Hot Properties February 2023
As international buyers look ahead to the spring buying season, C21’s Digital Screenings lines up a new playlist of programmes that distributors are bringing to market.
Plenty of drama can be found in this month’s Digital Screenings playlist, with new scripted series from distributors in France and Germany leading the slate.
From Germany comes The Swarm (ZDF Studios), an eight-part thriller series from Emmy-winning showrunner Frank Doelger (Game of Thrones) that chronicles the struggle of humankind against an unknown enemy, while Chaos (Bavaria Media International) tells the story of 10 excited teenagers with VIP passes to attend a concert – then there is an explosion.
French scripted content this month includes The King’s Favorite (France TV Distribution), about Diane de Poitiers, a courtesan who was King Henri II’s favourite for more than 20 years, while Django (StudioCanal) is a high-concept, character-driven reimagining of the classic 1966 Sergio Corbucci Western and described as “one of Canal+’s most ambitious series.”
From Japan comes My Family (Tokyo Broadcasting System) which follows a young businessman whose game company strikes it rich, giving him a fancy suburban home, a beautiful wife and a grade school daughter.
From elsewhere around Europe comes Gold Run (Viaplay Group), a Second World War drama about a few courageous individuals who aim to smuggle Norway’s gold reserves out of the country from under the noses of the occupying Nazis, and Arcadia (Wild Bunch TV) explores a world in which your social score influences your status after a man is found guilty of tampering with the algorithm and is banished to the Outer World.
From across the pond, this month’s playlist also includes the movie Daughter of the Bride (Fox Entertainment), in which a daughter tries to sabotage her mother’s wedding while navigating her own love life and career woes.
For buyers looking for unscripted fare, we have a pair of sports documentary titles on the list. The Moment: How Sports Changed the World (Abacus Media Rights), which tells the story of key moments in sport that created seismic cultural change with ripples that continue to impact the modern day, and WWE Rivals (A+E Media Group) reveals how WWE superstars backstab and double-cross each other for merchandising deals, movie roles and more.
Meanwhile, The Truth About My Murder (Boat Rocker) is a series that discovers how, when a murder is committed, it’s always a race against time to find the truth, and Against All Odds (Autentic Distribution) tells a modern-day story of David and Goliath: how the world expected Ukraine to fall within 72 hours of the Russian offensive but, in defiance, stopped Russia’s blitzkrieg in its tracks.
Continuing the military theme, Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test (Banijay Rights) is an all-new series in which household names endure some of the harshest, most gruelling challenges from the playbook of the actual Special Forces selection process. Next up, Most Expensivest (Vice Media) sees rapper 2 Chainz “seeking out the Most Expensivest collections and meeting the big ballers who stack racks on insanely specific passions,” according to the producers.
Moving into entertainment, a Japanese gameshow format is in the mix this month. Coming Bingo (TV Tokyo Corporation) is not just a normal bingo game but one in which two teams compete and the numbers are based on a questionnaire of 25 people.
Rounding out the playlist are a number of shows for children. Best in the World (GWR Studios) is a kids’ programme showcasing some of the best records and featuring some fun play-along games; and Mini Mind Warriors (Bomanbridge Media) turns the troubles that humans face every day into little monsters, playing tricks and toying with our minds.
For toon buyers, we have Super Sema (Cake), described as “the world’s first-to-launch African animated kids’ superhero franchise, exec produced and starring Oscar-winning actor Lupita Nyong’o,” while Pet Hotel (Tencent Video) is a unique and innovative cartoon comedy appealing to children and grown-ups alike, following the Pet Hotel crew and their special customers.
Last but not least, Kangaroo Beach (Australian Children’s Television Foundation) follows four young animal friends as they spend an action-packed summer at the spectacular Kangaroo Beach, training as junior cadets with their lifeguard heroes.
That’s all for February, stay tuned for more Hot Properties next month!
