When you're suddenly Loaded, smart money soon becomes silly money

14 January 2016

Channel 4 has commissioned Loaded (8 x 45’), a hilarious new comedy-drama series written by Jon Brown (Fresh Meat, Peep Show, Misfits) that follows four life-long friends who become multi-millionaires - overnight.

Josh, Vinny, Ewan and Watto have just sold their start-up videogame company for a clean £246 million - the culmination of a billion man-hours of blood, sweat, toil, coding, shouting, swearing, fighting, hugging, pitching, grinding, and, occasionally, showering. Overnight, the four friends are transformed from “people who play games” to “serious players in the game...” – or are they?

Almost immediately, the sweet smell of success takes on a bitter, slightly unpleasant tang. Josh, hyper-sensitive and riddled with “millionaire’s guilt”, finds himself crippled by the burden of his wealth and its “wider socio-economic implications.” Vinny lets his most extravagant desires run amok and buys a bespoke golden Viking helmet, but can a Nando’s Black Card buy him the one thing he truly desires – respect? Straight-edge ex-junkie Watto finds past mistakes come back to haunt him and threaten not only his own fortune but that of his friends too. While tragic beta-male Ewan is eyeing up spending some of his money on reinventing himself, starting with “an ear-job and nice new pair of chinos.”

Loaded is a comedy-drama about friendship, ambition, gluttony, the peculiarly British distaste for other people’s success, and what happens when you’ve got £11.5m in the bank but the cash machine has a £300 daily limit. It’s about four friends trying to cling onto the slats of their relationship in the eye of a raging hurricane of money and excess and personal butlers and gold-plated Nordic headwear.

Jon Brown, writer, says: “I’m very much looking forward to mining the experience of being an instant millionaire in 2016 to find the most difficult, painful, socially uncomfortable experiences imaginable. For this is how it must be to be Loaded—a rollercoaster of pain and mistrust and confusion and guilt and isolation. A rollercoaster with really comfy seats.”

Piers Wenger, Head of Drama at Channel 4, says: “Loaded is a hilarious and prescient comedy drama from one of the funniest young writers around. Exploring what it means to be rich beyond your wildest dreams at a time of life when your friends are almost certainly poor, Loaded is a truthful but comic portrait of a problem most of us can only dream of.”

Kate Norrish and Polly Leys, Producers at Hillbilly Television say: “We’re delighted to be working with C4, Keshet UK and the fabulously talented Jon Brown on Loaded. His take on the world is fresh, funny and pertinent and as two female exec producers with not very much cash we’re looking forward to exploring how the other half live.”

Sara Johnson, EP and Head of Co-productions at Keshet Productions UK, says: “We have a wonderful relationship with our co-producers Hillbilly and have laughed our way through the development period, care of the dynamic and entertaining work of Jon Brown. We are beyond excited to be bringing Loaded to the Channel 4 audience.”

Written by Jon Brown (Fresh Meat, Peep Show, Misfits, Babylon), who also serves as Executive Producer, and based on the award-winning Keshet Broadcasting original series ‘Mesudarim’ created by Muli Segev and Assaf Harel, LOADED (8 x 45’) is a co-production between Hillbilly Films and Keshet UK commissioned for Channel 4 by Piers Wenger, Head of Drama. Kate Norrish and Polly Leys are Executive Producers for Hillbilly Television (Random, Holy Flying Circus), Sara Johnson and Avi Nir are Executive Producers for Keshet along with Muli Segev and Assaf Harel. Roberto Troni and Lee Mason are the commissioning editors at Channel 4.

Filming will begin in 2016.

 

About Keshet UK

Keshet UK is an independent production company based in London. Established in 2012, it is the first global outpost to appear under the Keshet International banner. It develops, produces and coproduces original scripted and unscripted programming for the UK and the international market, working in partnership with UK broadcasters, leading production companies and the best local talent. It also makes UK versions of Keshet formats for local channels and platforms. Keshet International is the global banner for all of the company’s operations outside of Israel. Headed by CEO Alon Shtruzman, KI encompasses Keshet’s distribution arm as well as its local production outposts around the world.

About Hillbilly Television

Hillbilly Television was set up and is run by BAFTA award winning producers Kate Norrish and Polly Leys. The company is known for producing high-end multi award winning TV drama & comedy as well as feature films. Debbie Tucker Green’s adaptation of her own stage play RANDOM (C4) won the BAFTA for Best Single Drama, Tony Roche’s HOLY FLYING CIRCUS (BBC4) won a Broadcast Award and was BAFTA nominated whilst Debbie Tucker Green’s debut feature SECOND COMING (Film4) won the Big Screen Award at the Rotterdam International Film Festival. The company is now focusing on returning series and serials and they have a number of key commissions with UK broadcasters. Hillbilly has a first look and output deal with distributer DRG and their investment in the company will see them provide international distribution support for all Hillbilly’s titles, with a particular focus on scripted drama and comedy. www.hillbillyfilms.com