Details on this one are a little sketchy, but I’m hearing rumblings that a US adaptation of Braquo, which is being developed by Asylum Entertainment, may wind up landing at ReelzChannel.
Created by Olivier Marchal, Braquo is a French police drama series that follows a team of police officers within Paris’ SDPJ 92 (Hauts-de-Seine Police Department) who often use borderline tactics, such as violence and intimidation, to do their jobs. It’s not long before Internal Affairs catches wind of the situation and starts an investigation, which leads to the team leader being wrongly accused of corruption and committing suicide. The team then decides to do whatever is necessary to clear the man’s name.
The North American remake rights to the French police drama series were snapped up by Asylum Entertainment back in October and at the time it was reported that Jonathan Koch, Asylum Entertainment’s President of Entertainment and CCO, had stated that they would be in a better place to adapt the series for American television once they knew where the project would land.
If correct, this would be the first project that Asylum has created for Reelz since they signed a production deal back in May 2011. That deal came on the back of the success of mini-series The Kennedys, from 24 co-creator Joel Surnow and Asylum Entertainment, which was picked up by Reelz after History dropped it, despite shepherding the miniseries through development and production.
Given ReelzChannel’s stated desire to move into original scripted programming, following the successes of miniseries The Kennedys and Pillars of the Earth, a US remake of Braquo would certianly be a good fit for the network. Reelz has already ramped up its commitment to fully fledged series, with Steven Seagal’s True Justice set to premiere on the network on March 30th.
