Welcome back, Insiders. Jesse Whittock with you this week as we report from SXSW, Cologne and further afield. Read on, and don’t forget to sign up for the newsletter.
SXSW Debuts In London
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London calling: This week Deadline donned its blazer, t-shirt and specs (and inevitably, an umbrella) for the inaugural SXSW South London, which took place in trendy Shoreditch. The town was abuzz with people and the lineup boasted an impressive bevvy of names ranging from London mayor Sadiq Khan, who kicked off the week by reopening old Donald Trump-shaped wounds, to Idris Elba, to the CEO of OnlyFans. There was even a right royal visit, with King Charles III rocking up to chat with John Lennon’s son Julian and Yellowstone star Mo Brings Plenty, of all people. We were right in the mix to hear Banijay boss Marco Bassetti address ongoing speculation about the company’s interest in acquiring ITV and Working Title exec Surian Fletcher-Jones reveal the storied indie is working on an adaptation of A Passage to India that will “reclaim colonial history” with the BBC. Another illuminating session saw a group of top UK agents come together to debate, well, their very existence. “The vast majority of talent today do not need management,” said Sidemen rep Jordan Schwarzenberger, refusing to mince his words. Plenty to chew through for you there, but that’s not all from the Deadline team at SXSW London this week. Tomorrow (June 7), we’ll be bringing our ultra-popular Sound & Screen live event to the UK for the first time at Shoreditch Church. A celebration of the music that brings films and TV shows to life, it will feature Deadline journalists sitting down with the likes of Natalie Holt (Chad Powers), Tom Howe (Shrinking and Dog Man), Nainita Desai (Love & Rage: Munroe Bergdorf and Secrets of the Penguin) Anne Dudley (Jeeves and Wooster and The Penguin) and Alex Seaver (Arcane), and an Abbey Road tribute. The culmination will see Dudley – whose credits include The Crying Game, The Full Monty and Signora Volpe and has won Oscars, Ivor Novellos, Grammys and Brits throughout a stellar career – receiving the first-ever Sound & Screen Impact Award. Sounds like the mood music we all need right now. Read our full SXSW London coverage here.
This One Time, At Seriencamp
Awards and evacuations: While most of the team were zooming around East London on the coat tails of King Charles III, Stewart and I headed across the water to Cologne in Germany for the annual Seriencamp TV industry conference and festival. We were expecting the usual mix of German’s top producers, writers and actors, and while we certainly got that, what we had not planned for was getting caught up in the largest evacuation in the city since World War II. The discovery of three huge, unexploded bombs dropped by the U.S. airforce during the conflict led to 20,500 people being moved out of the blast radius to safety as bomb disposal experts dove in. It could hardly have come during a more pivotal week in industry terms, with Seriencamp, tech TV event ANGA COM and a Prime Video Presents showcase all running. The most important thing to report is the bombs were successfully removed and no-one was hurt, but the activity created a surreal atmosphere as execs, journalists and others contemplated how to leave the city with all three major bridges blocked. At Seriencamp, we handed out the annual Deadline German TV Disruptor Award to How to Sell Drugs Online (Fast) co-creator Philipp Käßbohrer from Cologne’s own bildundtonfabrik production house. Here’s a video of his on-stage talk with Stewart. Elsewhere, I hosted a panel on the fractious relationship between producers and creatives, and an interview with Banijay Entertainment’s Johannes Jensen, while Stewart got the lowdown from Europe’s increasingly emboldened public broadcasters. All Seriencamp coverage is here.
Cybercrime Exposed
Scamdal: Scammers are constantly thinking up smart new ways to trick the public into parting ways with their cash, but this one is new on me. Max revealed Wednesday that a person pretending to be British film producer Charlotte Walls and another unnamed industry figure had been reported to the FBI after attempting to fleece up-and-coming writers. The sophisticated scam involved contacting victims via the Stage 32 platform asking them to submit ideas, sign an NDA and then pay between £2,000 and £2,500 ($2,700 and $3,400) as a “refundable facilitation fee.” Around 100 people were approached by the scammer, whose name, bank details and bank address we and writer Anette Martinsen linked to a person called Agnieszka Falkowska. The situation was then reported to the UK’s Action Fraud, while Stage 32 contacted the FBI. It’s a fascinating (and slightly terrifying) story, and a warning to remain vigilant. As Ellie Peers, General Secretary of the Writers Guild of Great Britain, told Max: “If writers are asked to pay someone for something that they should themselves be paid for, that is always a red flag.”
Iceland Fired Up
A song of ice and desire: These days, everyone wants to attract productions to their shores. Iceland, the small Nordic country nestled way out in the Atlantic Ocean, has a head start on most. Many TV shows and films have been made there thanks to highly-developed production that began being built back in the mid 1980s for Hollywood movies such as James Bond title A View to a Kill, a car commercial production business and, more recently, a tax incentive scheme. However, it’s only really in the past decade that Iceland’s creatives began writing their own ambitious scripts. With a flurry of series in development, our dive deep examined how the nation’s original production sector is outsizing its growth. Among those we spoke with were Severance and Trapped star Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, who was in Cologne at Seriencamp this week before he and Hörður Rúnarsson presented the premiere of their new series, Reykjavik Fusion, on Wednesday night. Read the feature here.
Japan’s Secret Investor
Yoshihiro complex: Many of you won’t know much about Yoshihiro Shimamura, but Sara Merican’s exclusive interview with the wealthy Japanese investor explains in detail why you should. The man who once went purely by ‘Yoshi’ in various movie production credits has been building a slate of film investments and taken stakes in Japanese TV networks TV Tokyo and Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdings. Shimamura believes Japan’s entertainment biz is run by a “closed” group of people in charge of the top talent agencies, major production companies and festivals, and is advocating – and enacting – change from within. In his mind, everything goes back to trust – in the films and stations he finances and the people with whom he does his business, as he told Sara: “In the Japanese countryside, many people still leave the doors to their homes unlocked. They trust each other and the community works well together. My motto is quite similar.”
The Essentials
🌶️ Hot One: The UK’s Channel 4 denies using NDAs to silence former staff, but Jake’s exposé reveals there’s more to the story.
🌶️ Another One: Dougray Scott, Keith Allen and Adolescence breakout Amari Bacchus were cast in BBC Drama Crookhaven.
🔥 A third: Breaking Baz was first with the news Outlander’s Sam Heughan will play Macbeth in his debut with the Royal Shakespeare Company.
⬆️ Stepping up: Former Paramount TV Studios boss Nicole Clemens will lead international originals at Prime Video and Amazon MGM Studios, effectively replacing the departed James Farrell.
⬇️ Stepping down: Scripted chief Ollie Madden is leaving Channel 4 to join Netflix as Director of UK Film, while C4’s strategy boss Khalid Hayat is also exiting.
⛺ Fest: Mel had this scene-setter for next week’s Annecy International Animation Festival.
🚨 Crime: Midas Man producer Kevin Proctor pleaded not guilty to stalking an actress.
🎟️ Upfronts: The Canadian Upfronts were held this week, with Bell Media, Corus and CBC following a debuting Amazon.
🐨 Aussie, Aussie, Aussie: Richard Gadd, Sally Wainwright and Soo Hugh will appear at the second Future Vision global TV exchange in Melbourne, Australia.
🌍 Globie: Nigerian film ’77: The Festac Conspiracy was our latest Global Breakout.
✍️ Signed: Australian studio Cosmic Dino, which is working on the Bluey movie, put pen to paper on rep deals with UTA and Fourth Wall.
Max Goldbart contributed to this week’s International Insider. It was written by Jesse Whittock and edited by Max Goldbart.
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