Global Drama’s Golden Age: Why Television Must Dare to Surprise

Ron Leshem, the Oscar-nominated writer and co-creator of the Israeli series that inspired HBO’s cultural phenomenon “Euphoria,” has declared that television is entering a golden age of international storytelling. Addressing this year’s Canneseries festival, Leshem—whose credits include “Valley of Tears,” “No Man’s Land” and “Bad Boy”—contended forcefully that independent creators and cross-border narratives hold the key to reinvigorating dramatic television. As streaming platforms progressively focus on domestically-oriented programming and broadcasters take conservative approaches, Leshem remains bullishly optimistic about the future, backed by his own slate of ambitious international projects spanning Brazil, Australia, Europe and France. His conviction comes at a critical moment when global drama risks being dismissed as little more than a cost-effective option or exotic niche rather than a artistic movement reshaping the medium.

The Case for Bold, Boundary-Pushing Storytelling

Leshem’s primary argument questions the widespread timidity in contemporary television. Rather than reverting to familiar templates, he contends that global drama offers something the industry critically demands: authentic originality. When networks and streaming services stick to proven models, greenlighting only proven templates and familiar narratives, they relinquish the format’s fundamental power to inspire and disturb. Leshem believes this point in time demands the reverse strategy—creators must welcome the untested, push into new spaces, and trust audiences to go along into uncomfortable, unexpected places. The Israeli original “Euphoria” embodied this approach, delivering genuine rawness and cultural distinctiveness to a story that transcended its roots to become a international hit.

The economics of global production, Leshem highlights, truly emancipate rather than constrain creative ambition. Whilst American television increasingly demands considerable spending to justify green-light verdicts, international productions can achieve comparable production values at significantly lower expense. This financial flexibility paradoxically enables more adventurous creative choices. Production teams spanning multiple territories don’t face the same commercial pressures that force American networks toward lowest-common-denominator storytelling. Instead, they can invest in unique perspectives, non-traditional storytelling, and the kind of ambitious creative risk that eventually generates the most impactful and culturally relevant programming.

• Global storytelling opens doors to fresh settings, scenarios and narrative journeys
• Independent producers can create high-end drama at substantially lower costs
• International narratives appeals to audiences weary of conventional TV
• Cultural distinctiveness establishes genuine appeal that goes beyond geographical boundaries

Breaking the Established Model

The television industry’s present risk aversion represents a fundamental misreading of audience appetite. Streaming services and traditional broadcasters have become fixated with metrics and algorithmic predictability, leading to an endless parade of rehashed content and franchises. Yet audiences continue gravitating toward programmes that catch them off guard—narratives that feel genuinely dangerous, ethically nuanced, and culturally rooted. Global drama, by its very nature, resists the standardising tendency that dominates mainstream American television. When creators operate within different cultural contexts and production ecosystems, they’re forced to think differently, to question assumptions, to move past the well-worn paths that have calcified into industry convention.

Leshem’s personal production company, Crossing Oceans, reflects this philosophy through its deliberately global portfolio. From “Paranoia” in Brazil to “Revolution,” a France Télévisions partnership with Iranian filmmakers, his projects intentionally pursue creative friction and cultural collision. These are not vanity productions designed to accumulate festival laurels; they’re calculated bets that audiences worldwide hunger for stories that provoke, disorient, and eventually reshape them. By embracing the unknown rather than shying away from it, Leshem suggests, television can reclaim its position as the platform where genuine artistic risk-taking still counts.

From Israeli Origins to Global Aspirations

Ron Leshem’s progression from Israeli television to global recognition exemplifies the far-reaching influence of locally-rooted storytelling. His initial projects in Israeli drama marked him as a unique artistic perspective, willing to confront complex moral and social themes with candid directness. This groundwork became crucial in shaping his future direction to global production. Rather than setting aside his cultural distinctiveness for wider market reach, Leshem has repeatedly utilised his Israeli perspective as a creative asset, proving that deeply local stories possess universal resonance. His trajectory reveals that the most captivating worldwide programming often emerges not from diluting cultural identity, but from deepening commitment to it.

