New Zealand drama Madam, starring Rachel Griffiths, has won the Golden Nymph for Best Creation at this year’s Monte Carlo TV Festival.
Produced by Tavake and XYZ Films for Warner Bros. Discovery ANZ and Fifth Season, the series follows McKenzie ‘Mack’ Leigh (Griffiths), who starts the brothel when faced with a philandering husband and a mountain of debt.
The cast includes Rima Te Wiata, Danielle Cormack, Robbie Magasiva, Martin Henderson and newcomer Ariāna Osborne.
Madam is based on the unpublished memoir of Antonia Murphy, an American woman who, after being inspired by New Zealand’s decriminalisation of sex work, founded an escort agency built on a philosophy of protecting women’s legal rights, emotional wellbeing, and financial independence.
Shoshana McCallum and Harry McNaughton co-wrote the series and served as showrunners on the production, on which Kacie Anning was set-up director, and director Madeleine Sami also worked on.
Tom Hern and Halaifonua Finau executive produced for the Auckland-based Tavake, with Aumua Crystal Vaega as co-executive producer and Belindalee Hope as producer. Nick Spicer, Aram Tertzakian, and Marci Wiseman produce for XYZ.
Finau, Griffiths, and Wiseman were on hand to accept the award at Tuesday’s ceremony, joining other fiction winners from UK series The Gathering (Best Series, Best Actor, Best Actress), Swedish film Little Did I Know (Best Film), and Israeli drama Night Therapy (Jury Special Prize).
Madam premieres July 4 on ThreeNow in New Zealand.