News

Welcome to Global Breakouts, Deadline’s fortnightly strand in which we shine a spotlight on the TV shows and films killing it in their local territories. The industry is as globalized as it’s ever been, but breakout hits are emerging in pockets of the world all the time and it can be hard to keep track. That’s why we’re doing the hard work for you.

This week, we detail a co-production from South Africa and France that spotlights the four-wheeled sport of spinning. Not heard of it? Well neither had we, but on closer inspection this series is far more than an exhibition of a little-known extreme pasttime. Creatives on the Showmax-Canal+ co-pro tell us why ‘Spinners‘ holds a mirror up to society, and where they think it could travel next.

Name: Spinners

Country: South Africa & France

Networks: Showmax & Canal+

Producer: Empreinte Digitale & Natives at Large

International...

ITV Spent $68M On Diverse Shows In 2023

ITV invested £54.2M ($68M) of its Diversity Commissioning Fund last year on shows made by or about people from under-represented backgrounds such as Lenny Henry’s Three Little Birds. The fund was launched in 2022 with £80M to be spent across three years to “drive change towards racial equity and disability equity in whose stories get told,” with one quarter reserved for content made by “production companies led by People of Colour and/or Deaf, Disabled and/or Neurodivergent people.” The figures came as part of the Love Island network’s Diversity Acceleration Plan report for the previous 12 months, which said 475 productions across around 160 production companies have embedded Dei using ITV’s production principles over the past three years. The BBC has a similar £100M fund across a three-year period to March 2024 and says it has already exceeded this target. ITV said plans for...

Fasten your seat belts! African streamer Showmax and Canal+ are getting ready to go pedal to the metal.

The streaming company, co-owned by African pay-tv giant MultiChoice Group and Comcast, and the French pay TV giant has released a trailer for the eight-part gangster and extreme sports drama Spinners, which The Hollywood Reporter is revealing exclusively.

The companies’ third co-production, set in South Africa’s Cape Town, became the first African show to take part in CanneSeries’ main competition.

Spinners follows Ethan (Cantona James), a 17-year-old driver working for a gang who is trying to support his younger brother and discovers a possible way out of gang life: spinning, an extreme motorsport that features drivers performing jaw-dropping daredevil stunts. However, a looming gang war jeopardizes his plans.

The cast includes James (Arendsvlei) and Chelsea Thomas (Arendsvlei) in leading roles, along with Elton Landrew (Recipes for Love & Murder); Dillon Windvogel...

The long-foretold end of Peak TV may be upon us, as studios and streamers — adjusting to a new world of inflation, higher interest rates, and a slowdown in stock prices and subscriber figures — slash costs and reevaluate strategy. The result, whether at Warner Bros. Discovery (which has already taken $3.5 billion in content write-downs and canceled several planned or in-production series) or at the BBC (which needs to chop more than $120 million from its originals budget if it is to meet savings targets) will mean less money for producers and, one assumes, fewer shows getting commissioned.

Nonscripted content, which is cheaper and easier to ramp up to fill programming slots, will be the most obvious beneficiary of this belt-tightening, with much of the focus of the upcoming MIPTV market on less glamorous but typically more profitable reality TV, “shiny floor” entertainment (à la The Voice) and game shows.

“It’s always...

Festivals

American narrative feature projects in rough or final cut seeking finishing funds are now invited to submit to the 2022 edition of U.S. in Progress, which takes place Nov. 9-11 during the 13th American Film Festival (Nov.8-13) in Wroclaw, Poland. The strand pairs American projects in final production stages with European buyers and top Polish image and sound post-production companies and provides awards worth totally $100,000. The head of the Polish Film Institute, Radosław Śmigulski, will award one project with a $50,000 cash award to be spent on post-production, image, sound and/or VFX in Poland and Polish post-production companies Fixafilm, Orka Studio, Black Photon, Xanf and Soundflower Studio are each offering a $10,000 in-kind award.

There is no entry fee, and films can be submitted through the U.S. in Progress website. The final deadline is September 11.

The program’s objective is to inspire U.S. producers to work with Poland,...