Jean-Stephane Bron on Making ‘The Deal,’ a Series About the U.S.-Iran Nuclear Agreement That’s More Timely Than Ever (EXCLUSIVE)

variety.com:

Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent “The Deal,” the sprawling Gaumont show charting the 2015 behind-the-scene nuclear negotiations between the U.S.

and Iran, won Series Mania‘s first annual Buyers Choice Award in part due to the timeliness of its geopolitical themes. Yet, Jean-Stephane Bron, the critically-acclaimed Swiss screenwriter and filmmaker of “Cleveland Against Wall Street,” started developing the six-part series more than six years ago.

Bron, who also produced the series with “Anatomy of a Fall” banner Les Films Pelleas and Gaumont and co-created it with French director Alice Winocour (“French Couture,” “Próxima”), told Variety ahead of Series Mania that he first pitched it in 2018 as part of a contest launched by Swiss broadcaster RTS (which he won).

The script, penned by Bron, Winocour, Eugène Riousse, Julien Lacombe, Stéphane Mitchell and Valentine Monteil, was finalized in the last two years, after Bron consulted a diplomat who took part in liberating the journalist who was taken hostage during the negotiations.