The establishment of Crossing Oceans, his production company headquartered in Los Angeles but working chiefly across global markets, constitutes a deliberate rejection from conventional studio-led frameworks. Collaborating with established creative allies Amit Cohen and Daniel Amsel, Leshem has constructed a slate strategically created to prioritise genuine creativity over audience-tested conventions. His active ventures span Brazil, Australia, Europe, and France in cooperation with Iranian filmmakers—a geographical and creative diversity that would have been inconceivable in established industry frameworks. This international presence goes beyond simple ambition; it’s a calculated claim that the trajectory of dramatic television lies in distributed production networks where local knowledge and global aspirations intersect.

The Euphoria Effect

The groundbreaking Israeli series that influenced Sam Levinson’s HBO adaptation became a defining cultural moment, demonstrating conclusively that non-English language drama could achieve unprecedented global commercial success. Leshem’s creation resonated so profoundly with audiences worldwide that it produced countless international versions, each adapted to reflect regional cultural nuances whilst maintaining the emotional depth and emotional authenticity of the original vision. This success significantly transformed industry perceptions about international television’s commercial viability. Studios and digital platforms that had previously dismissed international drama as niche content suddenly acknowledged the market potential of culturally distinct narratives executed with professional quality.

The HBO adaptation emergence as the second most-watched series in the network’s history vindicated Leshem’s creative philosophy completely. Rather than proving that international drama needed Americanisation to succeed, it demonstrated the opposite: audiences desired the psychological complexity and cultural specificity that the Israeli version captured. Levinson’s adaptation succeeded not by sanitising the source material but by honouring its fundamental boldness whilst translating it for American sensibilities. This model—honourable reimagining rather than wholesale reimagining—has become increasingly influential in how global drama is approached, prompting producers to seek authentic local voices rather than imposing standardised templates.

• Original Israeli series spawned numerous cross-border adaptations throughout different markets
• HBO adaptation achieved the network’s second-most popular series of all time
• Success established international drama could attain remarkable commercial and critical acclaim

Crossing Oceans: Building a Global Production Network

Leshem’s production company, Crossing Oceans, represents a deliberate architectural response to the fragmented nature of international TV production. Established in collaboration with CAA and headquartered in Los Angeles, the company operates as a truly global enterprise rather than a Hollywood-focused venture that periodically expands overseas. Established alongside longtime collaborators Amit Cohen and Daniel Amsel, Crossing Oceans serves as a creative hub where creators with varied geographical and cultural perspectives gather to create productions with genuinely global ambition. This framework allows Leshem to preserve creative autonomy whilst leveraging the unique production environments, regional expertise, and pools of creative talent that different territories provide, directly contesting the idea that high-quality drama must emerge from established entertainment hubs.

The company’s current portfolio demonstrates the extent of the international reach and the range of storytelling approaches it champions. Projects stretch across continents and cultures, from Brazilian psychological dramas to European co-productions and collaborations with Iranian filmmakers, each bringing distinct perspectives and production methodologies. Rather than applying a uniform creative framework across territories, Crossing Oceans operates as a facilitator of genuine regional storytellers working in partnership with international ambition. This approach produces productions that demonstrate both cultural specificity and universal emotional resonance, proving that truly global drama emerges not from homogenisation but from championing unique creative perspectives whilst linking them internationally.

Working Together Throughout Continents

Crossing Oceans’ international partnerships showcase how modern international television flourishes through authentic artistic partnership rather than conventional studio hierarchies. The collaboration with Iranian filmmakers on “Revolution” embodies this principle, offering viewpoints and narrative approaches that conventional industry approaches would generally dismiss. By positioning these partnerships as artistic partners rather than subcontractors, Leshem’s company produces works enhanced through diverse perspectives and cultural approaches. This partnership approach disputes outdated assumptions about which regions produce quality drama, proving that innovation emerges when varied artistic perspectives work together genuinely toward common creative goals.

The concurrent development of projects across Brazil, Australia, Europe, and France showcases how Crossing Oceans operates as a genuinely distributed creative enterprise. Rather than centralising decision-making in Los Angeles, the company enables local production teams and creative partners to drive projects forward within their respective territories. This decentralised approach accelerates development timelines whilst guaranteeing productions reflect genuine cultural identity and local relevance. By treating different territories as creative equals rather than satellite offices, Crossing Oceans pioneers a production model that respects local knowledge whilst maintaining the artistic standards and international perspective essential to global commercial success.

