The Sniffer – Ukrainian Series with the European Budget - Has Paid Off

Detective scripted drama The Sniffer (produced by FILM.UA Group) being in fact the most expensive Ukrainian TV series has already recouped the costs of its production. FILM.UA Group general producer Victor Mirsky shared this information during the opening press conference at KYIV MEDIA WEEK: Media Business in the era of transformations. 

"Production budget of The Sniffer episode totals near $500 thousand. For less money we, I mean FILM.UA, are unable to produce scripted series that have international distribution prospective. Foreign viewers are used to a certain level of quality, so we cannot produce series aimed at them cheaper. For Ukrainian only market we can produce an episode, for instance, for $20 thousand. But then it will be almost impossible to sell somewhere such kind of product", - said Victor Mirsky, noting that the cost of The Sniffer production has already paid off, and not because of sales to Europe, but due to sales to Russia.

The first season of 8-episode series The Sniffer premiered on the Ukrainian ICTV channel in autumn 2013. In December of the same year, the drama was shown on the Russian Channel One, becoming the most successful TV series premiere on Russian television over the past 5 years. Also, the series TV-rights were licensed to Kazakhstan, Israel, Lithuania, Finland and other countries. French broadcaster TF1 acquired the rights to create a local adaptation of the format. The project managed to win a number of prestigious international awards (on WorldMediaFestival Hamburg 2014, Chicago International Film Festival Television Awards 2014, WorldFest Houston 2015, and The US International Film & Video Festival 2015).

The main character is called The Sniffer. He's the proud owner of an extraordinarily acute sense of smell. He can detect things about you that you desperately want to conceal. He'll find that needle in the haystack. Don't ever doubt his extraordinary skills! But the truth is that his sense of smell is as much a curse as it is a gift. This guy can solve a mystery by having a single sniff around but what happens when all these myriads of smells force their way into his private life? Let's just put it this way – he’s not exactly a happy camper.

Note that the detective series The Sniffer 2 took the third place at the festival US International Film & Video Festival. The project received a Certificate for Creative Excellence in the category of "mini-series." The premiere of the second season of The Sniffer is planned for autumn 2015 on Ukrainian TV channel ICTV.

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