Friday

Düsseldorf to Portland

Sam Martin braves 'Forbidden Love'

Will adapt German soap for the U.S.

By Scott Roxborough

Feb 16, 2010, 02:29 PM ET

BERLIN -- Sam Martin, a former vp at cable network HBO, is set to adapt a story line from hit German soap "Verbotene Liebe" (Forbidden Love) for the U.S. market.

Martin, through her new aid+abet shingle, has acquired the remake rights to "Christian & Olli," a popular "forbidden love" story line about a gay couple living together in Dusseldorf. Christian and Olli have become cult figures in Germany and globally through the spread of clips of the soap on YouTube. The original soap is produced by GrundyUfa in Germany and airs on public broadcaster ARD.

Aid+abet plans to adapt the story, setting it against the backdrop of present-day Portland, Oregon. Through Martin's production agreements, HBO Films and HBO Entertainment will have first-look rights at the property before it is shopped to other networks

2 comments:

Unknown said...

whyyy oh my god whyyy *laughs* from all the things why did they choose forbidden love ... i mean thw two gay guys are actually the cool part of this soap but the reast is so ... "soapy". Well i guess german TV just doesn´t have anything better to offer :)

Lars said...

And, they're going to use Portland as the city where it happens.
It sounds like they are planning on adapting just the gay story part of the soap, maybe we'll be spared the "soapy" stuff.