocks the city. As the stories of the eight characters interweave throughout the season, it becomes apparent that their lives are connected in unexpected ways. In this case study we explore the story from concept to screen with those closest to the project and see exclusive footage.
Moderated by: Michael Pickard, editor, Drama Quarterly

Ida Maria Rydén
WriterWhen The Dust Settles

Dorte Høgh
WriterWhen The Dust Settles

Milad Alami
DirectorWhen The Dust Settles

Stinna Lassen
ProducerWhen The Dust Settles

Christian Rank
Head of dramaDR

Karen-Lise Mynster
ActorWhen the Dust Settles

Moderator Michael Pickard
Editor, Drama QuarterlyC21Media

CASE STUDY: Halifax Retribution

From original creator and writer Roger Simpson, Jane Halifax returns to profile a killer no one can see. A sniper who leaves no trace is terrorising the city and Jane Halifax (Rebecca Gibney) is approached by the head of Task Force Stingray – inspector Tom Saracen (Anthony LaPaglia) – to help find the killer.

It’s almost 20 years since Jane worked with the police. Her life now is what many would describe as complete. Does she really want to change all that now? When Jane receives a threatening letter she dismisses it as the work of a crank. But when someone close is shockingly murdered, she has to confront a terrible possibility that 20 years later the worst of the criminals she helped put away are finally being released. Forced to go back into the files and nightmares of her past, another possibility emerges… the murder may be linked to the shooter, or worse, to secrets from the past.
Moderated by: Gabriel Tate, freelance journalist

Roger Simpson
Original creator and writer

Rebecca Gibney
Lead actress and executive producerHalifax Retribution

Anthony LaPaglia
Lead actorHalifax Retribution

Andy Ryan
co-head of dramaNine Network Australia

Mikael Borglund
Executive producer, Halifax and CEO & MD Beyond International Ltd

Moderator Gabriel Tate
Journalist

CREATIVE KEYNOTE: Julian Fellowes and Gareth Neame

The pair that created Downton Abbey sit down to discuss the creative and commercial challenge of how to create and sustain global hits.
Moderated by: Stephen Armstrong, freelance journalist

Julian Fellowes
Writer, director and novelist

Gareth Neame
CEOCarnival Films

Moderator Stephen Armstrong
Freelance journalist

CREATIVE KEYNOTE: Sally Wainwright and Faith Penhale

Celebrated writer and director Sally Wainwright has created a string of breakout drama hits including the BAFTA winning series Happy Valley and Last Tango in Halifax. Faith Penhale, CEO of drama studio Lookout Point, is responsible for some of the most successful UK shows of recent years, from War and Peace to Doctor Who. Most recently they joined forces to create the genre-busting global hit Gentleman Jack for BBC and HBO. In this session they discuss how British story-telling can have a global resonance.
Moderated by: Miranda Sawyer, journalist and broadcaster

Sally Wainwright
Writer, producer and director

Faith Penhale
CEOLookout Point

Moderator Miranda Sawyer
Journalist and broadcaster

TRENDS: Navigating the SVoD Landscape as it Heads Towards ‘Peak’

Based on exclusive research from O+O on the current SVoD landscape this panel examines the current state and future prospects for the SVoD market. International executives and creatives discuss the rise of global, local and niche SVoDs/AVoDs and debate whether this is sustainable or whether this has now reached peak and saturation point. How do producers and creatives navigate their way through the landscape and ensure the best deals, maintain position on IP and ensure that their shows find the best audience and are seen?
Further speakers to be announced.
Moderated by: Mark Oliver, chairman, O&O

Susan Kresnicka
Founder and presidentKR&I

Julien Leroux
SVP global scripted co-productionsCineflix Media

Louise Pedersen
CEOAll3 Media International

Rod Henwood
Chief strategy officerThe Ink Factory

Moderator Mark Oliver
ChairmanOliver & Ohlbaum Associates (O&O)

TRENDS: Mining the Drama Data for Success

Leading international analysts from Glance and Parrot Analytics present their latest findings into the numbers behind the world’s most successful scripted shows. What is working best around the world and what can producers, financiers, distributors, platforms and broadcasters learn from the data?

International Drama: The Global Picture
The manner in which drama is consumed is changing, but some principles remain the same. The right content can deliver high ratings, audience success and increase platform penetration. What are the rules of the converging linear and nonlinear worlds, and how will audiences navigate this unprecedented explosion of choice? While recapping the key facts and figures about the current drama landscape, this presentation highlights the main trends to keep in mind, and identifies shows which are most likely to break through. It includes exclusive insights coming from Glance’s Scripted Series Report.

