‘Walking Dead’ Maker Skybound Strikes “First-Of-Its-Kind” Deal With Prime Video For Scandi Dystopian Thriller
14.03.2024 - 14:05
/ deadline.com
EXCLUSIVE: Walking Dead maker Skybound Entertainment has struck what it is calling a “first-of-its-kind” deal with Prime Video over a dystopian thriller series from Scandinavia.
Amazon has taken rights in the Nordics for VAKA but Skybound retains worldwide distribution and controls the show’s “global commissioning structure.” This means Skybound can strike deals with buyers and sellers in different territories while the door remains open for Prime Video to acquire VAKA for other regions further down the line.
Set in Stockholm and starring Aliette Opheim and Jonas Karlsson, VAKA follows the spread of a deadly insomnia epidemic. A disgraced minister must balance addressing the crisis and caring for his son, while an ambulance nurse goes to great lengths to save her lover. The show is co-produced by Unlimited Stories and Sagafilm, the latter of which was acquired by Skybound and 5th Planet Games last year, and discussions with global distributors are understood to be well underway.
Rick Jacobs, Skybound’s Managing Partner of Linear Content, said the team were “eager to jump” into the new funding model having already made the hugely-successful adult animation Invincible for Amazon, for which the streamer takes global rights and is launching the second tranche of Season 2 episodes today.
“It’s a great opportunity to take an original from a streamer and open up the possibility to distribute elsewhere,” he added.
While the deal is a “first-of-its-kind” for Skybound, Jacobs stressed that there is irony in the tie-up feeling like a “return to the old models” where shows are commissioned in one territory and then sold around the world.
Former CBS entertainment president Glenn Geller, who joined Skybound last year to run its
The website celebfans.org is an aggregator of news from open sources. The source is indicated at the beginning and at the end of the announcement. You can
send a complaint on the news if you find it unreliable.