In a first for a South African drama series, Both Worlds’ Unarmed has been selected as one of the finalists for C21 Content London 2018 Drama Series Pitch. From over 100 submissions from established drama creators worldwide bidding to attract additional finance and co-production partners, C21 selected Both Worlds’ political spy thriller as one of the final eight invited to pitch at the International Drama Summit on 27 November 2018.
Unarmed will be presented at the International Drama Summit at Content London on Tuesday, 27 November between 15h00 and 16h30. The series will compete with productions from France, The Netherlands, Denmark, Finland and the UK. The winning project will be announced at The International Drama Awards, which take place from 19h00 on Wednesday, 28 November.
Unarmed, in advanced development stage, has attached internationally recognised talents including Shawn Slovo (A World Apart, Catch A Fire, Mohammed Ali’s Greatest Fight) who developed the pilot script alongside Both Worlds’ Thierry Cassuto and Karen Jeynes, Charlotte Brändström (Colony, The Witcher) as director, and Academy Award nominee Djimon Hounsou (Amistad, Guardians of the Galaxy) as the lead.
The series is a fact based thrill ride through Southern Africa, Germany, France and Belgium in both the late eighties and present day. When terrorists pull off an audacious heist at Pelindaba, one of the world’s largest stores of highly enriched uranium, and a representative of the International Atomic Energy Agency is brutally murdered, the world’s eyes are turned to Southern Africa and the threat of a dirty bomb. Unarmed is based on the premise that South Africa finally agrees to hand over its weapon-grade uranium stores, a legacy from the atomic bombs the apartheid regime made in defiance of UN sanctions, and thirty years of secrets were to be revealed.
Both Worlds is a Cape Town based South African production company known for its many award-winning programmes including twice International Emmy nominated and multiple SAFTA winner ZANEWS’ Puppet Nation, as well as Point of Order and Operation Rainbow Warrior. Both Worlds has recently launched a high-end scripted programmes division, and has several series in advanced stage of development with local and international broadcasters.
The Content London International Drama Pitch Summit is the world’s highest platform to launch scripted series to the international marketplace, providing access to over 2000 of the industry’s top executives. The winning pitch will receive a marketing package through C21Media worth £30,000 to support series’ development and pre-sales promotion.
For more information on Both Worlds, visit their website.