Line of Duty Director Preps Edinburgh Paramedic Drama BurnTime
Line of Duty director Douglas Mackinnon is lining up BurnTime, an Edinburgh-set paramedic drama built around six night shifts in festival season. The show is part of the early slate at his recently launched production company, Rugged Island Films, according to Variety. The company is newly launched.
BurnTime is planned as a 6 x 60-minute limited series, meaning a single self-contained season. It centres on Kylie MacDonald, a 35-year-old newly trained paramedic. The story plays out over six consecutive night shifts during the Edinburgh Festival. Each hour-long episode covers one night.
Mackinnon will present BurnTime to buyers and partners in Rome. The project has a slot in the Drama Co-Production Forum at MIA Market, a section where producers pitch new series to broadcasters, streamers and financiers from other countries. A co-production is simply a show backed by partners in more than one territory. MIA, short for Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo, runs Oct. 19-23.
That Rome pitch is an early step in how television gets made. Shows at this stage are looking for money and partners. Deals made there decide what gets filmed and when. That is normal for drama development.
Rugged Island Films received slate funding from Screen Scotland, funding that supports development of a group of projects at once. The company has roughly 10 series and five feature films in development. BurnTime is the title being pushed first to the international market.
Mackinnon arrives with high-profile directing credits. He is a director of police thriller Line of Duty and fantasy series Good Omens. BurnTime keeps the scale smaller and closer to home. It moves from investigations and fantasy to ambulance crews on night duty.
MIA's own online listing also carries BurnTime, describing rookie paramedic Kylie MacDonald's first six night shifts in Edinburgh. The listing calls it a returning drama, while the most recent report describes a six-part limited series. The company's own site, ruggedislandfilms.com, currently shows only an under-construction placeholder.
For viewers, this means waiting. A market launch comes well before a commission, a shoot or a transmission date. The promise for now is clear. One city. One rookie. Six nights.
