After the UK, the US and Australia, foreign lingo drama king Walter Iuzzolino has expanded into Italy early September with his curated SVOD programme backed by the UK’s Channel 4 and Global Series Network (GSN).

Just like in the UK where the service first launched in 2016, Walter Presents’s collection is available both on-demand and on linear TV (Nove, Giallo), through a deal inked with Discovery.

From October 19, Walter Presents’ foothold in the US, started in 2017 with the launch of its own OTT service, will be amplified through a deal with PBS Distribution allowing Walter Presents’ drama collection (including Danish noir Norskov) to be available on the PBS Masterpiece channel on Amazon.

Meanwhile in the UK, Walter Presents’ catalogue of Nordic series continues to broaden. Five out nine of the latest shows on offer are from the Nordics: Alex from Sweden, The Court, Cover Story (Rettur) from Iceland, Young & Promising Season 3 from Norway, and Dicte Season 3 from Denmark.

How important is MIPCOM for you and what will be your priorities there?
Walter Iuzzolino: For the three GSN co-founders, MIPCOM is a great chance to catch up with distributors and to hear about new projects which might be at early stages of development. Very occasionally we will come across a series we didn’t know about, but most of the time we will come to MIPCOM with a list of shows we are already interested in.

What type of series are you looking for in terms of genres and formats for 2019? 
WI: Quality. Whether it’s in the casting, writing or directing, we’re after series which stand out. I’m always instantly interested by dramas that break the mould a bit, like the family saga Ride Upon the Storm or the terrorist thriller Greyzone, but the story doesn’t have to be high concept or unusual. I’m just as interested in a straight forward crime thriller as long as it’s utterly compelling.

Would you say that you’ve increased your acquisition of Nordic dramas with Alex, Ride Upon the Storm, Greyzone, The Court, Pressa/Cover Story, Dicte Crime Reporter, Farang among your latest buys? What is the share of Nordic dramas in Walter Presents today?
WI: Not really. We’ve obviously always been fans of Nordic drama and some of these shows were actually bought last year, it’s just that their transmission has been staggered and many of them will be scheduled this winter. I think it’s true to say though that there’s some extraordinarily good dramas coming out of the Nordics at the moment. Nordic series probably make up around 20% of our UK catalogue.

What have been your most successful Nordic shows recently?
WI: Before We Die was a big hit for us and attracted both great critical acclaim and celebrity fans like Ricky Gervais who described it as ‘one of the best police dramas of all time.’ Alex also got off to a flying start on Channel 4 last week attracting brilliant previews from all the main papers - fingers crossed it performs as well as it deserves. It’s a really brilliant series.

Are you more aggressive in pre-buys and would you consider now co-producing or co-developing TV shows, to have more control on your curated offer?
WI: Yes we’d love to do more pre-buys but unfortunately we don’t have the budgets to meaningfully co-produce as yet, but it’s something we might do in the future.

Walter Presents was launched in Italy last month. How important is it for you to break into your native country?
WI: Extremely important. Our aim has always been to roll-out Walter Presents globally. As a dubbing territory, Italy is not familiar with subtitles, so it’s a massive challenge for us, but we’re hopeful that quality will out and slowly begin to change long-held viewing habits. Opening new windows into unfamiliar worlds is the central ethos behind the launch of Walter Presents. We passionately believe when it comes to great drama, that we all speak the same language.  

Are you and Discovery discussing expansion plans in other territories?
WI: Of course!

Why did you close a deal with PBS Distribution while you already had a visibility in the US since March 2017 on your own SVOD service and other platforms including Amazon Channels?
WI: Walter Presents US has attracted great acclaim from the critics with The New York Times describing it as ‘a chic TV boutique with a foreign accent.’ Of course the US is an extremely crowded SVOD market so it’s harder to get noticed. PBS Masterpiece is a much bigger shop window so by partnering with them more people will be available to view Walter Presents shows and of course, a small selection of our dramas will also be aired on PBS stations which is very exciting as it will introduce foreign language dramas to a much wider US audience. 

How do you cope with curating and overseeing Walter Presents’ global expansion? Are you going to hire other ‘Walters’ to allow you a few hour sleep per night?
WI: Some people think I’m an actor but I can assure you I’m very real. However, I don’t do everything myself. I have two fellow co-founders and a small team of people who work hard to ensure Walter Presents runs smoothly and our expansion continues apace.