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 juggernaut “Euphoria,” has declared that television is moving into a golden age of global drama. Addressing this year’s Canneseries festival, Leshem—whose credits include “Valley of Tears,” “No Man’s Land” and “Bad Boy”—argued passionately that independent creators and cross-border narratives hold the key to revitalising television drama. As streaming platforms increasingly retreat into domestically-oriented programming and broadcasters take conservative approaches, Leshem stays firmly confident about the future, backed by his own collection of ambitious international projects spanning Brazil, Australia, Europe and France. His belief comes at a pivotal juncture when global drama risks being reduced to little more than a cost-effective option or exotic niche rather than a artistic movement reshaping the medium.

The Case for Daring, Limit-Breaking Narrative Craft

Leshem’s core argument challenges the dominant risk-aversion in modern television. Rather than falling back on formulaic comfort, he contends that international storytelling offers something the industry critically demands: genuine surprise. When broadcasters and streaming platforms avoid taking risks, approving only established formats and conventional stories, they relinquish the television’s essential ability to inspire and disturb. Leshem believes this point in time demands the reverse strategy—creators must adopt the unfamiliar, venture into uncharted ground, and believe in audiences to accompany them into uncomfortable, unexpected places. The Israeli original “Euphoria” embodied this approach, delivering genuine rawness and local cultural character to a tale that went beyond its roots to become a international hit.

The economics of international production, Leshem stresses, genuinely free rather than constrain imaginative drive. Whilst American television increasingly demands considerable spending to justify green-light verdicts, overseas projects can achieve comparable production values at reduced financial outlay. This financial flexibility surprisingly facilitates greater creative risk-taking. Creators operating in international settings aren’t bound by the same business imperatives that force American networks toward formulaic narratives. Instead, they can invest in original viewpoints, non-traditional storytelling, and the kind of bold experimentation that ultimately produces the most impactful and culturally relevant programming.

• Global narratives opens doors to new worlds, frameworks and story arcs
• Independent production companies can create high-end drama at substantially lower costs
• International storytelling attracts audiences fatigued by conventional TV
• Cultural distinctiveness establishes credibility that transcends geographical boundaries

Challenging the Established Formula

The television industry’s current risk aversion represents a fundamental misreading of viewer demand. Streaming services and traditional broadcasters have become fixated with metrics and algorithmic predictability, resulting in an endless parade of retreads and sequels. Yet audiences keep turning toward programmes that surprise them—narratives that feel truly transgressive, ethically nuanced, and culturally rooted. Global drama, by its inherent character, resists the standardising tendency that dominates mainstream American television. When creators operate within different cultural contexts and production ecosystems, they’re forced to approach things anew, to challenge conventions, to move past the well-worn paths that have become entrenched as industry convention.

Leshem’s own production outfit, Crossing Oceans, embodies this philosophy through its intentionally global portfolio. From “Paranoia” in Brazil to “Revolution,” a France Télévisions collaboration with Iranian filmmakers, his projects intentionally pursue creative friction and cultural collision. These aren’t vanity productions designed to accumulate festival laurels; they’re calculated bets that audiences worldwide hunger for stories that challenge, unsettle, and eventually transform them. By embracing the unfamiliar rather than retreating from it, Leshem argues, television can restore its standing as the platform where real creative risk still matters.

From Israeli Foundations to Worldwide Ambitions

Ron Leshem’s path from Israeli television to international prominence exemplifies the transformative power of culturally grounded narratives. His foundational creations in Israeli drama established him as a unique artistic perspective, willing to confront intricate ethical and cultural questions with unflinching honesty. This base proved essential in shaping his future direction to global production. Rather than surrendering his cultural identity for broader commercial appeal, Leshem has consistently leveraged his Israeli perspective as a storytelling strength, proving that profoundly rooted narratives possess universal resonance. His trajectory illustrates that the most compelling international television often emerges not from diminishing cultural specificity, but from deepening commitment to it.

