TorinoFilmLab has unveiled the selection for the third edition of SeriesLab. The programme will guide international scriptwriters and directors in the development of innovative and unpublished long TV series projects at an early stage of development. Two of the nine projects selected are Irish; Caherduin from writer Gary Duggan and producer Laura McNicholas; and Closed City from writer/producer Morgan Bushe.
SeriesLab will follow the process of creation of the series concept throughout an intensive 4-month course (from December 2018 to March 2019) with 3 workshops in Ireland, Sweden, and France, which will culminate in a final presentation of the content at the Series Mania Lille Hauts-de-France Coproduction Forum in front of the professional audience of international TV execs taking part in the festival.
88 proposals were submitted to the SeriesLab selection committee, chaired by scriptwriter and Head of Studies Nicola Lusuardi. Nine of these were selected in the programme, for a total of 7 female and 9 male participants, highlighting TorinoFilmLab’s effort towards gender equality.
The nine selected projects are
- BELGRAVE by Harry Ayiotis (Cyprus) and Ljubica Lukovic (Serbia)
- CAHERDUIN by Gary Duggan and Laura McNicholas (Ireland)
- CLOSED CITY by Morgan Bushe (Ireland)
- GOTHENBURG KIDS by Emiliano Goessens and Morgan Jensen (Sweden)
- LOST LUGGAGE by Nathalie Basteyns and Tiny Bertels (Belgium)
- MOLLY’S BLUES by Lucie La Chimia (France)
- OFFERLINGS by Esther Rots and Anton Smit (Netherlands)
- STATE OF EMERGENCY by Filip Kasperaszek and Paweł Kosuń (Poland)
- THE WILD FIELDS by Piotr Szymanek and Marta Szymanek (Poland)
Caherduin is a six part returnable series, pitched as Fargo meets Stranger Things. It is an Irish / Dutch / UK co production. The series follows two city cops who arrive in a tiny Irish border village to investigate a missing person and discover a rich vein of folklore seeping into reality.
Caherduin is a project I’m deeply excited about. The ideas and characters have been creeping insistently into my consciousness for a while. With its blend of ensemble crime drama and the supernatural, it’s very much the type of series I’d love to see produced in Ireland. Myself and producer Laura McNicholas are delighted to have this international support and the platform to develop it further. The SeriesLab is a fantastic opportunity and I’m looking forward to getting properly stuck in.
Gary Duggan – Writer
925 Productions is delighted to be working with the writer Gary Duggan on the TV series Caherduin . We are excited to delve into the world of Caherduin with the SeriesLab 2019 and to present it to the international TV industry at Series Mania in March 2019. Laura McNicholas – Producer
Closed City is set during the height of the cold war in a world entrenched in a tense ideological and military stand off. A pair of internal affairs officers are dispatched from Moscow to investigate a suspicious death within the closed city of Akaban-75 located deep within the Siberian tundra.
It’s a real honour to be selected for the Torino Series Lab with Closed City and I look forward to bringing the series through the programme and presenting it as part of SERIES MANIA Forum in March.
Morgan Bushe – Creator
SeriesLab is realised with the support of the Creative Europe – MEDIA Sub-programme of the European Union; main partner: Series Mania Lille Hauts-de-France; with the support of: Screen Ireland, Manusfabriken in Sweden, and the VAF – Flanders Audiovisual Fund in Belgium. Thanks to these partnerships SeriesLab welcomes 1 project from each of the following regions: France, Ireland, Sweden, and the Flanders region of Belgium, whose participation in the programme will be supported by the above-mentioned institutions.