In 2018 the French, Italian and German public broadcasters formed Alliance, a 100% European broadcasting group combining the strengths of France Télévisions, RAI and ZDF.
In a constantly changing broadcasting landscape, anxious about the significant presence of international players using VoD, the traditional channels are looking for ways to reinvent themselves. Alliance will provide finance for “large-scale” drama projects.
Back in 2018 the newly-formed Alliance announced its first four projects:
– Leonardo : an eight-episode drama series about Leonardo da Vinci. Written by Steve Thompson and directed by Daniel Percival.
– Around the World in 80 Days, an adaptation of Jules Verne’s story about Phileas Fogg: “an English gentleman living off his private income who can no longer bear the boredom and unchanging routine of his life, takes a foolish gamble that he can go round the world in eighty days – having never in his life been outside London. Jean Passepartout, a boastful French valet and fixer, takes advantage of the proposed cash windfall to enter Fogg’s service”.
– Eternal City which takes place in May 1963. “Sophie, a French starlet who dreams of working in Cinecittà, is found mysteriously murdered in her small apartment in via Veneto. What is the link between the death of this beautiful young actress and President Kennedy’s upcoming visit to Rome?”
– Mirage : thriller series which follows Claire, a French expatriate in the United Arab Emirates. One evening, she thinks she sees her former husband – who disappeared fifteen years earlier, apparently swept away by a tsunami in Thailand. Filming took place between Abu Dhabi and Morocco.
Since then, filming has been completed for Leonardo and Around the World in 80 Days. Post-production on Mirage is also complete, and the series began transmission on February 17th on France 2.
Meanwhile a new series, Survivors, will start shooting in Italy in early 2020. It’s about a group of survivors found a year after their sailing boat sank.
Sources :
https://www.francetvpro.fr
https://www.francetelevisions.fr
https://information.tv5monde.com
https://www.lesechos.fr
https://www.mediakwest.com
