TVDRAMA
The thriller The Deal has been selected as the winner of the first annual Buyers Choice Award, following the Series Mania Buyers Upfront.
Katie Keenan, group director of acquisitions for the U.K., Ireland and Europe at Sky, announced the winner: “The jury and I were very impressed with the variety of genres and the quality of productions for the titles that were presented this afternoon. We chose The Deal as the winner as it is a very timely drama given the state of world affairs, which adds to its market appeal. Alongside the dynamics of diplomacy and the tension it brings to the drama, there were also human and personal stories that we are certain will unfold.”
The winner was selected from ten titles, which were curated by the festival’s artistic team and based on both artistic merit and broad audience appeal.
Alongside Keenan, the jury included Ghislain Barrois, director of cinema, fiction, sales, rights acquisition and distribution at Mediaset Spain Communication Audiovisual Group (Spain); Marina Chiaravelle, head of TV rights acquisition for Rai Cinema (Italy); Rubén Fernández Loa, head of series acquisitions for Movistar Plus+ (Spain); Julia Fidel, head of international fiction acquisitions for ZDF (Germany); and Virginie Padilla, commissioning editor for ARTE (France/Germany).
The Deal is a co-production from Switzerland, France, Luxembourg and Belgium. It is produced by Bande à Part Films, LES FILMS PELLEAS, Gaumont Télévision, Bidibul Productions and VERSUS PRODUCTION. The drama is set in 2015 as Switzerland hosts last-chance nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran with Europe, Russia and China. Swiss diplomat Alexandra Weiss leads the mission, where rising tensions and delegates’ hidden agendas threaten fragile diplomacy. But when her former love Payam—a threatened Iranian engineer—appears, Alexandra finds herself crossing lines to protect him. The world’s peace is at risk; how far will she go?
