Monday, January 27, 2020

Nutz Productions Set to Shoot 'Sky', a New Adventure Tween Drama Series; to Air on TeenNick Israel

Nutz Productions set to shoot Sky, a new adventure tween drama series by the creator of Greenhouse Academy

JANUARY 16, 2020


Filming on Sky (2 seasons, 20x22’ – Nutz Productions), a new adventure drama from the creator and producers of Nickelodeon Israel's The Greenhouse and Netflix's Greenhouse Academy – Giora Chamizer and Nutz Productions – together with writer Noa Pnini, will begin in February 2020 on various locations sites all over Israel.

Sky tells the story of a smart and assertive alien girl with the same name, whose spaceship accidentally crashes in a small town on earth. While waiting to be rescued, she hides by transforming herself into the body of the most popular girl in high school. With only three goofy friends to help her out, Sky must survive two weeks on earth without being discovered. Alongside the suspenseful dramatic plot, the general air of the show is whimsical and funny.

Sky is set to air on TeenNick Israel, the Nickelodeon-branded tweens-and-teens channel that launched in 2017, via the Hot Cable Network and Yes Satellite network. A premiere date has yet to be announced.

Giora Chamizer is responsible for some of the most successful young-adult TV Dramas in Israel. He has created and written several hit teen dramas, among them the popular show Hahamama (The Greenhouse). The series, produced by Nutz Productions and aired on Nickelodeon Israel, was voted best teen show by the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. Netflix later remade it under the title The Greenhouse Academy, with Chamizer acting as the series' showrunner and Nutz Productions producing all seasons in Israel. The American adaptation was launched successfully in over 190 countries, and a third season aired in October this year. Season 4 is set to launch in 2020. Chamizer is also responsible for The Hood, which debuted on Nickelodeon in Israel and has also been sold to the Portuguese RTP2 channel, which premiered the series in 2016 under the title O Bairro.

Noa Pnini is a screenwriter and actor. In recent years Pnini has collaborated with Giora Chamizter on various TV projects, among them The Hood, The Greenhouse, House Arrest and Foxes.

Nutz Productions is the subsidiary production arm of Ananey Communications Group.

Nutz Productions, the subsidiary production arm of Ananey Communications Group, is currently in the midst of producing Spyders (formally titled The Covurts), the first original co-production between Nickelodeon International and the Israeli production studio — together with Israeli cable network HOT.

Spyders focuses on Anna and Noah Fisher, highly highly skilled undercover agents who work for a ECCO – Environmental Counter Crime Organization, and are tasked with fighting criminals who endanger nature or the environment. Little do they know that their three kids – Daniel (16), Nikki (15) and Tommy (12) – have discovered their secret occupation and have formed a task force of their own, named Spyders.

Nickelodeon has ordered 40 x 22-minute episodes, which will be distributed to Nickelodeon's international audiences spanning 170+ countries and territories via the brand’s more than 100 channels and branded blocks in 2020.

Ananey Communications Group represents the Viacom brands Nickelodeon, Nick Jr., Teen Nick, MTV and Comedy Central in Israel.

From TVKIDS:

New Tween Drama for Teen Nick Israel

Sky, a tween drama series from Nutz Productions and creator Giora Chamizer, is slated to bow on Teen Nick Israel later this year.

Sky tells the story of the titular alien girl, whose spaceship accidentally crashes in a small town on Earth. As she waits to be rescued, she transforms into the body of the most popular girl in high school to disguise herself. With the help of her trio of goofy friends, Sky must survive two weeks on Earth without being discovered.

Chamizer and Nutz Productions previously teamed up for Hahamama (The Greenhouse), which was remade for Netflix as The Greenhouse Academy, with Chamizer acting as the series’ showrunner and Nutz Productions producing all seasons in Israel. The U.S. adaptation has launched in over 190 countries. Season four is set to launch in 2020.

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From Kidscreen:

How the creator of Greenhouse Academy is building binge-worthy kids TV

The man behind several popular Hebrew-language tween adventure shows, and Netflix's Greenhouse Academy, explains why his new series Sky will engage eight to 14s globally.

