A global rush to buy the rights to a series starring Zelensky

Managing Partner of Eco Rights, the television rights company, Nicola Söderlund, at the company's headquarters in Stockholm.

Stockholm - AFP

Television stations and streaming platforms, including Netflix, are racing to buy the rights to a series starring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the former actor turned "hero" of his occupied country.

"We are flooded with requests. All over the world, people are asking for rights to display," said Nicola Soderland, co-founder of the small company Eco Rights, which specializes in licensing intellectual rights, based in the Swedish capital, Stockholm.

From the first day of the invasion of Ukraine, Channel 4 in Britain, ANT 1 in Greece, PRO TV in Romania or French-German Arte joined a chain of television stations that participated in the negotiations for the rights to the series "Servant of the People", which was launched 2015.

"We have signed about 15 agreements and we are still negotiating about twenty other agreements," Söderland said, beside the series' poster above his desk, adding, "We are in talks with Latin America and the United States, with Netflix and many destinations."

In Italy alone, three or four parties are currently vying to buy the rights to the series, which is also broadcast in Greece on a daily evening during prime time.

The Swedish agent considered that "there is solidarity with the Ukrainians and a curiosity to know who he is" Zelensky, who is attracting great international attention after he impressed the whole world by his stand against the Russian invasion.

Söderland's acquaintance with Zelensky dates back to 2012, after the Ukrainian actor caught the attention of the Swedish agent after a meeting between them to distribute a comedy program starring Zelensky entitled "Crack them up" and his game is to earn money by making a committee of comedians laugh.

Copies of this work have been sold in Vietnam, China and Finland.

"I went to lunch with him in Kyiv, he had all these crazy and funny ideas," said the Swedish, who specializes in broadcasting rights.

Söderland takes his phone out of his pocket to show his photos with Zelensky in Cannes, France in 2016, on the sidelines of the audio-visual sector forum that France organizes annually.

Napoleon -

It is hard to believe, according to Soderland, that this "funny actor so beloved by the Ukrainian public", despite his portrayal of Napoleon during his invasion of Russia, would become Vladimir Putin's number one enemy and "a world leader who embodies and speaks of the entire nation" from besieged Kiev.

"We needed a hero like him, after Trump and his cronies," said Fredrik F. Malmburg, president of EcoRights.

It seems that the series "The People's Servant" was forward-looking, as its topic revolves around a history professor who succeeds in becoming the president of Ukraine.

The tremendous success of this work in Ukraine opened the door for Zelensky to launch his political career.

"He has always been telling us that representatives have become presidents in the United States," Malmburg explained, recalling meetings with Zelensky.

Although no contact was made recently with Zelensky himself, "Echo Rights" was able to contact one of his contacts in Ukraine, after days of interruption related to the war.

“One fled to Turkey and the other to Rotterdam and they are in contact with Vova,” Malmburg added, the endearing name used for Volodymyr Zelensky, who is close to him.

Eco Rights reserves the right to disclose the value of the deals to sell the rights to the series, but estimates the value of the new broadcast contracts obtained and future ones "in the order of one million euros."

The library of works in which Echo Rights owns the rights also includes another series starring Zelensky entitled "Svati" ("The Wife's Family").

The company, which employs a total of 40 people in Stockholm, London and Istanbul, has announced a donation of about $55,000 to the Ukrainian Red Cross, and plans to provide additional aid as contracts are signed.

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