New Insights, New Metrics for Producers: Leveraging the Power of Content Demand
In a market filled with noise, jargon, confusion and summaries of what just happened, Parrot Analytics works with partners to deliver insights that inform and facilitate the decision-making process. In this presentation, Courtney Williams, head of partnerships, will introduce the best ways to address your most pressing questions with the world’s largest content consumption dataset. Specifically, Courtney will take you through the easy-to-understand new metrics Parrot Analytics has developed to help complement your creative talent and expertise and highlighting much sought after attributes like longevity, travelability and franchiseability.
Moderated by: Ben Keen, analyst & advisor

Avril Blondelot
Head of content insightGlance

Courtney Williams
Head of partnershipParrot Analytics

Moderator Ben Keen
ChairmanMediaXchange

CASE STUDY: TEAM CHOCOLATE - Creating an International Format Success with Diversity at its Heart

After proving a hit with audiences and critics in Belgium, award-winning drama series Team Chocolate (distributed internationally by Wild Bunch TV) is following in the footsteps of other successful Flemish formats, with an Italian version – Everybody Is Perfect – debuting on Rai in November and an English language remake in the works. But what makes this heartwarming series so unique is it’s groundbreaking approach to working with disabled talent. Hear from the producers of the original series, as well as the creative teams behind the Italian and UK remakes, as they discuss the secret to the show’s success as well as the wider issue of on-screen representation.
Moderated by: Michael Pickard, editor, Drama Quarterly

Pieter Van Huyck
Head of scriptedDe Mensen

Sophie Gardiner
Managing directorChapter One Pictures

Lou Stein
Artistic directorChickenshed Theatre

Eric Welbers
CEOndF

Michele Zatta
Commissioning editor, international coproductionsRai Fiction, Italy

Moderator Michael Pickard
Editor, Drama QuarterlyC21Media

DEVELOPMENT: Non-English Language Drama

As premium Non English language drama cements itself as a key priority or global platforms and international networks, we hear from the leading creators and producers making local global. What are they working on? Who are they partnering with? Who are they selling to, and how do they choose between local and global platforms?
Moderated by: Gabriel Tate, freelance journalist

Anna Winger
Writer

Pascal Breton
PresidentFederation Entertainment

Johannes Jensen
CEOYellow Bird

Gjermund Erikson
Writer and executive producerMonster Scripted

Jonas Allen
Producer and CEOMiso Film

Moderator Gabriel Tate
Journalist

DEVELOPMENT: Shortform Drama

As more shortform platforms emerge we hear from leading producers about what they are making, and who they are selling to. What is the potential to reach new audiences, engage top creative talent and does the business model stack up?
Moderated by: Selma Turajlic, co-founder/COO, Little Dot Studios

Sebastian Burkhardt
Managing director, global contentKeshet International

Marianne Furevold-Boland
Executive producerNRK Drama

Howard Owens
Co-founder and co-CEOPropagate Content

Neely Shamam
EVP of programming and developmentFicto

Moderator Selma Turajlic
Co-founderLittle Dot Studios

IN CONVERSATION: Frank Doelger, Intaglio Films

Multi Emmy-award-winning producer Frank Doelger takes us inside the content strategy of Intaglio Films, a joint venture between Germany’s Beta Film and ZDF Enterprises. In this session we hear more about the strategy for producing high quality English language shows with global appeal out of Germany, and meet some of the writers Intaglio Films is working with on its current development slate.
Moderated by: Hayley McKenzie, founder and CEO, Script Angel

Frank Doelger
Creative directorIntaglio Films

Peter Berry
Writer

Mike Walden
Writer

Moderator Hayley McKenzie
CEO/FounderScript Angel

Networking Cocktail (Music Foyer - Kings Place)

Sponsored by:

Sponsored screening: Miss Scarlet and the Duke (A+E Networks)

Title: Miss Scarlet and the Duke
New/Returning: New
Genre: Drama/Scripted
Number of Episodes/Length: 6 x 1 hour
Language: English
Production Company: A+E Networks International & Element 8 Entertainment
Status: In Production
Synopsis: Set in 1850s London, this British detective drama features a fearless, independent heroine played by Kate Phillips (Peaky Blinders). Miss Scarlet has always been more interested in running her late father’s detective agency than behaving like a proper lady. But she is not prepared for the dangers she is about to face.

Registration (Kings Place only) and continental breakfast (served at both venues)

Registration will be open 8am-4pm.

