Amazon Acquires Berlin Gangster Drama ‘4 Blocks’; Hulu Puts On ‘GameFace’ – Global Briefs

Amazon Prime Video has acquired global streaming rights to Berlin gangster drama 4 Blocks, a TNT Serie Original. The first season will become available via Amazon on October 4 in over 150 countries including the U.S., Canada and the UK. It will arrive in further majors, including Germany, France and Russia, from summer 2018. This is the first series that Turner’s TNT Serie has almost solely financed and self-distributed internationally. The six-part story centers on an Arab family in the Neukölln district of Berlin where Toni Hamady (Kida Khodr Ramadan) and his wife Kalila (Maryam Zaree) want to leave their four blocks and put criminal activities behind them. But after his brother-in-law is arrested in a raid, Toni owes it to his family to take over operational leadership of the clan. When an old friend suddenly returns to Berlin, Toni believes he has someone he can trust at his side, and the hope of a lawful future seems to be within reach once more. But it’s too late for an escape. 4 Blocks was developed by TNT Serie and Wiedemann & Berg, writers Hanno Hackfort, Bob Konrad and Richard Kropf, and director and writer Marvin Kren. It debuted at the Berlin Film Festival in February.

All3media International has entered a licensing deal with Hulu for the U.S. streaming rights to Objective Media’s GameFace. The first season of the contemporary dramedy will become available this fall. The pilot and six-part half-hour series are also due to air in the UK on E4 later this year. Creator and writer is Edinburgh award-winning Roisin Conaty who stars as Marcella, a woman spiritedly crashing her way through life. Bouncing back from a seismic break-up, clinging to her dreams of becoming an actress and — when she remembers her lessons — finally learning to drive, Marcella is on a mission to change her future for the better. The original pilot episode of GameFace aired in the UK in April 2014 and drew strong reviews. Pauline McLynn (Father Ted, Shameless), Francis Magee (Game Of Thrones, Rogue One), Dylan Edwards (Wasted), Damien Molony (Crashing), Nina Toussaint-White (Uncle), Karl Theobald (Plebs), Dustin Demri Burns (Cardinal Burns) and comedian Caroline Ginty also star. Executive producer for Objective is Ben Farrell