Beta Film, one of Europe’s largest independent production and distribution players, has concluded a broad multi-territory sale to Canal+ on a selection of Beta titles, led by the sexual thriller “The Couple Next Door”, starring Sam Hueughan, the protagonist of “Outlanders”, and the 2025 Berlinale hit thriller “Other People’s Money”.
Under the terms of the agreement, Canal+ will roll out the premium Beta Film series in Austria, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Belgium and the Netherlands, among other territories. The agreement extends to several windows and platforms of Canal+’s regional services, Beta Film announced Thursday.
The titles announced as part of the deal are heavy on crime – the common currency of European television commerce these days – from the subplot of “The Couple Next Door” to the extraordinary tax fraud in “Other People’s Money”, including the crime drama “Cold Summer”, the police procedural “Makari – Sicilian Mysteries” and the crime thriller based on true events “El Inmortal: Gangs of Madrid”. But we must also add the coming-of-age series “Prisma” and “Last to Break”, a biography of Finnish motorcycle racer Jarno Saarinen.
“Other People’s Money,” the first four episodes of which are world premiering at this year’s Berlinale, is produced by Germany’s X-Filme Creative Pool, behind the European premium TV milestone “Babylon Berlin,” and Denmark’s True Content Entertainment, whose producer Ole Søndberg was behind “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Wallander.” They are supported by the German and Danish public channels ZDF and DR.
“Other People’s Money” chronicles the biggest tax scam in European history, worth 146 billion euros ($170.8 billion), orchestrated by ultra-rich banks and investors, where the key question is whether the fraud is even illegal and whether its perpetrators can be prosecuted. Created and showrunner by Jan Schomburg (“I’m Your Man,” “Above Us Only Sky”), the series was hailed by Der Spiegel as a “perfectly formed eight-part masterpiece.”
From Eagle Eye (“Bookish”), produced by Walter Iuzzolino and Jo McGrath and made in association with Beta Film and supported by Channel 4 and Starz.
“The Couple Next Door” features a top-notch cast – Heughan, Alfred Enoch (“How to Get Away with Murder”), Eleanor Tomlinson (“Poldark”) and Jessica De Gouw (“The Huntress”), with Tomlinson playing a deeply traumatized Evie who moves in with her heterosexual husband Pete (Enoch) to a seemingly perfect and well-healed suburb of Leeds in northern England – until she develops an increasingly deranged sexual obsession with her neighbor Danny (a handsome Heughan.
Written by David Allison (“Marcella,” “Bedlam”) and directed by award-winner Dries Vos (“Suspect,” “Professor T”), “The Couple Next Door” was one of the biggest streaming drama launches on Channel 4, also marking a strong linear debut. It was sold to over 55 territories initially, including to NBC Universal for Latin America, RTL in Germany, RAI in Italy, and a first-window deal with Amazon in the Netherlands.
Presented in the main Canneseries competition in 2022, “El Inmortal – Gangs of Madrid”, produced by Movistar Plus+ and Telemundo Int. Studios in collaboration with Banijay’s DLO Producciones, charts the rise of the founding leader of Los Miami, a gang that controlled Madrid’s insatiable drug trade in the ’90s, strained by sudden explosive violence and the drug lord’s multiple near-death experiences. series at the 2023 Produ Awards and Best Actor in a Drama Series (Alejandro García) at the 2023 Almería Film Festival.
Produced by Clemart, Italian mafia series ‘Cold Summer’ was sold to SBS Australia and Walter Presents in the US and Canada ahead of its UK linear premiere on Channel 4. It broke records on home turf on RAI Italy, premiering with a peak audience of 4.6 million and a remarkable 23% market share.
Renewed for a second season, Amazon’s Italian original “Prisma,” about teenage twins defying gender norms, won the Premio Kinéo 2024 best actor award for Mattia Carrano, who plays both twins. Cross Productions, owned by Beta, produces.
Taking place in Sicily, “Makari – Sicilian Mysteries” is produced by Palomar, owned by Mediawan (“Inspector Montalbano”, “The Name of the Rose”). Hailed as “The Other ‘Montalbano'” by the newspaper Corriere Della Sera, it proved a Rai Primetetime winner.
“Last to Break” is produced by Helsinki-based Funfar (“Bad Company”), co-produced by Fireframe and Finnish TV channel YLE, written by Sami Keski-Vähälä (“Gracious Night,” “Brothers”) and directed by Simon Kaijser (“Spinning Man,” “Before We Die”).
It captures the shocking mortal danger of early ’70s motorcycle racing as Finn Saarinen – dashing, charismatic, an extraordinary and meticulous rider but always an underdog – takes on three-time reigning world champion Giacomo Agostini in the 1972 350cc World Championship. Agostini seemed unbeatable, having not lost a head-to-head race since 1967.