Sponsored Networking Breakfast: Screen Scotland

Start your Wednesday with Screen Scotland: Home to world-class talent, crew, facilities and breath-taking locations. Scotland also offers a range of financial incentives, including: the UK Tax Relief, newly enhanced Production Growth funds and a Broadcast Content Fund. Join us for breakfast at Content London 2019 to meet some of the team, and find out more about why there’s no better time to film in Scotland.

Screen Scotland is the dedicated partnership for screen in Scotland. With funding from Scottish Government and the National Lottery, Screen Scotland is driving the cultural, social and economic development of all aspects of the sector in Scotland, through enhanced funding, services and support.

Breakfast provided and all delegates welcome.
www.screen.scot
@screenscots

DRAMA COMMISSIONERS: SKY ITALIA

In conversation with Nils Hartman, director of original productions, Sky Italia, who’ll be discussing his content strategy, new slate and opportunities for collaboration across the international business.
Moderated by: Stephen Armstrong, freelance journalist

Nils Hartmann
Director of original productionsSky Italia

Moderator Stephen Armstrong
Freelance journalist

FINANCE: New Models of Drama Finance

What are the most effective models for financing drama in the SVoD world? Who has the money, and how can you best manage the risks and opportunities at large in the market? We hear from leading distributors, producers and financiers about how they are adapting and diversifying their finance models to stay ahead in the growing SVoD world.
Moderated by: Valerie Creighton, president and CEO, Canada Media Fund

Jamie Brown
CEOGrand River Productions

Cheryl Lynch
EVP international production, business affairs and scripted formatsSony Pictures Television

David Davoli
EVP of international televisionBRON Studios

Kate Harwood
Managing directorEuston Films

Moderator Valerie Creighton
President and CEOCanada Media Fund

CASE STUDY: The Paradise

Murders shake the Finnish community of Fuengirola, which made this tiny corner of Málaga their own little paradise on the shores of the Mediterranean. Hilkka Mäntymäki, a veteran crime detective aged 60, is travelling from Oulu Finland to help the local police on a case that will soon claim new victims. Because escaping the cold and the dark is much easier than leaving your own past behind.

This 8×50 minute drama is written by Matti Laine and produced for YLE. We hear from those closest to the project ahead of a sponsored screening on Thursday 5 December.
Moderated by: Mike Pickard, editor, Drama Quarterly

Marja Pyykkö
Director

Matti Laine
Screenwriter

Ran Tellem
Head of international content developmentThe Mediapro Studio

Marko Röhr
Producer and CEOMRP Matila Röhr Productions

Suvi Mansnerus
ProducerYle Drama

Fran Perea
Actor

Moderator Michael Pickard
Editor, Drama QuarterlyC21Media

TERRITORY FOCUS: UK Nations and Regions

A session exploring what it takes to make high impact programming with global appeal for mainstream channels and platforms fully based out of the nations and regions. Areas up for discussion include – where is the balance of power in commissioning between network and local? Who is making content? And who is funding?
Moderated by: Dominic Schreiber, global drama executive, Reel One International Limited

Claire Mundell
Managing director and creative directorSynchronicity Films Ltd

Sarah Brown
Creative director, dramaSTV Productions

Gwenllian Gravelle
Drama commissionerS4C

Lachlan MacKinnon
Executive producerBad Wolf

Larry Bass
CEO and exec producerShinAwiL

Moderator Dominic Schreiber
Global drama executiveReel One Entertainment

DRAMA COMMISSIONERS: SVT

In conversation with Anna Croneman, head of drama SVT, who’ll present her 2020 slate – the first out of her new content strategy, plus she’ll discuss co-pro opportunities for producers.
Moderated by: James Rampton, TV feature writer, The i, The Independent

Anna Croneman
Head of dramafilmsSVT - Sveriges Televison

Moderator James Rampton
TV feature writerThe i, The Independent

DRAMA COMMISSIONERS: BBC

In conversation with Piers Wenger, controller of drama BBC, who’ll reveal details of his new slate, ways to collaborate and his new content strategy.
Moderated by: James Rampton , TV feature writer, The i, The Independent

Piers Wenger
Controller of dramaBBC

Moderator James Rampton
TV feature writerThe i, The Independent

KEYNOTE INTERVIEW: HBO Max

One of television’s most influential leaders, Kevin Reilly oversees the robust content strategy for the WarnerMedia direct-to-consumer offering HBO Max as chief content officer, for which Reilly is charged with defining the non-HBO originals, library and licensed content that will make up the service.
Reilly also leads all of WarnerMedia Entertainment’s top-rated cable networks including TNT, TBS and truTV. In this keynote session Reilly sets the scene for HBO Max’s strategy and how they are positioning themselves in context of the ever growing and evolving industry landscape.
Moderated by: Stephen Armstrong, freelance journalist

