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Essential Media secures backing for Yolanda Ramke thriller ‘The Line’

Yolanda Ramke.

The former senior VP of acquisitions and co-productions in North America for Cineflix Rights has boarded The Line, an eight-part, female-driven World War II thriller created and written by Yolanda Ramke.

Anthony Kimble is introducing the project from the Essential Media Group via his newly-launched company Fugitive Content, at the Series Mania festival in Lille, northern France.

Screen Australia funded development of the series, originally entitled Zero Night, based on the true story of a crack team of British and Australian soldiers who staged an ingenious escape from a prisoner-of-war camp in Warburg, Germany. A parallel story follows a young woman who led the Belgian resistance movement.

Ramke wrote the second draft while she was co-directing Cargo with Ben Howling. Despite the historical setting, The Line is said to strike a contemporary tone and covers issues about the sexes that still resonate today.

The project is still in development so there is no word yet on the directors or an Australian broadcaster.

Kimble is also representing Uncanny Valley: The Truth About Thinking Machines, a six-hour hybrid event series about artificial intelligence and the future of mankind from Alex Gibney’s Jigsaw Productions and US-based First Look Media’s Topic.

Fugitive will primarily work with producers, agents, broadcasters and other content platforms to get programming off the ground. At launch its other key client is GRB Studios, producer of the Emmy-winning reality series Intervention and the series Untold Stories.

“I am thrilled to have Fugitive up and running and most delighted that my first projects are such strong titles – and involve incredible talent like Alex Gibney and Yolanda Ramke,” Kimble told C21.

“It’s always a risk setting up a new business but I have hit the ground running thanks to the early faith invested in me by Chris Hilton at Essential Media, Lisa Leingang at Topic and Gary R Benz at GRB Studios.

“I am enjoying combining my creative and commercial skills on projects that I am passionate about, and look forward to growing my portfolio with equally impactful content.”