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Stockholm (AFP) – First one, then two, then 20: a small Stockholm company has in current days been deluged with bids for the rights to air the hit comedy sequence starring Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, a former actor turned wartime hero.
“It has been very, very busy. All all over the world, folks have requested for the rights as a result of they need to broadcast it,” explains Eccho Rights co-founder Nicola Soderlund within the company’s elegant places of work within the Swedish capital.
Because the begin of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, broadcasters similar to Britain’s Channel 4, Greece’s ANT1 and Romania’s PRO TV have rushed to hitch those that have already snapped up the rights to “Servant of the Individuals”, which first aired in Ukraine in 2015.
“I believe final week we made possibly 15 offers and we’re in negotiations with one other 20 international locations,” says Soderlund, a poster promoting the sequence hanging above his desk.
“The newest we heard of is Latin America, we’re discussing with the US, Netflix, we’re discussing with many.”
In Italy alone, three or 4 broadcasters are at the moment vying for the rights, whereas in Greece, the present is airing nightly on primetime.
“In a manner, it is an act of solidarity with the Ukrainians, and on the identical time, of curiosity — you need to see who he’s,” Soderlund says of Zelensky.
The president’s stature has soared on the worldwide stage because the begin of the invasion, impressing the world together with his fearless dedication within the face of the Russian onslaught.
Soderlund first met Zelensky 10 years in the past, when the Ukrainian was creating a sport present referred to as “Crack Them Up” by which extraordinary folks attempt to make comedians snigger, an idea later bought to Vietnam, China and Finland.
“I went to lunch with him in Kyiv,” remembers Soderlund. “He had all these loopy and humorous concepts”.
Pulling out his telephone, he exhibits selfies of himself posing with Zelensky on the Cannes movie market in 2016 — held alongside the famed movie pageant — the place producers, distributors and consumers do enterprise.
‘Wanted a hero like him’
On the time, it was unimaginable that this “very humorous comic, highly regarded and beloved by audiences” would go on to change into Vladimir Putin’s foremost goal and “this world chief who embodies and speaks for the entire nation”.
“We wanted a hero like him, after Trump and all that,” Eccho Rights managing director Fredrik af Malmborg interjects.
With “Servant of the Individuals”, life imitated artwork.
Within the sequence, which ran for 3 seasons, Zelensky performed a highschool instructor propelled to the presidency after a scholar’s video of him ranting about corruption in Ukraine went viral.
The present’s success propelled Zelensky to the presidency in actual life.
“He all the time mentioned, ‘Within the US they’ve had actors changing into president for a very long time'”, af Malmborg remembers.
Whereas the corporate hasn’t had any contact with Zelensky himself lately, Eccho has been in touch with a few of his representatives.
“One has fled to Turkey and the opposite is in Rotterdam, however they’re in touch with ‘Vova’, as they nonetheless name him”, af Malmborg says.
The main points of the rights contracts being negotiated are confidential, however the rights price “round one million euros”.
Eccho Rights additionally has one other sequence produced by Zelensky in its catalogue, “Svaty” (“In-Legal guidelines”).
The corporate, which employs round 40 folks in Stockholm, London and Istanbul, has donated 50,000 euros to the Ukrainian Pink Cross and plans to donate extra as extra contracts are signed.
© 2022 AFP