Capital and Deutschland 8

Capital

Capital won the best TV movie/mini-series award at the 44th International Emmy Awards.^[10]

commissioned and originally broadcast by the BBC which gives the series brand identity internationally – particularly through its subsidiaries BBC America and BBC Worldwide

Kudos, the independent producer of the series, specializes in TV series which can be sold or remade for the US market, making it typical of contemporary media institutions that operate globally rather than nationally

Freemantle (international production and distribution company), Pivot TV (US), and BBC Worldwide all in deals to distribute the series globally

promoted in the UK as a ‘state of the nation’ event series

themes and setting are also constructed to appeal to an international audience: setting includes recognizable London iconography, familiar to an international audience from film and TV. Themes span the domestic and global – family melodrama, romance as well as reference to the economic crash, terrorism, and migration

the series combines the national style of social realism with the generic conventions of the crime drama and focus on a crime to be solved

multi-cultural, a multinational cast of characters addresses an international audience with diverse cultural experiences.

Deutschland

distributed by Freemantle, a British production and distribution company, subsidiary of RTL media, a global company which is designed to target an international audience 

it is a co-production of AMC Networks, SundanceTV (US) and RTL Television (German and American), positioning it to exploit the national and global market

AMC and RTL were able to develop the series in the context of new opportunities for distribution and exhibition – e.g. the Walter Presents platform in the UK, which is a subsidiary of C4, exploiting broadcast and digital opportunities

focuses on German – and European – history and politics

the cast of relative unknowns – even in the country of production – were still used to promote the series through the focus on young, visually appealing male and female leads

• themes and setting are constructed to appeal to an international audience through the familiar narrative tropes of an ‘innocent abroad’ and the “Romeo and Juliet” romance. The series is visually stylish using a familiar postmodern style which exploits the current popularity of retro styles in fashion and music

• exploitation of social media; part of the Sundance TV marketing strategy was the use of historical sliders, live-tweeting of the program by the actress who played the lead character, playlists of 1980s music linked to Spotify and through the Twitter account.

With reference to Witnesses (Les Temoins, France) and The Missing (UK).

 Witnesses (Les Temoins, France):

product of French public service broadcaster – France 2 –  associated with quality, serious drama in continental Europe

France 2 was able to develop the series in the context of new opportunities for distribution and exhibition – e.g. the Walter Presents platform in the UK which is a subsidiary of C4, exploiting broadcast and digital opportunities. Series distributed in US, Australia, Europe

style, content and characters of the series deliberately designed to replicate international success of Nordic Noir in order to target audiences beyond the national

The Missing contains a mix of French regional, local identity with more familiar genre conventions and characters

the series was marketed using familiar (to national audiences) actors but focused on the familiar iconography of the thriller and horror aspects abroad

the postmodern, hyperreal style is fashionable; internationally recognizable, and popular.