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Exclusive: The Sea Beyond stars Giacomo Giorgio and Serena de Ferrari are among several Italian actors who have boarded Rai’s ambitious opera drama Bel Canto, which went into production this week.

Notably, Caterina Ferioli (The Tearsmith) and Adriana Savarese have landed the key roles as teenage sisters Carolina and Antonia, whose close friendship is tested by desires to become Italian opera singers.

Vincenzo Ferrera, another The Sea Beyond actor, has also joined the cast, alongside Andrea Bosca, Nicolo Pasetti, Carmine Ricarno (Loose Cannons), and Antonio Gerardi.

The series is among the highest profile drama series coming to of Europe this year. Production on the €15M ($16.3M) budget series began yesterday, with filming set to to take place in Naples, Rome and other parts of Italy such as the town of Pavia in Lombardia. France...

Exclusive: Italian production and distribution stalwart Lucky Red is teaming with local pubcaster Rai on drama series Belcanto, about the roots of opera in Italy.

The ambitious drama is set to star Vittoria Puccini (The Trial) and be directed by Carmine Elia (The Sea Beyond). Newen Connect will be handling international sales.

We understand the series is aiming for a budget in the €15M range. Additional casting is underway, including for two more prominent actress roles.

Belcanto was first pitched at Berlin’s co-pro series market last year. Co-created by Mariano Di Nardo, Antonio Manca and Federico Fava, the drama is set in 1798, as 14-year-old Carolina, her 17-year-old sister Antonia and their mother Maria seek refuge in the city of Milan after stabbing their violent father to death.

The elder sister dreams of becoming a renowned singer, much as her mother once hoped for when she was the girl’s age.

Naples-set young adult series “The Sea Beyond,” which depicts the world of a juvenile jail in the crime-ridden Italian city, is scoring a slew of international sales prompted by its phenomenal ratings on pubcaster Rai.

Germany’s Beta Film, which is selling the show about kids behind bars produced by Rome-based Picomedia and Rai Fiction, has inked deals with WarnerMedia Latin America for HBO Max, Sweden’s free-to-air channel TV4, cabler Hot for Israel, and streamer Blu TV in Turkey.

The deals mark a rare case of an Italian young adult series traveling abroad.

Set in a youth detention center overlooking the bay of Naples, “The Sea Beyond” depicts a world populated by kids apparently without hope, “given that they mostly belong to [the Camorra] organized crime syndicate that Naples is known for,” said Picomedia chief Roberto Sessa, who added that the show also has “all the color and vitality of that city.

Manuel Alduy, a well-respected French film and TV industry veteran who joined France Televisions as head of cinema and international development in January, discussed the broadcaster’s strategy to ramp up its scope and attract younger audiences.

Alduy, who worked at Canal Plus Group for 22 years before joining Twentieth Century Fox in 2016, is making his first public keynote under this new position at France Televisions on Tuesday at Series Mania in Lille.

Alduy said France Televisions will next be launching an initiative with the European Broadcasting Union (Ebu), an alliance of public service media which regroups 100 members across the continent, including the BBC in the U.K., Ard in Germany, Dr in Denmark, Svt in Sweden, Rai in Italy, Channel One Russia and the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation, among others. The Ebu is presided by Delphine Ernotte, who was reelected as president of France Televisions for a second, five-year term in July 2020.

Starting next month,...

Production is set to start next week on pan-European TV series “Survivors,” the latest project commissioned by the partnership known as The Alliance between leading European public broadcasters to counter the growing power of Netflix and other streamers.

The plan is for cameras to start rolling in Genoa on Oct. 21 on the series revolving around a sailboat that gets destroyed in a fierce storm and disappears. After a year the wreck is recovered with seven survivors aboard, some of whom seem to be hiding a terrible secret. Each episode follows the complex events related to their return.

The start of principal photography on “Survivors” was announced on Friday during Rome’s Mia market.

Italy’s Rai Fiction, France Télévisions, and Germany’s Zdf are on board the show, which is produced by Fabienne Servan-Schreiber and Thomas Saignes at Paris-based Cinetevé and by Marco Poccioni and Marco Valsania at Italian shingle Rodeo Drive.