Exclusive: Sky Studios and Groenlandia are readying feature film director Sydney Sibilia’s first TV drama series. Someone Killed Spiderman – Accidentally Famous (working title) is for Sky Italia and is about a non-conformist teenager who becomes on half of successful musical duo 883.
The show first came to attention last year, and the package has now come together with Sky Studios and Banijay-owned Groenlandia co-producing the show.
It will be set in 1980s Italy and follow frustrated teenager Max, who meets future musical partner Mauro and goes on to reach stardom. It is inspired by the story of how Italian pop band 883 was formed and the title is the same as duo’s iconic first album.
Sibilia is creating, writing and producing through his Banijay-owned production house, Groenlandia, which recently launched Netflix drama Supersex. This marks a first television venture for the film director, whose features include Can Quit Whenever I Want and Rose Island.
The show first came to attention last year, and the package has now come together with Sky Studios and Banijay-owned Groenlandia co-producing the show.
It will be set in 1980s Italy and follow frustrated teenager Max, who meets future musical partner Mauro and goes on to reach stardom. It is inspired by the story of how Italian pop band 883 was formed and the title is the same as duo’s iconic first album.
Sibilia is creating, writing and producing through his Banijay-owned production house, Groenlandia, which recently launched Netflix drama Supersex. This marks a first television venture for the film director, whose features include Can Quit Whenever I Want and Rose Island.
- 3/20/2024
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Sarah Jessica Parker is set to executive produce “Front Row,” a gripping documentary feature following a group of talented Ukrainian ballet dancers.
Directed by Miriam Guttmann, the award-winning filmmaker of “Seeds of Deceit,” the documentary is produced by Scenery (“Human Playground”), a joint venture with Banijay Benelux. Parker and Alison Benson are exec producing via Pretty Matches Productions, alongside The Ruderman Family Foundation.
“Front Row” is represented globally by Banijay Rights and will be introduced to buyers at Mipcom, the international TV conference kicking off Oct. 16. The documentary is expected to be completed in 2024.
In “Front Row,” Guttmann charts the journey of a group of Ukrainian dancers in exile as they form a new ballet company, ‘United Ukrainian Ballet’. While performing Alexei Ratmanskiy’s version of ‘Giselle’ in Washington D.C., Alexis, one of the leading ballet dancers, befriends Oleksandr, a front-line soldier, who lost both his legs in a...
Directed by Miriam Guttmann, the award-winning filmmaker of “Seeds of Deceit,” the documentary is produced by Scenery (“Human Playground”), a joint venture with Banijay Benelux. Parker and Alison Benson are exec producing via Pretty Matches Productions, alongside The Ruderman Family Foundation.
“Front Row” is represented globally by Banijay Rights and will be introduced to buyers at Mipcom, the international TV conference kicking off Oct. 16. The documentary is expected to be completed in 2024.
In “Front Row,” Guttmann charts the journey of a group of Ukrainian dancers in exile as they form a new ballet company, ‘United Ukrainian Ballet’. While performing Alexei Ratmanskiy’s version of ‘Giselle’ in Washington D.C., Alexis, one of the leading ballet dancers, befriends Oleksandr, a front-line soldier, who lost both his legs in a...
- 10/15/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Banijay is checking into The Fortune Hotel ahead of Mipcom Cannes.
The indie powerhouse has acquired global distribution rights to the ITV1 and Itvx reality entertainment show set in a luxury Caribbean resort.
Banijay picked up the rights from Lego Masters producer Tuesday’s Child and will represent the format, with sales arm Banijay Rights selling finished tape for the ITV series. Tuesday’s Child, part of the Stv Studios-owned Greenbird Media, is retaining format production rights in the U.S., similar to the deal structure it has in place with Banijay for the much-travelled Lego Masters.
The Fortune Hotel, hosted by The Split and Green Wing actor Stephen Mangan, follows 10 pairs of contestants who compete across eight episodes for £250,000. Each pair is given a briefcase, with one holding the cash and another an Early Checkout Card, which eliminates whoever is holding it at the end of each episode.
The indie powerhouse has acquired global distribution rights to the ITV1 and Itvx reality entertainment show set in a luxury Caribbean resort.
Banijay picked up the rights from Lego Masters producer Tuesday’s Child and will represent the format, with sales arm Banijay Rights selling finished tape for the ITV series. Tuesday’s Child, part of the Stv Studios-owned Greenbird Media, is retaining format production rights in the U.S., similar to the deal structure it has in place with Banijay for the much-travelled Lego Masters.
The Fortune Hotel, hosted by The Split and Green Wing actor Stephen Mangan, follows 10 pairs of contestants who compete across eight episodes for £250,000. Each pair is given a briefcase, with one holding the cash and another an Early Checkout Card, which eliminates whoever is holding it at the end of each episode.
- 10/5/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Signora Volpe is heading back to Italy.
The series, which stars Emilia Fox as a British spy in Italy, has been renewed for Season 2 at AMC Networks’ Acorn TV.
It comes a year after the series launched three feature-length episodes. It is produced by ITV Studios-backed production company Route 24, which is behind Sky’s The Midwich Cuckoos.
