News

Wild Bunch TV’s “Arcadia,” a high-concept sci-fi thriller series, will return for a second season across 17 territories.

The series, produced by Banijay Entertainment’s Belgian banner Jonnydepony, is set in a near-future, in a society where citizens’ rights and entitlements are determined by their scores.

“Arcadia” follows a “family of hardworking people with a high score and a good life, that is, until the authoritarian regime discovers father, Pieter, tricked the algorithm and manipulated the score of one of his daughters. As a result, he is deported outside Arcadia and the scores of the family members are lowered, changing their lives for good,” the synopsis reads.

“Arcadia” was penned by Bas Adriaensen (“Blackout”), Zita Theunynck and Philippe De Schepper, who is also showrunner. Belgian director Joël Vanhoebrouck, whose credits include “Homegrown,” “Blackout” and “The Infiltrator,” will direct Season 2, taking over from Dutch director Tim Oliehoek who helmed season one.

Banijay Benelux’s Belgian banner Jonnydepony has set rising star Willem De Schryver from Netflix’s YA hit show” High Tides” (“Knokke Off”) for the title role of “I Was a Cop in the 80s,” ordered by Amazon Prime Netherlands and Flemish streamer Streamz.

The period crime drama in development will be pitched by seasoned showrunner Philippe De Schepper, co-writer Bas Adriaensen and producer Helen Perquy (“Tabula Rasa”) as part of a Focus on Flanders at Göteborg’s forthcoming TV Drama Vision (Jan. 30-31). Wim Geudens is directing.

Perquy said that with their new premium show, De Schepper and Adriaensen were keen to depict via a character-driven story, the world of the gendarmerie [Belgium’s former paramilitary police force] in the turbulent 1980s, when the country was shaken by criminal gangs, such as the notorious ‘Brabant Killers’. The gendarmerie’s slack law enforcement measures against the gang behind 28 killings, prompted theories that the military-based police force...

International production giant Banijay continues to gobble up independent production companies, on Thursday unveiling that it has taken a majority stake in jonnydepony, a boutique TV outfit in Belgium.

Banijay Benelux, which produces such local series as hit soap opera Familie, will fold jonnydepony into its scripted operations.

Set up by Philippe De Schepper in 2015, jonnydepony specializes in high-end drama series, often set up as European co-productions. Recent successes include Finnish-Belgian crime series Transport from Finnish showrunner Auli Mantila, which looks at the underground world of illegal horse smuggling; and the terrorist thriller Blackout, which imagines an attack on a nuclear power plant that plunges all of Belgium into darkness.

Upcoming projects include the high-concept drama Arcadia, a co-production with Dutch TV group Big Blue, which is set in a near-future world where one’s social status is determined by an algorithmic Citizen Score designed to ensure social compliance.

Helen Perquy,...

Recent international series include ’Black-out,’ ’Transport’ and ‘Arcadia’

Banijay Benelux has taken a majority stake in Belgian scripted production company, jonnydepony.

Jonnydepony specialises in high-end international drama co-productions such as crime thriller Black-out, which was distributed to eight countries, thriller Transport which played in international competition at Series Mania, and dystopian drama Arcadia, soon air on Vrt, Kro-ncrv and Wdr/Swr.

The company is led by Helen Perquy and Philippe De Schepper.

Banijay Benelux is home to several creative content producers – EndemolShine Nederland, SimpelZodiak, Nl Film, Tvbv, Scenery, EndemolShine Scripted, Southfields, Topkapi, Posh Productions, jonnydepony and Banijay Belgium.

It is part of production giant Banijay,...

Recent international series include ’Black-out,’ ’Transport’ and ‘Arcadia’

Banijay Benelux has taken a majority stake in Belgian scripted production company, jonnydepony.

Jonnydepony specialises in high-end international drama co-productions such as crime thriller Black-out, which was distributed to eight countries, thriller Transport which played in international competition at Series Mania, and dystopian drama Arcadia, soon air on Vrt, Kro-ncrv and Wdr/Swr.

