German powerhouse ZDF Studios and U.Ok.-based Factual Fiction are reteaming for “#DorianGray,” an up to date social media spin on Oscar Wilde’s traditional, “The Image of Dorian Grey.”

In Wilde’s unique, first revealed as a novella in 1890 in Lippincott’s Month-to-month Journal, the self-besotted Dorian Grey sells his soul in trade for everlasting youth, an image painted of him recording the decay of his soul as in outward look he stays bodily without end younger.

At the moment being written by Maiya John, a younger London-based screenwriter, the up to date reimagining is described by ZDF Studios as “a suspenseful experience by the lifetime of a young person as they assemble their id.”

Whereas navigating intercourse, and gender, psychological well being and consent, by tweets and #instagram and Tik Tok movies, Dorian Grey, as in Wilde’s central idea, initiatives a picture of who he’d wish to be, quite than who he actually is.

“After co-developing the pleasant thriller collection ‘The Puzzle Woman,’ it’s an absolute pleasure to be partnering with Factual Fiction once more,” mentioned Yi Qiao, director, drama, for ZDF Studios.

“Taking the theme of this traditional e book and giving it a contemporary twist is ingenious and – particularly within the age of social media – extra present than ever earlier than. I can not wait to deliver this model of Dorian Grey to life,” she added.

“If ever there was a novel written for our time it’s ‘The Image of Dorian Grey.’ Morally agnostic, self-obsessed, afraid of rejection and but deeply compelling,” mentioned Tom Dalton, co-founder of Factual Fiction. “Exploring this world with sensible younger author Maiya John, alongside the implausible inventive help of Yi Qiao and ZDF Studios is an immense pleasure.” John is a contract screenwriter who describes herself as a “spoken phrase poet.” She was shortlisted for BBC Phrases First in 2021 for her poem “Expensive Insecure Black Man.”

“#DorianGray” provides to a burgeoning checklist of English-language titles which ZDF Studios, launched in 1993 as ZDF Enterprises , has boarded in recent times both as a co-production associate or worldwide distributor.

These absorb “Clear Sweep,” with “Peaky Blinders” star Charlene McKenna; Magellan-Elcano epic journey collection “Boundless,” directed by Simon West (“Con Air,” “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” and starring Rodrigo Santoro and Alvaro Morte and naturally Berlinale Sequence opener “The Swarm,” govt produced by “Recreation of Thrones” Frank Doelger.

ZDF Studios can also be re-teaming with Paris-based Cottonwood Media, the Paris Nationwide Opera, U.S. streamer Hulu, ZDF itself and France Televisions, all companions on “Discover Me in Paris,” which has run to 3 seasons, for one more premium dwell motion tween collection, “Spellbound.”

Sequence Mania Discussion board introduced final week that one in every of its 15 initiatives at its Pitching Classes can be “The Bronte Ladies,” capturing the sisters on the ultimate summer time they spent collectively as teenagers in 1835.

“I’m so excited to share this wild imagining of the Brontes that makes use of historic context to discover fashionable points and fiction to create an epic journey that’s deeply relatable and related,” collection creator Caroline Kelly Franklin instructed Selection.