Series Mania: Irish Crime, Nigerian Fantasy and Spanish Thriller Among Seriesmakers Highlights
An Irish crime drama, a Brazilian heist thriller and a Nigerian fantasy about a man reborn with the powers of Jesus Christ are among the projects at this year’s Seriesmakers, a pitching and mentoring session that runs as part of the international TV event Series Mania Forum, which runs March 25-27 in Lille.
10 international projects from director-producer and director-writer teams will take part in the event, pitching their series ideas, with the top project winning the Beta & Kirch Foundation Award, including a €50,000 ($55,000) grant that will help the winning team collaborate with European production and sales house Beta Group in developing a pilot script and a full project package for their show.
The selected projects span multiple genres and countries (see below), from the Finnish foodie comedy Le Bouton D’Or, from veteran arthouse director Mika Kaurismäki (L.A. Without a Map, Road North) to the Spanish political thriller The Interregnum from creator Simón Casal (Justicia artificial) to Death Becomes Him from British-Nigerian filmmaker Joseph a. Adesunloye (White Colour Black) in which a young hustler, after dying in an accident, is resurrected with the powers of Jesus Christ.
The ten selected projects for the 2025 Seriesmakers edition are:
- A Person of Interest – Director/writer Michael Kinirons and writer Fergal Rock (Ireland, crime/thriller, 8×50’)
- Cow’s Tongue – Director Aly Muritiba and creator/writer Marc Bechar (Brazil, crime/thriller, 8×60’)
- Death Becomes Him – Director Joseph a. Adesunloye and writer Gabriel Winter (Nigeria, dark comedy/fantasy, 8×30’)
- Falke Motors – Director/writer Jens Dahl and producer Anders N.U. Berg (Denmark, crime/drama, 6×45’)
- Le Bouton D’Or – Director Mika Kaurismäki and co-writers Anastasia Pashkevich and Anna Andersson (Finland, drama/comedy, 6×45’)
- Pigs’ Disco – Writers/directors Joseph Bull and Luke Seomore (United Kingdom, drama/biopic, 4×60’)
- Stick’em Up – Writers/directors Gísli Örn Garðarsson and Björn Hlynur Haraldsson (Iceland, dramedy/biopic, 8×40’)
- The Interregnum – Creator/director/writer Simón Casal and producer Mariela Besuievsky (Spain, political thriller, 6×50’)
- The Wonderful Golem – Director/writer Ofir Raul Graizer and producer David C. Barrot (United Kingdom, drama/fantasy, 8×60’)
- Unequal – Director/producer Carolina Jabor and writer Claudia Jouvin (Brazil, thriller/heist/drama, 6×45’)
The 2025 Seriesmakers mentors include German producer Janine Jackowski (Toni Erdmann, Skylines), Israeli writer and script doctor Ronit Weiss-Berkowitz (The Girl from Oslo, A Touch Away), international development producer Isabelle Lindberg Pechou (Trom, Last Light), and Brazilian producer, director, and showrunner Felipe Braga (Sintonia, Lov3).
Industry professionals participating as speakers at this year’s event include Christian Schwochow (The Crown, Bad Banks), Quoc Dang Tran (Drops of God, Call My Agent!), Frank Doelger (Game of Thrones, The Swarm), Bryan Elsley (Skins), Frank Spotnitz (The X-Files, Medici), and Lila Byock (Watchmen, Castle Rock).
The Series Mania Forum is part of the Series Mania TV festival, which runs March 21-28.
Source: Hollywoodreporter
