Top photo from left: Joel Dicker, author of The Truth About The Harry Quebert Affair; Ben Schnetzer (Snowden); Jean-Jacques Annaud (Seven Years In Tibet); MGM’s Steve Stark and Chris Ottinger; Kristine Froseth (Rebel In The Rye); and Patrick Dempsey (Grey’s Anatomy, Bridget Jones’ Baby)
MGM Worldwide Television Distribution is at MIPTV with a strong slate of scripted series and movies, according to Chris Ottinger, president, worldwide television distribution & acquisitions, MGM. “We’re right in the middle of the launch of Condor,” he told the MIPTV Daily News. “And we were able to give MIPTV buyers a sneak peak of 35 minutes of The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair.”
Condor, starring Max Irons, William Hurt and Mira Sorvino, is loosely based on the iconic Robert Redford movie Three Days of the Condor. Set up as a returning series for DirecTV’s Audience Network in the US, Ottinger says, “It is edgy enough to work on PayTV platforms but would also work well in a 10pm slot on a free TV channel”.
The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair, which opened CANNESERIES’ Official Competition yesterday, is a limited series based on a popular novel by Joel Dicker. It has already been acquired by TF1 in France, and Ottinger is optimistic about more European sales because the popularity of the novel on the continent. In the US, it will air on Epix.
The MIPTV slate also has several new movie titles including Creed II, the next chapter in the Adonis Creed story starring Michael B. Jordan and Sylvester Stallone. There is also Operation Finale, the story of Nazi War criminal Adolf Eichmann’s capture in 1960s Argentina.
MGM has aggressive ambitions in the non-factual arena and will introduce TKO (working title), an obstacle course series with a twist, from executive producer Mark Burnett. Ottinger says the company is also in discussions with the BBC about taking its Funderdome format from test pilot to a full series commission.
This article was written by Jo Stevens for the MIPTV News magazine, and edited by Kristine Clifford.