The founding of Crossing Oceans, his production outfit headquartered in Los Angeles but working chiefly across international markets, reflects a conscious departure from Hollywood-centric production models. Working alongside longtime collaborators Amit Cohen and Daniel Amsel, Leshem has developed a collection deliberately designed to emphasise artistic integrity over market-tested formulas. His active ventures span Brazil, Australia, Europe, and France in partnership with Iranian filmmakers—a geographical and creative diversity that would have been unimaginable in traditional television hierarchies. This worldwide reach isn’t merely ambitious; it’s a calculated claim that the trajectory of dramatic television lies in dispersed creative systems where regional expertise and global aspirations intersect.

The Euphoria Phenomenon

The original Israeli series that inspired Sam Levinson’s HBO adaptation became a cultural watershed moment, demonstrating conclusively that non-English language drama could achieve extraordinary international box office success. Leshem’s creation struck such a powerful chord with audiences worldwide that it generated multiple 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 professional attitudes about the commercial potential of international television. Studios and digital platforms that had previously dismissed international drama as limited market appeal suddenly recognised the commercial opportunity of culturally distinct narratives executed with professional quality.

The HBO adaptation rise to the second most-watched series in the network’s history validated Leshem’s creative philosophy thoroughly. Rather than proving that international drama needed Americanisation to succeed, it illustrated the opposite: audiences desired the psychological complexity and cultural specificity that the Israeli version reflected. Levinson’s adaptation succeeded not by sanitising the source material but by honouring its fundamental boldness whilst adapting it for American sensibilities. This model—faithful reworking rather than wholesale reimagining—has become more impactful in how global drama is approached, encouraging producers to seek authentic local voices rather than imposing standardised templates.

• Original Israeli series generated numerous cross-border adaptations across different territories
• HBO adaptation became network’s second most-watched series of all time
• Success demonstrated cross-border television drama could achieve remarkable commercial and critical acclaim

Crossing Oceans: Building a Global Production Network

Leshem’s production outfit, Crossing Oceans, represents a deliberate architectural response to the fragmentation of global television production. Established in collaboration with CAA and headquartered in Los Angeles, the company operates as a truly global enterprise rather than a Hollywood-centric operation that periodically expands overseas. Established alongside longtime collaborators Amit Cohen and Daniel Amsel, Crossing Oceans functions as a creative centre where creators with varied geographical and cultural perspectives converge to develop projects with genuinely global ambition. This framework allows Leshem to preserve creative autonomy whilst leveraging the distinct production ecosystems, local knowledge, and creative talent pools that various regions provide, fundamentally challenging the idea that quality drama must originate from established entertainment hubs.

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

Collaboration Across Continents

Crossing Oceans’ cross-border partnerships demonstrate how contemporary global drama succeeds through genuine creative collaboration rather than traditional top-down production models. The partnership involving Iranian filmmakers on “Revolution” embodies this principle, offering creative insights and cultural narratives that traditional Western studios would generally dismiss. By positioning these partnerships as equal creative voices rather than subcontractors, Leshem’s company generates works enhanced through varied cultural insights and artistic traditions. This teamwork structure disputes conventional wisdom about the source of quality television, establishing that innovation emerges when diverse creative voices collaborate authentically toward shared artistic vision.

The simultaneous development of projects across Brazil, Australia, Europe, and France illustrates how Crossing Oceans operates as a genuinely distributed creative enterprise. Rather than centralising decision-making in Los Angeles, the company empowers local production teams and creative partners to propel work within their respective territories. This locally-focused structure speeds up production schedules whilst ensuring productions preserve local character and local relevance. By treating different territories as collaborative partners rather than satellite offices, Crossing Oceans introduces a production model that honours local insight whilst upholding the artistic standards and international perspective required for global commercial success.

