Hollywood producer Scott M. Rosenfelt has joined Filipino TV crime-action series, “Sellblock,” as U.S.-based Blue Fox Entertainment joins as the show’s sales and distribution representative.
Planned as a three-season series, “Sellblock” chronicles the activities of one of Asia’s biggest drug empires which is operating from inside a Philippines maximum-security prison. Production is scheduled to start in May.
The cast is headlined by Jericho Rosales (“Basurero,” “Siargao,” “Pacquiao: The Movie”) alongside actors Empoy Marquez, Ronnie Lazaro, Mon Confiado, Sylvia Sanchez, and Ria Atayde.
The show is produced by Philippines-based BlackOps Studios Asia, headed by Pedring Lopez (Netflix’s “Maria,” “Darkroom,” “Geisha of Death”). Lopez will direct all eight episodes of the first season.
“Pedring and I are very pleased to expand upon our growing relationship with Blue Fox Entertainment’s executives, Audrey Delaney and Lisa Gutberlet with ‘SellBlock,’ as we are already involved together in two feature projects, ‘CounterPlay’ and ‘Gi’,” said Rosenfelt. “We appreciate their standing in the industry and look to build a long-term relationship as we continue to develop and produce content in Asia.” Rosenfelt has credits including “Mystic Pizza,” “Home Alone” and “Critical Thinking.”
First announced in 2022, the series is also produced by PsyOps8 together with its partner, Fire and Ice Media, a new production company headed by Liza Diño, former chairperson and CEO of the Film Development Council of the Philippines, which is raising financing for the project.
Jim Baltazar’s CMB Films, one of the largest production equipment providers in Southeast Asia and Nathan Studios (“Cattleya Killer”, “Trigger”) is set as a co-producer.
Philippines media group ABS-CBN is no longer attached. Nor is Hong Kong-operated media fund New Asia Ferrell Asset Management Limited.
“I’ve had a strong interest in developing a show like this, to provide global audiences with a glimpse into a shadowy, dangerous world. My work as a filmmaker – director, writer and showrunner – takes me to many great stories, to mine difficult characters and to illuminate their brutality and their humanity. ‘SellBlock’ is all of that and more,” said Lopez.
“Working with BlackOps takes us one step closer to the vision of a globally competitive film and TV industry from the Philippines. In the last six years, we have seen the elevation of Filipino arthouse films in the top film festivals because of international co-production with the Southeast Asian region and Europe,” said Diño. “Now, with the streaming giants looking at the Philippines for content production, we see a shift in our local mainstream industry to produce globally viable genre content that can be distributed to commercial markets and enjoyed by audiences worldwide.”
Blue Fox operates as a distributor in North America and as a sales agent in international territories. Its current sales slate includes: “Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe,” produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda; “Space Oddity,” directed by Kyra Sedgwick; family comedy “Popular Theory,” starring Cheryl Hines, Sophia Reid-Ganzert, and Marc Evan Jackson; and the YA thriller “Jane” with Madelaine Petsch and Chloe Bailey.
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