As we head into summer, the headlines look set to be dominated by issues of racial inequality and whether there will be further waves of Covid-19 and more lockdowns. And with producers around the world taking tentative steps towards resuming production, the big question for the industry is whether there’ll be another freeze.
For those in the TV sector, this means topical readymade programming is in high demand. This is reflected in some of the content selected to appear in July’s Hot Properties playlist on C21 Digital Screenings, which unearths hot new programmes from the world’s leading distributors that can refresh schedules and platforms worldwide.
Certainly ticking the topicality box is Black Lives, a 10-part documentary series about today’s African American community more than 50 years on from the Civil Rights movement. It is produced by RT Documentary and distributed by Germany’s Ruptly. The show made it to the Best Documentary Series shortlist for the Grierson Awards in 2019.
Another show looking into the issue of racism is The School That Tried to End Racism from Banijay Rights. This series explores a ground-breaking school programme that tests for unconscious racial bias in an ordinary class of 11- to 12-year-old pupils. Based on a pioneering US scheme and led by leading multicultural education academics and scientists, it sees pupil take part in games, exercises and activities, both in and out of the classroom, challenging everything they thought they knew about race. The show aired on Channel 4 in the UK last month.
More hard-hitting factual comes with Secret Wars Uncovered (10×60’), from Passion Distribution. Promising to reveal the “shocking facts behind battles that have been hidden from the wider world,” the CIC Media production explores international conflicts “fought for dubious political intent or for outright illegal motives.” UK pay channel Sky History debuted the show last month.
Also on the factual front, and again topical, given the focus on frontline health workers during the pandemic, is A+E: After Hours from NENT Studios UK. The 6×60’ series is from Crackit Productions for Channel 5 and offers an uncensored picture of what it’s like working the night shift of A&E departments across the UK. According to the distributor, it’s “not for the faint-hearted.”
Factual entertainment format 10 Years Younger is also on the list, having been revamped for its new outing on Channel 5 as 10 Years Younger in 10 Days. “Updated for 2020, each episode follows two contributors who are desperate to turn back the ageing clock but have no idea how to do it,” say the show’s producers. The programme comes from All3Media’s Maverick TV and is distributed by All3Media International.
Canadian factual series High Arctic Haulers is also worth a look. The show follows the annual sealift that supplies the isolated communities in Canada’s Arctic Archipelago, and is distributed by Beyond Distribution. Vancouver-based Great Pacific Media produced the seven-part show for the CBC, on which it debuted in January.
Rounding out the factual slate on this month’s playlist is Court Cam from A+E Networks. The show, which airs stateside on cable network A&E, follows host Dan Abrams as he gives viewers a front-row seat to America’s most dramatic courtroom moments. The half-hour show, made by Law & Crime Productions, debuted in 2019 and has been renewed for a second run.
For format buyers, this month we are highlighting Japanese gameshow Mute It! from Nippon TV, the creator of Silent Library. Following a similar theme, Mute It! has a simple rule: don’t make a sound. The game becomes even harder when the contestants need to keep moving, avoiding obstacles and hazards in silence as they clear the missions.
On the scripted side, the July playlist incudes epic Turkish historical drama The Ottoman, from ATV. Starring local celebrity Burak Özçivit, it centres on Osman the First, the father of the Ottoman Empire.
More historical drama comes in the shape of Freud, distributed by ZDF Enterprises. From Bavaria Fiction, the producer of A Fortunate Man, Das Boot and 4 Blocks, Freud is described as “a modern crime thriller” that follows revolutionary psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud in his younger years as he investigates gruesome murders. The eight-part series aired on ORF and Netflix.
Between Two Worlds, from eOne, is described as “an intense, high-concept melodrama about two very different worlds, thrown together by death and a sacrifice in one and the chance for new life in the other.” Written by Bevan Lee (A Place to Call Home) and starring Hermione Norris (Luther), the 10-parter was made by Seven Studios for Seven Network in Australia.
The Commons, meanwhile, is an Australian drama series from OTT service Stan about climate change and biotechnology. Set in a familiar future, the eight-parter is produced by Playmaker Media and distributed by Sony Pictures Television. It debuted on the Aussie streamer last December.
From ITV Studios comes Little Birds, a Sky Atlantic series inspired by Anaïs Nin’s short stories. This drama is set in Morocco in 1955 and is about two very different women whose lives – and those of their lovers – become dangerously entangled in Tangier’s ‘International Zone.’ The Warp Films show “delivers a distinctly modern tale of freedom and feminism,” according to distributor ITV Studios Global Entertainment.
For buyers looking for kids’ content, this month’s playlist includes CGI series Treasure Trekkers from Cake and the second season of Little J & Big Cuz from the Australian Children’s Television Fund. The first is a toon that follows the intrepid adventures of three heroic mouse-sized adventurers, while the second is about a couple of Indigenous Australian kids living with their Nanna and Old Dog and airs on NITV and ABC Kids in Australia.
Enjoy the Hot Properties playlist for July 2020!
Contact Hayley Salt to feature in next month’s Hot Properties Playlist.
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