Content London spotlights African drama

Three upcoming drama series from Africa were the focus of a Hot Properties panel session at the recent Content London conference earlier this month.

The session shone a light on three African dramas expected to have an impact on the international market over the next 18 months. Delegates at the C21-owned event heard how the projects were created, developed, packaged and sold from those closest to the project.

This session featured Shadowland, Catch Me a Killer and Spinners and can be viewed here.

Shadowland
Shadowland is a female-driven wildlife crime thriller series set in South Africa from creator and writer Jacqui Barcos, writing team Rohan Dickson (Reyka, Desert Rose) and Yule Caise (Heroes, Tales), director Darnell Martin (American Rust, The Good Lord Bird, Cadillac Records) and executive producer Peter Elkoff (Sons of Anarchy, Chance, The Resident).

Athena Pictures’ Andra Gordon and Sarena Khan and Starlings Television’s Chris Philip and Karine Martin are executive producing with Propagate Content’s Ben Silverman.

A fierce and reclusive female wildlife activist reluctantly teams up with an undercover special ops veteran to expose a plot to ambush a rhino translocation caravan. Ultimately, the unlikely duo is forced to confront their deepest fears in the face of an ever-expanding web of corruption. Based on real people and events, Shadowland is, in the end, a bittersweet love story that delves into the unspoken truths behind Africa’s dire poaching crisis.

Speakers: Jacqui Barcos, Rohan Dickson and Yule Caise.

Catch Me a Killer
Catch Me a Killer is a crime series set in South Africa in the 1990s and tells the harrowing true story of psychologist Micki Pistorius – South Africa’s first serial killer profiler. Charlotte Hope (The Spanish Princess ) stars as Pistorius.

In 1994, against the backdrop of a country on the brink of democracy, Pistorius joins a task team on the hunt for a notorious serial killer and is launched into a dangerous underworld.

She is assigned to profile the Station Strangler – a serial murderer who has left a trail of 22 dead boys in his wake in the dunes of the windswept and isolated Cape Flats. This is the first case of Pistorius’s career in the South African Police, and the first in an array of warped criminal minds into which she must dive head-first.

Set in a uniquely South African landscape, Catch Me a Killer is a brooding dramatic thriller led by a flawed, determined protagonist.

Speakers: Amy Jephta, Simon Howley, Jess Ruston.

Spinners
Ethan is a 17-year-old driver working for a local gang, run with an iron fist by Damien. Trying to support his younger brother but increasingly disgusted with this life and constantly on the edge, Ethan discovers a possible way out via spinning – an intense local sport where he could put his driving skills to use and find a new family. But the looming gang war jeopardises that hope.

Speakers: Cécile Gérardin, Benjamin Hoffman and Joachim Landau.