EXCLUSIVE: Anne Watanabe (Dice, Keep Mum) and Jasper Pääkkönen are main the most recent worldwide drama sequence hitting the market. They are going to star in Blood & Sweat, which brings collectively companions from three continents.
Japanese satcaster and streamer Wowow and Finland‘s Nelonen have co-commissioned the sequence, with Japan‘s AX-ON, a subsidiary of Nippon TV, and Finland’s ICS Nordic hooked up to co-produce. Canada’s Boat Rocker now boarding to take world distribution rights and one other associate on the manufacturing. Japan’s AX-ON, a subsidiary of Nippon TV, and Finland’s ICS Nordic are additionally hooked up as co-producers.
The eight-part sequence, which Wowow teased earlier this 12 months, follows Watanabe and Pääkkönen as detectives from completely different cultures whose shared sense of justice drives them to embark on a joint investigation right into a mysterious serial homicide case that stretches from Finland to Japan.
Manufacturing is underway in Finland and Japan. Boat Rocker’s Ivan Schneeberg and David Fortier, Nick Nantell and Jon Rutherford are exec producing alongside Wowow’s Takashima, AX-ON’s Daniel Toivonen, who will even direct, and ICS’s Ilkka Rahkonen and Ilkka Hynninen. The sequence is produced by Wowow’s Keita Tsutsumiguchi, AX-ON’s Risa Tanoue and ICS’s Erna Aalto and Jarkko Hentula. Riku Suokas, Daniel Toivonen, Marie Iwasaki, and Heikki Syrjä are the writers.
“Although Japan and Finland are far aside, this venture has revealed surprising cultural concord between the 2,” stated Tomomi Takashima, govt producer at Wowow. “With a robust unique story and an impressive forged from each nations, it’s a novel and great collaboration, and we’re thrilled to be partnering with Boat Rocker to convey this particular sequence to audiences across the globe.”
Wowow is understood for worldwide co-productions equivalent to HBO Max’s Tokyo Vice, one other noir-style drama made with companions outdoors Japan that ran for 2 seasons.
Ilkka Hynninen, Inventive Director of ICS Nordic added that Blood & Sweat was “a terrific instance of how worldwide IP from Finland and Japan might be efficiently dropped at the worldwide market. Developed in collaboration with our Japanese companions, this venture blends Finnish and Japanese sensibilities to create a novel and thrilling expertise that resonates with world audiences and sparks the creativeness of world residents.”
Hynninen, who based ICS Nordic with Ilkka Rahkonen, have targeted on making exhibits for the worldwide market since launch in 2022 and lately completed a global model of comedy characteristic ISMO – Breaking Unhealthy English.
Author and director Toivonen instructed audiences to be “ready for one thing you’ve gotten by no means even imagined seeing earlier than as we combine the Nordic Noir style with Japanese aesthetics and characters.”
“With deep thriller, intrigue, and motion, Blood & Sweat is certain to captivate worldwide audiences due to the daring storytelling from our inventive companions,” stated Nantell, who’s Government Vice President, Head of Scripted Inventive at Boat Rocker Studios. “This thrilling new venture additional underscores our dedication to strategically put money into premium scripted co-productions we imagine in,” added Boat Rocker’s Jon Rutherford, President of World Rights, Franchise and Content material Technique.
Toronto-listed Boat Rocker, initially recognized for unscripted, now sells worldwide scripted sequence equivalent to Irish comedy-horror Video Nasty, buzzy Australian drama Combine Tape and upcoming BBC Scotland and Sky New Zealand drama The Ridge.
The corporate is within the means of being offered to Blue Ant Media in a reverse takeover, however Boat Rocker bosses Ivan Schneeberg, David Fortier and John Younger have fashioned a brand new biz, IDJCo, to purchase Boat Rocker Studios and their model administration and franchise administration operations. As soon as the transaction is accomplished, their new firm can be named Boat Rocker as soon as once more, as Blue Ant establishes a Toronto Inventory Alternate-listed enterprise, Blue Ant Media Company.