Kevin Reilly
Chief content officer, HBO Max and president TBS, TNT and truTV

Moderator Stephen Armstrong
Freelance journalist

KEYNOTE INTERVIEW: HBO Max

Two of the most influential women in the business, Sarah Aubrey and Sandra Dewey take part in this keynote interview to discuss HBO Max’s strategy and approach for HBO Max originals. As the platform readies for launch Aubrey and Dewey will highlight what they are seeking in terms of original, fresh and inclusive content for the US service and how this will grow and evolve across the international business over the coming 18 months.
Moderated by: Rola Bauer, managing director, STUDIOCANAL TV

Sarah Aubrey
Head of original contentHBO Max

Sandra Dewey 
President, business operations and productionsHBO Max

Moderator Rola Bauer
Managing DirectorSTUDIOCANAL TV

DRAMA COMMISSIONERS: US

Top US commissioners outline their development agendas and commissioning strategies. What are they looking for from the international business and how are they changing their business models to ensure that they stay ahead of the game with fresh and quality original content?

Moderated by: Carrie Stein, EVP global scripted series, Kew Media

Carolyn Bernstein
EVP, global scripted content and documentary filmsNational Geographic

Karen Bailey
Senior vice president, original programmingStarz

Julie McNamara
EVP of original content CBS All Access

Nancy Cotton
EVP and head of scripted programmingEpix

Moderator Carrie Stein
EVP, global scripted seriesKew Media

CASE STUDY: Stateless

Co-created by Cate Blanchett, Tony Ayres and Elise McCredie, Stateless is a powerful and timely series about four strangers whose lives collide at an immigration detention centre in the middle of the desert. It centres on an airline hostess on the run from a dangerous cult, an Afghan refugee and his family fleeing persecution, a young father escaping a dead-end job and a bureaucrat running out of time to contain a national scandal. Each character deals with the contradictions of protection and border control from a unique perspective, offering topical insight into issues that countries are grappling with around the world.

Commissioned by the ABC and backed by Screen Australia and the South Australian Film Corporation, the six-part limited series stars a multi award-winning cast including Yvonne Strahovski, Jai Courtney, Asher Keddie, Fayssal Bazzi, Dominic West and Cate Blanchett. It is a co-production between NBCUniversal International Studios’ Matchbox Pictures and Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton’s Dirty Films, written by Elise McCredie and Belinda Chayko.
Moderated by: Michael Pickard, editor, Drama Quarterly

Cate Blanchett
Co-creator, executive producer and actor

Jeff Wachtel
PresidentNBCUniversal International Studios

Alastair McKinnon
Managing directorMatchbox Pictures

Fayssal Bazzi
Actor

Moderator Michael Pickard
Editor, Drama QuarterlyC21Media

HOT PROPERTIES: Normal People, Tehran and Patria

In our Hot Properties strand at Content London we shine a light on upcoming dramas expected to have an impact on the international business in the coming year and meet those responsible for developing them to find out more. Hear how they were created, developed, packaged and sold from those closest to the projects, and see exclusive clips from the shows.

This session features new projects: Normal People, Tehran and Patria

Normal People
Normal People, the highly anticipated TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s international literary phenomenon, has been produced by award-winning production company Element Pictures (The Favourite, Room, The Lobster, Dublin Murders) as a 12-part drama for BBC Three and Hulu.
Adapted by Sally Rooney, Alice Birch with Mark O’Rowe and directed by Oscar nominated director Lenny Abrahamson and award-winning director Hettie Macdonald, it stars Daisy Edgar Jones (War of the Worlds, Cold Feet) as Marianne and Paul Mescal as Connell. An exquisite and compulsive modern love story filmed in Dublin, it tracks the tender but complicated relationship of Marianne and Connell from the end of their school days in small-town west of Ireland to their undergraduate years at Trinity College.
Further speakers to be announced.
Speakers: Ed Guiney, Emma Norton Lenny Abrahamson

