·
Series order follows a ground-breaking partnership to produce US procedural dramas
·
Series is based on the novel,
One Kick, from best-selling author, Chelsea Cain
·
Two-time Golden Globe nominee and SAG Award nominated actor,
Chris Noth, to star
London, 30 November 2016:
NBCUniversal International Studios, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland
(Germany) and TF1 (France) have announced today the greenlight of
Gone, a new procedural drama series based on Chelsea Cain’s novel, One Kick.
Chris Noth will star in the 12 one-hour episodes, created by Matt
Lopez (The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) to be launched in late 2017/early
2018.
Gone
tells
the fictional story of Kit “Kick” Lannigan, survivor of a famous child
abduction case and Frank Booth (Noth), the F.B.I. agent who rescued
her. Determined never to fall victim again,
Kick trains in martial arts and the use of firearms. She finds her
calling when Booth persuades her onto a special task force he created
dedicated to solving abductions and missing persons cases. Paired with
former Army Intelligence officer John Bishop,
Kick brings her unique understanding of the mind of a predator to this
riveting procedural.
Noth joins
Gone after a number of prominent roles. He starred as Detective Mike Logan on the original
Law and Order, and then joined HBO’s ground breaking series, Sex and the City,
where he garnered his first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a
Comedy Series. His second Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor would
soon follow, but this
time for his critically lauded role as the flawed and powerful, Peter
Florrick, opposite Juliana Margolis on the CBS hit drama,
The Good Wife.
The series order of Gone
is the first from the unique collaboration between NBCUniversal
International Studios, Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland and TF1, which was
created to secure a pipeline of high-quality,
US-style procedural content. All episodes will be written, cast and produced in the U.S.
Mediengruppe RTL and TF1 will broadcast and distribute the series in their territories (German and French territories respectively); and NBCUniversal International Distribution will license the
rights for the US and the rest of the world on behalf of the partnership.
Gone will be
executive produced by Lopez, JoAnn Alfano (Resurrection, 30 Rock),
NBCUniversal International Studios’ Executive Vice President of Scripted
Programming and Sara Colleton
(Dexter).
Michael Edelstein, President of NBCUniversal International Studios, commented:
“Working with Mediengruppe
RTL Deutschland and TF1 has been a fantastic collaboration and we are
all delighted to be moving forward so quickly on our first series
together. In GONE, Matt Lopez has created
a fascinating character who we believe will connect with procedural
audiences around the world. We are in the process of assembling a first
rate production team and look forward to future series with our
partners.”
Joerg Graf, Executive Vice President Production & Acquisition at Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland, added:
“We are excited about GONE as an emotional
series with a twist on the successful procedural form with unique
characters and a contemporary setting. TF1 and NBCUniversal
International Studios share our view that tailor-made formats will
meet the increasing need of our viewers for high-quality modern crime
dramas. Thereby we are looking forward to working with Matt Lopez and
our reliable partners on the further developments of this outstanding
project.”
Fabrice Bailly, Head of Programs and Acquisition TF1 Group, said:
“We
are delighted to green light the first high quality scripted series
from our innovative partnership with NBCUniversal International Studios
and Mediengruppe RTL. The collaborative
relationship represents a new way of working, for both studios and
European broadcasters, to achieve high quality procedural dramas. We are
very excited to have such great talent attached to the project: Matt
Lopez as show runner and Chris Noth as one of our
stars; we are confident GONE will be widely enjoyed by French
audiences.“
About NBCUniversal International Studios:
NBCUniversal
International Studios delivers award-winning international television to
millions across the globe. Based in London, NBCUniversal International
Studios’ in-house production labels include: Carnival
Films, Monkey, Chocolate Media, Lucky Giant and Australian-based
Matchbox Pictures. Additionally, NBCUniversal International Studios
operates a joint production venture with Working Title Television and
Heyday Television, owns an equity stake in LARK Productions
in Canada (Motive) and has a first look deal with Hardy Son & Baker
and 87 Films. It also operates a prolific global formats business,
which licenses and produces content in over 70 territories worldwide.
About Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland:
In free-TV RTL, VOX,
n-tv, RTL NITRO and RTL Plus as well as the shareholdings in SUPER RTL
and RTL II have made the Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland into the most
successful private television broadcaster, while
in the Pay-TV segment RTL Crime, Passion, RTL Living and GEO Television
provide a complement to its channel offering. The Mediengruppe RTL
Deutschland has a presence on every kind of screen, from television to
PCs/laptops and tablets, up to and including smartphones.
Thanks to its video-on-demand platforms running under the brand name
NOW its station content can also be accessed for time-shifted viewing.
With its vast portfolio of channels and online offerings it addresses a
broad spectrum of target groups – with one
objective: to always strive to provide the best content available for
each and every viewer. The shareholder of Mediengruppe RTL Deutschland
situated in Cologne is the RTL Group SA with its headquarters located in
Luxembourg and whose majority shareholder
is Bertelsmann.
About TF1 Group:
TF1
is the leading private audiovisual group in free-to-air television in
France. The Group’s five complementary free-to-air channels, TF1, TMC,
NT1, HD1 and LCI), together claimed an
average audience share of 27.7% in 2015. LCI is being added to the
Group’s free DTT channels in 2016.
The
Group is strengthening this leadership position by continuously
adapting to the new ways in which viewers are consuming content. TF1 is
thus developing a powerful digital format for
its channels. Exclusive digital content and video-on-demand products
are also offered in order to reach all audiences across all platforms.
The Group also produces top-quality theme channels in Pay-TV that meet
the specific viewer needs: TV Breizh, Histoire,
Ushuaïa and Serieclub (50% owned, with 50% owned by M6).