The creator of Netflix’s tween drama series Greenhouse Academy, and several popular Hebrew-language series, Giora Chamizer, is aiming to grow his reach with another internationally successful show.

Using his formula of blending dense stories, twists, cliffhangers and complex themes—which has helped him to create popular series on low-budgets, retain viewers and catch the eye of global SVODs—Chamizer is readying another project for Israeli viewers, with his sights set on reaching worldwide audiences again. Sky, a tween-skewing live-action series, produced by Ananey Communications-owned Nutz Productions, is gearing up shoot the show across Israel, starting in February.

Chamizer is writing the new series with Noa Pnini (The Neighborhood), and the Israeli prodco is making two seasons (totalling 40 x 22 minutes). The adventure drama will air on Teen Nick Israel later this year, and orbits around an alien named Sky whose spaceship crashes in a small town on earth. While waiting to be rescued, Sky transforms herself into the most popular (and meanest) girl in high school, and with the help of three goofy friends she must survive on earth for two weeks without being discovered.

Besides the popular Greenhouse Academy, which Chamizer created (a fourth season has commissioned by Netflix to air later this year), he has also has a handful of tween-skewing live-action series, including The Island (150 episodes on Israel’s Children Channel), The Eight (150 episodes on Children Channel) and Neighborhood (150 episodes aired on Nickelodeon Israel, and was picked up by Portuguese channel RTP2 and aired as O Bairro).

His shows have often tackled complex topics such as family relationships and LGBTQ identity, but at each show’s core, the theme follows a family falling apart, which gives series global appeal, he says.

Take, for example, Greenhouse Academy on Netflix. Based on the original Hebrew-language The Greenhouse, the series follows the day-to-day drama at a school for gifted youth. After their mother dies, a pair of siblings are put in rival groups at the school and must learn to cope.

The original ran for four seasons exclusively on Nick Israel. It won the Ophir Award (Israeli Emmys) for best teen drama three years in a row, and in 2013 Nick UK picked up an English-dubbed version of the series. More recently, Netflix commissioned Nutz to remake the series titled Greenhouse Academy, which Chamizer adapted for international audiences as showrunner and head writer alongside Paula Yoo (Supergirl). In 2018, the global SVOD later ordered a third and fourth season of the show.

Netflix has been leaning into local original content and giving it international legs lately, according to Netflix’s Q4 2019 financial report. In fact, some of the most popular 2019 titles on the SVOD were locally-made productions from countries such as India and Japan, according to the financial report. This strategy has also worked with Greenhouse Academy, says Chamizer. The original show was popular in Israel because of its focus on issues important to Israeli kids, such as growing up and learning to be independent, says Chamzir.

The Greenhouse Academy has one of the highest retention rates of the shows on Netflix, the SVOD told Chamizer. By following fans conversations on social media, he’s also learned that a lot of kids are binging the whole show at once.

Made on roughly US$40,000, Chamizer says they have to compensate for tighter budgets with more engaging stories with lots of twists and cliffhangers.

“Give kids a dense plot where something is always happening, that gives them a lot to get invested in,” he says.

Beyond beefy stories, Chamizer makes sure shows tap into the fundamental fears of his core demo, of eight to 14.

“Their biggest fear at that age is that their family will break up. My shows always start with a family breaking up,” says Chamizer. “The heroes’ journey then revolves around them finding out who they are without their parents, and them tackling the growing up process.”

As production begins on Sky, he’s breaking out his formula again to create a story where the protagonist has to find out who she is after she’s separated from her family. Plus, he’s mixing in sci-fi elements to up the stakes, and he’s hopeful that this mix will propel the show’s global reach.

“Making a living in a very small industry is a challenge, and the biggest challenge is to break through and make my shows international,” says Chamizer. “We took the first major step with The Greenhouse, but this is the beginning the road. I hope Sky will become an international show, but I’ve done one international production and I have four more to go, and making that happen is going to keep me busy for the next decade.”

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More Nick: Nickelodeon International Renames 'The Covurts' as 'Spyders'; To Premiere in 2020!

Originally published: Thursday, January 16, 2020.

Original source: TBI Vision; Additional source: Google Translate.
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