Some good news to share this November! We’re thrilled to announce nominations for various awards.

Selected from 766 entries across 12 categories, SEX EDUCATION has received recognition in the Comedy Drama and Sitcom category of the 59th Rose d’Or Awards, which will be held digitally.

The shortlist was voted for by over 80 international judges from across the television industry and includes entries from every major territory in the world. You can read more about the nominations here.

SEX EDUCATION has also picked up three nominations in the C21 International Drama Awards, voted for by the world’s leading scripted commissioners and buyers.

As well as the show’s recognition in the ‘Best Returning Comedy Drama Series’ category, both Asa Butterfield and Ncuti Gatwa have received Best Individual Performance nominations.

The winners will be announced during an online International Drama Awards Ceremony, which takes place on Thursday 2nd December as part of Content London On Demand – The New Normal Box Set. More on the C21 nominations can be read here.

We are inviting applications for Duly Noted, a script editor training programme for experienced development creatives in the industry who are People of Colour.

– What is Duly Noted?

We’ve noticed that where diversity is concerned, emphasis in the industry has been placed on front-of-camera representation, writer development and entry-level access schemes.

In addition, we believe that in order for diverse representation to be meaningful, supported and sustainable, the editorial teams supporting them need to be equally diverse. As the TV landscape becomes ever more competitive, audiences are hungry to see themselves authentically reflected on-screen, and broadcasters must fight for every set of eyeballs. It is imperative then for content makers to represent the world that they are doing business in. The cost of not doing so is to become irrelevant. So, when it comes to creating believable depictions of the world, having a diverse creative team to help find and craft these stories is just as vital as who’s in front of the camera.

Development is at the start of every TV project. The development creative is there from the point of inception when an idea is sparked – making sure it’s nurtured, shaped, and given life. It’s people in these roles, from the in-house Development Assistant to Executives, who are vital in supporting the integrity of diverse slate.

We are here to help equip development professionals with the necessary skills to move into production script editing roles, especially at the point when a project transitions from development to production.

Professionals in these roles can be less equipped to deal with stickier, more production orientated conversations because of a lack of production experience, support, insight and on the ground know-how into the holistic process. And, when the decision is out of your hands, with your next career step somewhat determined by a higher authority, it’s hard to push back, challenge, insist and fight to hold onto your project – for the sake of your project and, critically, for your own career advancement.

We recognise that in order for People of Colour working in the industry to rise through the ranks to key influential positions, experience across development and production is tantamount. Not simply for our own CVs, but in our ability to support key members of the creative team – the writers and directors – from the inception of an idea all the way through to its transmission.

With Duly Noted as professional development training, we aim to begin bridging the gap between development and production – by encouraging the creatives conceiving the story with writers. Because these are the same creatives guiding writers through the process of development, and enabling the transition from development into production. The goal of Duly Noted is to equip People of Colour in editorial positions for this process, so that with their projects, they are able to take that crucial next step themselves.

– What structure will the training take?

With 5 spaces available for production script editing training, Duly Noted will consist of 4 full-day workshops involving the nuts and bolts of production script editing, as well as in-depth group and panel discussions. The workshops will be supplemented with ‘at-home’ assignments and 2 one-to-one mentoring sessions.

Hosted by Eleven, the programme will run one Saturday a month from January to April 2021. With the support of Eleven and Sony Pictures Television, Duly Noted is a paid training opportunity.

– How do I apply or recommend someone?

We are looking for creative development professionals who are People of Colour with at least 1.5 years experience in scripted comedy or drama and must have the right to work in the UK. A question we often hear in general and advice-giving career meetings is – how do I take that next step to become a Script Editor? This programme is designed in response to that specific question, with professionals at this key stage in their career in mind. It’s crucial that individuals are yet to cut their teeth on production script editing, but are chomping at the bit to do so.

Send an email to dulynoted@elevenfilm.com with an updated CV attached, telling us about you or why you think this person would benefit from script editor training.

Please note that we will only use personal information supplied to us for the reasons it has been provided for. We will only hold information for as long as necessary to fulfil that purpose. We will not pass information to any other parties unless this is made clear at the time supplied. In this instance, we will share personal information with prospective mentors to help support applications. All parties who have access to personal data or are associated with the handling of that data are obliged to respect confidentiality.

We will be accepting submissions and nominations until Wednesday 9th December – unsuccessful applicants will be notified by Tuesday 22nd December 22.

Sony Pictures Television has confirmed what we revealed back in April — that it is investing in Eleven, the British production outfit behind Netflix smash hit SEX EDUCATION.

