Business

ZDF Studios is partnering with the Walt Disney Company for the first time for Bulgaria and the Balkans with a deal that includes two pre-sales and 34 hours of primetime drama. Disney has secured Pay TV and SVOD rights for Dead Still, The Swarm (excluding Bulgaria), Queens of Mystery, The Puzzle Lady and Concordia with the latter two titles being pre-sales.

Mirela Nastase, Director ZDF Studios Drama, said: “We are delighted that Disney will be the home for these top titles, giving audiences in the Balkans and Bulgaria the opportunity to enjoy some fantastic chilling, thrilling dramas and light-hearted whodunnits.”

Mystery drama The Puzzle Lady (3 x 90’), a ZDF Studios co-pro with December Films and Factual Fiction, is based Parnell Hall’s best-selling series of books adapted for TV by Dominique Moloney (Land Girls, Father Brown, Shakespeare & Hathaway). Featuring the eccentric Cora Felton, a crossword puzzle columnist, who has a penchant for solving crimes, the series is full of colourful characters, intrigue and ingenious plot twists.

Concordia (6 x 45’), a surveillance drama thriller set in an experimental utopian community, is a new production from multiple Primetime Emmy® Award-winner Frank Doelger (Game of Thrones, The Swarm, John Adams, Rome) and Intaglio Films, a joint venture of Beta Film and ZDF Studios. Shot in English and directed by Barbara Eder (The Swarm, Barbarians, Cop Stories), co-pro partners include ZDF, MBC, France Télévisions, and Hulu Japan.

Another title from showrunner Frank Doelger is The Swarm (8 x 45’), based on Frank Schätzing’s international bestseller. The psychological thriller, a huge ratings winner for ZDF with over 10 million views per episode, has already been sold in the region to RTVS Slovakia and BTV Bulgaria.

Dead Still (6 x 50’), a macabre comedy on the strange adventures of two of Dublin’s most famed memorial photographers set in the Victorian era, was written by John Morton (People Like Us, Twenty Twelve, W1A). The gothic murder mystery has numerous international sales including a PayTV premiere on Viasat World’s Epic Drama channel across CEE, CIS, Baltics, Malta and Turkey.

Acorn TV’s drama Queens of Mystery (3 x 90’ or 6 x 45’) has chalked up multiple global sales and earned rave reviews with its premiere in America. Featuring a line up of top acting talent, Olivia Vinall (The Woman in White, Apple Tree Yard, Maigret), Julie Graham (The Bletchley Circle, Shetland) and Sarah Woodward (The Politician’s Husband, New Blood), the drama follows a perennially single female Detective Sergeant. She is joined by her three aunts who are well-known crime writers that help her solve whodunnit style murders as well as set her up on blind dates.