MIPTV: Belgian Real-Life Thrillers ‘The Crash,’ ‘1985’ Sell for Europe, Australia

Things have been almost frighteningly quiet at this year’s MIPTV international television market, which runs through Wednesday in Cannes, but a trickle of deal announcements suggests that while cutbacks and cost-cutting may be the order of the day, some business is still being done.

French giant Studiocanal on Tuesday unveiled a flurry of territory sales for two new Belgium thrillers, The Crash and 1985, both based on real-life events, that are part of the company’s MIPTV slate.

The Crash is a dramatization of the 1992 airline disaster, in which El Al Flight 1862 to Tel Aviv crashed into two jam-packed residential high-rises in the suburbs of Amsterdam. 1985 tells the story of Belgium’s most notorious, unsolved crime spree involving a series of violent attacks, believed to be carried out by three men, which resulted in the death of 28 people.

SBS Australia, Canal+ in France, Disney+ and BeTV in Belgium, Germany’s MagentaTV / Telekom , Free TV Israel and Cellcom Israel, RTP Portugal, and Cosmo Spain acquired local rights to The Crash. The five-hour limited series was created and written by Michael Leendertse (Turbulent Skies), directed by Lourens Blok and Edson Da Conceicao and produced by Fleur Winters via Big Blue for NPO1/KRO-NCRV.

Canal+ took 1985 for France, the Czech Republic and Solvakia, with further deals with SBS Australia, Free TV Israel, Ireland’s TG4 and Filmin for Portugal and Spain. The 8-part series was written by Willem Wallyn, directed by Wouter Bouvijn and produced by Peter Bouckaert. It marks the first-ever drama co-commissioned by two Belgian public broadcasters: VRT and RTBF, and was produced by Eyeworks in Belgium.