Edinburgh

We’re here again, Insiders, as we come to the close of another week. Jesse Whittock here guiding you through a round-up of the most notable stories from the past week. Sign up for the mailing list here.

Shonda Shines

Star power and spice: Jake and Max have been pounding the halls of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre the past four days for the 50^th anniversary of the Edinburgh TV Festival, an event that struck a positive chord after a 2024 characterized by doom and gloom. There was more of a creative buzz around the fest this year and it was helped along by some serious American star power in the form of Shonda Rhimes, who won an inaugural fellowship award – as she warned there are genuine fears U.S. networks are self-censoring in the Trump 2 era – and Tina Fey, who is speaking with Graham Norton in arguably the fest’s splashiest session as this email hits your inbox. Last year’s Edinburgh was defined by chatter over the “squeezed middle” – the death of mid-budget programming and the detrimental impact this was having on the sector – but attendees this year told us there was a distinctly “new normal” feeling to proceedings, and this was welcome. Not that Edinburgh didn’t come without its bit of spice. During the opening debate, Channel 4 news chief Louisa Compton set the agenda for the entire thing in one fell swoop as she claimed Netflix had behaved like “TV tourists” by commissioning Adolescence – a show created by talent that Channel 4 had been training up for years. There were audible ‘oohs’ as she delivered her line. Netflix scripted exec Mona Qureshi later hit back, saying: “I don’t think I’m a tourist – I’ve been around.” There were more ding-dongs as the week went on, including frustration from BBC, ITV and 5 chiefs when Channel 4 content boss Ian Katz slammed rivals for being “timid.” It was all very enjoyable to watch, and, to stress, remained good natured throughout. Elsewhere, big show announcements came in the way of HBO-Sky legal thriller War starring Dominic West and Sienna Miller, Channel 4’s reimagining of Army of Shadows from Top Boy creator Ronan Bennett, and ITV’s Traitors-esque gameshow Nobody’s Fool. All our coverage can be found here.

Anti-Bullying Body Funding Failure

CIISA refuseniks: On the first morning of Edinburgh, Jake broke the news that several major players in the UK were refusing to fund the Creative Industries Independent Standards Authority (CIISA), an independent body set up to deal with harassment and complaints in the British TV industry in the wake of several high-profile scandals. Channel 4, Disney, All3Media, Fremantle and Banijay have all declined to pay the voluntary fees, we understand, while Netflix and Paramount-owned 5 wouldn’t confirm either way. The BBC, Warner Bros. Discovery, Sky and ITV are among those who are funding. The understanding is the refuseniks are seeking more clarity on what the funds will be used on – CIISA is yet to deliver on its central pledge to launch a misconduct hotline, and several industry sources I’ve spoken to in the wake of Jake’s scoop have questioned why the body’s costs for 2026 are an estimated £2M ($2.7M). Whether that’s necessary or not, it’s a bad look PR-wise to be the guys who aren’t supporting an anti-bullying initiative. This is an intriguing story that looks set to keep running.

Why You Can’t Replace De Niro’s Voice

Dubble take: The TV set weren’t the only screen professionals in Scotland’s capital this month. Before Jake and Max travelled up for the television confab, Zac journeyed north for the Edinburgh International Film Festival, which ran from August 14-20. Among several notable talks, three-time Oscar-winning film editor Thelma Schoonmaker railed against the use of dubbing in international film releases during a talk about her late filmmaker husband, Michael Powell. “How do you replace Robert De Niro’s voice?” she queried, before answering her own question, “It’s just impossible.” Not only that, but she called the process of sending a film to her European counterparts “painful.” Sorry Euro friends. To be fair, when you’ve edited all of Martin Scorsese’s films since Raging Bull, you’re entitled to your own opinions. In Zac’s report, Schoonmaker addressed Powell’s legendary filmmaking partnership with Emeric Pressburger, which spawned films such as The Red Shoes, The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp and Black Narcissus. “Their friendship was remarkable,” she said. Lots more Edinburgh Film Fest content flooded in through the week, including stories on Kevin MacDonald, Paul Sng and Two Neighbours director Ondine Viñao. Read more.

Ray Guns For Marvel

Not so Marvellous: Ray Winstone‘s trip to the Sarajevo Film Festival was, as it turns out, as memorable as you might have expected. In town to receive an Honorary Heart of Sarajevo award, the veteran actor recalled during one talk a bruising experience doing reshoots for Marvel’s 2021 pic Black Widow. “I told them they should recast,” he recalled. “But I was contracted to do it.” So he did. It’s fair to say Winstone isn’t a huge fan of what the Marvel Cinematic Universe and other superhero franchises are doing to the wider ecosystem of filmmaking. “There is room for it and it’s fun, but it takes away from getting cultural films made, which are best for the actors and are really good acting parts,” he opined. Lots more from Mr Winstone about his fascinating career is here, including a story about Martin Scorsese and a famous leather jacket. More Sarajevo stories from Diana here, including a fun talk from Nosferatu actor Willem Dafoe, as the festival comes to an end today.

Daniel Dae Kim‘s Korea Highlight

‘Butterfly‘ effect: Daniel Dae Kim may have been a favorite on American TV shows for the past two decades on Lost and Hawaii Five-O, but his new Prime Video thriller series Butterfly provided the actor with something none of his past work could. “Shooting something in Korea has always been a goal of mine,” he told Sara in an interview published earlier this week. So keen was Kim to shoot in the country of his birth that he actually asked the head of publisher Boom! Studios whether a TV series could move part of the action from the U.S. and Europe, where the comic books on which Butterfly is based on are set. The recently-named honorary citizen of Seoul got his wish, and the series would shoot in numerous South Korean locations, including in the mountains, countryside and the capital. “I love that we got to shoot in Busan too, which is where I was born,” he recalled. The choice was clearly a good one, as Butterfly this week reached top spot in Prime Video’s U.S. charts, marking both and on- and off-screen success for Kim, who also exec produced through his production company 3AD and a development deal with Amazon MGM Studios.

The Essentials

🌶️ Hot One: Laura Donnelly will star in ITV and Poison Pen serial killer drama The Dark.

🌶️ Another One: More big names join the second season of Disney+ ‘bonkbuster’ Rivals, with Hayley Atwell and Rupert Everett signing up.

🥵 Third One: MK2 Films boarded sales on Laura Poitras’ doc Cover-Up ahead of its world premiere Out of Competition at the upcoming Venice Film Festival.

☀️ Sunny fest: Nine films were added to the San Sebastian line-up including Ballad of a Small Player, the latest from Edward Berger, who sat down for a chat with our Editor-in-Chief, Film, Mike Fleming Jr.

🚪 Exit door: Jack Oliver is leaving his role as Head of Co-Productions at Sky.

💃 Re-jig: All3Media International upped Jennifer Askin and drafted in Whitney Muroff, as long-serving Americas chief Sally Habbershaw stepped down.

📋 Listed: Submissions for the Best International Feature Film award at the Oscars are coming in thick and fast.

🤝🏽 Deal: Parasite maker Barunson E&A struck a two-year agreement with Come And See Pictures, the production house run by Indonesian filmmaker Joko Anwar.

⚽ Ball, ball, ball, footie, footie, footie: A YouTuber has been selected among the broadcasters of the 2025/26 German Bundesliga season.

👀 First look: At Will Sharpe’s transformation into Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart for the White Lotus actor’s new Sky series.

📅 Release date: For Culpa Nuestra (Our Fault), the concluding part to Prime Video’s hugely popular rom-dram feature trilogy.

International Insider was written by Jesse Whittock. Max Goldbart contributed and edited.