Simon Fuller’s XIX Entertainment is making an English-language version of hit Scandi teen drama Shame (Skam) for American and Canadian audiences.
The show, which debuted on Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation platforms in 2015, uses narratives in real time with unknown actors and scripts that are geared to a 16 year-old audience with a focus on real-life teen issues. The show scored huge ratings among young and adult audiences in Scandinavia, growing its weekly audience from 24,000 to 1.262 million (Norway has a total population of 5 million) and outperformed many TV and streaming primetime hits in the territory. Episode length varies from 17 minutes to 50 minutes.
Fuller concluded a deal with Skam format owner Norwegian public service broadcaster NRK to produce an English version for the U.S. and Canada with production expected to start in 2017. XIX’s version will be a completely separate production to the original version and the Norwegian team next year is looking to create Season 4 of the show.
“Shame is an important show,” said Fuller. “There is precious little content created primarily for a teen audience and Shame provides this with great honesty and integrity. This show packs a punch and is leading the way in exploring multi-platform story telling.”
