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Exclusive: Greenacre Films, the British drama production company behind Netflix’s Michaela Coel-fronted musical Been So Long, is bolstering its TV slate and has set a raft of new projects including the adaptation of Mumbai-set novels The Space Between Us and The Secrets Between Us.

The company, run by Amanda Jenks, exec producer of HBO and BBC’s Sienna Miller-fronted Tippi Hedren biopic The Girl, and Nadine Marsh-Edwards, who worked on John Hurt’s An Englishman In New York, spoke to Deadline for the first of a number of profiles of the leading UK-based drama firms that are working with one eye on the U.S. and the rest of the world.

They have just come off the back of Been So Long, which was the largest single acquisition of a British film by Netflix. The musical, which was written by Che Walker and directed by Tinge Krishnan,...

Nicholas Pinnock has been cast in the lead role of the untitled legal drama pilot at ABC from Hank Steinberg and Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson.

Pinnock will star as Aaron, a man who had it all–thriving night-club owner, lovely wife and daughter–but he lost it all nine years ago when he was unjustly accused of drug dealing and thrown into prison, winding up with a life sentence when he wouldn’t plea bargain. Having put himself through online law school, passed the bar and gotten a sponsorship from a high profile judge, Aaron is now ready to practice law himself. He wants to focus on inmates like himself who have been unjustly accused and to somehow get his own conviction overturned.

An accomplished stage actor, Pinnock most recently appeared onscreen in the Starz series “Counterpart” opposite Jk Simmons, Olivia Williams, and Harry Lloyd. His other recent TV credits include “Top Boy,...

Nicholas Pinnock (Counterpart) has been cast as the lead in ABC’s legal/family drama pilot from The Last Ship co-creator/executive producer Hank Steinberg, Power executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, and The Goldbergs executive producer Doug Robinson. Also executive producing is Isaac Wright, Jr., who was once wrongfully convicted as drug kingpin but got his conviction overturned while in prison and became a licensed attorney.

Written by Steinberg and directed by George Tillman Jr., the untitled project is a serialized legal and family drama that centers on Aaron (Pinnock), a prisoner who becomes a lawyer, litigating cases for other inmates while fighting to overturn his own life sentence for a crime he didn’t commit. His quest for freedom is driven by his desperate desire to get back to the family he loves and reclaim the life that was stolen from him. The show also will, through the window...

ABC Studios has inked a new five-year, all-encompassing deal with writer, director and producer John Ridley to create content across multiple platforms. He is presently working on several projects with the studio.

Ridley, who won an Academy Award in 2013 for best adapted screenplay for “12 Years a Slave,” has long worked with the studio. He created the Emmy-winning ABC Studios series “American Crime,” which aired for three seasons on ABC, as well as the six-part limited series “Guerilla,” which was produced by ABC Signature Studios and aired on Showtime and Sky.

“John Ridley has been making incredible content for us since his Emmy-winning series, ‘American Crime,'” said ABC Studios head Patrick Moran in a statement. “There’s no one in the business like John who brings such incredible skill and creativity to everything he does. We are thrilled to have a new long-term deal with him and so look...

Writer/director/producer John Ridley has signed a new five-year overall deal with ABC Studios. This is the longest-term pact for Ridley at the studio where he has been since 2014 with a two-year overall deal, followed by a three-year one.

The long-term agreement reflects the desire by TV studios to secure their talent amid a red-hot overall deal market, with a number of bidding wars over top-level creative talent going on right now.

Under the new deal, which is strictly for TV, Ridley will develop content across multiple platforms. He is currently working on a number of projects for broadcast, cable, and streaming.

“John Ridley has been making incredible content for us since his Emmy winning series, American Crime,” said Patrick Moran, President, ABC Studios. “There’s no one in the business like John who brings such incredible skill and creativity to everything he does. We are thrilled to have...

The low-budget initiative’s previous titles include Zsófia Szilágyi’s ‘One Day’, in Critics’ Week at Cannes.

The Hungarian National Film Fund’s low-budget Incubator Program, aimed at enabling young first-time directors to make their first films, has greenlit several new features.

They include Grosan Cristina and Nóra Rainer-Micsinyei comedy drama Things Worth Weeping For, Hajni Kis’ relationship drama A Pack Of Our Town, Nándor Lőrincz and Bálint Nagy’s drama The Last Bus, Márton Szirmai’s animation Where Did I Ruin It? and Judit Oláh’s drama The Camp.

Through Incubator, similar in ethos to the UK’s iFeatures initiative,...

Joseph Baxter Tony Sokol Aug 5, 2019

Netflix will follow the teen-aged exploits of King Arthur’s Lady of the Lake character in Cursed.

Netflix is pulling a sword from a stone in its upcoming original series, Cursed. Based on King Arthur’s Lady of the Lake, the project comes from comic book writer/artist Frank Miller and Puss in Boots writer/producer Tom Wheeler. The 10-episode series is based on Miller and Wheeler's upcoming illustrated young adult book, Cursed.

Cursed put a twist on the King Arthur legend, told through the eyes of the Excalibur-bestowing enchantress, the Lady of the Lake. The character is depicted here as a teenager, named Nimue, with a mysterious gift, and the coming-of-age series showcases her path to destiny. According to the plot description (via Variety), after her mother dies, Nimue joins a young mercenary named Arthur, on his quest to find the magician Merlin and deliver an ancient sword.