British production company WestEnd Films has formed a partnership with producer team Anton to develop an array of TV series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The collaboration was handled by Anton’s Head of Business Development Celia Meirow and WestEnd Managing Director Maya Amsellem.
“WestEnd has launched its TV arm WeSeries a year ago and we are thrilled to be working with Anton to develop and produce high-end dramas,” said Amsellem in a statement via The Hollywood Reporter. “Our combined expertise and knowledge will be devoted to finding and curating unique stories that will resonate with an international audience,” Amsellem said via The Hollywood Reporter.
Anton has developed projects for both TV and film. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it has a similar partnership with BBC having funded both His Dark Materials and Gentleman Jack, both HBO series. On the film side, it has been instrumental in backing an array of indie films as well as blockbusters. Created by former StudioCanal executive Sébastien Raybaud, its film arm has financed Gerard Butler’s (Night Has Fallen, Law-Abiding Citizen) Greenland, The Night House starring Rebecca Hall (The Town, The Gift), and John Boyega’s (Small Axe, Attack the Block) Naked Singularity.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, details of the deal are still in development, but the two companies announced their first series will be led by Ron Leshem (The Gordin Cell, Euphoria) and Amit Cohen (No Man’s Land). They will serve as executive producers as well as lead writers. The Israeli showrunners have collaborated on False Flag and Valley of Tears. Premiering in 2015, False Flag follows five Israeli strangers who awaken accused of conspiring a kidnapping plot. It is currently being remade by Apple TV+. Valley of Tears, which is produced by WestEnd, chronicles the Yom Kippur War of 1973. It has become Israel’s biggest TV series to date.
Apart from these projects, Leshem is best known for creating the Israeli teen drama, Euphoria, which was adapted by Sam Levinson (Assassination Nation, Malcolm & Marie) for HBO and starred Zendaya (Spider-Man: Far From Home, The Greatest Showman). Zendaya’s performance in the series garnered her a history-making Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series.