AN IRISH DRAMA about a young girl who wants to become a DJ has been picked up for a US format deal – by one of the people behind Ugly Betty and the Office, no less.

Beat Girl was created by Emmy-nominated writer-producer Nuno Bernardo and originally produced in Dublin last year, with an accompanying book written by Dublin-based author Jasmina Kallay, and movie directed by Irishman Mairtin de Barra, as well as online playlists and interviews with the main character.

It focuses on the story of Heather, a musician who finds herself being drawn into the world of DJing, which conflicts with her plans to study at Juilliard in New York.

The North American format rights to beActive’s Beat Girl were picked up by multimedia studio Electus. The company is headed up by hotshot Ben Silverman, who was behind the reversioning of both Ugly Betty and The Office in the US.

beActive’s Triona Campbell said from Dublin:

The feedback online from the Beat Girl fan-based communities has been huge and this is rapidly becoming a break out success story, from what started as an in-house project to justify our obsession with electronic dance music and explore the counter culture world around it.

This is the first time an Irish company has sold drama format rights into the US – so could it become a breakout hit across the water?

The movie will be released in May of this year in Ireland, UK and Portugal.

(beactivebechilled/YouTube)

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