Applause Entertainment, India’s leading content studio backed by the Aditya Birla Group is synonymous with creating premium Indian content for domestic and global audiences. Keeping in line with its commitment, the content studio in collaboration with Locomotive Global Inc. has teamed up with International content mavericks Simon Mirren and his partner Benjamin Anderson to develop a ‘Crime Pro-serial Drama’.
“Pro-serial” is a term referring to a procedural drama series with some serialized elements in the storylines. Bringing the global phenomena to India, Mirren was the creative force behind iconic shows like ‘Waking The Dead’, ‘Spooks’, ‘Without A Trace”, “Versailles” and the iconic 15 year long run series ‘Criminal Minds’. Case Closed, Simon and his partner Ben’s company, are on-board with Applause & Locomotive to create a pro-serial precinct project.
Credited for creating, writing, and show running authentic crime procedurals, Simon will build a creative eco-system based on his years of expertise to empower local writers to run the show. He and Ben will then work in ongoing collaboration to fully develop and produce the series. This new approach to all phases of the creative process will be supported by the creative and production teams at both Locomotive and Applause. It all starts with a select and talented pool of dedicated writers who will work closely with the team and have an opportunity to explore the creative, visual, technical language and other best practices applied in International procedural dramas. Currently in the development phase for the first series, Simon and Ben are undergoing an experiential process in bringing alive the show’s storylines by meeting the judiciary, police experts, crime journalists in India and visiting production facilities.
Sameer Nair, CEO, Applause Entertainment shared “Stories are universal, and yet must have intense and local authenticity. Telling International stories in an Indian context has always been an integral part for us at Applause, and now taking it a notch higher, we are bringing International creators to work with us. Simon and Ben are veterans in the field of crime dramas and we believe having them on-board will help us develop a local ‘international’ series with a fresh pair of eyes applying international best practices in narrative storytelling. These two mavericks, along with Sunder Aaron and the creative team at Applause have set out to create an Original multi-season crime drama series.”
