Simon Fuller partners NRK to bring the year’s hottest new show SKAM to American audiences
(Oslo, London, Los Angeles, 6am 9.12.16 CET)
SKAM, the ground breaking multi-platform teen drama that’s become Scandinavia’s TV hit of the year, is to be produced for American and English-speaking audiences by Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment.
Skam (translation title: SHAME) has been widely acclaimed since its debut on the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation’s (NRK) platforms in 2015. The NRK show uses compelling narratives in real time with unknown actors and scripts that speak unflinchingly to a 16 year old audience, creating massive attention and huge ratings among young and adult audiences in Scandinavia. Fuller has concluded a deal with the SKAM format owner Norwegian public service broadcaster NRK to produce an English version of SKAM for the US and Canada, the biggest TV and online audiences in the world. Production is slated to start in 2017.
Simon Fuller comments:
“SKAM is an important show. There is precious little content created primarily for a teen audience and SKAM provides this with great honesty and integrity. This show packs a punch and is leading the way in exploring multi platform story telling. It has become an enormous hit in Norway and has the potential to become an influential show in America, where there is simply nothing like it. Scandinavia and Norway in particular is at the forefront of innovation and creativity in the shaping of the world’s digital and creative industries right now. I’m proud to be in partnership with NRK to take SKAM to a worldwide audience.
NRK’s Head of Youth TV, Haakon Moslet says:
“A lot of people in the TV industry have got their eyes on “Skam” this fall, but no one has got a vision as Simon Fuller. He wants to be true to the original idea and make “SKAM” a series that can change the rules in the American TV market. We´re honored he wants to take “our baby” to the next international level.”
NRK’s Head of Formats, Ole Hedemann, added:
“By taking the rights to the US and putting the power of Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment behind it, we feel certain that SKAM’s integrity will be respected, and that the unique authenticity that is at the heart of our show will capture a very large audience. SKAM’s secret, the accurate portray of high school kids, gives the audience something to think about – and at the same time, something to love”.
After first screening online in real time SHAME has become the breakout TV hit of the year in Norway, growing weekly audience from 24k to 1.262m (Norway total population 5m), outperforming most TV and streaming primetime hits in Norway by far.
The success of Skam is the result of NRK’s multiyear efforts to develop television/entertainment formats that appeal to younger audiences. SKAM dramatically changes traditional TV production methods by generating a shared reality for its viewing audience through the web where each episode is first published as it happens: http://skam.p3.no/. Further update chat, posts and social media uploads take place over following days before the weekly TV show summaries the storyline for the casual viewer.
The cast is focused on a group 16 year old characters. Storylines are meticulously researched to reflect real life teen issues. Episode length varies in length from 17 mins to 50 mins. Since it’s first broadcast in 2015 Shame has broken records and won awards to become the hottest teen drama of the year.
For further information contact:
Shame / Skam NRK contact:
Andreas Blaauw-Hval presse@nrk.no
+47 414 28 800
Simon Fuller / XIX Entertainment London:
Julian Henry Julian@xixentertainment.com
+44 207 801 1919
Simon Fuller / XIX Entertainment LA
Roger Widynowski rogerw@xixentertainment.com
+1 310 746 1919