From Undercover to Ferry: SVOD Franchise Development in Small European Audiovisual Markets

This chapter examines the practices of localisation within the context of transmedia/universe storytelling and recycled filmmaking in the age of SVOD platforms. It will argue that Netflix has a strong belief in locality, paying attention to the ‘wants and needs’ of their target audiences. Additionally, it will be shown that franchise development and cinematic worldbuilding has become increasingly central to Netflix’s production strategies. The series Undercover (Eén and Netflix 2019-) and subsequent spin-off film, Ferry (Cecilia Verheyden 2021), the central case studies of this chapter – which act as a kind of ‘blueprint’ in the Low Countries – will, moreover, demonstrate how Netflix’s focus on ‘localisation’ and on ‘franchise development’ are, in fact, intertwined. To do so, it builds on (1) a textual analysis of the series’ three seasons and the film; (2) interviews with members of the production teams: and finally (3) a brief analysis of the news discourse on the series and film in mainstream Flemish news media (N = 41) using the keywords ‘Ferry’, ‘Undercover’, and ‘Netflix’ in the GoPress/BelgaPress database.