EXCLUSIVE: Disney+ is close to unveiling its next UK scripted series, which hails from The Salisbury Poisonings producer Dancing Ledge Productions and Emily In Paris outfit Jax Media.
Deadline understands that the two companies are gearing up to go into production on Wedding Season, though the project has not yet been fully greenlit. Sources billed the series as a rom-com action-adventure story. Plot details are still under wraps.
Wedding Season is penned by Oliver Lyttelton, the breakout writer behind BBC Studios’ upcoming self-commissioned, short-form scripted series Cheaters, which is made by The End of the F***ing World producer Clerkenwell Films.
Lyttelton’s short film The Listener premiered at the Edinburgh International Film Festival in 2015 and was longlisted for best short at the 2016 BAFTA Film Awards. He also has a number of other projects in development with Clerkenwell.
Related Story
UK Government Officially Moves To Regulate Netflix, Amazon & Disney
We also hear that George Kane has been attached to direct. Kane helmed two seasons of ITV2 comedy Timewasters, which was recently picked up by IMDb TV in the U.S., while his other credits include comedy Crashing, starring Phoebe Waller-Bridge.
Disney+ unveiled its first slate of UK scripted series in April. The three projects included a Disney+ swashbuckling adventure from BAFTA-winning Gentleman Jack writer Sally Wainwright, produced by Lookout Point and titled The Ballad of Renegade Nell; Star heist series Culprits, written by J Blakeson (I Care A Lot) and produced by Character 7’s Stephen Garrett, who made The Night Manager; and Sid Gentle Films’ Extraordinary, a Star comedy series from new talent Emma Moran.
Disney+ will greenlight 50 international projects by 2024, with the work being spearheaded by Diego Londono, Disney’s EVP of media networks and content in EMEA, and Liam Keelan, VP of original content in the region.
In an unusual coincidence, Jax Media is also working on a feature project for Netflix also titled Wedding Season. Written by Shiwani Srivastava and directed by Tom Dey (Shanghai Noon), the film follows two Indian-Americans who pretend to date in order to survive a summer of weddings, but find themselves falling for each other.
