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US and other territory deals for Jungle’s ABC comedy ‘Sando’

Adele Vuko, Krew Boylan, Nick Boshier and Firass Dirani in ‘Sando’ (photo credit Tony Mott).

RLJ Entertainment has acquired exclusive US rights to Jungle’s Sando and will distribute the six-part ABC comedy in the UK and other English-speaking markets.

The series starring Sacha Horler as Victoria “Sando” Sandringham, a down-to-earth larrikin who has built a successful discount furniture empire although her personal life is a mess, will premiere in the US on RLJ’s Acorn TV.

The SVOD service, which aims to offer the best English-language entertainment, has about 600,000 subscribers who pay $US4.99 a month or $US49.99 a year

Acorn’s UK-based development division Acorn Media Enterprises is the US co-producer and will market the show created by Phil Lloyd and Charlie Garber as one of 10 originals on the platform this year as it ramps up investment in original content.

RLJ will get the second-run window in Australia following the ABC/iview broadcast.

The SVOD service screens multiple Australian series including the second season of Doctor, Doctor retitled The Heart Guy in the US,  Jack Irish, Janet King and A Place to Call Home.

Jungle’s Jason Burrows tells IF that RLJ is a significant investor. He first met with RLJ execs at Content London in 2016. The Sando project most appealed to the RLJ reps who asked to see the script. The ABC funded the development of the pilot script after which RLJ came aboard.

The comedy follows Sando as she tries to reconnect with her estranged family in order to win back her beloved company, Sando’s Warehouse.

Krew Boylan plays her daughter Susie and Firass Dirani is Susie’s ex-fiancé. Lloyd plays Don, a jingles writer who fancies himself as a serious musician and is the lover of Nicky (Adele Vuko), Susie’s best friend and live-in therapist but secretly fancies Sando.

Uli Latukefu is Susie’s husband Gary and in his TV series debut stand-up comedian Dylan Hesp is Eric, Sando’s son.

Acorn TV general manager Matthew Graham said: “Acorn TV subscribers are sure to enjoy this new offbeat family comedy. As an independent SVOD and the leading streaming service in North America focused on international television, Acorn TV is in the unique position to search the world for the very best in international TV and bring our subscribers first-rate comedies and dramas from not just Britain but Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, and Australia with shows like Sando.”

Producer Chloe Rickard was forced to recast the lead after Genevieve Morris withdrew for health reasons after the first week of shooting.

Horler, whose credits include The Letdown, Offspring and Jungle’s The Moodys, joined the production in week three and mightily impressed the producers and fellow cast members.

The directors are Erin White (It’s a Date, Little Lunch) and the Van Vuuren Bros. (Bondi Hipsters, Soul Mates) and the scripts were written by Lloyd, Garber, Gary Eck, Helen Dallimore and Tiffany Zehnal.