Tehran
Tehran is the story of Tamar Rabinyan, a Mossad computer hacker-agent undertaking her very first mission in the heart of a hostile and menacing city, which also happens to be the place of her birth. Tasked with disabling an Iranian nuclear reactor, her mission has implications not just for the Middle East, but for the entire world order. When the Mossad mission fails, Tamar goes rogue in Tehran as she rediscovers her Iranian roots and becomes romantically entwined with a pro-democracy activist. Tamar’s soul-searching leads her to become even more conflicted about her mission, while the tension mounts as Iranian authorities tighten the net in their desperate search to locate her and her Mossad colleagues.
Tehran is created by Moshe Zonder, Dana Eden and Maor Kohn. The series is written by Zonder and Omri Shenhar. The Gordin Cell and Stockholm director Daniel Syrkin directs the series, which is exec produced by Alon Aranya, Eden and Shula Spiegel. Tehran is produced by Donna Productions and Shula Spiegel Productions in association with Paper Plane Productions
Speakers: Alon Aranya and Moshe Zonder

Patria
Patria tells a story – over three decades – of the Spanish Basque Country threatened by the separatist terrorism of ETA, through the eyes of two families divided by the violent conflict. The lives of Bittori and her family implode the day ETA kills her husband, Txato, on his doorstep. The relationship with her close friend Miren, whose son belongs to an ETA command, also comes to an end. Both families must deal with grief and moral contradictions while life goes on. Will they be able to someday forgive, put aside their differences, and move forward?
Speakers: Aitor Gabilondo, Miguel Salvat, and Iñaki Gonzalez
Moderated by: Gabriel Tate, freelance journalist

Ed Guiney
Company director and executive producerElement Pictures

Emma Norton
ProducerElement Pictures

Lenny Abrahamson
Director

Alon Aranya
Producer and writerPaper Plane Productions

Moshe Zonder
WriterMoshe Zonder Productions

Aitor Gabilondo
ShowrunnerPatria

Miguel Salvat
Commissioning editor of original programming, SpainHBO Europe.

Iñaki González Esparza
Development directorAlea Media

Moderator Gabriel Tate
Journalist

TERRITORIES: Nigerian Stories

As the demand continues for new and original stories with international reach and appeal, broadcasters, streamers and producers are turning their sights to Nigeria to find and develop talent. We hear from some of the hottest nigerian writers about the stories they have to tell and the opportunity to engage and work with the wealth of talent Nigeria has to offer. Also joining the panel will be leading international producers to discuss how they are sourcing and developing projects with Nigerian writers.
Further speakers to be announced.
Moderated by: Enyi Omeruah, founder, My Management Company (MMC)

Leye Adenle
Author

Kemi Adesoye
Writer

Kris Thykier
FounderArchery Pictures

Thomas Eromose Ikimi
Writer

Yvonne Isimeme Ibazebo
Producer

Moderator Enyi Omeruah
FounderMy Management Company (MMC)

CASE STUDY: Traces

UKTV Original Traces is a suspense-filled crime thriller based on an original idea by best-selling crime writer Val McDermid (Wire In The Blood, A Place Of Execution) and set in the world of forensic science in Dundee, Scotland. The series explores the world of SIFA, the Scottish Institute of Forensic Science and Anatomy and introduces us to three compelling and very different female characters – Emma Hedges (Molly Windsor), Prof. Sarah Gordon (Laura Fraser) and Prof. Kathy Torrance (Jennifer Spence) – who together will use the rigors of forensics to uncover the truth about an unsolved murder case.

When 23-year-old Emma (Windsor) returns to Scotland to take up a new position as a lab assistant at SIFA, she signs up to a MOOC – Massive Open Online Course – which teaches the principles of forensic science. But she soon discovers that the fictitious case study has a strikingly similar and shocking link to her past. As Emma’s sleuthing takes her into darker corners and unpicks more and more secrets, it becomes clear that she should trust no-one. It will be Sarah and Kathy’s exacting minds that reward Emma’s faith in the science that has fuelled her imagination and who will ultimately bring a killer to justice.

Running alongside Emma’s central story, other cases and different forensic disciplines will shine a spotlight on science’s contribution to solving the mysteries of human existence.
Writer Amelia Bullmore and executive producer Nicola Shindler lead this case study to explain the story from concept through to screen.
Further speakers to be confirmed.
Moderated by: Emma Cox, journalist

Nicola Shindler
Executive producer and CEORed Production Company

Amelia Bullmore
Writer and executive producer

Philippa Collie-Cousins
Commissioning editor, dramaUKTV

Juliet Charlesworth
Producer

Moderator Emma Cox
Journalist

Networking Lunch (Served at both venues)

Sponsored Screening - Top Dog (ZDF Enterprises)

The TV series Top Dog is based on the trilogy by best-selling Swedish author Jens Lapidus. A mysterious disappearance brings together two completely different worlds – ambitious business lawyer Emily Jansson (Josefin Asplund) and the local mafia’s number-one crook, Teddy Maksumic (Alexej Manvelov). She wants to move up; he wants to leave his old life behind. The pair end up in a tricky situation where the past catches up.

