TorinoFilmLab Unveils 9 TV Projects Selected for Innovative SeriesLab Workshop (EXCLUSIVE)
Italy’s TorinoFilmLab, the international film and TV series incubator linked to the Torino Film Festival, has unveiled the nine projects selected for its 2024 SeriesLab workshop dedicated to fostering production of innovative TV shows from around the world.
The projects, which are in the early development stage, hail from 13 different countries: Australia, Belgium, Croatia, Egypt, Finland, Hungary, Ireland, Mexico, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and the United States.
More from Variety
For the second year in a row, SeriesLab is being led by Hungarian screenwriter and former HBO Hungary development executive Eszter Angyalosy.
“This year, once again, we selected nine original TV series ideas from passionate creatives with unique points of view,” Angyalosy said in a statement. She added that the projects aim to challenge preconceived notions pertaining to “genre, storytelling tradition and the mindset of their future audiences.”
Angyalosy will be working with tutors Filip Kasperaszek (Poland), Kirsten Ittershagen (Germany), Cyril Tysz (France) and Anne Feinsilber (France) who will in turn collaborate with three story editor trainees over a six-month period. The program comprises a first workshop in early June in Leuven, Belgium, organized in partnership with VAF – Flanders Audiovisual Fund. A second residential workshop is set for September in Madrid thanks to the support of Ayuntamiento de Madrid, Comunidad de Madrid and Madrid Film Office. Additional online sessions will also be held in between these workshops.
This year, for the first time, the SeriesLab course will reach its conclusion with a pitching session at the TFL Meeting Event, TorinoFilmLab’s co-production market, scheduled for Nov. 21-23 in Turin.
Read more about the nine selected projects below.
“Accidental Villains” (Egypt, U.S.)
Genre: Comedy/action/thriller
Logline: Navigating the cultural and racial minefield of post-Trump America, two Egyptian asylum seekers forge an unlikely friendship that reshapes their American dream in NYC.
Creator/writer/director: Ahmed Ibrahim. Ibrahim has directed award-winning shorts screened in dozens of festivals. He worked as an assistant director on “Mr. Robot,” “Homeland” and “Succession.” He is a Ryan Murphy TV Directing Program fellow, shadowing directors on “Pose” and “Welcome to Chippendales.” He is also a Disney Directing Program alumnus. Ibrahim’s TV directing credits include Hulu’s “Single Drunk Female” and “Deli Boys.” His latest short, “A Chair for Her,” stars Murray Bartlett.
“Dear Insects and Other Creepy Stories” (Croatia)
Genre: Dark humour anthology
Logline: The story takes place in a worn-down suburban socialist concrete building. A heat wave of 40+ degrees. Eight apartments, eight different stories. Eight nightmares. All connected by Miro the janitor, who is all about keeping order in this shabby building where the lights are not working or doors are not closing. One day, a cockroach enters the building, and Miro is determined to hunt it down.
Screenwriter/director/producer: Karla Lulić. Lulić is the founder of Croatian production company Dobar Film (i.e. Good Film), dedicated to international films with genre elements. She is currently developing her first feature film, “Mirror of Nightingales.”
“Death Doula” (Finland)
Genre: Dark comedy
Logline: An overenthusiastic death doula [a doula is a trained professional who provides expert guidance] falls in love with one of her dying clients. While she tries to convince others to accept the inevitability of death, she’s utterly unable to do this herself.
Creator/writer: Anastasia Pashkevich. Pashkevich has written and directed short films and culinary shows. As a screenwriter and creator, she is currently developing several TV series, shorts and feature films with companies across Europe. She participated in the Eureka program of the Series Mania Institute.
Creator/writer: Eeva Putro. Putro is an actor and screenwriter. Her standout works include the film “Tove” (2020), multiple performances at the Finnish National Theatre and the award-winning short film “Sirocco” (2013). Her debut feature film as a screenwriter, “Tove,” gained international recognition and was Finland’s 2021 Oscar entry. Eeva was nominated for the Jussi Prize for her screenplay and won the Sylvi Prize (best screenplay) in 2021.
“Ensemble” (The Netherlands)
Genre: Comedy
Logline: Six colleague-friends, behind the scenes of a forever-running musical, desperately try (and fail) to figure out life.
Writer/creator: Emma-Rose Thompson. Thompson made her debut as a writer, director and actress in the short film “LifeLine” (AKA “Love & Hope” IFF Barcelona, 2023). Currently, she is working as a staff writer in two writers’ rooms: under Oscar van Woensel (“Mocro Maffia,” “Follow the Soa”) and under Paula van der Oest (“The Forgotten Battle”), developing two series commissioned by Netflix.
