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

Ron Leshem, the Oscar-nominated screenwriter and creator of the Israeli series that influenced HBO’s cultural phenomenon “Euphoria,” has stated that television is moving into a golden age of international storytelling. Speaking at this year’s Canneseries festival, Leshem—whose credits feature “Valley of Tears,” “No Man’s Land” and “Bad Boy”—argued passionately that independent creators and cross-border narratives hold the key to reinvigorating dramatic television. As streaming platforms increasingly retreat into local-focused content and broadcasters take conservative approaches, Leshem remains bullishly optimistic about the future, backed by his own slate of expansive global initiatives spanning Brazil, Australia, Europe and France. His belief comes at a critical moment when international drama risks being dismissed as little more than a budget solution or exotic niche rather than a transformative medium transforming the medium.

The Case for Courageous, Convention-Challenging Story Creation

Leshem’s primary argument challenges the widespread risk-aversion in modern television. Rather than retreating into familiar templates, he argues that international storytelling offers something the industry urgently requires: real unpredictability. When television channels and digital platforms stick to proven models, commissioning only time-tested formulas and familiar narratives, they forfeit the medium’s fundamental power to engage and challenge. Leshem believes this juncture demands the opposite approach—creators must welcome the unconventional, venture into new spaces, and believe in audiences to accompany them into unfamiliar and unsettling ground. The original Israeli “Euphoria” embodied this approach, introducing genuine rawness and local cultural character to a story that went beyond its beginnings to become a international hit.

The economics of global production, Leshem emphasises, genuinely free rather than constrain artistic vision. Whilst American television persistently calls for considerable spending to justify production approvals, overseas projects can achieve equivalent production quality at a fraction of the cost. This budgetary adaptability somewhat counterintuitively allows more adventurous creative choices. Producers working across borders and cultures 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 bold experimentation that finally creates the most impactful and culturally relevant programming.

• Global narratives opens doors to unexplored territories, setups and dramatic trajectories
• Independent creators can produce quality programming at considerably decreased costs
• International storytelling engages audiences tired of standard programming
• Cultural distinctiveness establishes credibility that transcends geographical boundaries

Disrupting the Conventional Model

The television industry’s current risk aversion constitutes a fundamental misreading of viewer demand. Streaming services and traditional broadcasters have grown obsessed with metrics and algorithmic predictability, leading to an endless parade of retreads and sequels. Yet audiences continue gravitating toward programmes that catch them off guard—narratives that feel truly transgressive, morally complex, and culturally grounded. Global drama, by its inherent character, resists the homogenising impulse that dominates mainstream American television. When creators work across different cultural contexts and production ecosystems, they’re forced to approach things anew, to challenge conventions, to venture beyond the well-worn paths that have calcified into industry convention.

Leshem’s own production outfit, Crossing Oceans, reflects this approach through its deliberately international slate. From “Paranoia” in Brazil to “Revolution,” a France Télévisions collaboration with Iranian filmmakers, his projects deliberately pursue artistic tension and cross-cultural exchange. These aren’t vanity productions designed to gather festival laurels; they’re strategic wagers that audiences worldwide hunger for stories that challenge, unsettle, and eventually reshape them. By embracing the unknown rather than retreating from it, Leshem suggests, television can restore its standing as the platform where genuine artistic risk-taking still matters.

From Israeli Heritage to Global Aspirations

Ron Leshem’s journey from Israeli television to international prominence exemplifies the profound impact of stories deeply embedded in place. His initial projects in Israeli drama marked him as a unique artistic perspective, prepared to engage with intricate ethical and cultural questions with candid directness. This foundation proved instrumental in shaping his later approach to global production. Rather than setting aside his cultural distinctiveness for wider market reach, Leshem has consistently leveraged his Israeli perspective as a storytelling strength, proving that deeply local stories 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 creation of Crossing Oceans, his production outfit based in Los Angeles but operating primarily across international markets, represents a deliberate rejection from conventional studio-led frameworks. Collaborating with established creative allies Amit Cohen and Daniel Amsel, Leshem has developed a portfolio deliberately designed to emphasise creative authenticity over market-tested formulas. His ongoing productions span Brazil, Australia, Europe, and France in partnership with Iranian filmmakers—a thematic and territorial range that would have been unimaginable in traditional television hierarchies. This worldwide reach represents far more than ambition; it’s a deliberate statement that the trajectory of dramatic television lies in dispersed creative systems where ground-level understanding and international ambition intersect.

The Euphoria Effect

The groundbreaking Israeli series that inspired Sam Levinson’s HBO adaptation became a cultural watershed moment, establishing definitively that international 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 modified to represent local cultural contexts whilst maintaining the emotional depth and emotional authenticity of the original vision. This success significantly transformed industry perceptions about the commercial potential of international television. Studios and digital platforms that had traditionally overlooked non-English language drama as limited market appeal suddenly acknowledged the profit prospects of culturally distinct narratives executed with artistic integrity.

The HBO adaptation rise to the second most-watched series in the network’s history vindicated Leshem’s creative philosophy thoroughly. Rather than proving that international drama needed Americanisation to succeed, it showed the opposite: audiences sought 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 rendering it for American sensibilities. This model—faithful reworking rather than wholesale reimagining—has become increasingly influential in how global drama is approached, encouraging producers to seek original indigenous perspectives rather than imposing standardised templates.

