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Plus Size

Screenwriters:

Chilik Michaeli

Producer/s

Chilik Michaeli

,

United Channels Movies (UCM)

Language:

Hebrew, Japanese

Format:

6 Episodes x 45 Minutes

Genre

Comedy

LOGLINE

Four women from a run-down suburb rebel against sexism and the dictatorship of thinness, by forming a women’s sumo team, rocking their conservative town and redefining love and self-worth.

SYNOPSIS

Bat-El Messika - the daughter of Israel’s first sumo wrestler - is under pressure. Her parents and fiancé expect her to lose enough weight to fit into a wedding dress by undergoing gastric bypass surgery. Instead of complying, Bat-El rebels: she escapes the operating table and starts an all-female sumo wrestling group for plus-size women like herself.
As Bat-El attempts to build a “normal life” with her devoted partner, Haim Bachar - a loving and dependable man - her carefully balanced world is shaken by the unexpected return of Maya, the woman who once bullied her as a child. When Maya joins the sumo group, Bat-El is forced to confront her past. What begins as unresolved tension evolves into an intense emotional and sexual attraction, pushing Bat-El toward a painful choice: social security, marriage, and conformity - or desire for another woman and a journey of self-discovery.
In parallel, a second romantic storyline unfolds. Bat-El’s father, Herzl, becomes the group’s coach and clings to physical strength and honor in a desperate attempt to win back his ex-wife, Zehava - Bat-El’s mother. But Zehava is now dating Aharon, Herzl’s former sumo rival turned diet guru - and Maya’s controlling father. When the group receives an opportunity to represent Israel in an amateur sumo competition in Japan - all conflicts erupt at a boiling point - only one wrestler will earn the right to travel to Japan as Israel’s sole representative. Between wedding dress fittings that end in rips, a secret affair with Maya hidden from her fiancé Haim, extreme diets that implode, and sumo matches that end in heated ties, Bat-El realizes that a safe life is suffocating her, and like in a classic romantic comedy, just before stepping into the ring for the decisive sumo tournament, she gives up the sumo competition and runs to the airport, still in her sumo underwear, to stop Maya from leaving.

WRITER'S STATEMENT

“Plus Size” continues the spirit of our earlier work, this time through the form of powerful, fearless, plus-size women who break into the Israeli sumo arena. This is a romantic comedy series about liberation from the conditioning of body image. Our heroine, Bat-El, who frees herself from the dictates of body image, realizes that now it is also the time to free herself from another form of restricting conditioning- marriage, weddings, and the prescriptions of the "right life".
The wrestling group is composed of four plus-size women -intelligent, humorous, sexy, and groundbreaking-just as women in the past broke into sports once reserved for men, such as soccer, basketball, boxing, freestyle wrestling, pole vaulting, weightlifting, ice hockey, and more. This time, it is sumo’s turn.
The artistic intention is to combine sharp, bold humor with exposed emotion, exposed skin. The dynamic between Bat-El and Maya moves between athletic rivalry and romantic attraction, and between a wounded past and a surprising present - along a tonal axis that shifts from funny, to painful, to moving.
The visual design will blend traditional Japanese aesthetics - the cleanliness and precision of a Japanese restaurant, and the delicate, matchstick-like quality of forest trees - with the vibrant colors of contemporary rural city in Israel . Sumo garments, the coach’s black attire, and traditional Japanese red will merge with forest green and shifting lighting. This visual contrast will serve the tone of this romantic comedy, where heightened color, physical presence, and moments of visual exaggeration support both humor and emotional intimacy, allowing tenderness, desire, and vulnerability to emerge through movement, touch, and the charged space of the ring.

ABOUT THE WRITERS

Erez Tadmor is a writer and director of several feature films, including Wounded Land that won three Israeli Academy Awards in 2015, among them Best Director. He directed the films Matchmaking and Matchmaking 2 that became amongst Israel's biggest box-office hits. In 2023 he directed Children of Nobody which won at the Kolkata International Film Festival. Amongst his other films: The Art of Waiting (2019) Home Port (2016) and Soda (2024), which premiered at the Venice Film Festival. Together with Guy Nattiv, Tadmor also co-wrote and directed Magic Men (2014) and Strangers (2007), screened at Sundance.

Sharon Maymon is a writer and director. He co-wrote the Academy Award (Oscar) winning short film Skin (2019). Maymon co-wrote and directed the TV series The Worst Best Thing (Keshet 12) Together with Tal Granit. In addition, he co-wrote and directed three feature films and two short films: My Happy Ending (2023) released in theaters in the U.S.; Flawless (2018) that was screened at Tribeca Film Festival; The Farewell Party (2014) that was screened at Venice and Toronto International Film Festival; Summer Vacation (2011) screened at Sundance, and To Kill a Bumblebee (2009) screened at Locarno Film Festival (2010). Sharon also co-directed A Matter of Size (2009) with Erez Tadmor - that premiered at Tribeca Film Festival.

PRODUCER'S STATEMENT

Plus Size is a fresh funny romantic comedy, bold, and emotionally rich new TV series currently in development. At its heart is the story of a group of women who decide to challenge the expectations placed on their bodies, their desires, and their right to define themselves. What begins as a personal journey for each of them gradually evolves into a warm, funny, and deeply human romantic comedy, anchored by an impossible three way love story that pushes them to confront who they truly are.
For us as producers, this project is both a privilege and a creative joy. It offers a rare opportunity to reconnect with the remarkable talents of Sharon Maymon and Erez Tadmor, artists we know, trust, and admire. Their ability to blend humor, heart, and authentic emotion has created a world in which the story, characters, and tone come together to form something greater than the sum of all of the parts creating it.
We are genuinely excited about Plus Size and confident that it will grow into a successful, engaging, and widely loved television series.

PRODUCER PROFILE

United Channels Movies (UCM) Founded by Chilik Michaeli and Avraham Pirchi. UCM has produced more than 40 titles, ranging from award-winning feature films to high-end television dramas.
The Producers: Avraham Pirchi (President) brings a background in economics and market leadership, having served as CEO of major media marketing and distribution firms. Chilik Michaeli (Producer) is a veteran of the international circuit, with a career spanning leadership role as CEO of Israel Studios - the nation's largest production facility - and management at Warner Brothers.
UCM’s body of work is a regular presence at the world’s most prestigious international film festivals, including Sundance, Berlin, Toronto, and Locarno. Notable successes include the cult hit Big Bad Wolves (declared by Quentin Tarantino as the best film of 2013), and the Locarno-selected Vanishing Soldier.
Their current TV slate includes the historical drama The Stronghold and the upcoming series Double Panther.

PRODUCTION CONTACT DETAILS

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