Naples-set prison drama “The Sea Beyond” (“Mare Fuori”) is going global on Netflix in a multi-season deal being touted as an Italian TV milestone.
The young adult show set in a youth detention center overlooking the bay of Naples where male and female inmates contend with being incarcerated, as they explore love and dream of a better life, is a major pop culture phenomenon in Italy where it’s been playing on state broadcaster RAI’s linear and streaming outlets and, subsequently, also on Netflix Italia.
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On April 20 “Sea Beyond” dropped globally on the streaming giant following a non-exclusive agreement between Netflix and Germany’s Beta Film which handles she show’s international sales. The deal comprises the series’ four existing seasons plus its next two instalments and also an upcoming “Sea Beyond” prequel feature film titled “Io Sono Rosa Ricci” for which an Italian theatrical release is planned later this year.
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Prior to the Netflix deal, some seasons of “Sea Beyond” have played internationally in more than 20 countries, including the Nordics (TV 4), Germany (Disney+), Israel (HOT), across Latin America (HBO Max) and on U.S. streamer MHz Choice in North America. But until now the show was not on offer as a binge-watchable product on a global scale.
“It’s a pretty unique deal,” said “Sea Beyond” producer Roberto Sessa, whose Fremantle-owned Picomedia produced the show with RAI. “I can’t recall a global agreement of this magnitude made by Netflix for a non-original show,” Sessa added, noting that “Netflix knows the show very well.”
Netflix, which started offering “Sea Beyond” to its Italian subscribers in 2021, has been instrumental to the local success of the show which is Italy’s first series that proved that there can be a healthy and mutually beneficial co-existence between free VOD, linear TV and subscription VOD.
Sessa, who called the Netflix deal the “the crowning achievement of an extraordinary journey,” said he will back on set in June on the sixth instalment of “Sea Beyond” and is in talks with RAI for seasons seven and eight.
