It’s not just Netflix which is cashing in on the K phenomenon. Federation Kids & Family has clinched a brace of first-wave deals with major international broadcasters on “Gangnam Project,” its new K-pop-inspired tween live-action series.
A coming-of-age dramedy, “Gangnam Project” has sold to powerful public broadcasters – just the kind of established clients the market is looking for these days – in France, the Nordics and Australia.
France Televisions, one of Europe’s biggest TV networks, has bought for France, YLE for Finland and ABC for Australia.
Sales have been closed since the show’s recent launch on CBC Gem in Canada and CBBC and BBC iPlayer in the U.K.
Created by broadcast network exec turned producer Sarah Haasz (“Step By Step Let’s Dance”), “Gangnam Project” has also closed the Baltics, being picked up by their TV3 Group.
Struck by Federation Kids & Family, the premium distribution arm of Federation Studios, the deals were announced just after “Gangnam Project” walked off with a prestigious Pulcinella Award for Best Live Action and/or Hybrid TV Show at last weekend’s Cartoons on the Bay, organized by Rai Com. A jury praised its “intense and intercultural work, with a dynamic rhythm. The different settings and appealing characters evoke powerful emotions.”
Produced by Pillango Productions and Aircraft Pictures with co-commissioning broadcasters CBC Kids and CBBC, “Gangnam Project” turns on Hannah Shin, a spirited Canadian-Korean teen with dreams of connecting with her Korean heritage. Accepting a job as an English tutor, she flies to South Korea to work at an elite K-pop training school where, demonstrating her own musical flair, she ends up as a trainee.
“‘Gangnam Project’ is an upbeat series that promises a winning combination of drama and K-pop dance,” said Monica Levy, co-chief of distribution, Federation Kids & Family. “Inspired by Sarah Haasz’s (the show creator) own personal journey as a first-generation immigrant from Korea living in Canada caught between two countries/cultures, it also touches on universal themes surrounding the importance of being accepted and accepting.”
Music for the series is composed by August Rigo, who has composed for BTS, Justin Bieber, K-pop boy band Seventeen and One Direction.