• Original Israeli series produced numerous cross-border adaptations in various regions
• HBO adaptation became network’s second most-watched series of all time
• Success established international drama could achieve unparalleled commercial and critical acclaim

Spanning Continents: Creating Worldwide Production Operations

Leshem’s production company, Crossing Oceans, constitutes a carefully structured response to the fragmented nature of global television production. Founded in collaboration with CAA and headquartered in Los Angeles, the company functions as a genuinely international enterprise rather than a Hollywood-focused venture that occasionally ventures abroad. Co-founded with longtime collaborators Amit Cohen and Daniel Amsel, Crossing Oceans serves as a creative hub where creators with varied geographical and cultural perspectives gather to develop projects with genuinely global ambition. This framework allows Leshem to maintain artistic control whilst drawing upon the unique production environments, local knowledge, and pools of creative talent that various regions offer, directly contesting the idea that high-quality drama must emerge from traditional entertainment capitals.

The company’s existing slate demonstrates the extent of the international reach and the range of storytelling approaches it champions. 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 functions as a facilitator of authentic local voices working in partnership 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 celebrating distinctive creative visions whilst connecting them across borders.

Collaboration Across the Globe

Crossing Oceans’ cross-border partnerships showcase how modern international television thrives through genuine creative collaboration rather than conventional studio hierarchies. The work alongside Iranian filmmakers on “Revolution” reflects this principle, offering viewpoints and narrative approaches that conventional industry approaches would commonly ignore. By treating these collaborations as artistic partners rather than external vendors, Leshem’s company produces projects strengthened by multiple cultural viewpoints and creative practices. This teamwork structure challenges traditional beliefs about where quality drama originates, demonstrating that innovation emerges when multiple creative talents collaborate authentically toward mutual artistic objectives.

The concurrent development of projects across Brazil, Australia, Europe, and France showcases how Crossing Oceans operates as a genuinely distributed creative enterprise. Rather than concentrating control in Los Angeles, the company enables local production teams and creative partners to advance initiatives within their respective territories. This locally-focused structure accelerates development timelines whilst maintaining productions preserve local character and local relevance. By treating different territories as equal creative contributors rather than satellite offices, Crossing Oceans introduces a production model that values regional expertise whilst upholding the artistic standards and international perspective essential to global commercial success.

Empathy at the Heart of Our Mission

At the heart of Leshem’s vision for international storytelling lies a fundamental belief in television’s capacity to foster empathy across cultural boundaries. Rather than approaching global narratives as a commercial strategy or budgetary convenience, he positions it as a moral imperative—a platform by which audiences worldwide can engage with different viewpoints and develop deeper understanding of distinct cultures. This conceptual approach elevates global drama beyond entertainment into something far more significant: a tool for bridging the psychological distances that divide different populations. By placing empathy at the centre as the guiding principle, Leshem argues that television can accomplish what political discourse often cannot: creating genuine human connection across difference.

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

• Universal human narratives go beyond cultural and geographical boundaries
• Empathy-driven narrative prevents exoticisation of foreign productions
• Shared emotional moments foster genuine cross-cultural understanding
• Television’s power resides in making distant lives feel intimately close

Dramatic Performance as a Means for Learning

Television drama, when executed with genuine creative vision, functions as a uniquely potent form for cultivating empathy. Unlike documentary formats that preserve a detached perspective, drama pulls audiences into the subjective emotional experiences of characters whose situations may diverge radically from their own. This immersive nature enables viewers to occupy unfamiliar social environments, familial arrangements, and ethical quandaries with an depth that creates understanding rather than superficial knowledge. Leshem’s output regularly leverage this strength, building stories that compel audiences to examine their own assumptions whilst acknowledging the fundamental humanity in characters whose existences initially appear unfamiliar or bewildering.

The effectiveness of this method becomes notably evident in works exploring conflict, trauma, and societal fracture. Series like “Valley of Tears” and “No Man’s Land” purposefully situate audiences within contested territories and fractured communities, demanding that audiences navigate moral ambiguity without straightforward conclusions. Rather than delivering comforting stories of triumph or redemption, these programmes present the complex, nuanced reality of how communities survive and occasionally flourish within impossible circumstances. By rejecting reduction, Leshem’s work teaches spectators that understanding doesn’t require agreement—it requires only the openness to authentically engage with stories fundamentally different from one’s own.

What Drives a Series Achieve Success

In an era brimming with content, the difference between programmes that merely exist and those that authentically engage hinges on a commitment to take bold creative steps. Leshem argues that international drama’s greatest asset lies not in its financial limitations but in its capacity to venture into dramatic space that cautious American television increasingly avoids. When streaming companies emphasise algorithmic formulas over artistic surprise, independent producers operating across continents possess the freedom to pursue stories that authentically provoke and push audiences. This fearlessness—the resistance to sand down rough edges for palatability—transforms television from background viewing into something far more consequential: a medium capable of expanding consciousness.

The international productions that gain widespread market traction invariably exhibit an unwavering dedication to their original material’s emotional and cultural authenticity. “Euphoria’s” initial Israeli adaptation thrived not because it pursued American sensibilities but because it remained deeply faithful to its specific milieu, ultimately establishing that distinctive detail rather than broad genericness creates genuine universality. Leshem’s existing portfolio of projects—from “Paranoia” in Brazil to collaborations with Iranian filmmakers—embodies this conviction that the most globally compelling narrative work emerges when creators prioritise their artistic vision’s honesty over organisational demands to standardise. Such boldness, paradoxically, becomes the pathway to international commercial success.

• Genuine storytelling rooted in specific cultural contexts resonates universally
• Creative bold choices distinguishes memorable television from disposable programming
• Refusing commercial compromise often yields stronger financial returns
• Global drama thrives when artistic vision supersedes algorithmic predictability