Sony has taken a majority stake in Eleven after a competitive process in which a host of potential suitors showed an interest in the producer, including All3Media. The size of the stake and financial terms were not disclosed.

In completing the takeover, Sony is buying out Channel 4’s 20% stake in Eleven. The British broadcaster first invested in the company in 2014 as part of its Indie Growth Fund initiative.

Eleven was founded by creative directors Jamie Campbell and Joel Wilson in 2006, and teen drama SEX EDUCATION has become its biggest calling card since launching last year.

Click here to read the full Deadline article.

The producers of two of Netflix’s buzziest series are joining forces to develop new shows, with a focus on work by women and people of colour.

Dominic Buchanan, the executive producer of THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD, and Eleven, the shingle behind SEX EDUCATION, have inked a production pact giving Eleven first look at Buchanan’s TV projects. The partners will co-develop and take new shows out to both streaming platforms and linear broadcasters.

About 45% of Eleven’s work already comes from female writers and directors, but the company wants to increase the proportion of its shows from people of colour.

“There are a disproportionately small number of stories that are told by women and people of colour,” Eleven co-founder Jamie Campbell told Variety. “We have been quite self-analytical as a company to work out how we can find more of these stories and how we can be more inclusive.”

Buchanan is a seasoned producer and has worked on both sides of the Atlantic in film and TV. He produced Hong Khaou’s 2014 Sundance movie LILTING, which starred Cheng Pei-pei and Ben Whishaw. In TV, he has been homing in on writers and directors of colour as his slate comes together.

To read the full Variety article, click here.

BBC Three has ordered RED ROSE, a new horror series written by The Clarkson Twins – Michael and Paul.

The eight-part series was commissioned by Fiona Campbell, Controller of BBC Three and Piers Wenger, Controller of BBC Drama and will be co-produced by Eleven (SEX EDUCATION, THE ENFIELD HAUNTING) and global independent studio Entertainment One, eOne (SHARP OBJECTS).

The story follows a disparate group of teenagers, adrift in the long hot summer following GCSEs, hanging out on the Bolton moors with little sense of direction or purpose now that school is over. Rumours circulate of the Red Rose app, an urban legend that blooms on the smartphones of teenagers, encouraging them to undertake a series of challenges increasingly dangerous in its demands. On the fringes of her group of friends, Rochelle Jackson downloads the mysterious app. What she sets in motion is a series of events that take the town by storm, and bring the friends together to battle the unseen forces of a seemingly supernatural entity.

You can read the full Televisual article here. 

Netflix’s breakout hit SEX EDUCATION is returning!

The streamer has renewed the British dramedy for a second series of eight episodes. Production on the sophomore run will resume in the spring in the UK. The entire cast — including stars Gillian Anderson and Asa Butterfield — will return to reprise their roles. Creator Laurie Nunn will return as showrunner.

The renewal comes after Netflix, in a rare move, revealed that 40 million households watched SEX EDUCATION within its first four weeks of release. It’s unclear if that figure represents sampling of the episodes or completion of all eight episodes as the streamer remains cagey about releasing — or discussing — what little viewership data it does share.

“Laurie Nunn has captured the awkward teenage experience with a lot of heart and humour in SEX EDUCATION,” said Cindy Holland, VP of Originals at Netflix. “Along with the Eleven team and executive producer and director Ben Taylor, she’s created a universally relatable series that has resonated with our members around the world.”

The series remains a critical favourite with a 91 percent rating among critics on RottenTomatoes.com.

“The reception to season one has been so exciting,” Nunn said. “Seeing how people across the world have connected to characters that began as ideas in my head is incredible. I’m hugely grateful to every person that has taken the time to watch the series, and I can’t wait to continue this amazing journey.”

Nunn executive produces alongside Jamie Campbell and Ben Taylor. Sian Robins-Grace co-exec produces the Eleven production.

You can see the full Hollywood Reporter article here.

“We’re swamped with coming-of-age sex stories set in schools. But Netflix’s new British teen comedy has the brains and heart to make it feel like the real thing.

SEX EDUCATION is the sharpest, smartest – dare I say wokest? – comedy I’ve seen in years. It is the best portrayal of the chaotic neutrality of teenagers you’ll ever see. If you’re not going home to watch it tonight, I don’t know if we can ever speak again.

