A pair of screenwriters behind some of British TV's biggest returning dramas have joined forces to establish a “nimble” scripted indie.
Julian Unthank and Lena Rae’s InkSlinger Films is launching with a slate of four potential returning dramas: rural legal drama The District [main picture]; crime series Killer Instinct, a co-production with Riches producer Greenacre Films; mystical Irish drama The Woflland Trilogy: The Cure; andThe Mauretania, an Edwardian series labelled as 'Downton Abbey meets Titanic';
The pair have formed the indie in partnership with drama financing and production company Shepherd Content, run by former NENT Studios UK execs Richard Halliwell and Dave Clark.
Unthank and Rae met as writers on ITV’s long-running Doc Martin. Rae has also written for Silent Witness, Moving On, Taggart and Call the Midwife while Unthank created Acorn’s comic murder-mystery drama Queens of Mystery and has previously written for New Tricks and the BBC's Robin Hood.
Speaking to Broadcast, Rae said that as a writers-led indie, InkSlinger would benefit from the duo having direct conversations with commissioners.
“If you are small and nimble, you can pivot and react to changes in the market.”