Additional information:

Top Dog is produced by Anna Wallmark, Olof Spaak and Teresa Alldén at Filmlance, a part of Endemol Shine Group, for C More and TV4 in co-production with ZDF and Film Capital Stockholm Fund, and is distributed internationally by ZDF Enterprises.

The series premieres in 2020.

Internationally acclaimed leading actors Josefin Asplund (Sanctuary, Vikings) and Alexej Manvelov (Sthlm Requiem, Chernobyl, Before We Die) are the main cast.

Based on the series of books by best-selling Swedish author Jens Lapidus, “VIP-rummet”, “Stockholm Delete” and “Top Dogg”.

The cast also includes Gustav Lindh, Peter Gardiner, Christian Hillborg, Joel Spira, Kardo Razzazi, Mahmut Suvakci, Bekzod Kuliev, Amanda Ooms, Lina Englund and Felice Jankell.

The script for Top Dog has been written by lead screenwriter Veronica Zacco together with Josefin Johansson, Amanda Högberg, Linnea Möller Lindh, Dunja Vujovic, Lovisa Milles, Gunnar A.K. Järvstad and Alexis Almström. Molly Hartleb (Vår tid är nu, Hinsehäxan) and Alexis Almström (Pink Cloud Syndrome) directed, with Molly providing conceptual direction.

Sponsored Presentation: Canadian Media Producers Association

Diversity and Inclusion in Canadian Screen Content
The presentation will focus on diversity and inclusion in the Canadian screen based content industry. The panel discussion will explore the steps our industry has taken to champion equal representation both in front and behind the camera and how those efforts have enriched creative storytelling.
Panelists include:
Valerie Creighton, President & CEO, Canada Media Fund, Amy Cameron, Executive Producer, Cameron Pictures (Mary Kills People, Little Dog); Floyd Kane, Producer/Showrunner, Freddie Films (Diggstown) Julia Langlois, Producer, Trio Orange (Do You Hear Me?) Moderated by Prem Gill, CEO, Creative BC.

KEYNOTE INTERVIEW: Paramount Television

As President of Paramount Television, Clemens oversees a robust slate of more than 27 shows on the air and in production. In this keynote interview, we find out more about what we can expect to see from Paramount Television over the next 18 months, who they are working with, and the opportunities to engage with the wider international business going forward. Clemens has an interesting perspective on the current television landscape, given her varied career trajectory as both a TV and film agent, head of development at FX, a manager at Anonymous Content and now the head of one of the major studios. This session gives a unique insight into Clemens’s vision and strategy to ensure continued growth and success within the ever changing, consolidated and evolving landscape.
Nicole has an interesting perspective on the current television landscape, given her varied career trajectory as both a TV and film agent, a buyer at FX, a Producer/Manager at Anonymous Content and now the head of one of the major studios.
Moderated by: Carrie Stein,EVP global scripted series, Kew Media

Nicole Clemens
PresidentParamount Television

Moderator Carrie Stein
EVP, global scripted seriesKew Media

Hot Properties: Happily Married, The Small Hand, Diary of a Drag Queen

In our Hot Properties strand at Content London we shine a light on upcoming dramas expected to have an impact on the international business in the coming year and meet those responsible for developing them to find out more. Hear how they were created, developed, packaged and sold from those closest to the projects, and see exclusive clips from the shows.
This session features new projects: Happily Married, The Small Hand, Diary of a Drag Queen
Moderated by: Melissa Williamson, president, Pier 21 Films

Happily Married
In 1974, in the quiet suburb of Sainte-Foy, near Québec city, two troubled couples drive their kids to summer camp. Upon returning home, they realize what a terrible state their marriages are in.
Infidelity and betrayal come to light. But in a society where divorce is still rare, what do the Delisles and the Paquettes do? They become the most prolific killers in the history of organized crime in Quebec City.
It is in a context of a major society turmoil, that we find the four protagonists: Gaétan, Huguette, Serge and Micheline. Despite their conservative, suburban lives, they dream of major changes. Nothing satisfies them anymore: not their relationships, their family lives, their bungalows or their above-ground pools.
Happily Married is a playful, funny show full of twists. Despite their many flaws, the Delisles and Paquettes are sympathetic and their story is touching. You want them to succeed in their descent into the criminal underworld. And you hope, as they do, that they’ll be able to find happiness one day.
Speakers: Charles Ohayon and François Létourneau

The Small Hand: A Ghost Story
Adapted from the Susan Hill novel this is an Awesome/Two Rivers Media Co-Production for Channel 5 in the UK.
Antique book dealer Adam Snow (Douglas Henshall, Shetland, Outlander) leads an empty life, infatuated with Alice (Louise Lombard, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation), the wife of a wealthy client (Adrian Rawlins, Chernobyl) and barely present for his older brother, Hugo (Cal MacAninch, TheVictim), who is suffering a mental breakdown. But when Adam stumbles upon a dilapidated mansion near his client, he feels the presence of the ghost of a small child.

