ZDFE Enters First-Look Deal with Fisher King

CANNES: ZDF Enterprises (ZDFE) has aligned with the Finnish drama development company Fisher King in a first-look deal.

ZDFE will now have exclusive first-look rights to all scripted development from Fisher King, and will serve as financier and handle worldwide sales for the new projects. The political thriller Watchdog, marking the first joint project between the two, is being presented by ZDFE to potential partners and investors at MIPCOM.

The 10×45-minute series Watchdog takes place in present-day Europe with Helsinki, London and The Hague as main locations. The series takes viewers into the middle of European justice policy and security regulations concerning source protection and privacy insurance.

Robert Franke, the VP of ZDFE.drama, said: “Fisher King Ltd focus on genre-driven productions and a combination of modern production techniques with the good old storytelling tradition. We at ZDF Enterprises have a long-standing experience in the development and worldwide distribution of drama programs and are convinced that we’ll be able to jointly create many international hits.”

Matti Halonen, Fisher King’s managing director and producer, added: “I really look forward to collaborating with ZDF Enterprises and Robert Franke’s department who I know have great understanding about the content and financing of drama programming. ZDF Enterprises is a well-established company that can give a lot of support for a smaller player like Fisher King Ltd. Our project Bordertown just premiered on YLE on October 16 with an outstanding performance, reaching 26 percent of the population of Finland. It also does well in the market and will have wide distribution. I am convinced that Watchdog as an international thriller will do at least as well.”