Peter Chernin’s North Road Company Boards Israeli Crime Drama ‘Bad Boy’ From ‘Euphoria,’ ‘Bosch’ Creatives

Peter Chernin’s The North Road Company has boarded crime drama Bad Boy, the new Hebrew-language series from Euphoria creator Ron Leshem and director Hagar Ben-Asher (Bosch, City on a Hill).

The content studio, launched last year, unveiled its “first international co-studio deal” for the series with Israel-based film and TV company Sipur (The Devil’s Confession: The Lost Eichmann Tapes, Munich ’72), formerly known as Tadmor Entertainment, on Wednesday. North Road International Film & TV president Kristin Jones and Emilio Schenker, CEO of Sipur (the Hebrew word for “story”), made the announcement.

The companies are co-financing the drama alongside Israeli pay TV and telecom firm Hot and Tedy Productions, which collaborated on the original Euphoria. Principal photography began in January.

Bad Boy tells the story of Dean who was imprisoned in a cruel juvenile detention facility where he bonded with Zoro, “a grim and mysterious teenage prisoner serving time for murder,” according to a plot description. “To survive the harsh reality behind bars, Dean learns to harness his unique intelligence and creativity. Twenty years later, these traits still define Dean as a star comedian, while his time in jail is a secret threatening to resurface and tear his life apart.”

Israeli-American TV and film writer and producer Leshem created the original Euphoria, executive produced the HBO remake of the same title, co-created HBO Max’s Valley of Tears and wrote the film Beaufort, among others. Israeli writer, director and actress Ben-Asher has directing credits on Amazon’s Bosch and Showtime’s City on a Hill and is also known for theatrical features Dead Women Walking and The Slut.

They created Bad Boy alongside Israeli comedian Daniel Chen, writers Moshe Malka and Roee Florentin, as well as Leshem’s longtime partners, Israeli-American producer-writer Amit Cohen (No Man’s Land, False Flag) and Daniel Amsel (Euphoria, Valley of Tears).

Jones and North Road president Jan Frouman will executive produce the series for North Road along with Schenker, Michael Schmidt and Gideon Tadmor for Sipur; Guy Levy, Mirit Toovi and Ori Gal for Hot; Tmira Yardeni and Meital Cohen for Tedy; and creators Leshem, Ben-Asher and Chen.

“Hagar, the most brilliant, admired filmmaker to come out of Israel, agreed to create this one with us, which was a dream come true,” said Leshem. “For us, this is our next Euphoria.”

Jones lauded the “exceptionally compelling and poignant story” as a great way to “launch our promising foray into international co-productions.”

Added Schenker: “We brought the next big project from the brilliant creative minds of Ron and Hagar to Peter Chernin’s highly impressive North Road team, which instantly recognized the project’s massive global potential. We love this show and are confident viewers worldwide will share in our passion.”

CAA and Kneller Artists Agency represent Leshem, Ben-Asher and Cohen. North Road’s Frouman and Sipur’s Schmidt led the negotiations for the deal. Ziffren Brittenham’s Pam Black and EBN & Co.’s Lior Oren represented North Road; Jeff Freid from Longarzo, Vance Klevan Freid, Zohar Kadmon and Dana Lerner represented Sipur.