Television stations and home broadcasting platforms including Netflix are scrambling to buy the rights to a series starring Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the former actor-turned-hero of his country at war with Russia.
“We are inundated with a flood of requests all over the world, people are asking for rights to display,” said Nicola Soderlund, co-founder of Eco Rights, a small intellectual rights licensing company based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Since the first day of Russian military operations in Ukraine, Channel 4 in Britain, ANT1 in Greece, PRO TV in Romania, and French-German Arte have joined the group. A chain of television stations that participated in the negotiations to obtain the rights to the series "Servant of the People", which was launched in 2015.
"We have signed about 15 agreements, and we are still in the process of negotiating about 20 other agreements," Soderland said, adding, "We are in talks with Latin America and the United States, with Netflix and many destinations."
In Italy alone, 3 or 4 parties are currently competing 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 Zelensky is, who is attracting great international attention after he impressed the whole world by standing in the face of Russian military operations in Ukraine."
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 many crazy and funny ideas," said Soderland, who specializes in broadcasting rights.
comedian leader
According to Söderland, it is hard to believe 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 representing his entire country.
It seems that the series "The People's Servant" was forward-looking, as its topic revolves around a history professor who succeeds and assumes the presidency of Ukraine.
The tremendous success of this work in Ukraine opened the door for Zelensky to launch his political career.
Eco Rights is reluctant to disclose the value of the deals to sell the rights to the series, but it estimates the value of the new broadcast contracts obtained, and also future, at one million euros.
The library of works in which Echo Rights owns the rights also includes another series starring Zelensky, entitled "Svati" or "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.