October 16, 2020

Netflix Buys Russian Show


Netflix Buys Russian Show

The Russian TV series To the Lake (originally Эпидемия) has been acquired by Netflix for $1.5 million – a record for the Russian TV industry. The income from acquiring the rights has helped to cover about half the cost of producing the show: it costs about R30 million rubles (approximately $390,000) to shoot one episode of the show.

It is possible that famed American horror writer Stephen King had a hand in helping get the show promoted, although this seems to have taken place after Netflix had already acquired the series. King recently made two posts on his Twitter account praising the show, in one describing it as “a pretty darn good Russian series on Netflix.”

To the Lake was released on Netflix on October 7 and within a few days made it to fourth place on the streaming service for number of views. It was released in Russia last November.

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Life Stories
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Life Stories

The Life Stories collection is a nice introduction to contemporary Russian fiction: many of the 19 authors featured here have won major Russian literary prizes and/or become bestsellers. These are life-affirming stories of love, family, hope, rebirth, mystery and imagination, masterfully translated by some of the best Russian-English translators working today. The selections reassert the power of Russian literature to affect readers of all cultures in profound and lasting ways. Best of all, 100% of the profits from the sale of this book are going to benefit Russian hospice—not-for-profit care for fellow human beings who are nearing the end of their own life stories.

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