Advanced Television

Glassriver announces Masquerade with Severance producer Weinstock and Lorber

March 4, 2025

Icelandic film and TV studio Glassriver has announced it will co-produce its scripted series Masquerade with Nicholas Weinstock, producer of Apple TV+’s Severance and with his Hollywood-based company Invention Studios, and The Art of Coproduction’s Marc Lorber.

In Masquerade, a young American reporter arrives in a small Icelandic village, investigating the old unsolved abduction case of a four-year-old girl—the granddaughter of the town’s most wealthy and powerful man—who vanished while on vacation in Florida 25 years ago. As she digs deeper, she begins to unravel the village’s darkest secrets, only to realize that those responsible for the abduction are probably still living in the village.

Weinstock is known for developing and producing the Emmy Award-winning Apple TV+ series Severance, which he continues to Executive Produce. He has developed and produced movies including Bridesmaids, Alex Strangelove, Plus One, Dinner in America, Queenpins, and the recent hit independent film Thelma, as well as series including Escape at Dannemora on Showtime (nominated for 12 Emmy Awards); the four-season series In the Dark on Netflix; and the Apple TV+ series High Desert.

Lorber started The Art of Coproduction following his departure from Lionsgate after 10 years, where he served as the global studio’s SVP of International TV Co-Productions and Acquisitions, responsible for projects including BAFTA-winning comedy Motherland, Stan’s Population 11, BBC drama The Pact, and Irish/Belgian co-production Northern Lights. His more recents coproductions at TAOC include Mix Tape, Video Nasty, Leonard & Hungry Paul, and The Ridge.

The series creators are Glassriver’s Andri Óttarsson and Baldvin Z. The screenwriters are Andri Óttarsson, Elísabet Hall, Urður Egilsdóttir, Karen Björg Eyfjörð Þorsteinsdóttir, and Elías Helgi Kofoed-Hansen. Baldvin Z is the lead director of the series. CEO Andri Ómarsson and creator Andri Óttarsson will present the project at this year’s Series Mania Co-Production pitch event.

Glassriver is the leading television and film production company in Iceland, creating and delivering quality content to the international markets since 2016.

Óttarsson created and wrote the Netflix Original series Case, co-developed and co-wrote the first series of Stella Blomkvist, and is one of the creators of Glassriver’s Black Sands, which premiered in 2023 and has been sold to over 140 territories globally, with season 2 released at the end of 2024 in Iceland and Finland. Baldvin Z is an award-winning director, writer and producer, known for directing all 9 episodes of the critically acclaimed Case, 3 episodes of the hit TV series Trapped and 3 feature films, Let Me Fall, Life In a Fishbowl, and Jitters. Life in a Fishbowl accumulated a record 12 Icelandic Academy Awards in its year of release.

Ómarsson said: “Masquerade is a huge step for us, bringing together talent from both sides of the Atlantic – just like the story itself. We’ve worked hard to build a series that connects East and West, and having these incredible partners on board is a real validation of that effort. We’re beyond excited to bring this to life with a team that shares our vision.”

Weinstock commented: “Masquerade is a brilliantly conceived and gorgeously rendered story that we feel has the potential to be a groundbreaking event series.  All credit to Andri and the show’s excellent writers for building something so uniquely powerful, and we’re proud and excited to be teamed with the great Glassriver and my expert friend Marc Lorber to bring it to the world.”

Lorber added: “Reading this fascinating project from the Glassriver team, it was one of the most organic co-productions I’d come across with the gift of a full season’s worth of episodes written. Then having the opportunity to work with my esteemed friend, Nicky Weinstock on it, made for the perfect trifecta of partners.”

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