Scripted

STUDIOCANAL, Europe’s leader in production, distribution and international sales of TV series and feature films, has sold a package of high-end, mixed language dramas to South Korea’s growing streaming service WATCHA ahead of the Asia TV Forum.

The deal, which was brokered by Sarah Mottershead, Senior Sales Manager at STUDIOCANAL, includes two major Canal+ Creation Originale series, Possessions and War of the Worlds.

Now established as a key Asian partner with STUDIOCANAL, WATCHA has previously also licensed critically-acclaimed Russell T. Davies’ drama Years and Years which premiered in South Korea earlier this year. The award-winning series, starring Academy Award winner Emma Thompson (Saving Mr Banks), became the first series to launch their new “Watcha Exclusive” brand for flagship dramas in the territory.

From the director of hit series Bodyguard, Possessions is a new major psychological thriller co-produced for Canal+ France and Yes Israel. The series stars Nadia Tereszkiewicz, who won Best Actress at the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2019, and has most recently been acquired by HBO Max which will launch on its streaming service across the USA in December 2020. War of the Worlds, which has been picked up by many international platforms and broadcasters, has a second series currently in production and will be returning to screens in 2021. Produced by award-winning production company Urban Myth Films, War of the Worlds stars Gabriel Byrne (The Usual Suspects) and Daisy Edgar Jones (Normal People), who was recently the recipient of the Rising Star Award at CANNESERIES.

Beatriz Campos, SVP Global Sales and Production Financing, TV Series at STUDIOCANAL comments, “We are extremely pleased to be further strengthening our relationship with WATCHA through this significant sales package. We are sure that WATCHA’s growing viewership will become firmly engaged with this line-up of top level drama series created by, and starring, leading talent from around the world.”

WATCHA CEO and Co-founder Taehoon Park adds, "We are more than happy to introduce STUDIOCANAL's high-quality content on WATCHA. Years and Years is one of our much loved TV series delivering a strong viewership. Based on our partnership with STUDIOCANAL, we hope to provide a variety of well-made content to our Korean users."