Alex Ritman Fresh from its hugely impressive haul of nine Emmy nominations for hit Apple TV+ show “Slow Horses,” powerhouse producers See-Saw Films has unveiled a slate of new literary options also being developed for TV.
The British/Australian company, which in recent years has demonstrated its ability to amass acclaim, awards and audiences on the big screen (“The King’s Speech,” “The Power of the Dog,” “One Life”) and small (alongside “Slow Horses,” it also produces Netflix hit “Heartstopper”), has landed the rights to three pieces of IP, including one that has already proved a hit on stage.
Playwright Benedict Lombe’s epic romance “Shifters” — starring “Supacell” lead Tosin Cole and “The Power” actress Heather Ageypong — is currently in the process of transferring to the West End after a sellout run at the Bush Theater (and with Idris Elba recently joining the play’s lineup of producers).
But it’s now also being adapted by Lombe for TV with See-Saw, with plans to take the story beyond the stage play and into a returning series. “It’s a very sweeping love story borne out of a very specific set of characters,” says Helen Gregory, who oversees See-Saw’s team of exec producers and was recently upped from creative director to joint-MD (alongside Simon Gillis, who was upped from chief operating officer). “It follows two characters who basically meet as the only Black kids in school in their philosophy class and experience that astonishing imprint of first love and tracks them as they grow apart, together, apart, together, allowing us to explore the challenges and joys of intimacy and how we all have the potential to get in our way.” Also in development is “The Romantic Tragedies of a Teenage Drama King,” the debut novel.
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