Sure, Telluride announced its lineup today and begins on Friday. Yes, Venice is in full swing, with reviews coming fast and furious. But dear reader, the best news of the day comes from a Variety report about a new short-form series from the producer of the hit series “The End of the F***ing World,” Clerkenwell Films, titled “Cheaters.”
Per the report, “Cheaters” is a 18-part comedy-drama told in 10-minute chapters, co-financed by BBC Studios and Anton, as part of a larger plan to release various short-form, high-end dramas and comedies for a variety of platforms. But what makes “Cheaters” extra special, at least for The Playlist, is the fact that the series is written and created by none other than Oliver Lyttelton, who you may know as one of our finest contributing writers and all-around swell guy.
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“Cheaters” is just one of a slew of recent series that have been announced that are built around the short-form, 10-minute burst model. The upcoming mobile-first streaming service, Quibi, is hiring an incredible roster of talent to bring films and TV series, diced up into easily digestible chunks, sometime in the first have of 2020. It would appear that BBC Studios and Clerkenwell are keen to get in on this trend.
Mark Linsey, the chief creative officer at BBC Studios, said, “We’ve seen an increase in the demand for super-premium content in a bite-sized format and ‘Cheaters’ is a bold comedy-drama that will engage audiences in this new way. It’s young, it’s fresh and comes from Clerkenwell who have a well-established knack for creating punchy and eye-catching content that audiences just love.”
“Cheaters” executive producer and Clerkenwell boss, Murray Ferguson, said that the new series is one of several that the production company will create that will cater to the short-form series market.
He added, “It’s clear from the success of ‘The End of the F***ing World’ that there is a huge appetite globally for new and innovative content that is high quality yet easy to consume and prepared to break with convention both in format and narrative content.”
“Cheaters” is described as a “sexy, messy, comedy-drama about morality and monogamy, and everything in between.” Interestingly, the series marks the first time that BBC Studios has financed a series without a network already attached. Without a broadcaster attached, there’s obviously no release date. However, production is said to begin sometime in February 2020.