At this year’s Serial Killer TV Days, held in Brno from 24-26 September, the spotlight was firmly trained on global scripted content. On 25 September, Patti Linnett, global research manager at international consultancy firm K7 Media, presented the session “From One Global Trend to Another – Fiction”, offering a structured overview of the current forces shaping television storytelling.

First, she reminded the audience that K7 Media’s mission was to monitor international trends in order to help global clients create the most competitive programming. With fiction as her focus, Linnett chose to highlight both emerging tendencies and established formats still resonating with audiences.

The first stop was Central and Eastern Europe, where stories had increasingly crossed borders and gained traction abroad. Titles such as Absolute 100 [+lee también:
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Turning to global scripted trends, Linnett noted that true crime and topical drama continued to thrive, even though their strength now lay in the niches they explored. Crime and thriller remained ubiquitous, but she underlined the importance of how new sub-genres within these categories had taken hold. Topical dramas, in particular, were praised for their ability to tap into the zeitgeist. Projects like Adolescence [+lee también:
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True crime itself was undergoing notable transformations. New treatments included Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy and I Fought the Law, the latter having sold widely in Europe, Asia and the Americas, accompanied by a documentary. The Twisted Tale of Amanda Knox was another case in which scripted storytelling overlapped with the factual space, creating a multi-dimensional approach that appealed to buyers and audiences alike.

Another strand Linnett outlined was period drama focusing on the recent past. She mentioned Fugue State 1986, which revisits the tragic story of Vietnam War veteran Campo Elías Delgado and the mass shooting he committed in Bogotá, and the Danish production Even in the Best of Families, a sweeping family and industrial saga rooted in the history of the Cheminova company. Titles in development such as El Proxeneta and Brasil 70, A Saga do Tri confirmed that looking back at defining moments of the 20th century remained a fertile ground for screenwriters and producers.

Closely related was the trend of reimagining the recent past in original ways. Projects like The Artist, This Is Not a Murder Mystery and Ponies were described as being emblematic of this experimentation. Meanwhile, mining existing IP was still proving profitable, as demonstrated by several of the most-discussed titles at this year’s LA Screenings. The examples ranged from reinterpretations such as Lord of the Flies and Welcome to Derry to spinoffs like The Paper, a continuation of The Office. Other high-profile cases included 911 Nashville and A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Fresh sources of inspiration were not absent either. The upcoming series Chad Powers was highlighted as a show born of Eli Manning’s comic character, developed by Glen Powell and Michael Waldron, and ordered by Hulu in early 2024. According to Linnett, this pointed to how viral or small-scale characters could sometimes evolve into fully fledged scripted vehicles.

She also spoke of a renaissance in medical dramas, which were now being rethought with international audiences in mind. Recent and upcoming projects such as Best Medicine (USA), Suture (Brazil), Still Breathing (Norway) and The Pitt (USA) confirmed that this genre was far from exhausted. Streamers were no longer limiting their search to English-language titles, but were actively exploring European and South American offerings in this space.

Finally, Linnett stressed the growth of faith-based drama, noting that K7 Media had received a rising number of queries from US clients eager to understand where and why this genre was working. Old Testament-inspired narratives were prominent, but not exclusive. Recent productions included The Faithful, House of David, The Chosen Adventures and Joseph of Egypt. Even lighter interpretations, such as Nobody Wants This, a romcom revolving around an unconventional rabbi and an agnostic woman hosting a podcast, were proving that faith-linked themes could be tackled in unexpected registers.

In conclusion, Linnett suggested that scripted fiction is moving along two simultaneous lines: one that seeks novelty through niches, hybridisation and reimagined history, and another that continues to extract value from known formulas and intellectual properties. Both approaches are thus likely to shape the near future of the international television landscape.