HBO to adapt Israeli TV series 'Nevelot'

The American premium TV network will develop the series, based on a Yoram Kaniuk novella, with Alan Poul at the helm.

TV Remote (photo credit: INGIMAGE)
TV Remote
(photo credit: INGIMAGE)
US premium television network HBO has acquired the rights to develop Israeli show “Nevelot” (Bastards) originally broadcast on Hot that was based on the novel Vultures & Bastards from Yoram Kaniuk.
The deal was closed in recent months by Hadas Mozes Lichtenstein, head of content agency ADD’s international business development.
The “Nevelot” mini-series, a myTV production from Lee Yardeni and Aviram Buhris, aired in 2010. Yehoram Gaon and Yossi Pollak played two Palmach veterans seeking revenge on an indifferent society and its spoiled youth.
The series was directed by Dror Sabo, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Daphna Levin. The series won an award at the cinema awards that year.
The American production will feature two Vietnam vets that go on a violent journey in Miami. The series will be produced by Happy Madison Adam Sandler’s production company based within Sony Pictures Television. It will be directed by Alan Poul, who was the showrunner for HBO’s The Newsroom.
ADD, led by Mozes Lichtenstein, has sold several formats recently, including The Prime Minister’s Children to the CW and Head Injuries to Jerry Bruckheimer.
HBO, which has cemented its place with Game of Thrones, Sex and the City, The Sopranos, and The Wire, has in the past aired two seasons of the American adaptation of Israeli show In Treatment considered the tipping point for Israeli content deals abroad.
The Hot Content VP said, “We are very proud of ‘Nevelot’ and its creators. Selling the rights to a giant network like HBO, among the leading and most influential in the American TV industry, was a huge honor and a great first step toward the show’s global success.”