FremantleMedia Enterprises (FME), the commercial and brand extension arm of FremantleMedia, today announced that Scott Free Inc. has joined Headline Pictures, Sennet Entertainment and FME on The Drivers, a series based on the high-octane 24 hour motor race in Le Mans during the 1950s/1960s.
Ridley and Tony Scott will be co-producing the drama with Headline Pictures and Sennet Entertainment; FME is funding the project as part of their global drama strategy to develop and package drama series for the international market. The series is based on the book, Shelby: The Man, The Cars, the Legend written by Wallace A. Wyss and optioned from Iconografix. It tells the true story of wild young drivers from the US, Germany, France, Italy and Britain, friends and rivals, amateurs risking everything for a shot on the tracks.
Ridley Scott commented, “I grew up in the North of England at a time when Stirling Moss was a hero. Everyone wanted to be a racing driver. This is a hugely ambitious project and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to tell the story of these iconic and legendary men who risked everything to win at Le Mans. It’s an epic story of courage and ambition and a history of racing which has never been told on such a grand scale.”
David Ellender, Global CEO, FME added, “Having Ridley and Tony on board brings something really special to the project. They are indisputably two of the best filmmakers in the world today and their involvement raises the bar on this project to a much higher level of storytelling and production. Their vast international success combined with their British background puts them in a unique position to understand characters and stories from both sides of the Atlantic.”
Both Headline Pictures and Sennet Entertainment are excited about the partnership with Scott Free and their respective heads Stewart Mackinnon and Mark Sennet commented, “To work with the Scotts on a series about their boyhood heroes at a time when Europe was just beginning to emerge from the devastation of WWII gives us a unique opportunity to make this a personal story as well as a world-class drama.”
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