Making Empathy Our Primary Focus

At the heart of Leshem’s vision for global drama lies a fundamental belief in television’s capacity to foster empathy across cultural boundaries. Rather than approaching global narratives as a business approach or budgetary convenience, he frames it as a moral imperative—a medium through which audiences across the globe can inhabit unfamiliar perspectives and develop deeper understanding of different societies. This conceptual approach raises international storytelling beyond entertainment into something more consequential: a tool for bridging the psychological distances that divide different populations. By centring empathy as the central principle, Leshem argues that television can accomplish what political discussion frequently fails to do: creating genuine human connection across difference.

The growth of locally produced content on global streaming platforms has somewhat counterintuitively created both opportunity and risk. Whilst audiences now encounter stories from historically underrepresented territories, there persists a danger of regarding such works as cultural oddities rather than stories of shared human experience. Leshem’s commitment to empathy-driven storytelling directly challenges this performative representation. His projects intentionally resist reductive stereotypes or superficial representation, instead constructing stories that reveal the shared vulnerabilities, ambitions, and moral complexities that unite humanity. This strategy converts audiences into authentic stakeholders in other people’s emotional landscapes, nurturing the form of intercultural comprehension that has become increasingly vital in an interconnected yet polarised world.

• Universal human narratives transcend cultural and geographical boundaries
• Empathy-based storytelling avoids exoticizing of foreign productions
• Common emotional moments foster authentic intercultural understanding
• Television’s power lies in rendering faraway lives feel intimately close

Drama as a Tool for Understanding

Television drama, when executed with genuine creative vision, functions as a uniquely potent form for cultivating empathy. Unlike documentary formats that maintain observational distance, drama invites audiences into the subjective emotional experiences of characters whose circumstances may differ radically from their own. This absorbing quality enables viewers to inhabit unfamiliar social contexts, family structures, and ethical quandaries with an depth that creates understanding rather than simple awareness. Leshem’s output regularly harness this capacity, creating narratives that push audiences to examine their own assumptions whilst recognising the fundamental humanity in characters whose lives initially seem strange or perplexing.

The impact of this strategy becomes notably evident in programmes addressing conflict, trauma, and community fragmentation. Series like “Valley of Tears” and “No Man’s Land” purposefully situate spectators within disputed regions and fractured communities, demanding that audiences navigate moral uncertainty without straightforward conclusions. Rather than offering reassuring narratives of success or redemption, these programmes present the complex, nuanced reality of how communities persist and periodically prosper within insurmountable conditions. By rejecting reduction, Leshem’s work teaches audiences that insight doesn’t require agreement—it requires only the readiness to truly hear with stories profoundly distinct from 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 authentically engage hinges on a commitment to take creative risks. Leshem argues that global drama’s greatest asset lies not in its production budgets but in its potential to venture into narrative territory that cautious American television increasingly avoids. When streaming companies prioritise algorithmic formulas over creative innovation, independent producers operating across continents possess the liberty to pursue stories that truly disturb and challenge audiences. This fearlessness—the unwillingness to sand down rough edges for palatability—transforms television from passive entertainment into something far more significant: a medium capable of broadening perspectives.

The international projects that achieve commercial success invariably demonstrate an unwavering fidelity to their source material’s cultural and emotional authenticity. “Euphoria’s” original Israeli iteration thrived not because it catered to American preferences but because it remained fiercely true to its own context, ultimately establishing that distinctive detail rather than universal blandness creates genuine broad appeal. Leshem’s existing portfolio of endeavours—from “Paranoia” in Brazil to collaborations with Iranian creative practitioners—embodies this conviction that the most internationally engaging storytelling arises when filmmakers place emphasis on their artistic vision’s honesty over structural pressure to dilute distinctiveness. Such boldness, paradoxically, functions as the means of achieving international success.

• Genuine storytelling grounded in distinct cultural settings resonates universally
• Artistic bold choices sets apart compelling shows from disposable programming
• Refusing market pressures often yields greater commercial success
• Global drama flourishes when creative direction overrides algorithmic predictability