BBC Sets Zuckerberg Doc to Mark 20 years of Facebook – Global Bulletin

COMMISSION

BBC Factual has commissioned “Zuckerberg” (working title), a three-part BBC Two and BBC iPlayer series aiming to present the definitive account of Mark Zuckerberg and his brainchild, marking the 20th anniversary of Facebook’s founding. On Feb. 4, 2004, a teenage Zuckerberg launched a website to help college students connect with each other, which went on to become Facebook. The social media giant, the parent company of which is now called Meta, is in the process of transforming its vision.

The series, which will have access to key players, insider testimony, personal journals and rare archive material, is made by Mindhouse Productions and was commissioned by Jack Bootle, head of commissioning, science and natural history at the BBC. The executive producer is Mindhouse’s Nancy Strang.

Bootle said: “As the 20th anniversary of Facebook approaches, there’s never been a better time to tell the story of its founder — and to assess the seismic impact of his work on world culture.”

Strang added: “The remarkable story of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook is one of the tales of our time. He has arguably done more to transform human behavior and connectivity than any other person this century. I’m thrilled that we’ve been given this opportunity to tell the extraordinary inside story of the social media giant, and the man behind it.”

THEATER

@sohoplace, the first new-build theater at London’s West End in 50 years, will open this fall with the first production to be revealed soon. The culmination of a 12-year project,
the theater is owned by Nica Burns and operated by Nimax Theatres. The theater is adjacent to the site of the old Astoria theater which was demolished to build Crossrail and is at the heart of property giant Derwent London’s £300 million ($359 million) regeneration of a neglected corner of Soho. Totalling 285,000 square feet it is a mixed development with the theater at its heart, offices and retail and a new piazza.

Burns said: “I wanted to create a theater which could add a different dimension to our vibrant West End landscape. I asked our greatest theater creatives two questions: If we could build a new theater in the heart of the West End, what would you like it to be? What additional facilities would be on your wish list? They dreamt of a flexible auditorium, perfect acoustics and audience / stage intimacy. An ability to create on-site with the dream of a rehearsal room, a Green Room and a bar all in the same building. So that’s what we built – with a few extras including an outside terrace. The incredible team of engineers pulled off the greatest of structural feats, building over a major underground transport hub — a challenging place to build a theater — achieving perfect acoustics and no vibrations.”

DISTRIBUTION

Fremantle has revealed a distribution deal with the BBC for two non-English language series — “Señorita 89 (8 x 60’)” the scandalous thriller from Fremantle and the Oscar-winning producers Pablo Larrain and Juan de Dios Larraín (“A Fantastic Woman”), and “KaDeWe – Our Time is Now” (6 x 60’) the drama created by the filmmaker Julia von Heinz.

Created and directed by showrunner Lucia Puenzo, “Señorita 89” delves behind the curtain of Latin America’s beauty pageant culture in the 1980s, where hidden amongst the laughter, lights and glitter lurks a dark and disturbing world. The series follows budding beauty queens from all over Mexico as they gather at an imposing ranch deep in the forest, where they must stay for three months in a bid to be crowned the next Miss Mexico. When one of the girls is suddenly found dead, the police are called in to investigate.

German-language series “KaDeWe – Our Time is Now,” based on Berlin’s Kaufhaus des Westens (‘department store of the West’), which has been a landmark destination for high-end shoppers for over a hundred years. Produced by Constantin Television (“We Children from Bahnhof Zoo”) and UFA Fiction (“Deutschland83/86/89”), the drama follows four progressive and ambitious young friends Hedi, Fritzi, Harry and Georg as they go in search of self-fulfilment in the 1920s. They all swear an oath of allegiance in the pursuit of individual and collective happiness. But when the Nazis sweep to power, the Jewish-owned store’s very existence is threatened, along with their friendship and hopes for the future.

Both shows will launch in the U.K. later this year.

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