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Sony Pictures Television and Movistar Plus+ have agreed to work together on a lot of material, which means that in 2025, Spanish viewers will be able to watch five new TV shows and six independent films.

The deal intentionally expands Movistar Plus+’s programming schedule, now including various popular shows from different styles. At the heart of the deal are five TV shows that promise to keep fans interested with great stories and big stars.

The first show is “Doc,” a medical drama with Molly Parker as Dr. Amy Elias, a doctor rebuilding her life after losing her memories for eight years. Based on an Italian show, the show will be shown for the first time in other countries in January.

Another great movie is “Dope Girls,” a crime story set in the past made by Bad Wolf Studios. The show, which stars Julianne Nicholson, is about a single mother in...

Exclusive: Spain’s Movistar Plus+ has gone shopping at Sony Pictures Television.

The streamer has acquired medical drama Doc, British crime drama Dope Girls, police thriller Long Bright River, the Jacob Elordi-starring Narrow Road to the Deep North and Outlander prequel Outlander: Blood of My Blood.

Each show will premiere in Spain in 2025, with launch date due to be announced in due course. They were all introduced to buyers at May’s LA Screenings, where they began to create buzz.

Given this deal also includes library film titles, it something of a throwback to the former days of output deals — albeit in a 2024 manner. As such, Movistar Plus+ will premiere six features from the Sony Pictures library, namely Sundance title I Saw the TV Glow; Diana O. Pusić’s Julia Louis-Dreyfuss debut Tuesday; Saoirse Ronan film The Outrun; Daddio, starring Dakota Johnson and Sean Penn; Nathan Silver’s Between the Temples; and Summer Camp,...

Production is now under way in New Zealand on “Marama,” a gothic horror film from Māori writer-director Taratoa Stappard. Production is taking place around Auckland on New Zealand’s North Island and in the South Island’s Otago region.

Set in North Yorkshire, England, in 1859, “Marama” is the story of a young Māori woman’s fight to reclaim her identity and indigenous culture in Victorian-era Britain. The film title comes from the woman’s name.

The film features Māori actor Ariana Osborne in the lead role, alongside British actor Toby Stephens who has recently wrapped principal photography on the project.

The cast also stars Umi Myers (“Bob Marley: One Love,” “Dope Girls”) along with New Zealanders Erroll Shand and Jordan Mooney.

“Marama” is produced by Sharlene George, co-ceo and founding partner of production company The Sweetshop.

The film’s other producers are Rickylee Russell-Waipuka, Rouzie Hassanova with Paraone Gloyne as Pou Tiaki Reo & Tikanga (M?...

‘Fool Me Once’ Producer Quay Street Lands Next Project For BBC

Fool Me Once producer Quay Street Productions has landed a BBC thriller series starring Eve Myles and Gabrielle Creevy. The Guest comes from Matthew Barry, who was also behind Quay Street’s Russell Davies-produced Men Up drama for the Beeb. The Guest centers on the toxic and beguiling relationship between a successful business owner, Fran, and her employee, Ria. Ria has never had the time or opportunity to think about what she might actually want from the world. So, when she starts cleaning for Fran, she’s intoxicated by this confident and self-assured woman who encourages her to take control of her life, but soon a manipulative cat-and-mouse game emerges. Myles leads BBC hit drama Keeping Faith, while Gabrielle Creevy will soon star in Sky’s high-profile Mozart series Amadeus as the musical genius’s wife. The Guest...

The trailer for Caddo Lake, produced by M. Night Shyamalan, promises a dark mystery led by Dylan O'Brien and Eliza Scanlen. It's a busy time for the singular Shyamalan, who is coming off his latest buzzy thriller Trap starring Josh Hartnett. He also produced the moody horror drama The Watchers, directed by his daughter Ishana Shyamalan, which counts Stephen King among its supporters. O'Brien is set for a busy few months as well, with a role in the SNL movie Saturday Night, which releases on October 11, while Scanlen is set to lead the crime series Dope Girls.

Max has now released the first teaser trailer for Caddo Lake, ahead of the movie's premiere on the streaming service on October 10.

What To Know About Caddo Lake It's Inspired By A Real Place

Previously titled The Vanishings at Caddo Lake, the mystery examines what happens when an 8-year-old girl mysteriously vanishes on the titular lake,...

Crave’s management is eyeing a breakthrough into the top three streaming services in Canada, as its parent Bell unveiled its 2024 season Upfronts slate today.

In an exclusive interview with Deadline, Bell Media VP, Content Development & Programming Justin Stockman outlined a “multi-pronged, multi-year” plan to break into the top three by subscriber numbers, which is currently occupied by Disney+, Prime Video and Netflix. Crave has around 3.1 million subs at the moment, which has ticked up slowly over the past 24 months, but Stockman and Bell President Sean Cohan are aiming for bigger and better things.

“Crave is doing well, but we think it could do better, which was Sean’s statement,” said Stockman. “This is a growing country and there’s lots of opportunity. We are a country on the rise so how do we tap into that new market as well. We continue to roll out original content, lock in the deals we have,...

Exclusive: Canadian streamer Crave has acquired BBC drama Dope Girls.

