Writer Sophia Al-Maria (Little Birds, Sisters With Transistors) has boarded TV series The Many Lives of Miss K from Finite Films & TV and Shoni Productions.
The series is an adaptation of a biography written by Jean-Noël Liaut and will “depict the remarkable life of iconic fashion model and WWII secret agent, Toto Koopman.”
Expanding its scripted TV slate, Finite Films & TV said it will work with Al-Maria to develop the series about Dutch woman Koopman’s “extraordinary and trail-blazing life.”
Born to a Dutch cavalry officer father and a half Indonesian mother, her mixed heritage “exposed her to discrimination and prejudice that shaped her worldview,” the company noted. “Koopman arrived in Paris in the 1930s, soon making history as the first mixed race model to be featured on the cover of French Vogue. Koopman continued to challenge cultural norms throughout her life; she was open about her bisexuality and her relationships with high profile socialites such as actress Tallulah Bankhead and media mogul Lord Beaverbrook.”
The series will trace Koopman’s transformation from fashion model to wartime spy, charting her double life which led to her capture in 1941. “Against overwhelming odds, Toto survived the Nazi concentration camps and later reinvented herself as a force in the postwar art world,” Finite said.
“The aim of this project is to delve into Toto Koopman’s complex and inspiring life and do it justice, and Sophia is someone we trust to bring this incredibly profound and unique story to life,” says Amy Gardner, founder and executive producer at Finite Films & TV. “We couldn’t be more excited to have her on board, and to be working with the amazing Shoni Productions team, who will be our partners in bringing this story to life.”
The Many Lives of Miss K bolsters Finite Films & TV’s growing scripted slate of “curated, internationally driven projects with universal appeal,” including the psychological horror movie The Fears, from Doctor Who director Andrew Gunn, which is currently in development, and the upcoming drama, Ben & Lucy, starring Steven Cree and directed by Cora Bissett.
Finite also recently unveiled that it will co-produce the first English-language feature film from Indian director Anu Menon (Waiting, The Day of the Jackal, Killing Eve), Two of Us, with Bright Pictures.
Shoni (The Black Sea, What Is to Come) is currently developing multiple feature film and high-end TV drama projects. Shoni founder Dana Høegh’s other credits include executive producing The Bike Thief by Matt Chambers and The End by Josh Oppenheimer.
Al-Maria received the 2009 Doha Tribeca Film Festival’s Most Promising Filmmaker Award.
