Looking to take a page out of fellow Rainbow Media network
AMC, Sundance Channel will bow its first scripted series this fall.
Carlos, from
well-regarded French director Olivier
Assayas, is a miniseries about Carlos the Jackal, who led a wave of terrorist
attacks through Europe and the Middle East in
the 70s and 80s.
The six-hour project is a limited run series. But the
network, which was acquired by Rainbow in 2008, has four additional scripted
series in development including an adaptation of Erica Jong's iconic sexual
liberation novel Fear of Flying; Triple Crossing, a geopolitical crime
drama set in South America; The Clinic,
a futuristic suspense thriller; and Shutterbabe,
about a female photojournalist.
The network's goal is to build a brand beyond the confines
of Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival and Institute, which continues to
supply Sundance with independent films and documentaries.
Sundance Channel executive VP and GM Sarah Barnett said that
the network's scripted strategy is "rooted in our desire to tell original
stories" that are "entertaining" and "culturally relevant."
According to Rainbow Entertainment Services COO Ed Carroll,
Sundance will be looking at developing more scripted series with a goal
toward one launch each year.
Additionally, Sundance will launch
two original unscripted series this summer: Girls Who Like Boys Who Like Boys, about relationships between
women and their gay best friends; and Seduce
Me, a follow-up to Isabella Rossellini's Webby Award-winning Green
Porno.
Barnett also announced a second season of the vérité series BrickCity,
which shadows Newark, N.J. mayor Cory Booker. Filmmakers Mark
Benjamin and Marc Levin are currently in production with an aim
toward a 2011 bow.
The second seasons of The
Lazy Environmentalist and Man Shops
Globe bow in April and June, respectively. Long-running series Iconoclasts and
the second season of The Day Before,
about the run-up to top designers' runway shows, premiere in September.
Also in 2011, Sundance will expand its Full Frontal Fashion franchise with four fashion-centric unscripted
series. Agent of Fashion is a docu-series
about designer/agent Brian Stark's Brand Equity Showroom. Fashion Fix and All on the Line
center on emerging designers and Fashion
Icons follows top designers and their muses.
