EXCLUSIVE: Buzzy French drama Sea Shadows is making a splash with buyers. The eco-thriller follows a marine scientist researching a mysterious shipwreck and has been one of the most-watched scripted shows this year in France, on France 2. Ahead of a major sales push at MIPCOM next week, France TV Distribution has closed a raft of sales deals.
Walter Presents, which majors in non-English-language drama, has snagged rights for the UK and Ireland. In Portugal, public broadcaster RTP has picked up the show, while in Germany it has landed with NDR. Swiss pay-TV service Blue Entertainment has also acquired the series.
The sales follow a solid run for Sea Shadows at events and festivals. It was a key title at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous gathering last year and was selected for a showcase of hot French titles at Series Mania in Lilles. It went on to scoop the Audience Award at the Montréal Séries Festival and play in competition at the South International Series Festival 2024 in Spain.
Sea Shadows follows marine scientist Abigail. She returns to her hometown of Fécamp to look investigate a shipwreck. There are tensions between the authorities, local fishermen and environmental activists. The real danger, however, is below the surface where a mysterious entity resides.
Mintee Studio and Thalie images produced the series, which was created by Jonathan Rio and Monica Rattazzi. It was directed by David Hourrègue.
On home turf, the six-part show is titled Rivages. It averaged 4.2M viewers of the France 2 channel, and 7M viewers in consolidated viewing on streaming service France.TV.
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