The company is led by Helen Perquy and Philippe De Schepper.

Banijay Benelux is home to several creative content producers – EndemolShine Nederland, SimpelZodiak, Nl Film, Tvbv, Scenery, EndemolShine Scripted, Southfields, Topkapi, Posh Productions, jonnydepony and Banijay Belgium.

It is part of production giant Banijay,...

Banijay Benelux has acquired a majority stake in the Belgian production company, jonnydepony as it seeks to expand its footprint in the scripted space.

Jonnydepony will sit alongside Banijay Belgium, which is behind the successful soap opera, “Familie.” Founded in 2015 by Philippe De Schepper, jonnydepony is an independent production label whose credits include premium series such as “Black-out,” as well as “Transport” which was selected for Series Mania, and “Arcadia,” which will soon premiere on Vrt, among other channels. The company is headed by Helen Perquy and De Schepper, who are both CEO’s and producers.

The acquisition underscores Banijay’s ambition to broaden its drama portfolio and content pipeline. “Jonnydepony has built up a brilliant reputation in Belgium, but also in the Netherlands and Germany, under the leadership of Helen and Philippe,” said Peter Lubbers, CEO Banijay Benelux. “A unique duo with an extremely creative and successful signature, the...

Distributors reported brisk business at the annual TV market.

Mipcom returned in full strength this week after a three-year hiatus, with sellers reporting packed diaries and brisk business at the TV market.

Some 3100 buyers attended this year, with the biggest numbers coming from the US, followed by the UK, France, Germany and Spain. They included global and regional streamers, AVOD platforms and broadcast channels from around the world.

Here is a round-up of some of the key scripted deals and company acquisitions announced at Mipcom this week:

All3Media International pre-sold Drama Republic’s new murder mystery period drama, The Confessions...

Distributors reported brisk business at the annual TV market.

Mipcom returned in full strength this week after a three-year hiatus, with sellers reporting packed diaries and brisk business at the TV market.

Some 3100 buyers attended this year, with the biggest numbers coming from the US, followed by the UK, France, Germany and Spain. They included global and regional streamers, AVOD platforms and broadcast channels from around the world.

Here is a round-up of some of the key scripted deals and company acquisitions announced at Mipcom this week:

All3Media International pre-sold Drama Republic’s new murder mystery period drama, The Confessions...

Wild Bunch TV has boarded high-concept sci-fi thriller series, “Arcadia” from Belgian production shingle, jonnydepony.

Created by Philippe De Schepper and Bas Adriaensen, “Arcadia” refers to a post-global catastrophe society where its citizens’ rights and entitlements are determined by their scores. Life is good as long as you remain “healthy, focused and efficient.”

Four sisters, Luz, Milly, Alex and Hanna, retain top scores except for Luz. Their father, anxious to save Luz from being expelled to the Outer World, alters her scores but is caught. He is banished from Arcadia and the entire family is placed under surveillance, their scores slashed. The question now is whether they can get their old lives back.

De Schepper was the showrunner-writer for 10-part Flemish-language thriller series “Blackout,” set in Belgium where an act of sabotage plunges the country into darkness. The female prime minister receives an ominous missive: Turn the power back on and your daughter will perish.

“You’re a horse person?” a Belgian stable owner asks Johanna, a young Finnish journalist delving into the discovery of a microchip in a baby’s meat patty at a Helsinki daycare center. Only creator-director Auli Mantila’s own horse affiliations as a qualified farrier may explain in part one of the most singular of entries at this year’s Nordisk Film & TV Fond Prize: “Transport.”

This is Scandinavian crime drama, but “ordi-noir,” Mantila told the Nordisk Film & TV Fond newsletter, in that it “happens in broad daylight, involves people with no special talent or trauma, and takes place in locations anyone could just walk in.”

