The North Road Company inks first international Co-Studio deal with sipur for Bad Boy

The North Road Company, a global, multi-genre content studio, has set its first international co-studio deal with global film and television company SIPUR for Bad Boy, the latest series from Euphoria creator Ron Leshem and acclaimed TV/feature director Hagar Ben-Asher (Bosch, City on a Hill), announced North Road International Film & TV President Kristin Jones and SIPUR CEO Emilio Schenker.

North Road — marking its first international co-studio deal since the group formally launched in July 2022 — and SIPUR (formerly Tadmor Entertainment) are co-financing the crime drama alongside Israeli platform HOT and Tedy Productions.

Principal photography began in January on Bad Boy, a gripping and dark yet witty drama that tells the story of DEAN, who is imprisoned in a cruel juvenile detention facility. While in jail, Dean bonds with ZORO, a grim and mysterious teenage prisoner serving time for murder. To survive the harsh reality behind bars, Dean learns to harness his unique intelligence and creativity. Twenty years later, these traits still define Dean as a star comedian, while his time in jail is a secret threatening to resurface and tear his life apart.

The series brings together two of Israel’s most prominent and world-renowned creatives, pairing Leshem with Ben-Asher. Leshem is an Israeli-American television and film writer and producer with a long line of credits, including creating the original Euphoria; executive producing the HBO remake of the same title; co-creating HBO Max’s Valley of Tears; and writing the film BEAUFORT, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Ben-Asher is an Israeli writer, director and actress best known for directing credits such as Amazon’s Bosch, Showtime’s City on a Hill and Ben-Asher’s theatrical features DEAD WOMEN WALKIN Gand THE SLUT, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival.

They created the show alongside Israeli comedian Daniel Chen, writers Moshe Malkaand Roee Florentin,as well as Leshem's longtime partners, Israeli-American producer-writer Amit Cohen (No Man's Land, False Flag) and Daniel Amsel (Euphoria, Valley of Tears).

Jones and North Road President Jan Frouman will executive produce for North Road along with Schenker, Michael Schmidtand Gideon Tadmor for SIPUR; Guy Levy, MiritTooviand Ori Galfor HOT; TmiraYardeni and Meital Cohen for Tedy; and creators Leshem, Ben-Asher and Chen.

‘The North Road team is thrilled to work with the incredibly talented Ron Leshem and Hagar Ben-Asher and the teams at SIPUR, HOT and Tedy to bring this exceptionally compelling and poignant story to life and launch our promising foray into international co-productions’, says Jones.

SIPUR’s Schenker adds, ‘We brought the next big project from the brilliant creative minds of Ron and Hagar to Peter Chernin’s highly impressive North Road team, which instantly recognized the project’s massive global potential. We love this show and are confident viewers worldwide will share in our passion — and we could not ask for better local partners than HOT and Tedy to bring this series to life’.

Leshem notes, ‘Hagar, the most brilliant, admired filmmaker to come out of Israel, agreed to create this one with us, which was a dream come true. For us, this is our next Euphoria, backed by the creative team that made the original Euphoria possible, HOT and Tedy Productions. We are most grateful for our partners who brought this journey to life as a high-end international drama, Emilio Schenker, SIPUR and The North Road Company, for their trust and wisdom’.

HOT states, ‘We are happy and excited about this new collaboration with SIPUR and North Road. HOT, Tedy and Ron are the trio that brought forth one of the most captivating and successful shows to come out of Israel, and we are certain that this new project will be an enthralling and riveting endeavor. We will continue to create quality content that brings pride to Israel across audiences and borders’.

Yardeni, founder and owner of Tedy Productions, comments, ‘We are proud to once again partner with HOT and Ron, and together with Hagar, bring the next big television event to the world’.

CAA and Kneller Artists Agency represent Leshem, Ben-Asher and Cohen. North Road’s Frouman and SIPUR’s Schmidt led the negotiations, with Ziffren Brittenham’s Pam Black and EBN & Co.’s Lior Oren representing North Road, and Jeff Freid from Longarzo, Vance Klevan Freid LLP, Dr. Zohar Kadmon and Dana Lerner representing SIPUR in the deal.

 

LC