15th Mar 2024
Keshet Studios to adapt French thriller VORTEX for US & global TV markets
US scripted arm of Keshet International licenses the format of internationally acclaimed high-concept French thriller
Keshet Studios, the US scripted arm of Keshet International (KI), has acquired the remake rights to the internationally successful grounded genre thriller Vortex for the US and global TV markets from France tv distribution.
Based on an original concept by Franck Thilliez, the romantic thriller Vortex centers on a police captain who discovers a glitch while examining a VR crime scene: he can communicate with his lost love, just before her death in 1998. Determined to alter her fate and prevent her murder, Ludovic risks everything, including his life with his new family. As he delves deeper into the past, Ludovic grapples with the consequences of altering destiny and the cost of rewriting history.
Originally produced by Quad Drama in association with France Télévisions, Vortex (6x52’) was a huge success when the first season premiered on France 2 early last year, watched by more than 4 million viewers with an audience share of 18.7%. Co-created and written by Camille Couasse and Sarah Farkas, and directed by Slimane-Baptiste Berhoun (Woke), the ongoing series stars Tomer Sisley (Don’t Look Up, Balthazar) as the police officer who stumbles upon a time warp that turns his life upside down, alongside Camille Claris (Marie-Antoinette), Zineb Triki (The Bureau), and Eric Pucheu (Woke). Vortex has since been picked up by Netflix, premiering on the global platform on 2 June 2023.
Here, Keshet Studios has acquired the rights to develop and produce an English-language adaptation of Vortex for the US and global TV markets in a deal that was negotiated by Michelle Palant, International Sales Manager at France tv distribution.
Julia Schulte, SVP of International Sales at France tv distribution, and Michelle Palant, comment, “Vortex is an original high concept. We are proud to distribute it and we are thrilled to be working with Keshet Studios. We hope this will lead to the production of a successful English-speaking remake, as did our other great French series adapted in English language: Call my Agent and Bright Minds.”
Keshet Studios’ SVP of Scripted, Heather Brewster says, “Within the first few minutes of watching Vortex, I knew this had to be Keshet Studios’ first French adaption for the US. A deeply emotional, inventive, and entertaining story that keeps you coming back for more, Vortex is a perfect fit for our growing slate of premium international formats.”
Brewster continues, “With our solid track record of developing and producing successful Keshet formats like When Heroes Fly and The Baker and the Beauty, we’re excited to work with incredible partners like France tv distribution as we expand Keshet Studios’ English Language remake pipeline by focusing on acquisitions from across the global market.”
Drawing on KI’s extensive unscripted and scripted catalogues, Keshet Studios is best known for developing, packaging, and producing scripted content for the US and global markets. Keshet Studios currently has more than a dozen scripted projects at various stages of development or production, including limited and returning series, short-form dramas, and feature-length films.
Recent productions include A Small Light (Nat Geo / Hulu / Disney+) co-produced with ABC Signature; Mark Boal's critically acclaimed adaptation of When Heroes Fly, Echo 3 (Apple TV+); as well as three seasons of La Brea (NBC) and The Calling (Peacock) with David E Kelley, both co-produced with Universal Television.
Other projects in Keshet Studios' pipeline include a TV adaptation of Katelyn Monroe Howes' The Awoken; and on the film side, the award-winning political thriller Tatami directed by Guy Nattiv and Zar Amir Ebrahimi. Keshet Studios is repped by WME in all areas, and by Range Management for unscripted.