The Bad Wolf-produced series was one of the buzziest at the recent LA Screenings, where a full episode was on show, and Bell Media-owned streamer Crave has now swooped to take local rights from distributor Sony Pictures Television.

It will be unveiled as part of Bell’s Upfront in a few minutes, we hear, along with other U.S. and international acquisitions and a swathe of original and returning programs for Crave, CTV and Bell’s other English- and French-language networks.

Revealed by Deadline last year, Dope Girls delves into the history of the inter-war Soho criminal underworld and is inspired by Marek Kohn’s Dope Girls: The Birth of the British Drug Underground non-fiction book.Set in the early 20th century, it follows a time when female gangs ran the clubs, drugs and moonshine distribution. It will launch...

As buyers touch down at Lax for the annual LA Screenings, it will be a case of a return to the norm following the unusual circumstances of last year. The Hollywood labor strikes not only threw confusion on what would be a realistic purchase, but also stopped acquisitions executives getting face time (and a quick selfie) with acting and writing talent — something many value as part of their buying process.

There will be no such issues this year, and the studio sales bosses are relishing a return to the norm. “We’re really excited, it feels like we’re really back after the strikes and firing on all cylinders,” says David Decker, President of Content Sales for Warner Bros. Discovery (Wbd). “We have an abundance of titles that run the gamut of broadcast and streaming in drama and comedy. We’ll be showing the best of what Wbd stands for.

Kicking off on May 15-17 with the LA Independents, with a heavyweight Spanish-language presence, the LA Screenings then host Hollywood studio presentations. To help cut through the slates, – especially at the LA Independents but including some big studio plays – here’s Variety’s pick of 20 top titles:

“The Americas,” (NBCU, BBC Studios)

Narrated by Tom Hanks, his first unscripted narrator gig, and billed as an epic natural history series from “Planet Earth” producer BBC Studios Natural History Unit in association with Universal Television Alternative Studio. Scored by two-time Oscar winner Hans Zimmer and using groundbreaking technology to reveal the continent’s natural wonders. Previewed at MipTV, in a presentation which was one of the biggest events of the whole market.

“Amia,” (Dori Media Group)

Unfolding against the background of the terror attacks of 1992 on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires and in 1994 against Amia, the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association, the...

The renaissance of “Doctor Who,” which started its latest season this week, is a 20-year journey that is entwined with the establishment of a thriving TV production scene in South Wales, where it shoots, and the meteoritic rise of the production company Bad Wolf.

This dates back to 2003 when writer Russell T Davies was asked by the BBC’s then head of drama, Jane Tranter, to revive the show and to base the production in South Wales, an area hitherto known for coal mining and heavy industry. It was produced in 2004, overseen by BBC Wales head of drama, Julie Gardner.

When Tranter and Gardner relocated to Los Angeles to lead BBC Worldwide Productions and Adjacent Productions, they produced “Da Vinci’s Demons” for Starz, and again located the production in South Wales.

In 2015, Tranter and Gardner set up Bad Wolf, which takes its name from an episode of “Doctor Who,” and...

Sony Pictures Television’s President of International Production, Wayne Garvie, has said the scripted TV landscape in the post-peak TV era is like “going back to the future” — especially with his Netflix hits The Crown and Sex Education coming to an end.

During a keynote interview here at Series Mania in Lille, France, Garvie acknowledged that levels of global drama production had fallen, and that working with traditional networks and streamers on projects of all types would be critical going forwards.

He added: “The ecology of TV production is a very fragile thing,” and said: “The future is going to be more about collaboration,” but refuted the idea the market is depressed. “Everyone knows that not as much drama is being commissioned as was being commissioned, but more drama is being commissioned now than at most times in human history.”

Spt itself is it gearing up for a slate that...

The end of “peak TV” — the never-ending expansion in the number of drama series being produced worldwide — could be a good thing, according to Wayne Garvie, President of International Production at Sony Pictures Television (Spt).

Speaking at a keynote at TV festival Series Mania on Wednesday, Garvie noted that despite the sharp decline in commissions for scripted TV in the U.S., “more drama is being commissioned now than most times in human history” and argued that in the boom times, “a lot of stuff that got made that people didn’t get to see (or) didn’t know it was happening.”

The new, post-peak era Garvie described as going “back to the future,” with producers doing more shows with traditional free-to-air broadcasters that they sell to channels worldwide. He highlighted the Sony’s new period drama Dope Girls, starring Mare of Easttown‘s Julianne Nicholson, Eliza Scanlen (Sharp Objects...

Exclusive: Some of the biggest UK drama production houses have started developing lower-budget slates in response to a depleted market and the success of local stories such as Mr Bates vs the Post Office.

The bosses of Doctor Who co-producer Bad Wolf and Crown maker Left Bank both told Deadline they have started nurturing a development pot for shows that cost less to make than their previous fare. Multiple other drama execs have indicated they are adopting a similar strategy as this week’s London TV Screenings places budget woes front and center of the conversation.

