DCD Rights announces global drama sales and launches new titles for Mipcom

17 September 2019


Leading UK-based distributor DCD Rights announces multiple sales of its recently launched original titles to broadcasters’ worldwide and debuts brand new drama series, The Secrets She Keeps, Dry Water and Find My Killer at Mipcom 2019.

Gritty drama, On The Ropes (4 x 60’), a Lingo Pictures Production for SBS Australia, with principal production investment from Screen Australia in association with Create NSW, will travel to Screen Media Ventures for US premiere on Crackle, CBC in Canada and the Rialto Channel in New Zealand, while Inspector Rojas: In Cold Blood (8 x 60’), a thriller from Villano Production for Mega, has been sold to the Rialto Channel in New Zealand and SBS Australia.

The Hunting (4 x 60’), a star-studded series from Closer Productions commissioned by SBS Australia with funding from Screen Australia, in association with the South Australia Film Corporation, has also been picked up by a slew of broadcasters including, Channel 5 in the UK, Sky New Zealand, RTE Ireland, CBC in Canada, IVI in Russia and NPO in the Netherlands.

New dramas from DCD Rights for Mipcom include, The Secrets She Keeps (6 x 60’) a thriller from Lingo Pictures for Network Ten with production funding from Screen Australia in association with Create NSW, Dry Water (6 x 60’), a Portocabo & SP-i Coproduction with the participation of TVG & RTP and the distributor’s first short form drama series, Find My Killer (10 x 10’) by Screentime NZ for TVNZ OnDemand.

Nicky Davies Williams, CEO at DCD Rights, said, “It is fantastic to be approaching Mipcom with such a solid raft of sales confirmed for our recently launched titles.  We are delighted, although not surprised, that they were so well received, and we are very much looking forward to introducing our brand-new slate of dramas to international broadcasters in Cannes this October.”

In The Secrets She Keeps (6 x 60’) two women have a chance encounter in a supermarket in an affluent Sydney suburb. They are the same age, both heavily pregnant and due at the same time. Meghan is a glamorous online ‘influencer’ on the rise with an ambitious television sports reporter husband, Jack. Agatha works in the supermarket as a shelf stacker.

Although they live near each other, the two women’s lives could not be more different … Agatha is a loner, barely subsisting above the poverty line. She’s ecstatic to be pregnant, pinning all her hopes and dreams on this much longed-for ‘miracle baby’. Yet the father of her child, Hayden, a sailor on active duty, remains oblivious to her condition.

Meghan is a sophisticated mother-of-two who uses her website to reframe her imperfect life into a glossier, more aspirational existence. Despite posting enthusiastically about her pregnancy to her avid followers, including Agatha, behind closed doors this third baby is putting pressure on a strained marriage.

Both women have secrets. And both will risk everything to conceal the truth. But their worlds are about to collide in one shocking act that cannot be undone.

The Secrets She Keeps stars Laura Carmichael as AGATHA FYFLE (Downton Abbey, Marcella, The Spanish Princess), Jessica De Gouw as MEGHAN SHAUGHNESSY (Arrow, Underground, The Hunting), Michael Dorman as JACK SHAUGHNESSY (Patriot, Wonderland, The Secret Life Of Us), Ryan Corr as SIMON (Bloom, Cleverman, Love Child), Michael Sheasby as HAYDEN (The Luminaries, Hacksaw Ridge, A Place To Call Home) and Hazem Shammas as CYRUS (Safe Harbour, Underbelly, At Home With Julia).

In Dry Water (6 x 60’) Paulo Duarte is found dead from a gunshot wound in the port of Vigo. Nobody is convinced by the apparent suicide; neither his bosses, nor the police, nor his sister, Teresa.

Teresa knows her brother had no reason to give up on life and, as she begins to investigate his death, she becomes even more convinced. Impatient for answers, she decides to move from Lisbon to Vigo and accept a job in the company her brother was working in.

The Police, led by Inspector Viñas, also suspect it’s a murder case. Too many details stand out, like the gun found at the crime scene which, according to records, was related to an assault in Portugal and destroyed.

This will be the first lead of a case which will soon escalate, uncovering an arms trafficking network operating between Europe and Africa.

Mauro Galdón, one of the most influential people in Vigo is part of it; a successful businessman along with his wife, a renowned philanthropist. He’s the CEO of Galdón Group; among his enterprises is the shipping company in which Paulo was working. Mauro is also Teresa’s godfather and a good family friend, the reason why he employed Paulo.

Their paths are about to collide, but none of them are yet aware of how hard it will hit them.

Dry Water stars Victoria Guerra as TERESA (Casanova Variations, Wilde Wedding, Lines Of Wellington), Monti Castiñeiras as MAURO (Fariña/Cocaine Coast, Mysteries Of Laura, Serramoura) and Sergio Pazos as VIÑAS (Caiga Quien Caiga, Serramoura, Cuéntame Cómo Pasó).

Find My Killer (10 x 10’) is a short form web-series that follows the digital investigation into the disappearance and murder of 17-year-old Mia Bryant.

Inspired by real events, this fictionalized story offers a dramatic and compelling insight into the fast paced, information-laden, screen-fixated society we’ve become.

Aimed at a young, social media-savvy audience, this series invites viewers to solve the mystery of Mia’s murder. They’ll be given an evolving opportunity to work out who is innocent and who is guilty; sometimes finding themselves playing catch-up or, courtesy of our posthumous narrator Mia, and the ancillary information she provides, they’ll feel like they’re one step ahead of the series ‘investigator’, a police-based digital forensicist.

Like any murder mystery, Find My Killer is designed to keep the audience guessing and, hopefully, surprise them with some unexpected turns.

Find My Killer stars Mark Mitchinson as SUPERINTENDENT SMYTHE (The Luminaries, The Gulf, Rake).