Serious Kids Sends Irish Live-Action Series to France

France Télévisions has acquired the rights to the live-action miniseries The Unreal, which has been renewed by RTÉ for a second season, from Serious Kids.

“This miniseries is a great addition to our slate of live action available on our platform Okoo, aimed at the older segment of our audience,” said Claire Heinrich, director of acquisitions for children’s content at France Télévisions. “Family dynamics and social/contemporary issues such as social media addiction and mental health are important themes that are addressed with sensitivity and humor in a gently scary narrative that we hope teens will enjoy as well as the whole family.”

A French-language version of the series is in the works for launch later this year. The first season of 4 30-minute episodes rolled out on RTÉ One in October 2024. Season two is in production for launch this year. Targeted at kids 8-plus and families, the episodes were written by Rodney Lee, directed by Bonnie Dempsey and produced by David O’Sullivan at Dyehouse Films.

Leila Ouledcheikh, director of global sales at Serious Kids, which holds global rights outside of Ireland, noted: “This is such an exciting start for this hugely original IP, which, despite the veneer of a scary story, is about so much more. We look forward to continuing our discussions with other platforms at MIPJunior.”

Suzanne Kelly, head of children’s and young people’s content at RTÉ, added, “A key part of our ongoing strategy here at RTÉ is to develop and deliver top-quality drama content for kids and family audiences. Dyehouse is one of the premier companies creating content in this space and has a pitch-perfect understanding of this audience which is a rare find. The Unreal is a smooth blend of spooky comedy which leans beautifully into those ‘quirky’ shows we all watched when we were kids.”

Bonnie Dempsey, director and co-CEO of Dyehouse Films, commented: “Juxtaposed with the old Ireland of mischievous spirits The Unreal is a modern horror concept. Aside from the Pooka there is plenty for Kevin Kelly to be scared about in his family. His sister has had her personality stolen by her phone, his dad is pretending he hasn’t got chronic depression and his mom hasn’t told her boss she is on holiday. It is no wonder Kevin is seeing things. The plot progression for series two is going to be another radical shift and we look forward to sharing that soon.”

Commissioned by RTÉ, the series received funding from Coimisiún na Meán and Screen Ireland and was made with the support of government incentives.