Speaking to Deadline about her upcoming BBC series Dope Girls, Bad Wolf co-founder Jane Tranter said her team’s development slate now contains “projects on a different budget scale to those we have been used to doing,” a move that she is enjoying.

“We’ve been thinking about how we do [lower budget] in a way that feels exciting,...

Exclusive: Heartstopper breakout Sebastian Croft has signed for representation with Anonymous Content.

The British actor has signed with the agency in all areas. He continues to be represented by Greg Herst at UK-based Cvgg and attorney Lucy Popkin at Goodman, Genow, Schenkman, Smelkinson & Christopher.

Croft is best known for playing Ben Hope in Netflix smash Heartstopper. His character in Alice Oseman’s coming-of-age rom-com has a clandestine relationship with the show’s lead, Charlie (Joe Locke), at the start of the show, but it becomes clear that he is using Charlie and he is often antagonistic towards him.

Heartstopper has made huge stars of the likes of Locke and Kit Connor, who have also landed major agency representation.

Croft is also leading Prime Video’s upcoming rom-com movie How to Date Billy Walsh, in which he will play the lead role of Archie opposite Tanner Buchanan when the movie airs in April.

Exclusive: Bad Wolf is adopting a U.S.-style pilot strategy on BBC drama Dope Girls by finishing episode one months before the rest so that it can be shopped at the London and LA TV Screenings.

Jane Tranter, who co-runs the Doctor Who and His Dark Materials producer, said this is the first time the Sony-backed indie has taken such an approach but it is being driven by the necessities of the current drama market.

Ordinarily, Bad Wolf would have the majority of a series in the can before taking to buyers but the first episode has effectively been “fast-tracked” so that buyers from the U.S. and around the world can get a feel for it early on at the screenings. An extended sizzle will be shown during this week’s Sony London TV Screenings showcase event on Thursday at the Ham Yard Hotel and episode one...

In a milestone move, Sony Pictures Television has unveiled “La Academia,” its first Spanish-language scripted series filmed in Spain for Prime Video and 3Cat.

“La Academia” is produced for Sony by Brutal Media, commissioned out of Sony Pictures Television’s international production group. Spt is distributing the series worldwide.

A scripted young adult drama series which Spt describes as being set in the high-pressure, high-drama world of elite youth soccer and its rising stars, ‘La Academia’ takes place at the Spanish training centre of the Apolo F.C., one of the best professional soccer clubs in the world.

There boys and girls from different social backgrounds fight for a shared dream which will inevitably create fiction between them: to make the first team and become the world’s next top players.

The young cast is led by new Spanish talent such as Ton Vieira, Marc Soler (“Upa Next”), Mia Sala-Patau...

Exclusive: WME has promoted Annabel Gualazzi, Max Maulitz, and Daniel Molina to Partner in the agency’s talent department, Deadline can exclusively reveal. The rising trio will continue to be based out of the agency’s Beverly Hills office.

Gualazzi has been with WME since 2007 and represents actors and directors alike. She brokered Selena Gomez’s deal for Hulu’s Emmy-winning murder mystery series Only Murders in the Building, catapulted Wednesday breakout Emma Myers into roles in the forthcoming Minecraft and A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, and recently closed Rami Malek’s deal for James Vanderbilt’s historical drama Nuremberg. Other notable clients include Justice Smith, who has been all over Sundance this year with The American Society of Magical Negroes (Focus Features) and I Saw the TV Glow (A24); Eliza Scanlen, who will next be seen in BBC One’s Dope Girls and New Line thriller Caddo Lake; and Sophie Wilde,...

Julianne Nicholson isn’t holding her breath for a “Mare of Easttown” Season 2, but still would “100 percent” return to the HBO series if given the chance.

Nicholson, who won an Emmy along with co-stars Kate Winslet and Evan Peters, told People the long-awaited second season is “not impossible” but also not currently in the works. “Mare of Easttown” starred Winslet as a Pennsylvania detective investigating a series of missing girls. The show was created by Brad Ingelsby.

“It’s not impossible,” Nicholson said of a second season. “You never know.”

She added that she would “100 percent” reprise her role, “if there [was a Season 2] and Kate still was Mare and Jean [Smart] was her mom and Brad wrote it.”

However, Nicholson added, “I’m definitely not waiting for it. I’m not losing sleep over it. But if that was happening and I was invited to join, yeah, definitely.”

“Mare of Easttown” lead...

Exclusive: Julianne Nicholson (Mare of Easttown) and Eliza Scanlen (Sharp Objects) have landed the lead roles in the BBC’s upcoming crime drama series Dope Girls, we can reveal.

Umi Myers, Eilidh Fisher and Geraldine James have also landed major parts in the series, which we first told you about back in March. At the time, our sources said the BBC sees Dope Girls as a spiritual successor to Peaky Blinders, which ended last year.

Filming on the show, which is set in London’s Soho in the early 20th century, when female gangs ran the clubs, drugs and moonshine, is now underway. It will launch on BBC One and BBC iPlayer, and comes from Polly Stenham and Alex Warren (Eleanor).

Nicholson will play Kate Galloway, a single mother who establishes a nightclub amidst the hedonistic uproar of post-World War One London, embracing a life...