NBCU Ties Up with British Writing Team Jim Keeble & Dudi Appleton

UNIVERSAL CITY: NBCUniversal International Television Production has signed a one-year first-look deal with the U.K. writing team Jim Keeble and Dudi Appleton, working under their film and TV production banner 87 Films.

JoAnn Alfano, the executive VP of scripted programming at ITVP, will oversee the deal with 87 Films to develop drama scripts for the U.S., U.K. and international marketplace. The first-look deal builds on an existing partnership between 87 Films and NBCU International that began with the acquisition of Effective Range, which is a co-production with Scott Free U.K.

Keeble and Appleton are best known for executive producing Thorne for Sky 1, and for writing the BBC forensic thriller Silent Witness. Most recently, the pair worked with AMC on The Wall, a pilot set in Cold War Berlin.

Alfano said, “Jim and Dudi have an understanding of the international TV market like few others. They have that rare talent of being able to write incredibly gripping and soulful characters into concepts and worlds that have inherent global appeal.”

Keeble and Appleton added, "We always want to find new ways of telling big stories about compelling characters to audiences as far and wide as possible. JoAnn and Tom and the team at NBCU International share that passion and they champion projects with every ounce of their being. We know this is going to be creative and collaborative and it’s already great fun."