Gaumont targets procedural trend

France’s Gaumont Television Europe is lining up its first procedural series – an English-language thriller from US showrunner and director Ken Sanzel.

Christophe Riandee

Crosshair follows a former CIA assassin turned ‘for hire’ gunman who drifts into a mid-life crisis after discovering he has a 16-year-old daughter and that his partner tried to kill him.

The 13×60’ series will be penned by Sanzel, whose credits include long-running CBS show Numb3rs.

It marks the third series to be unveiled under the Gaumont Television Europe banner, adding to Spy City and 1001, the English-language thriller created by Real Humans’ Lars Lunstrom.

Crosshair was unveiled today by Christophe Riandee, vice-CEO of Gamont, during his opening keynote speech at the Monte Carlo TV Film Festival.

“We are starting to see a huge trend into drama production, making Europe a new frontier for television, and a project like Crosshair is the perfect fit. It’s a new idea and a new world for a procedural series,” Riandee said.

The move comes as European broadcasters continue to search for procedural series, with the buzz around the rise of episodic drama still resonating.

At MipTV in April, NBCUniversal International Television Productions struck a deal with France’s TF1 and Germany’s RTL Deutschland to develop and produce procedural dramas.

Gaumont also runs LA-based studio Gaumont International Television.