Mumbai: In collaboration with Locomotive Global, Applause Entertainment has teamed up with international content maverick Simon Mirren and his partner Benjamin Anderson to develop a crime pro-serial drama.
The term "pro-serial" describes a procedural drama series with some serialised elements in the plots.
Applause Entertainment CEO Sameer Nair said, "Stories are universal, and yet must have intense and local authenticity. Telling international stories in an Indian context has always been an integral part of us at Applause, and now, taking it a notch higher, we are bringing international creators to work with us."
He further added, "Simon and Ben are veterans in the field of crime dramas, and we believe having them on board will help us develop a local ‘international’ series with a fresh pair of eyes applying international best practises in narrative storytelling. These two mavericks, along with Sunder Aaron and the creative team at Applause, have set out to create an original multi-season crime drama series."
Mirren was the driving force behind popular programmes like Waking The Dead, Spooks, Without A Trace, Versailles, and the iconic 15-year-long running series Criminal Mind, bringing the global phenomenon to India.
A pro-serial precinct project will be developed by Case Closed, the company owned by Simon and his partner Ben.
Locomotive Global co-founder Sunder Aaron said, "Our vision at Locomotive Global is to create global quality content with rooted Indian stories. It's a pleasure to work with Sameer Nair and the Applause team, who share the same vision and ambition for storytelling. Simon and Benjamin bring with them heaps of experience and global best practices for the creation and execution of high-quality iconic content. I really look forward to working with the duo and Applause to create a potent partnership and an unprecedented writing team in India to create a never-seen-before crime drama."
Simon, who is credited with developing, writing, and directing authentic crime procedurals, will establish a creative eco-system using his years of experience to enable regional writers to manage the program. He and Ben will then continue to collaborate to fully develop and produce the series.
Simon said, "As a storyteller, I really like to go out into the world and find new stories, meet real people. There is nothing more impactful than tapping into local storytellers, and we aim to bring forth the talent’s authentic voices into our show. Applause Entertainment is the hub of some gripping crime dramas, and it is truly a pleasure and a whole new experience to work on an Indian crime drama, collaborating with the best of entertainers—Applause and Locomotive."
Benjamin added, "With the growth of Indian OTT, there is a wide canvas of scope and creative potential in storytelling. It is the start of an interesting journey ahead to work with a force of creative minds at Applause to create an Indian story for a global audience."
The creative and production teams at both Locomotive and Applause will support this new approach at all stages of the creative process.
It all begins with a select and talented pool of committed writers who will collaborate closely with the team and have the opportunity to explore the creative, visual, technical language, and other best practises used in international procedural dramas.
Simon and Ben are currently engaging in an experiential process to bring the storylines for the first series to life by meeting with the judiciary, police experts, crime reporters in India, and production facilities.
