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GLOBAL SCREEN SELLS KEY DRAMA SERIES TO CHANNEL 4
Oct 26th, 2023
Munich, 26 October – Leading European distributor Global Screen, a TELEPOOL brand, has sold three major drama series to the UK’s Walter Presents partnered with Channel 4. Premium series Hostage, The Palace and The New Front will be available in the UK later this year.
Hostage and The Palace will also be exclusively available in the United States of America and Canada.
A six-part thriller set in the long shadow of the “War on Terror”, Hostage, is a nail-biting study of people imprisoned by their pasts. The Swedish thriller is by Karin Fahlén and produced by Kärnfilm AB. Lavish period drama The Palace is written by Rodica Doehnert, directed by Uli Edel (“The Baader Meinhof Complex”) and stars Svenja Jung (“Deutschland 89”), Daniel Donskoy (“Victoria”, “The Crown”) and Heino Ferch (“Ku’Damm”, “Downfall”). The 6 x 45’ series is produced by Constantin Television for ZDF. The New Front by Isa Prahl is a crime thriller produced by Gaumont Germany for ZDF. The 6 x 45’ mini-series stars Emma Bading (“Play”), Jannik Schümann (“Charité”), Devid Striesow (“Dignity”, “8 Days”) and Jeanette Hain (“Babylon Berlin”).
Klaus Rasmussen, Co-Head Acquisitions and Sales (Theatrical) at Global Screen comments, “We are delighted to see three of our high-end drama series heading to the US and the UK. The New Front and Hostage are real edge-of-your-seat thrillers and The Palace, set against the backdrop of Berlin’s great review theatre in a divided Germany, is a moving, exhilarating and life-affirming story. We are certain these incredible series will have strong appeal to viewers.”
Walter Iuzzolino, Chief Executive Officer at Walter Presents says, “We are delighted to be continuing our relationship with Global screen and I’m sure our audiences will love these three exceptional series.”
Hostage – When a Nordic Airlines flight to the USA is hijacked by remote control, a team of Swedish investigators must race against time to unveil the identity of the mysterious hijackers before they either bring down the plane themselves or it gets shot out of the sky by the US military. At the heart of it all is Said Kehlifi – a Syrian academic imprisoned controversially while giving a lecture in Sweden, whose case Fredrika has been working on. Is Kehlifi the mastermind behind the hijacking, and if so by what means? As the plane hurtles towards disaster, who is controlling who?
Originally entitled, Westwall, The New Front follows a young police officer who falls in love with a secretive young man and ends up entangled in a right-wing extremist conspiracy. When Julia, a young trainee police officer, meets secretive stranger Nick, she finds herself falling for him almost instantly. But after their first night together, she is shocked to see that Nick has a huge swastika tattoo on his back. Despite all the advice to forget the guy immediately, she decides to investigate the right-wing extremist scene for herself. Following a trail deep into the forests of the Eifel mountains to the abandoned bunkers of Hitler’s Siegfried Line, Julia finds the hideout of a terrorist, revealing a connection she never could have imaged.
The Palace – East Berlin, 1988. To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Republic, an extravagant birthday show is undergoing rehearsals at the Friedrichstadt-Palast. During these exciting hours, young dancer Christine suddenly comes face to face with her doppelganger: Marlene, a businesswoman from West Germany seated in the audience, who happens to be Christine’s twin sister she knew nothing about. In this fateful moment, two worlds, which could not be more different, suddenly collide. To find out about their respective lives in the East and the West, the two sisters swap places, taking enormous risks and pushing their emotions to the limit yet still having great fun in this adventure of a lifetime …
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Stefanie Kusseler (kusseler@telepool.de +49 89 55 876 291)
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About Global Screen
Global Screen is the worldwide distribution arm of TELEPOOL, a leading film and TV distribution and production group with more than 50 years’ experience. Global Screen distributes premium feature films and TV series to theaters, global and local streaming platforms, TV channels, festivals, and distributors all around the world.
Global Screen credits include the big budget spy drama production “DAVOS 1917” as well as literary adaptations of Ken Follet’s “Dangerous Fortune” and the Brothers Grimm “Finest Fairy Tales”. Current highlights include the gripping thriller series “AURIS” and “Seaside Crimes”, premium family entertainment series “3Hz” and ratings hits “The Palace” and “The Conference” – both from Constantin Television. “The Conference” as well as “Amazing Maurice” have been sold in more than 150 territories.
About TELEPOOL
TELEPOOL is a leading global content group focused on the development, production, licensing and distribution of premium feature films and TV product. With its subsidiary brands and entities, Global Screen and EuroVideo Medien GmbH, TELEPOOL conducts business activities across domestic and international distribution, global development and co-productions, domestic home entertainment and client media services. TELEPOOL is headquartered in Munich and has offices in Zurich.
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About Westbrook Inc.
Launched in 2019 by founders Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Miguel Melendez, and Ko Yada, Westbrook is a media company that empowers artists to tell stories that connect the world. Westbrook houses Westbrook Studios, the premium film and television studio; Westbrook Media, a vertically integrated IP incubator, brand content studio and production company; Red Table Talk Productions, maker of the hit Facebook Watch shows “Red Table Talk” and “Red Table Talk: The Estefans”; newly launched Westbrook International Holdings and Good Goods, which creates unique consumer products around the company’s IP and talent partners. By leveraging the Smith Family’s deep experience in entertainment and media, Westbrook curates and produces content – from short and mid-form digital to traditional television and motion pictures – for all major platforms.
About Walter Presents
Walter Presents launched January 2016 in the U.K. as a video-on-demand service, founded by Jason Thorp, Walter Iuzzolino and Jo McGrath. Dedicated to showcasing award-winning foreign language drama, the service is named after its curator, Walter Iuzzolino, a passionate drama fan. In March 2017, Walter Presents launched as an SVOD platform in the U.S., with the New York Times hailing it as a “chic TV boutique with a foreign accent.” Walter Presents launched in Italy September 2018, its first roll-out in mainland Europe, on Discovery’s Nove, Giallo and Dplay channels. In October 2018 Walter Presents partnered with PBS Distribution in the US, to make premium foreign language drama available on PBS Masterpiece on the Amazon Prime Video channel. Additionally, select top-tier titles chosen by PBS are also broadcast on PBS stations and streaming on PBS Passport, a digital member benefit available through local stations. In February 2019 Walter Presents increased its US distribution further launching on Comcast Xfinity X1 and later in June Walter Presents launched on the Roku Channel. In 2019 Walter Presents teamed up with Medialaan to make the service available to Flemish audiences on their newly launched digital channel StreamZ, and also joined forces with S4C to make its dramas available in Welsh. In 2020 we partnered with TVNZ on their VOD service, launched Walter Presents in Russia exclusively on Start, Russia’s fastest-growing SVOD platform, and launched our channel on PBS Masterpiece in Canada. In 2021 Walter Presents partnered with Australia’s largest streaming service, Stan, and launched in Latin America with market leader DMD’s streaming service Cindie. From 2022 we will be available on C More in Scandinavia with over 500 hours of content.
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