Hot Properties September 2020
As the nights draw in, TV schedules normally brim with new shows and returning hits, ready to reach captive winter audiences.This autumn, however, delayed series and re-worked show runs have meant acquisitions are a high priority for global broadcasters with gaps to fill.
We have selected a wide range of titles for September’s Hot Properties playlist on C21 Digital Screenings, which uncover new programmes from leading international distributors to help invigorate worldwide schedules and platform menus.
For broadcasters looking for gritty scripted content, September’s playlist has two cop dramas. Standing Tall, from ZDF Enterprises, is a powerful crime series that follows a former policeman’s unofficial investigation into his own son’s death, while The Hunt For a Killer, from Banijay Rights, is based on a true story and follows the Swedish police as they track a child killer.
Other drama titles to make the shortlist include Moscow-based 1-2-3 Production’s The Big Game, which sees participants of a reality show get drawn in a deadly contest. Sony Pictures TV’s sci-fi anthology series Monsterland examines the monsters within and among us.
Harlots, from ITV Studios, is a powerful drama set against the vibrant backdrop of 18th century Georgian London, offering a bold new take on the city’s most valuable commercial activity: sex. And from Entertainment One, Upright is a bold, touching, darkly funny and moving drama about the unlikely friendship between two misfits thrown together by chance in the middle of the Australian desert.
For buyers looking to strike a lighter note, sitcom The Conners, from Carsey-Werner, follows 1988 comedy series Roseanne, by centring on the family members of the matriarch after her sudden death. And comedy drama Ms. Sweet, from Russia’s Super TV, features a long-suffering housewife who, after catching her husband cheating, starts her own confectionery business with a mixed bag of results.
Riding the current adult animation trend comes Last Trash Days, the first interactive project from Russian animation channel 2×2 TV, which takes a comic look at what will happen to the planet if we don’t live more sustainably.
For buyers looking for unscripted content, CBC’s Forces of Nature, from the makers of Wild Canada and The Wild Canadian Year, examines stories of extreme weather as it affects the landscape, rules the lifecycles of wildlife and pushes humans to their limits, while Plastic Surgery Knifemares, from NENT Studios UK, delves into the darker side of the cosmetic surgery boom.
September’s Hot Properties playlist also presents two animal-centric series. From Cineflix comes The Wizard of Paws which follows pet prosthetics expert Derrick Campana as he produces custom prosthetics for distressed pets and their desperate owners. Meanwhile, Four Paws Educator, from HG Distribution, is a docuseries that follows troubled teens as they rebuild their lives with the help of a horse.
As global travel chaos continues, travel shows offer a chance to escape via the TV. All for Free, from Russia’s Friday! TV, features alternative, non-touristy travelling on a budget, while Insight TV’s Epic Exploring: Going Local follows YouTubers and urban explorers Josh and Cody as they hook up with a local from a major city on their travels around the globe. Finally, Passion Distribution’s God Shave the Queens features the queens on the road during the RuPaul’s Drag Race UK European tour.
In the documentary space, The Royal Documentaries, from Blue Ant International, provides a peek into the lives of William and Kate, Harry and Meghan, Princess Diana and others through the lens of historical context and cultural significance. Documentary Cured, from Drive, sheds light on the little-known story of the LGBTQ activists who challenged the American Psychiatric Association to remove homosexuality from its manual of mental illnesses, and won.
Surviving Jeffrey Epstein, from A+E Networks, is a four-part documentary event investigating how the elusive Epstein built a global network that preyed on young girls and women, using first-hand testimony from victims and close observers.
Also in the unscripted mix is Dyatlov Group’s Journal: The Last Page from Ruptly, which aims to solve the case of the nine students who disappeared mysteriously while trekking across Russia’s Ural mountains 61 years ago. Sphere Media’s Transmission Impossible, meanwhile, follows the salvage operations to restore some of America’s greatest muscle cars.
For younger audiences, Are You Tougher Than Your Ancestors? is a fun and immersive living history series from Australian Children’s Television Foundation that pits the skills of today’s kids against the exploits of children from Australia’s past, to find out how they measure up.
On the animation side, Mighty Mike from the UK’s Cake, completes September’s playlist. The series follows a refined pug with sophisticated tastes who longs for a quiet life but is forced to defend his house from a bunch of furry intruders.
Enjoy the Hot Properties playlist for September 2020!