Adam soon receives increasingly sinister visits from the ghost, causing him to question his own sanity. He struggles to repair his fractured relationship with Hugo and excise the spirit from his life, but the ghost will not be ignored, ultimately revealing a haunting secret from his childhood. Also starring Neve McIntosh (Stan Lee’s Lucky Man) and Paul Barber (The Full Monty).
Speakers: Jeff Norton and Alan Clements

Diary of a Drag Queen
On the back of their rave 5* reviews for their one-person show The Bible 2 at Edinburgh Festival 2019, and Penguin Publishing declaring that Diary of a Drag Queen is in the top 15 funniest books ever written (along with Scoop, Adrian Mole and Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy), Tom and Crystal Rasmussen continue their rise to international super-stardom in the TV adaptation of the book.

As described in Vogue: “Are we ever really one thing? One personality, one political belief, one gender? Or are we many things at once, in constant conflict with ourselves?”
Unflinching, heartfelt and hilarious, Diary of a Drag Queen follows the life of a queer, broke and non-binary aspiring fashionista alongside the life of their outrageously glam, staggeringly outspoken, drag queen alter-ego. They explode the myth that a queer life can be narrated by a catch-all idea. To file it neatly under “gay and fabulous” erases the daunting task of getting from A to She, and all the ups, downs, tucks and sucks it takes to get there.
Speakers: Tom Rasmussen, Adam Morane-Griffiths and Sara Curran

Charles Ohayon
International distribution and executive producerProductions casablanca

François Létourneau
Creator and writer

Jeff Norton
Executive producer and founderAwesome Media & Entertainment

Alan Clements
Managing DirectorTwo Rivers Media Ltd

Tom Rasmussen
Author, screenwriter and actorWildcard Films

Adam Morane-Griffiths
Executive producerWildcard Films

Sara Curran
Founder and CEOTricycle Talent and Tricycle Media.

Moderator Melissa Williamson
PresidentPier 21 Films

TERRITORIES: Indian Platforms

As India opens up to the international market we hear from leading players about the evolution of the platform market and opportunities for partnership.
Further speakers to be announced.
Moderated by: Melanie Stokes, MD, Kindle Entertainment

Tarun Katial
CEOZEE5 India

Rohit Jain
Managing directorLionsgate South Asia

Kilian Kerwin
Head of production (South Asia & Latin America)SK Global Entertainment

Moderator Melanie Stokes
Founder and managing directorKindle Entertainment

CASE STUDY: Sex Education

Writer Laurie Nunn and director Ben Taylor take us inside critcially acclaimed teen comedy-drama Sex Education for an exclusive case study at Content London. Otis Milburn – an inexperienced, socially awkward high school student, who lives alone with his mother, a sex therapist. Having grown up surrounded by manuals, videos and tediously open conversations about sex, Otis is unwittingly an expert on the subject. Set on keeping this secret from everyone except his nerdy best friend Eric, Otis is horrified when the class bully finds out and tells the entire school during the first week of 6th year. Otis thinks his life is over until brainy bad-girl Maeve discovers he is an untapped goldmine of sexual wisdom and sets up an underground sex therapy service in an abandoned restroom on campus where Otis can dispense advice to students. In the process of helping their peers, Otis and his friends will undergo their own transformations – both sexual and emotional.

