International Insider: Canada’s Streaming Stress; Love For Lucy Davis; Marc Turtletaub Interview

Welcome. It’s another week, another Insider. Jesse Whittock at the wheel this week, speeding along the highway of international film and TV news. Let’s get going. Sign up to the newsletter here for the full Insider experience.

Canada’s Streaming Stress

“Preserve the principle”: Canada’s film and TV industry thought they had fought and won their war with the global streamers when the Online Streaming Act was introduced after much debate and hard graft back in 2023. That put into law the obligation for foreign streaming services to pay 5% of revenues back into original production. However, a move by the country’s media regulator to increase that to 15% in May this year appeared to have badly backfired when Mark Carney’s ruling Liberal Party responded by saying the obligations should be reviewed as costs would be passed on to subscribers. It was a gut shot for the industry. This week, a coalition of 50 major Canadian screen bodies, unions and festivals issued an open letter to Carney and culture minister Marc Miller, urging them to “preserve the principle” that foreign streamers should make “meaningful, predictable and enforceable” contributions. There is a sense in Canada that the change in policy direction is related to the fractious trade relationship with Donald Trump’s administration, though Carney insists it’s about consumers. The open letter also broadly rejected an alternative to invest an annual C$600M ($430M) into production. “Instead of building and sharing our own stories with the world, we would be left watching from the sidelines as foreign content increasingly defines what Canadians see on their screens,” the signatories argued. Netflix, Prime Video and co. have been fighting to scrap levies and obligations around the world, with their position being they already invest tons without the need for regulation. Home to television’s biggest recent hit, Heated Rivalry, Canada has once again become a key front in their global battle.

Love For Lucy Davis

Outpouring of love for original ‘Office’ star: For Brits like me of a certain vintage, there’s no beating the wonderful will-they-won’t-they love story of Dawn and Tim in Ricky Gervais’ seminal BBC mockumentary The Office. Back in 2001, we all sat glued to the TV, teeth clenched, as the two quietly tried (and usually failed) to become one in the beige surroundings of their paper merchant workplace Wernham Hogg. When they finally made it happen in the finale (sorry for the spoiler), it felt like the entire country rejoiced, so I’m sorry Ross and Rachel, you’ll always be second in my mind. Perhaps that’s why it hit so hard this week when Lucy Davis, who played receptionist Dawn so beautifully two decades ago, bravely revealed she had been diagnosed with incurable cancer. What followed was a huge outpouring of emotion and support for Davis, with her U.S. counterpart Pam among those sending love. Gervais, who played Dawn’s cringe-inducing office manager David Brent, sent a love heart emoji and Edgar Wright, who directed Davis in zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead, replied, “Love you Lucy. Always.” Everyone at Deadline echoes all the sentiment.

The Deadline Interview: Mark Turtletaub

It has been a minute since veteran producer-director Marc Turtletaub got behind the camera to make a movie, but he’s back with Scottish road movie Borges and Me, which is naturally screening this weekend at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Zac tracked him down for a chat about the pic, which is about a St Andrews student (Fionn Whitehead) who embarks on a trip across the Scottish Highlands in the company of legendary poet Jorge Luis Borges (Luis Gnecco). Among highlights of the interview is news of Turtletaub’s next film: An adaptation of Ben Reeves’ novel Everything Was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt. >>>Read The Interview

Global Breakout: ‘Small Town Scandal‘

If you’re a fan of What We Do in the Shadows or Flight of the Conchords (and why wouldn’t you be?), you should try out the latest comedy breakout from New Zealand, Small Town Scandal. Billed as an Oceania version of Only Murders in the Building, the show stars Tom Sainsbury, Rose Matafeo, Morgana O’Reilly and British sitcom royalty Felicity Kendal. The story is about disgraced journalist turned podcaster Toby (Sainsbury), who returns home to investigate the bizarre death of his millionaire uncle, who has apparently perished in an automatic lawnmower accident. Ouch. Sainsbury, who wrote and acted in What We Do in the Shadows and spin-off Wellington Paranormal, initially created Small Town Scandal as a podcast, and its journey to TV provides another example of how the medium is becoming a breeding ground for scripted TV and film. >>>Read The Breakout

Secrets Of Sarajevo

Balkan up: Diana spoke to leaders at the Sarajevo Film Festival (SFF) ahead of the southeastern European event, which kicks off today in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Festival director Jovan Marjanović was keen to talk up Paweł Pawlikowski’s opening film, Fatherland, and to pay tribute to a jury comprising the likes of president Emily Watson, Woody Harrelson and Diego Luna. As Marjanović says, there will be “a lot of good, big filmmaking names in Sarajevo.” Sounds tasty. In a separate interview, Marjanović and SFF industry head Masa Marković called their CineLink Industry Days strand a “really well-oiled machine that creates a platform for talent at each stage of their careers.” Guess you have to get down there to see if they’re right. More on Sarajevo here.

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: Netflix has greenlit a feature documentary out of Mexico about Keiko, the orca who became world famous after appearing in the 1993 movie Free Willy, which Warner Bros. and the Russo brothers are planning to reimagine.

🌶️ Another One: Camille Delamarre will direct Andrea Iervolino’s sports car movie Bugatti: The Final Race, with Iervolino himself penning the script alongside Albert Ferrari.

🔥 A third for luck: Anson Boon, Ellie Bamber and Eddie Marsan will star in Halftime Hero, which is based on the remarkable true story of when soccer manager Harry Redknapp pulled a mouthy fan out of the stands to play in a professional match.

🔎 Investigation: ITN is facing questions over workplace culture after an external review concluded that journalist suffered disability discrimination when raising concerns about his working environment.

💼 New job: Matt Creasey has landed a big role at the enlarged Banijay Rights, overseeing outposts including L.A., Miami, Sydney and Mumbai. All3Media International’s Singapore and New York bases will shutter and be folded into the newly combined entity.

⚽ Disney+ has struck a deal with Gary Neville for podcasts from his Global Studios-owned company, The Overlap.

📅 Diary date: Saturday Night Live UK‘s expanded second season will debut on September 12.

🎥 Trailer: For MobLand Season 2 shows the Harrigan clan spiraling out of control.

Photo Of The Week

Doors Opening – The winners of the Locarno Film Festival’s project and incubator initiatives First Look, Alliance 4 Development and Open Doors gather to celebrate.

International Insider was written by Jesse Whittock and edited by Stewart Clarke. Send any tips, comments or ideas for international coverage to jwhittock@deadline.com and mgoldbart@deadline.com