Makever Heads To ‘Destination Mars’ With Laurence Fishburne’s Cinema Gypsy – Mipcom

French production group Makever is headed to Mipcom with a series of new titles under its umbrella including dramas for the international and local market. Among the companies in the stable is MakingProd which first mooted ambitious drama series Destination Mars last November when it was seeking partners. It’s now teamed with Laurence Fishburne’s Cinema Gypsy Productions, Russia’s Star Media and Poland’s Cynergy Films as co-producers.

The 10-part development project, especially timely given the release of Ridley Scott’s Martian this weekend, follows the daily struggles of a group of international astronauts after they crash land on the red planet. Alone, facing the unknown and struggling with even basic communication between themselves, the survivors face their worst fears; discovering that Mars may not be as dead as they believe. The story also follows their families back on Earth as they try to understand what’s happening, whilst uncovering the conspiracy behind the crash landing

Also among Makever’s companies are Mademoiselle Films and Vema Production. Although details are being kept under wraps for the moment, Mademoiselle is headed into production on fashion industry drama Haute Couture which deals with the tensions between creativity and commerce in the high-stakes business. The Mark Gordon Company recently acquired the U.S. format rights. Makever is currently handling sales on both Destination Mars and Haute Couture.

Vema, meanwhile, has acquired French rights to BBC drama The Escape Artist which starred David Tennant as a lawyer subject to a revenge attack. Gregory Fitoussi (Mr Selfridge) is starring in the French verson alongside Joey Starr and Mélanie Doutey. Red Arrow sold the format to Vema and TF1 has ordered the two-parter for air in 2016.

Also from MakingProd, period drama Salazar is a co-production with Spain’s Plano a Plano. Based on a true story, it sees a group of villagers falsely accused of religious crime and sorcery as part of a plot masterminded by the local aristocracy and members of the church to safeguard the interests of the feudal lords of the Spanish Navarra and the French Labourd. Eccho Rights is selling.

Makever’s other credits include Kabul Kitchen, Captain Sharif, The Odyssey, The Invincibles and feature Diary Of A Chambermaid,.