Hot Properties September 2023
The fall season is about to kick off, and with major industry events like Mipcom and MipJunior on the horizon, the playlist for C21’s Digital Screenings is getting bigger and encompassing more new titles for buyers to screen.
This month’s Hot Properties playlist leads with children’s programming, with MipJunior just around the corner. The slate includes six new titles aimed at kids, hailing from Australia, the UK, Germany and elsewhere.
Crazy Fun Park (Australian Children’s Television Foundation) centres on a shy teen who wants desperately to fit in ¬– if only his dead best friend and a group of rotting ghouls would stop sabotaging him at every turn – while Tobie Lolness (ZDF Studios) follows a kids who is just one-and-a-half millimetres tall and is the most wanted person in his world.
Ready Eddie Go (Aardman Animations) offers bitesize ‘how to’ guides for an array of life scenarios, with plenty of playful cutaways and fun set pieces along the way, and Beadies (The Media Pioneers) features Coco the Hen, Cheep, Wolfy, Foxtail, Meowser and Hoppy exploring the Beadies’ magical album.
Coop Troop (Sixteen South) follows an unlikely bunch of heroes on high-action missions to help any animal with a problem, while Toru Superfox(Cake) is an adventure-packed preschool series that helps children to understand, identify and deal with their feelings.
For older audiences, the September playlist also includes six drama series from all corners of the world. Underdogs ¬– In the Fields of Murder (Bavaria Media International) is a German drama that “untangles deep psychological knots through unexpected turns of human darkness, all while struggling to solve the next bizarre murder,” according to the producers.
From France comes Conviction (StudioCanal), a compelling new returning drama with a strong, modern and endearing female lead torn between two worlds, while Mrs Sidhu Investigates (AMC Studios) is based on the popular BBC radio series of the same name and follows a caterer who teams with a world-weary detective to solve crimes in rural England.
End of Summer (Viaplay Group), meanwhile, is a psychological Nordic thriller set in southern Sweden in the late 1990s after the disappearance of a five-year-old boy, while Avalanche (Kansai TV) is a Japanese series in which a team of outlaws confronts tyranny and abuse of power.
Animated sitcom Grimsburg (Fox Entertainment Global) is also on the playlist, centring on a man who may be the greatest detective ever, but there’s one mystery he still can’t crack: his family. Rounding out the drama slate is Domina S2 (Banijay Rights), continuing the epic, sweeping drama series taking place during one of the most provocative periods in Roman history.
For buyers seeking unscripted entertainment formats, we have a handful of new properties to look at. Guinness World Records: Gone Viral (GWR Studios) is a sports-inspired series featuring amazing sporting and fitness feats, while Who is the Real Celebrity? (ABC Japan) is Japan’s top-rated primetime celebrity showdown, in which the rich and famous undertake blind testing to see if they can tell what’s of top-notch quality from what’s second-rate.
So You Think You Can Dance (Sony Pictures Television Formats) is from the creators of American Idol and has been a success around the world, and Claim to Fame (Red Arrow Studios International) is a fun and intriguing new primetime entertainment format in which 12 ordinary people with famous relatives are challenged to keep their identities a secret.
Hidden Frontiers Arabia with Reza Pakravan (Cineflix Rights) follows the award-winning explorer and filmmaker into uncharted and often dangerous territory to unlock the secrets of the mighty Arabian peninsula. Continuing the factual trend, Game of Leopard Thrones (Off the Fence) follows a leopard family of the Sabi Sands of South Africa after its matriarch dies.
Meanwhile, Maastricht – The Treaty that Changed Europe (Autentic Distribution) marks the 30th anniversary of the Maastricht Treaty, which laid the foundation for the EU as we know it today; and The Playboy Bunny Murders (Blue Ant International) follows journalist and filmmaker Marcel Theroux’s hunt to solve a series of brutal killings that shocked Britain in the 1970s.
Rounding out the factual slate this month is The Great Songwriters S4 (DCD Rights), in which another set of legendary songwriters discuss their creative processes and the inspirations behind their work.
That’s all for September, stay tuned for more Hot Properties next month!
