Sony sinks new Last Resort deals

US nuclear submarine dramas Last Resort has been sold by Sony Pictures Television into more than 100 countries ahead of its launch on US network ABC.

The international distribution arm of the Hollywood studio has closed deals with broadcasters including Germany’s Prosieben, Spain’s Telecinco and AXN Asia across twenty territories including India and China.

Executive producer Shawn Ryan, who previously created gritty cable drama The Shield, told TBI that he is aware of the international attention that the show has created. “Sony is pretty good at letting me know where it’s sold. If you’re an artist, which us hacks in the TV business call ourselves, you want your product to be seen in as many places as possible,” he said.

Ryan added that he is expected to head to the UK to help Sony pitch to British broadcasters. “When we talked to foreign buyers in May we had a general idea about what we’re going to do but it’d be great to go to London to be able to talk with greater confidence of the first 13 episodes,” he added.

Other broadcasters include Italy’s Fox, Austria’s ORF, Turkey’s Digiturk, Czech Republic’s Nova and Belgium’s Telenet.

Keith Le Goy, president of international distribution at SPT, said: Last Resort is marked by its ambition and backed by talent with proven pedigree in the US and internationally. The series offers buyers and audiences an incredibly rich arc of stories to unravel and characters to discover, with the world on the brink of war, conspiracy raging in Washington, a tropical island under siege and a web of human relationships caught in the middle.”

The show, which launches on Thursday 27th September, is produced by Middkid Production in association with Sony Pictures Television and was written by Ryan and Karl Gajdusek (Dead like Me). It follows the crew of a nuclear sub who, after questioning a suspicious order to fire nuclear missiles, become fugitives from their own country.