We hear how the show came about, learn more about the focus on finding and developing new talent both on and off screen, understand how the production dealt with sensitive and delicate subject issues and find out what’s in store for season two.
Moderated by: Emma Smithwick, managing director, Rockfleet Productions

Laurie Nunn
Creator and showrunnerSex Education

Ben Taylor
Director

Alex Sapot
Director of original seriesNetflix

Jamie Campbell
Executive producerEleven

Moderator Emma Smithwick
Managing directorRockfleet Productions

TERRITORIES: Producing in and with India

A world of new opportunity beckons. Find out how you can be part of it.
Moderated by: Sunder Aaron, co-owner and partner, Locomotive Films

Abhishek Rege
CEOEndemol Shine

Deepak Segal
Head of contentApplause Entertainment

David M. Taghioff
CEOLibrary Pictures International

Amanda Jenks
Co-founderGreenacre Films

Elizabeth Koshy
Founder and CEOINVAR Studios

Sunder Aaron
PrincipalLocomotive Global Inc

DEVELOPMENT: Next Year’s Models

How are some of the world’s most progressive drama players adapting to a changing market and how does their development agenda reflect changes in audience appetite and demand and the fast moving global marketplace?
Moderated by: Mike Pickard, editor, Drama Quarterly

Erik Barmack
FounderWild Sheep Content

Elizabeth Kilgarriff
CEOFirebird Pictures

Katie O'Connell Marsh
Founder and chairmanPlatform One Media

Belinda Campbell
Joint managing directorRed Planet Pictures

Carrie Stein
EVP, global scripted seriesKew Media

Moderator Michael Pickard
Editor, Drama QuarterlyC21Media

CASE STUDY: Noughts + Crosses

Adapted from the first book in Malorie Blackman’s bestselling series, the much-anticipated Noughts + Crosses is a gripping story of first love set in a dangerous, alternate world where racism divides society. Separated by their colour but united by forbidden love and burning injustice, Sephy Hadley (Masali Baduza) and Callum McGregor (Jack Rowan) are fighting for more than simply the right to be together. Sephy is a ‘Cross’, a member of the black ruling class and daughter of a prominent politician. Callum is a ‘Nought’, a white member of the underclass. The two have been friends since childhood, but, under the strict laws of the state, that’s as far as it can go. Their relationship grows ever more complicated as they come of age and against a backdrop of prejudice, distrust and rebellion, the passionate romance that builds between them will lead them both into terrible danger. An iconic love story of two families separated by power and prejudice but forever entwined by fate,Noughts + Crosses features an exceptional cast including Paterson Joseph, Bonnie Mbuli, Kike Brimah, Helen Baxendale, Ian Hart, Josh Dylan, Shaun Dingwall and guest appearance by Stormzy.
Moderated by: Jimmy Akingbola, actor and co-founder, TriForce Creative Network

Koby Adom
Director

Helen Baxendale
Actor

Preethi Mavahalli
Executive producerMammoth screen

Miura Kite
SVP, global televisionParticipant

Ben Irving
Commissioning editorBBC Drama

Moderator Jimmy Akingbola
Actor, producer and co-founderThe TriForce Creative Network

DEVELOPMENT: The Podcast Report

Podcasts are increasingly being used to test and launch drama franchises. We hear from some of the most progressive players about how they are making best use of the audio experience.
Moderated by: Steven Adams, partner and head of management division, Buffalo 8

Robert Delamere
Creative directorStoryglass

Sophia Gibber
Development producerUgly Duckling Films

King Kaufman
Senior audio producerSan Francisco Chronicle

Steve Carsey
Senior director, original content (UK) Audible

Holly Hines
Scripted leadSpotify Studios

Moderator Steven Adams
Partner and head of management divisionBuffalo 8

TRENDS: European Broadcasters Unite to Fight Back

France Televisions, Rai Fiction and ZDF discuss their ongoing partnership through The Alliance and take us inside their upcoming slate of new original content. How is The Alliance establishing itself against the growing competition from the FANGS and what can other Broadcasters learn about working more closely together.
Moderated by: Ben Keen, analyst and advisor

Nathalie Biancolli
Director of acquisitions and international fictionFrance Télévisions

Eleonora Andreatta
Head of dramaRAI

Dr. Simone Emmelius
SVP international fiction coproduction and acquisitionsZDF

Moderator Ben Keen
ChairmanMediaXchange

BBC and Keshet screening cocktail reception (Music Foyer- Kings Place)

Sponsored screening: The Trial of Christine Keeler (BBC one and Keshet)

London 1963.  A gunshot is fired in a Chelsea Mews, propelling the 20 year-old Christine Keeler into the headlines—along with her affair with the Minister for War.

This drama tells the fresh and epic story of Christine’s fight to be heard and her refusal to play by the rules, despite attempts by the male-dominated establishment to silence and exploit her.
Cast to be confirmed.
Photo credit: Sophie Cookson as Christine Keeler in BBC One’s THE TRIAL OF CHRISTINE KEELER, coming soon to BBC One
Photographer: Ben Blackall / © BBC / Ecosse Films 2019

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Click here to download the ‘at a glance’ Drama Summit Agenda
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