Empathy as the Core Mission

At the heart of Leshem’s vision for international storytelling lies a core conviction in television’s ability to cultivate understanding across cultural boundaries. Rather than approaching global narratives as a commercial strategy or financial expediency, he positions it as a ethical necessity—a medium through which audiences worldwide can inhabit unfamiliar perspectives and gain greater insight of distinct cultures. This conceptual approach elevates global drama beyond mere entertainment into something more consequential: a tool for bridging the psychological distances that divide different populations. By centring empathy as the guiding principle, Leshem argues that television can achieve what political discourse often cannot: fostering authentic human bonds across difference.

The growth of locally created content on global streaming platforms has paradoxically created both opportunity and risk. Whilst audiences now discover stories from historically underrepresented territories, there remains a danger of regarding such works as exotic curiosities rather than universal human narratives. Leshem’s commitment to emotionally intelligent narrative directly counters this performative representation. His projects intentionally resist cultural stereotyping or performative diversity, instead crafting narratives that uncover the common fragilities, ambitions, and moral complexities that bind humanity. This approach transforms viewers into authentic stakeholders in other people’s emotional landscapes, cultivating the form of intercultural comprehension that has become increasingly vital in an digitally connected but deeply divided world.

• Timeless human stories transcend cultural and geographical boundaries
• Empathy-based narrative prevents exoticizing of foreign productions
• Shared emotional moments create genuine cross-cultural understanding
• Television’s strength resides in making faraway lives seem intimately close

Theatre as a Means for Comprehension

Television drama, when executed with genuine artistic ambition, functions as a uniquely powerful medium for building empathy. Unlike documentary approaches that maintain observational distance, drama draws audiences into the subjective emotional experiences of characters whose situations may diverge radically from their own. This immersive quality allows viewers to occupy unfamiliar social environments, family structures, and ethical quandaries with an intimacy that builds understanding rather than mere awareness. Leshem’s work consistently leverage this strength, constructing narratives that force audiences to confront their own assumptions whilst identifying the fundamental humanity in characters whose existences initially appear unfamiliar or bewildering.

The effectiveness of this approach becomes especially evident in works exploring conflict, trauma, and societal fracture. Series like “Valley of Tears” and “No Man’s Land” deliberately situate spectators within disputed regions and fractured communities, demanding that viewers navigate moral uncertainty without straightforward conclusions. Rather than offering soothing accounts of triumph or redemption, these dramas present the intricate, messy reality of how people persist and periodically prosper within insurmountable conditions. By refusing simplification, Leshem’s work teaches spectators that comprehension needn’t demand agreement—it requires only the willingness to genuinely listen with stories markedly unlike one’s own.

What Creates a Series Achieve Success

In an era saturated with content, the difference between programmes that merely exist and those that truly connect hinges on a commitment to take bold creative steps. Leshem argues that global drama’s greatest asset lies not in its production budgets but in its capacity to venture into dramatic space that cautious American television increasingly avoids. When streaming companies favour algorithmic formulas over creative innovation, independent producers operating across continents possess the liberty to pursue stories that authentically provoke and challenge audiences. This fearlessness—the refusal to sand down rough edges for commercial viability—transforms television from background viewing into something far more consequential: a medium able to expanding consciousness.

The international projects that achieve commercial success invariably share an uncompromising dedication to their original material’s emotional and cultural authenticity. “Euphoria’s” original Israeli iteration thrived not because it pursued American preferences but because it stayed firmly committed to its own context, ultimately establishing that specificity rather than broad genericness generates genuine broad appeal. Leshem’s existing portfolio of works—from “Paranoia” in Brazil to collaborations with Iranian creative practitioners—demonstrates this conviction that the most widely captivating drama arises when storytellers give precedence to their vision’s integrity over structural pressure to homogenise. Such artistic bravery, paradoxically, functions as the means of achieving international commercial success.

• Authentic storytelling rooted in specific cultural contexts resonates universally
• Creative bold choices distinguishes memorable television from forgettable content
• Refusing commercial compromise frequently generates greater commercial success
• Global drama flourishes when artistic vision overrides algorithmic predictability