Hot Picks: The Twelve

Through its work on The Night Manager, Killing Eve, Nine Perfect Strangers and Normal

People, Endeavor Content has long been associated with the edgy, iconic and cult dramas that have found success in the international market. There is a strong chance The Twelve will emulate its predecessors.

Starring Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, Invasion, Peaky Blinders), the courtroom drama follows 12 ordinary people selected for jury duty in a traumatising and controversial murder trial, in which a woman stands accused of killing her sister’s child.

The jury members are seemingly unremarkable people, but bring with them complicated histories, full of fractured dreams and shameful secrets, hopes, fears, personal trauma and prejudice.

Through the prism of a varied group, The Twelve explores the inconsistencies of the law and society’s chaotic and flawed attempt to determine justice.

The WBITVP Australia and Easy Tiger production is an adaptation of the VRT Belgium/Netflix series De Twaalf. The original production was part of the reason Endeavor boarded the series, according to director of content Liz Tang.

Endeavor deficit-financed the show, enticed also by the off-screen talent attached, including writers Bradford Winters (The Sinner), Sarah Walker (The Secrets She Keeps) and Leah Purcell (Wentworth). “Our ethos is to put creatives first, and we trusted that this talented team would make a must-see series,” she says.

Tang says the drama complements the existing titles in its catalogue, which is focused on collecting shows to create a “boutique and highly curated” mix, rather than trading off selling many thousands of hours.

“We are seeking the best across every genre, and the timing was perfect for The Twelve, as we had identified a need in the market for a buzzy, courtroom thriller,” she adds.

“We also have a lot of enthusiasm for content originating from Australia. It’s a thriving market with phenomenal creatives that has established itself as a hub of high-end drama.”

The show has “marquee title” status for Foxtel and the scope for it to continue as a returning series also gives Endeavor senior vice-president of EMEA sales Jennifer Ebell confidence it will stand out for buyers in the market.

“This is a high-end, hard-hitting, voyeuristic story, with an element of whodunnit – or rather, ‘guilty or not, and if so, why?’,” she says.

“There is something so interesting about watching people’s biases play out on the screen. There’s human fallibility, prejudice and the sheer pressure of deciding the fate of someone’s life. Viewers become the 13th juror.

“There are a lot of farfetched scripts out there. This is realistic in that it is a very plausible case, like a story ripped from the headlines – girl goes missing, and the last person to see her was her aunt. It is part legal thriller, part character drama, with crime at the centre.”

Ebell suggests the series would be equally at home on linear or as a bingeable box set on a platform. “Since we are in the business of windowing, we will pitch widely,” she says. “We also have the capability to sell territory by territory, so will be having conversations with local broadcasters as well as streamers.”