Walter Presents to Launch in Russia

Walter Presents has signed a two-year deal with the Russian SVOD service Start, part of the Yellow, Black and White Group (YBW), to make its curated selection of international drama available to local audiences.

Viewers in Russia and Russian-speaking territories will be able to access a slew of non-English-language scripted series from all over the world, all first-run and exclusive to Start viewers. Launching initially with a collection of more than 100 hours and 11 series, Start plans to release two new Walter Presents series each month.

Walter Presents recently licensed one of Start Studio’s biggest hit series, Gold Diggers, for the U.K. A number of series that have proven popular for Walter Presents in other territories will be available to Start viewers from launch, including the original Belgian series Professor T and Emmy-nominated HBO series Fugitives from South America. In addition, the brand-new French psychological thrillers Kepler(s) and Stalk and Swedish thriller Box 21 will be available from launch.

Walter Iuzzolino, co-founder and curator of Walter Presents, commented: “I am hugely excited to be launching in Russia, which has seen something of a revolution in scripted content in the past few years, producing contemporary drama which is sharp, glossy and seriously sophisticated. Start has been at the epicenter of this content revolution and Walter Presents hopes to help fuel their impressive growth trajectory with this roster of proven global hits.”

Start CEO Julia Mindubaeva, added: “In Russia, streaming service Start is the home of premium Russian drama; we are not only cherry-picking the best local content, but are also producing impressive original Russian dramas through our production arm, Start Studios. Like Start, at the heart of Walter Presents is storytelling, and Walter’s approach of selecting award-winning, popular international drama series complements our approach. We’re delighted to extend our reputation as the home of drama in Russia by bringing Walter Presents’ to Russian audiences.”

Daria Bondarenko, VP of international at YBW, said: “It’s great to see our relationship with Walter Presents continue to grow. Walter is probably the world’s best expert on global TV drama series, and not only has he introduced our hit series Gold Diggers to the U.K., but he has also enabled us to offer Walter Presents, his hand-picked choice of international drama, to Start’s audiences exclusively in Russia. We are thrilled to be working with him again.”