Creative producer: Hanneke Bosman. Bosman started her film career at production company BosBros in 2010. She more recently worked on feature films including “The Amazing Wiplala.”
“Freeloaders School” (Spain)
Genre: Comedy
Logline: In the bubble we live in, of class struggle and opulent decadence, an unexpected accident brings to light the secrets of a network of suspects, the freeloaders. They are a peculiar group, with different members but the same objective: to search for a sense of belonging to something. As power and deceit are revealed, alliances are tested turning the entire story on its head.
Scriptwriter/creator/director: Horacio Gómez Alcalá. Alcalà was on the production team of Cirque du Soleil, where he worked for several years while filming the doc “Grazing the Sky.” In 2021, he premiered his debut fiction film “Finlandia,” which won best director at the Seattle Film Festival. His projects draw inspiration from the literary and pictorial movement of magical realism.
Editor/executive producer: Blanca Tormo Megias
“Goodnight Girl” (Ireland)
Genre: Drama/dramedy
Logline: When a young transgender woman dies suddenly, her prejudiced family plans to bury her under her dead name. That is, until her gang of estranged queer friends steal her remains — inadvertently unleashing chaos on an austere Irish town.
Writer/co-creator: Hiram Harrington. Harrington is a writer, director and artist from Dublin. His debut short film as writer and director, the horror-thriller “Glory, Hole” debuted at the GAZE International LGBTQ+ Film Festival in 2023. In 2021, he received Virgin Media Discovers development support, and in 2022, was the writer on a finalist project for RTE’s Storyland. In 2024, Hiram participated in X-Pollinator, Screen Ireland’s network for women, trans and non-binary filmmakers, along with Element Pictures’ inaugural Storyhouse Lab. At present, he writes and directs freelance for Ireland’s longest-running drama series, RTE’s “Fair City.”
Director/co-creator: Janna Kemperman. Kemperman is an award-winning filmmaker whose latest short, “Shadow,” premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh and went on to screen internationally, winning awards including a special mention at Dublin IFF and best cinematography at FastNetFF. Janna also serves as a director on Ireland’s longest-running TV series “Fair City” and on the BBC’s “EastEnders.”
Producer: Mary-Margaret Ryan
“Metamorphoses” (Belgium)
Genre: Fantasy
Logline: A girl finds a young woman’s body in a forest. When the victim’s tongue suddenly speaks to her, the girl puts the tongue in her pocket and hides it at home… Accompanied by the speaking tongue, two police officers, and sometimes even her mother – who doesn’t speak – the girl seeks the truth.
Screenwriter: Hasse Steenssens. Steenssens studied writing at RITCS, a film school in Brussels and graduated in 2020. She did her internship as a writer at Caviar, the Belgium/L.A. based production company and has been working for them ever since. Caviar is producing “Metamorphoses.”
Screenwriter: Michael De Cock. De Cock is an author, actor and director who is the artistic director of The Royal Flemish Theatre.
Producer: Helena Vlogaert
The Heir (U.K.)
Genre: Historical drama
Logline: A young woman discovers she is the sole descendant of a group of Nigerian children with mind control powers, and becomes the center of a power struggle between those wanting to utilize her skills as she works to uncover the truth of her identity.
Creator/writer: Abiola Ogunbiyi. Ogunbiyi is a screenwriter based in London. She worked as an actor on stage and screen for 11 years before embarking on a writing career. Ogunbiyi was a finalist in the inaugural Netflix Screenwriters Fellowship and has written material for the sitcom “Piglets” (coming to ITV1/ITVX in summer 2024). She is also developing a feature film with Green Door Pictures & EbonyLife Media for Netflix.
“The Making of a Terrorist” (Sweden)
Genre: Drama/thriller
Logline: When a miner is scammed by his employer, he seeks help from the authorities, convinced that justice will prevail in Sweden. But society’s safety net turns out to be an illusion that maintains the image of an equal Sweden. Despite his efforts to even the odds, he loses his life savings and everything he holds dear. When he crashes to rock bottom, there is only one thing he hasn’t tried. A revenge plan takes shape and with it proof that even the most reliable man is a potential terrorist in a world that is constantly failing.
Creator/screenwriter: Leif Edlund Johansson. Johansson is an award-winning actor who played one of the main roles in Ruben Östlund’s “Involuntary,” on which he also contributed to the story. He was subsequently involved in the script process for Östlund’s “Force Majeure.”
Screenwriter: Emelia Hansson. Hansson’s graduation short “Hel” premiered at Göteborg Film Festival this year. She has written and directed other prizewinning shorts. As an actor, she has appeared in films and TV series such as “Wallander” (2013), “Our Time is Now” (2018) and “HUSS” (2021).
Best of Variety
Sign up for Variety’s Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