It also addresses a massive but little explored subject, turning on pan-European food fraud which embroils three women: Marianne, a by-the-book bank loans exec forced to money launder earnings of a sinister food import company; an insurance investigator checking the disappearance of a...

The Berlin Festival’s Finnish Shooting Star 2015 Emmi Parviainen (“Shadow Lines”), seasoned actor Maria Heiskanen (“Everlasting Moments”), Pirkko Hämäläinen (“Devil’s Bride”) and Belgian actor Geert van Rampelberg (“De Infiltrant”) are headlining the eight-part TV show “Transport.” Prix Europa winner Auli Mantila will serve as its showrunner.

Lensing the show is veteran DoP J-p Passi, multi-awarded for the film “The Happiest Day in the Life of Olly Mäki” and second unit DoP on “Chernobyl.”

Veteran producer Miia Haavisto (“Tom of Finland”) and Tia Talli (“Nurses”) of Tekele are producing for Finnish pubcaster Yle. Belgium’s Philippe de Schepper (“Black-Out”) and Jonnydepony’S Helen Perquy, an executive producer on “Tabula Rasa,” are co-producing. Nordic global distributor REinvent Studios picked up the show in February.

Producer Haavisto said “Transport” stands out as a crime drama set in the food trade. “It’s the tale of ordinary people under immense pressure, all of...

Finland’s Auli Mantila writes and directs.

Rikke Ennis’ REinvent Studios has boarded sales for suspense drama Transport, as Berlinale Series Market wraps up today (Feb 26).

Finland’s Auli Mantila writes and directs. Producers are Miia Haavisto and Tia Talli, of Finland’s Tekele Productions. Haavisto is a seasoned producer who has also worked on films including Miami, Tom Of Finland and Unknown Soldier. Co-producers are Helen Perquy and Philippe de Schepper of Belgium’s jonnydepony.

The 8 x 50’ series will start shooting in September, in Finnish and English. It explores money laundering and food fraud across Europe, particularly involving horse transport,...

“Philharmonia,” a French thriller series set in the world of a national orchestra, has been acquired in English-speaking territories from Lagardere Studios Distribution.

“Philharmonia,” which was created and co-written by Marine Gacem, has been acquired by First Look Media’s Topic for Svod rights in the U.S., and Walter Presents for the U.K. and Australia.

“Philharmonia” was commissioned by French public broadcaster France Televisions and proved a ratings success on the channel France 2. Produced by Merlins Productions, the show follows the private and professional life of a famous orchestra conductor who returns to Paris to take the helm of the Philharmonia after a 20-year break and faces her old demons.

The series stars Marie-Sophie Ferdane, Lina El Arabi and Tomer Sisley. The show was directed by Louis Choquette, who previously directed episodes of “Versailles” and is currently shooting “Mirage.” Lagardère Studios Distribution represents “Philharmonia” in international markets and...

The Ace Series Special is running Nov 4-9 in Brussels.

European producers organisation Ace Producers has unveiled the selection of sixteen producers who will participate in its inaugural TV drama-focused initiative, the Ace Series Special, running Nov 4-9 in Brussels.

The programme is aimed at experienced producers who want to create a series division within their film companies and, or deepen their knowledge of developing and producing TV drama series for an international audience. Each participant will attend with a series project in the early stages of development

They include Belgium’s Bart Van Langendonck at Savage Film, who will...

The first season of ‘Beau Sejour’ was shown on Netflix and set in a hotel.

A host of new Flemish TV series, at script stage and in production, were pitched today at Connext, the Flanders Image industry event in Ghent.

Flemish TV is having a moment thanks to the international success of shows like Tabula Rasa and 13 Commandments. International companies attending Connext to scout new series this year included Netflix, Attraction Distribution, Dynamic Television, Global Screen, Global Series Network, Just Film, Serie Series, Series Mania, Wild Bunch TV and Zdf.

Some of the top pitches were A Good Year,...