EXCLUSIVE: Crime star Dougray Scott and Buccaneer Media, the Scottish police drama’s producer, have employed a Creative Director for Buccaneer Scotland, because it seeks to supercharge the dimensions of its productions within the Celtic nation.
The Lighthouse improvement chief Neil Duncan employed to run Buccaneer Scotland slate as Creative Director, specializing in showcasing Scottish literary, appearing and behind the digicam expertise by its worldwide operations and partnerships.
Scott and Buccaneer teamed to launch Buccaneer Scotland in November 2021, with Mission Impossible 2 star Scott taking an fairness stake within the enterprise. He had moved again in Scotland after a protracted interval residing within the U.S. to movie Crime and might be joint CEO of Buccaneer Scotland alongside Buccaneer Media bosses Richard Tulk-Hart and Tony Wood.
Wood, the veteran drama producer and co-creator of The Only Way is Essex, famous large finances U.S. productions comparable to Starz’s Outlander had tremendously improved the talents base for high-end dramas in Scotland, and mentioned this gave Duncan and Buccaneer Scotland an awesome footing to additional the legacy.
“American productions have come in and trained up exceptional crews, but you need to spread them more widely across the landscape there and for us it’s an opportunity to build on what Outlander has achieved,” he mentioned.
Buccaneer Scotland boss Duncan joins from The Lighthouse, which is producing upcoming Netflix function Scoop. We first advised you about that mission, which is a dramatisation of the car-crash Prince Andrew interview on the BBC again in July 2022. Duncan has held his Head of Development function on the firm since 2020. Before that, he was held an identical function at BBC Studios Drama London.
Duncan started his profession on the BBC as a script editor on EastEnders earlier than changing into story producer on UK-produced drama comparable to Fortitude, New Tricks, Strike Back and Ackley Bridge. As a collection producer, his credit embrace Endeavour, Clique and Skins. He was Head of Development for BBC Scotland Drama for 2 years and is now transferring again to Scotland for the brand new function.
“Buccaneer’s writer-led approach and commitment to telling bold, ambitious stories from Scotland feels like the perfect fit,” mentioned Neil Duncan, Creative Director of Buccaneer Scotland. “I can’t wait to get started, and am looking forward to building on Buccaneer’s existing reputation as a home for creative talent north of the border.”
Wood mentioned Duncan is a “heavyweight” with a “great reputation with writers, who respect him,” including: “To return someone like that to Scotland with infrastructure feels like a major move. He feels he has an opportunity to get the bit between his teeth and make a difference in that landscape.”
Scott, Tulk-Hart and Wood additionally issued a joint assertion, saying: “Having constructed a powerful basis for the corporate we really feel we are actually in an awesome place to convey established and rising Scottish expertise to the market that can showcase a stream of concepts and content material that really feel recent and thrilling.
“The industry is going through a period of fundamental change but it is our strong belief that strength of voice and originality will remain the cornerstone of keeping audiences entertained, wherever that voice originates from. At Buccaneer we are here to amplify those voices and push boundaries.”
Buccaneer is finest identified for Irvine Welsh’s Crime, the ITVX drama collection from Trainspotting writer Welsh starring Scott as a hassle Edinburgh cop, together with ITV and Netflix’s Marcella and Acorn TV’s Whitsable Pearl. Upcoming collection embrace Paramount+ UK dramas The Burning Girls and The Doll Factory and season 2 of Crime, the latter of which types a part of the Buccaneer Scotland slate.
“We have international reach and you see that with shows coming up,” added Tulk-Hart, the previous A+E worldwide distribution boss. “We can deliver shows on that level, whether they’re from Scotland or England. Tried and tested production companies give confidence to commissioners who might well be taking less risk in coming months. When it comes to U.S. they don’t care where a writer is from but they do care that there is a good piece of writing and producer who can deliver on it.”
Buccaneer Scotland’s slate comprise reveals comparable to upcoming Irvine Welsh six-parter The Blade Artist, based mostly on his 2016 novel and marking the primary time the Trainspotting movie franchise might be tailored for TV. The collection will star Robert Carlyle reprising his function because the psychopathic anti-hero Francis Begbie.
The firm has additionally initiatives in paid improvement and has struck a cope with writer Jenni Fagan to adapt her novels The Panopticon and Luckenbooth for TV.
We perceive the slate is presently about 10% the scale of that of Buccaneer Media in London. Tulk-Hart famous all the firm’s collection so far have returned, and mentioned the Scottish would look to duplicate this success, utilizing a returnable scripted present as a “great school environment” for coaching up extra writers, producers and crew in Scotland.
Tulk-Hart advised Deadline Buccaneer Media, which is a partnership with Canada’s Cineflix, had “quadrupled its revenues in the past three years,” although he didn’t present monetary figures. However, he known as the expansion “significant” and famous all the firm’s reveals had returned.
“We won’t dwell on what we’ve done,” he mentioned noting that Buccaneer was now “really building to 2025 and 2026, and Scotland will grow as we get things over the line,” including: “It’s been a rollercoaster in some ways but a healthy rollercoaster.”
The firm’s newest drama, The Doll Factory, was one in every of out Mipcom Hot Ones. The Paramount+ drama is being bought on the Croisette by Cineflix Rights. We first advised you concerning the present, which is tailored from Elizabeth Macneal’s novel, in July 2022. Make certain to learn up on it Cannes.
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