Asa Butterfield (who you’ll remember as a young boy in everything) plays Otis, the son of a sex therapist (played by Gillian Anderson), who is in constant crisis over his own wants and needs. In spite of the fact he is pretending to masturbate, he can guide you round a vagina better than anyone and has picked up an innate ability to counsel people with the sexual issues nobody will talk to them about. Maeve (Emma Mackey) is the school loner with dyed hair who is secretly friends with everyone and also running a multitude of side hustles. Together they decide to create a sexual therapy business in their school, which is full of repressed and confused people of every sexuality, ethnicity and background.

If the premise hasn’t sold you, I get it: so far, portrayals of sex on the screen swing between overly virtuous and hyper-grotesque. Where’s the dirty-but-enjoyable middle ground otherwise known as real life? A show that goes so hard (pun intended) on teenagers getting it off has to have a beating heart, a sense of empathy and a beautifully written script to rise above the masses. Luckily, all three of these things can be found here.

There’s a scene in the middle of the first episode that proved to be the moment I knew this show was for me. Nobody even had sex in it: hidden in the asbestos-riddled abandoned toilets, Maeve and Aimee (Aimee Lou Wood) play a game of cards and smoke. Aimee is talking to her friend about how her boyfriend, Adam (Connor Swindells), the school’s archaic bully, can’t seem to orgasm. It’s a lovely chat between two women in which their sexual appetite is right there at the core of it. Then Aimee sees the popular kids – the clique she hangs out with – approaching. Knowing she can’t be seen with the school’s angry exile, they both apologise that these meetings have to be so clandestine and part with affected Northern twangs and a call of “ta-rah, pet!”. It’s a beautiful scene because both women display the abilities to a) communicate and b) show empathy, two things nearly all teen dramas have relied on nixing from the adolescent mindset in the name of tension. Everything about it feels like friendship.”

Read the full GQ review here.

“Netflix’s latest portrait of teen life blends raucous sex farce with empathy for the young adult experience and is anchored by fine performances from Asa Butterfield and Gillian Anderson.

As elusive demographics go, you can’t go wrong programming to “former teens.” No matter their buying power or brand loyalty, all viewers aged 20-to-??? have experienced, and presumably survived to laugh about, the zitty onset of puberty, the fumbling awkwardness of first love, the sweaty anxiety of essays and exams.

With shows like On My Block, the late-and-lamented Everything Sucks! and the first season of 13 Reasons Why, Netflix has excelled at targeting “former teens” in recent years and has another hilarious and cringe-worthy winner on its hands with the new dramedy SEX EDUCATION. A blend of Netflix genre peaks BIG MOUTH and THE END OF THE F***ING WORLD, SEX EDUCATION may also play to viewers actually in the midst of the nightmares of adolescence, but the show is aggressively gross and graphic in a way that will probably mortify teens and grownups alike — making it the perfect candidate to be watched in amused solitude and then, hopefully, discussed in candor.

Set in the photogenic and fictional British town of Moordale — played with lush, green majesty by locations in Wales — SEX EDUCATION is the story of Otis Milburn (Asa Butterfield), son of renowned sex and relationship therapist Jean (Gillian Anderson). Otis and longtime best friend Eric (Ncuti Gatwa) aren’t unpopular at Moordale Secondary; they’re basically invisible, even though Eric is one of the school’s only two gay students and thinks nothing of making a scene.”

You can read the full Hollywood Reporter view here.

Asa Butterfield (Ender’s Game, Hugo) leads the cast as Otis in SEX EDUCATION, a charming coming-of-awkward-age dramedy, debuting globally on Netflix in 2019. 

Asa will star alongside award winning actress, Gillian Anderson (THE X-FILES, THE FALL), who will play Otis’s mother, Jean, an unashamed sex therapist.

Meet Otis – a socially awkward high school virgin who lives with his mother, a sex therapist. Surrounded by manuals, videos and tediously open conversations about sex, Otis is a reluctant expert on the subject. When his home life is revealed at school, Otis realises that he can use his specialist knowledge to gain status. He teams up with Maeve, a whip-smart bad-girl, and together they set up an underground sex therapy clinic to deal with their fellow students’ weird and wonderful problems. Through his analysis of teenage sexuality, Otis realises he may need some therapy of his own. 

Co-stars include: Emma Mackey as Maeve, Ncuti Gatwa as Otis’s best friend Eric, Connor Swindells as class bully Adam, and Kedar Williams-Stirling as head boy and all round heartthrob Jackson. 

SEX EDUCATION is an eight-part Netflix original series created and written by Laurie Nunn and directed by Ben Taylor (CATASTROPHE). The series is produced by UK-based production company Eleven, run by creative directors Joel Wilson and Jamie Campbell and MD Dan Cheesbrough. 

Filming for SEX EDUCATION is now underway in the UK.