NATPE: Tandem sets up Miami drama

StudioCanal prodco Tandem is setting up Deep City, a new Miami-based drama series with Nashville scribe and director Callie Khouri, music producer T Bone Burnett, and 24‘s Juan Carlos Coto all attached.

Munich-based Tandem announced the project, which hails from 24 and From Dusk Till Dawn: The Series scribe Coto, at NATPE Miami, which began yesterday.

Tandem’s managing director, Tim Halkin, told TBI it would be a “grown-up soap opera” and a true reflection of life in modern-day Miami. He added that Tandem is hoping that some form of local tax credit or funding could become available to support the ambition to film on location.

Khouri (pictured), who is shooting season five of Nashville, which has transferred to CMT and Hulu from ABC, said she and Burnett decided to push ahead with the project after visiting the city with StudioCanal TV’s MD Rola Bauer.

A bible and script for an opening episode are being worked up, although Khouri said she did not yet know if this would be a cable or network show. Tandem will seek out a US anchor net and then look for other international partners.

“When people think of Miami, they’re often thinking Miami Beach,” said creator Coto. “That’s all good, but we want to explore the other narratives this city has to offer. The way Midtown’s exploded in the last decade – music, art, food, everything – it’s a whole new way for Miami to tell its story all over again. This is a city that is constantly reinventing itself.”

“Put simply, this is a show about the new American dream, and it’s a dream project for me,” he added. “I’ve been writing and producing TV for more than twenty years, and every chance I get, I look to create a show in Miami.”

In related news during NATPE week, StudioCanal’s London-based distribution arm has sold Harlan Coben-penned drama The Five to Latin American pay TV operation DirecTV.

The Sky1 original will play on the exclusive OnDirectTV channel, which itself has moved into original production with the Eccho Rights-sold La Casa Del Mar.

Previous buyers of The Five include Italy’s TIMvision and Radio-Canada in French-speaking Canada, plus France’s Canal+, Israel’s Yes DBS, the Netherlands’ NPO, New Zealand’s Sky, Australia’s SBS and Spain’s Telefonica.