BAFTA AWARD-WINNING EUROS LYN ATTACHED TO DIRECT
Netflix has greenlit YA drama series ‘Heartstopper’ to be produced by See-Saw Films it was announced today by See-Saw and Netflix. ‘Heartstopper’ will be the Emmy, BAFTA and Academy Award-winning production company’s second television commission for the streamer.
Based on Alice Oseman’s young adult graphic novel series, ‘Heartstopper’ will be 8 x 30 minute episodes with critically acclaimed and multi award-winning Euros Lyn (‘Sherlock’, ‘Doctor Who’) is attached to direct. Creator Alice Oseman has also written all 8 episodes for the series. ‘Heartstopper’ will be executive produced by See-Saw’s Patrick Walters, Jamie Laurenson and Hakan Kousetta and the company’s joint managing directors Iain Canning and Emile Sherman, alongside Euros Lyn. Zorana Piggott is also joining the ‘Heartstopper’ team to produce the highly anticipated series.
Originally launched as a web comic on Tumblr and Tapas and amassing an extraordinary following, Oseman has since published three book volumes of the ‘Heartstopper’ series with Vol. 4 publishing this May. Pronounced ‘The queer graphic novel we wished we had at high school’ by the Gay Times, ‘Heartstopper’ is the story of Charlie and Nick who meet at an all-boys school in Kent, become friends, and quickly discover a romance is blossoming between them. Over the series Charlie and Nick fall head over heels for each other. Along the way they realise there is a strong community of allies and friends around them, helping them to access their authentic selves, but also teaching them there is no ‘right way’ to come out.
Creator Alice Oseman says, “I am over the moon that Heartstopper has found a place at Netflix. Netflix is totally in support of my and See-Saw’s vision for the show, and I feel incredibly lucky to get to work with a team of passionate, creative people who all adore Heartstopper and want to make it the most beautiful show we can. It’s a joy and an honour to get to re-tell Nick and Charlie’s story for TV and I am so excited to share it not only with Heartstopper's existing readership, but also a whole new audience around the world.”
Director Euros Lyn adds, "I’m thrilled to be directing all eight episodes of Alice Osman’s glorious Heartstopper and can’t wait to bring the drama and humour of this joyous boy-meets-boy love story to the screen.”
See-Saw Films’ Executive Producer Patrick Walters says “Alice Oseman’s Heartstopper is joyful tonic for these troubled times. It is an affecting graphic novel that’s on-screen version will pack a real emotional punch for today’s LGBTQIA+ teens. At See-Saw a top priority is to find stories that champion the underdog, and in Charlie and Nick we’ve been able to do exactly that. To have attached a filmmaker as uniquely talented and passionate as Euros Lyn to helm the series is a dream come true.”
Alice Oseman is a full-time writer and illustrator whose first novel ‘Solitaire’ was published by HarperCollins when she was just nineteen. She has since written ‘Radio Silence’ and ‘I Was Born For This’, as well as two e-book novellas also based on characters from ‘Solitaire’, titled ‘Nick and Charlie’ and ‘This Winter’ all published by HarperCollins. The multi award-winning Heartstopper series is published by Hachette in the UK and Scholastic in the US, as well as in fourteen other translation territories worldwide. Over a quarter of a million copies have been sold in the English Language, and volumes One, Two and Three were all number one bestselling graphic novels in the UK, with Volume One on its sixteenth printing already.
Euros Lyn is a BAFTA winning film and television director who has most recently directed feature film ‘Dream Horse’ for Film 4/Warner Bros. starring Toni Collette and Damian Lewis. He is winner of the BAFTA Cymru for Best Director four times, most recently for Channel 4 series ‘Kiri’ as all as the first series of ’Sherlock’. He also directed award winning single film ‘Damilola: Our Loved Boy’ and the first series of ‘Happy Valley’ both for BBC. Credits also include ‘Black Mirror' for Channel 4 which won an International Emmy for Best Drama Series, BAFTA winning ‘Last Tango in Halifax’ for BBC as well as episodes of ‘Broadchurch’. ‘Cucumber’, “Daredevil’ and ‘Dr Who’. He has also directed episodes of the first series of ‘His Dark Materials’ for BBC/HBO.
Oseman is represented by Emily Hayward-Whitlock at The Artists Partnership and Claire Wilson at RCW Literary Agency. Lyn is represented by Jessica Sykes at Independent Talent Group.
About See-Saw Films
Academy Award®, BAFTA and Emmy Award winning producers Iain Canning and Emile Sherman founded See-Saw Films in 2008. With offices in London and Sydney, See-Saw specializes in international film and television production.
See-Saw’s film projects include this year’s awards contender Ammonite, written and directed by Francis Lee, starring Kate Winslet and Saoirse Ronan which was selected for the Cannes, Telluride, Toronto and London Film festivals. In 2016 they released the six-time Academy Award® nominated Lion, starring Dev Patel, Nicole Kidman and Rooney Mara, as well as The King’s Speech, which was nominated for twelve and won four Academy Awards® in 2011 including Best Motion Picture. Recent projects include Widows directed by Steve McQueen and starring Viola Davis. Upcoming projects include Operation Mincemeat, directed by John Madden and starring Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen and Kelly Macdonald; The Power Of The Dog, written and directed by Jane Campion, starring Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst and Jesse Plemons; and The Unknown Man directed by Thomas M Wright, starring Joel Edgerton and Sean Harris.
See-Saw’s television division kicked off with the multi-award winning first season of Jane Campion’s ‘Top of the Lake’. Campion returned with ‘Top of The Lake: China Girl’ starring Elisabeth Moss, Nicole Kidman and Gwendoline Christie which premiered at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for a Golden Globe. ‘State of the Union,’ written by Nick Hornby, directed by Stephen Frears and starring Rosamund Pike and Chris O’Dowd had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival 2019 and won three Emmy Awards. Recent projects include Samantha Strauss’ ‘The End’ for Foxtel and Sky Atlantic, starring Harriet Walter and Frances O’Connor. Upcoming projects include ‘The North Water’ for BBC Two written and directed by Andrew Haigh, starring Colin Farrell, Jack O’Connell and Stephen Graham; ‘Slow Horses’ for Apple TV+, starring Gary Oldman, Jack Lowden and Kristin Scott Thomas; and ‘The Essex Serpent’ for Apple TV+, directed by Clio Barnard.
28.01.2021 | American Film Market Dailies's blog
Cat. : FILM