Banijay Group is the world's largest independent content creation Group for television and multimedia platforms. Banijay Group is present in 16 territories.
Banijay Group is the world's largest independent content creation Group for television and multimedia platforms. Banijay Group is present in 16 territories.

Tag Archive: Drama

  1. Filmlance Acquires Television Rights to Karin Smirnoff’s Critically-Acclaimed Trilogy

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    Banijay today announces scripted producer Filmlance has acquired the television rights from Politiken Literary Agency to the critically-acclaimed Jana Kippo trilogy from well-known Swedish author, Karin Smirnoff.

     

    The series of best-selling novels, based on character Jana Kippo, is set to be developed into a new Swedish drama with international potential.

     

    The producer is Anna Wallmark at Filmlance, who was behind the company’s most recent hit Top Dog, together with Teresa Alldén and Olof Spaak.

     

    The Jana Kippo trilogy has sold more than half a million copies in Sweden and has been translated in multiple European languages, including English.

     

    The story begins with Jana Kippo returning to her family village of Smalånger, moving into her childhood home to get Bror, her alcoholic twin brother’s life in order.  The pair have a common childhood trauma and a death in the village takes a heavy toll. Maria was found dead in a forest glade and no one knows what happened, did she commit suicide or was she murdered? The longer Jana stays in her home village, the more she gets to know about both Maria and herself.

     

    Filmlance’s Managing Director Hanne Palmquist comments; “Karin Smirnoff is one of the most interesting Swedish authors around and we are incredibly proud to be working on what is sure to be a powerful, world-class television production. This unique story of love, betrayal, revenge and lust contains everything needed to create a gripping, exciting and constantly surprising drama.”

     

    Karin Smirnoff (b. 1964) lives in Piteå, Sweden, and worked as a journalist before buying a wood factory. After a few years, she longed to return to writing and applied to Lund University’s writing school with what would become her debut: ‘I Went Down to My Brother’, which was nominated for the August Prize 2018 for Fiction. The second book was published in the spring of 2019, and the third book in the spring of 2020.

  2. Political Drama, Stonehouse, Wins BBC Script Commission

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    Banijay Rights, the leading distribution arm of Banijay, today announces that the BBC has commissioned John Preston to write Stonehouse, a three-part drama about the MP of the same name, who famously faked his own death.

     

    On 20 November 1974, a pile of clothes was found on a beach in Miami. It appeared that John Stonehouse had gone swimming and was assumed drowned or killed by a shark. Despite the absence of a body, obituaries were published.  However, it transpired he was very much alive and en route to Australia to set up a new life with his mistress and secretary, Sheila Buckley.

     

    The mini-series will be co-produced by the UK indie Clearwood Films and Snowed-In Productions, with Ellie Wood (Decline and Fall, Bleak House) and Ruth Kenley-Letts (Mrs Wilson, C.B Strike) on-board as executive producers. Banijay Rights will handle international distribution.

     

    Stonehouse is the second collaboration between Wood and Preston. Wood has produced, The Dig for Netflix, a forthcoming feature film adaptation of Preston’s novel of the same name, starring Carey Mulligan, Ralph Fiennes, Lily James and Johnny Flynn.

     

    John Preston is also the author of A Very English Scandal, adapted into a multi-award winning three-part drama for the BBC, starring Hugh Grant.

     

    Later this year, Ellie Wood will produce But When We Dance, a single film for the BBC about living with Parkinson’s and the therapeutic effects of ballet.

     

    Global distributor Banijay Rights has a first-look development deal with Clearwood Films demonstrating the company’s commitment to working with some of the best and most creative talent to strengthen its scripted offering. Stonehouse is the first drama production to emerge from the partnership.  

     

    Ellie Wood says,“I’m delighted to be working with John and the BBC on this extraordinary story. John has an exceptional tone and the ability to bring remarkable characters to life and together we hope to create a drama that will resonate with audiences worldwide.”

     

    John Preston comments,“There has never been a more bizarre true-life story than that of John Stonehouse, who miraculously came back to life a month after his own “death”. I am thrilled to have the chance to dramatise a case which has fascinated me for as long as I can remember.”

     

    Chris Stewart, Commercial Director at Banijay Rights adds,“Nothing creates scintillating drama quite like a true story and we can’t wait to see this infamous and fascinating tale brought to life by Ellie, John and the BBC.”