Hot Picks: Mozart: Rise of A Genius

“What I love about Mozart: Rise of A Genius is that it is contemporary,” says Céire Clark, senior acquisitions manager of non-scripted at distributor Fremantle. Clark couldn’t anticipate how prescient her words would prove when in the days just after she speaks to Broadcast, a previously unknown piece by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is uncovered in a German library.

The discovery reinforces Clark’s belief that the legendary virtuoso’s story remains relevant today and that, while centuries old, it chimes with the experiences of many modern stars.

“His story is quite contemporary: an oppressive father controlling this young protégé. That’s a theme that we see with big figures now,” she notes.

Clark says programmes about Mozart can often be “pigeonholed as high-brow and academic”, but this three-part series from Fremantle label 72 Films aims to make the story accessible to as wide an audience as possible.

One way it does that is by blending dramatic re-enactments of Mozart’s life with talking head interviews with the likes of Stephen Fry, Richard E Grant, Sheila Hancock and Adjoa Andoh, as well as featuring renditions of the composer’s work by the Hungarian Studio Orchestra.

“There’s been a lot of scripted content on Mozart, but I can’t think of anything very recently that compares to this,” says Clark. “It’s got a really interesting mix of drama and documentary, which gives it a very good pace. And the contributors are household names, which really separates this from your classic documentary about a known figure.”

This mixture of drama and interview illustrates one of the key criteria Clark looks for: stories about big subjects with a “completely fresh perspective” that set them apart from similar offerings on the market – no mean feat considering Mozart’s musical and cultural legacy stretches back 250 years.

“Mozart: Rise of A Genius has a compelling perspective,” Clark explains. “It really shows him as a highly relatable character. It isn’t stuffy and it makes a really big subject accessible to an incredibly wide range of audiences around the world.”

This accessibility, combined with Mozart’s worldwide renown, lends the docuseries an appeal to global buyers akin to its predecessor in the Rise Of A Genius anthology series, Shakespeare, and a successor series on Jane Austen.

Clark points to public service broadcasters as likely to be interested in the Mozart docudrama, with pay-TV channels and SVoDs also potential buyers.

The acquisitions manager won’t reveal which territories have already picked up the series ahead of launch at Mipcom, but confirms that “there have been sales and conversations”.

She highlights European markets such as Scandinavia as particular areas of interest for the title.

“Mozart was the rock star of his time,” she adds. “He had a wild life, and this series brings his music vividly back to life. It’s very special and beautifully put together, so I hope the whole world enjoys it.