‘Fauda’ Producer Yes Studios Develops Comedy Series ‘Shared Spaces’ (EXCLUSIVE)
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Yes Studios, the Israeli production-distribution company behind such hits as “Fauda,” “Your Honor” and “On the Spectrum,” is developing “Shared Spaces,” a high-concept comedy series.
“Shared Spaces” is currently in development with the writer-creator Erez Aviram on board. Aviram is the co-creator of the Israeli police comedy “The Good Cop” (pictured) which was adapted in the U.S. by Netflix. Aviram has already penned the treatment of “Shared Spaces.”
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The series will revolve around a co-working office in the vein of WeWork where people from very different job fields are under the same roof, leading to funny situations. The Israeli project will be set in Tel Aviv.
Danna Stern, the managing director of Yes Studios, told Variety that the show’s concept is inspired by the office of Yes Studios itself, which is based in Tel Aviv in a co-working environment.
“We have a startup vibe at Yes Studios, and our daily life at the office reflects that,” said Stern. “It’s full of dreamers with big ideas, and we’ve been surrounded by people working on very different things, like Blockchain…and we have a therapist, some ultra-Orthodox architects, and even someone doing coding who’s worked for five different companies in the building.”
She said the original development is in Israel but the format could easily be adapted in other countries. “We see it as a zeitgeist concept,” said Stern, pointing to the increasingly large number of WeWork sites around the world. She added that the Israeli show will have a lot of tech companies because Tel Aviv is very tech-heavy, but each market will be able to adjust details of the plot and characters to fit its culture.
Yes Studios has started discussing the format with companies in Europe. “Everything is so open today compared to a few years ago. People really listen to new ideas. The demand for good concepts and stories is so strong right now throughout the world,” said Stern. She said shows in the U.S. have been packaged to get greenlit but elsewhere the process is more flexible, especially when the production cost is smaller, as it will be with “Shared Spaces.”
The company has three shows in productions which are U.S. adaptations of hit Israeli shows, the award-winning series “Your Honor,” which is being produced for Showtime Networks, starring Bryan Cranston; “Charlie Golf One,” which has been ordered to series as “68 Whiskey” by Paramount Network; and “On the Spectrum,” a coming-of-age show about three 20-something roommates on the autism spectrum, which is in production for Amazon.
Stern also said Yes Studios was in negotiations to sell format rights to “Fauda” for local adaptations in two countries. Without giving further details, Stern said both adaptations will be carried out by highly talented producers who have a track record. “We always carefully select partners who will be adapting our IPs because that’s the key,” said Stern.
“‘On the Spectrum’ is a great example of what we do best, because it’s a show looking at autism in a way we haven’t seen before in a series – it’s about autistic kids who become adults….It’s not sexy, but it talks about real issues… and it’s got strong characters.”
Yes Studios just won best international series at the Zurich Film Festival with “Just for Today,” which was created by Nir Bergman and Ram Nehari.
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