Season 2 finds former British spy Sylvia Fox, played by Emilia Fox, even more deeply in love with Italy, and with life in the picturesque medieval town of Panicale. Contrary to her sister Isabel’s expectations, Sylvia appears to have lost her nomadic instincts, and after a year of living in Panicale, is fast becoming part of the local community. Sylvia spends her time reconnecting with her sister and restoring a gorgeous but crumbling old house in the hills. But old habits die hard, and though Sylvia might have left her job at MI6 behind,...
The series, which stars Emilia Fox as a British spy in Italy, has been renewed for Season 2 at AMC Networks’ Acorn TV.
It comes a year after the series launched three feature-length episodes. It is produced by ITV Studios-backed production company Route 24, which is behind Sky’s The Midwich Cuckoos.
Season 2 finds former British spy Sylvia Fox, played by Emilia Fox, even more deeply in love with Italy, and with life in the picturesque medieval town of Panicale. Contrary to her sister Isabel’s expectations, Sylvia appears to have lost her nomadic instincts, and after a year of living in Panicale, is fast becoming part of the local community. Sylvia spends her time reconnecting with her sister and restoring a gorgeous but crumbling old house in the hills. But old habits die hard, and though Sylvia might have left her job at MI6 behind,...
- 6/7/2023
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
The cost-of-living crisis is wreaking havoc and the global TV industry is not immune.
As hundreds of buyers and sellers descend upon the UK for the annual London TV Screenings, distributors are looking closely at how they can adapt their catalogs and work in tandem with clients in the face of the incoming recession.
However, the task is not an easy one. Numerous distributors tell Deadline they have had contingencies in place for a long time to deal with such a macro fiscal event – contingencies that came to the fore during Covid-19. These are frequently being shaped by the world around them, not just by recession, they say.
“The ongoing strategy we have and the way we approach the market is constantly evolving,” says Ruth Berry, ITV Studios’ Managing Director of Global Distribution, who was recently promoted to lead the outfit’s combined Distribution and Entertainment arms. “Thinking about these...
As hundreds of buyers and sellers descend upon the UK for the annual London TV Screenings, distributors are looking closely at how they can adapt their catalogs and work in tandem with clients in the face of the incoming recession.
However, the task is not an easy one. Numerous distributors tell Deadline they have had contingencies in place for a long time to deal with such a macro fiscal event – contingencies that came to the fore during Covid-19. These are frequently being shaped by the world around them, not just by recession, they say.
“The ongoing strategy we have and the way we approach the market is constantly evolving,” says Ruth Berry, ITV Studios’ Managing Director of Global Distribution, who was recently promoted to lead the outfit’s combined Distribution and Entertainment arms. “Thinking about these...
- 2/24/2023
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Banijay Rights has acquired global distribution rights to 72 Films’ four-part doc series on former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.
The Channel 4 series, Boris (working title), chronicles the rise and fall of Johnson, who is one of the most divisive and perplexing characters in modern politics.
Boris is billed as “the definitive documentary series that reveals the events that shaped Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson, his meteoric rise to power and his extraordinary premiership.”
Johnson, a Conservative and former London Mayor, became the UK’s Prime Minister in 2019. He won a huge majority in a snap election that year and took the UK out of the European Union a year later. However, he was deposed last year after several scandals, many of which related him breaking the Covid-19 rules his own party put in place.
Grabbing the rights to Boris is something of a coup for Banijay, as rival...
The Channel 4 series, Boris (working title), chronicles the rise and fall of Johnson, who is one of the most divisive and perplexing characters in modern politics.
Boris is billed as “the definitive documentary series that reveals the events that shaped Alexander Boris De Pfeffel Johnson, his meteoric rise to power and his extraordinary premiership.”
Johnson, a Conservative and former London Mayor, became the UK’s Prime Minister in 2019. He won a huge majority in a snap election that year and took the UK out of the European Union a year later. However, he was deposed last year after several scandals, many of which related him breaking the Covid-19 rules his own party put in place.
Grabbing the rights to Boris is something of a coup for Banijay, as rival...
- 2/20/2023
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Welcome to Deadline’s International Disruptors, a feature where we shine a spotlight on key executives and companies outside of the U.S. shaking up the offshore marketplace. This week, we’re talking with Isidoor Roebers and Lea Fels, partners at Dutch doc producer Scenery, a joint venture with Banijay Benelux that has served up artistic but commercial unscripted projects for everyone from local public broadcaster Npo to Netflix and Prime Video.
Scenery has been one of the Benelux region’s most influential documentary producers for several years, and now it is moving beyond its core Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg operations and into the UK and U.S.
Dutch producer Isidoor Roebers had already launched a company, Fonk Films, but in 2016 teamed with former Vice Media Benelux Head of Production and Head of TV/Editor-in-Chief of Vice TV Lea Fels to create Scenery. The two had met with Roebers was...
Scenery has been one of the Benelux region’s most influential documentary producers for several years, and now it is moving beyond its core Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg operations and into the UK and U.S.
Dutch producer Isidoor Roebers had already launched a company, Fonk Films, but in 2016 teamed with former Vice Media Benelux Head of Production and Head of TV/Editor-in-Chief of Vice TV Lea Fels to create Scenery. The two had met with Roebers was...
- 12/16/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
Exclusive: Banijay is pushing into the premium feature doc space with a show about Pablo Escobar’s son’s extraordinary reconciliation with Colombian Politician Rodrigo Lara’s son Jorge, whose father’s death was ordered by the drug kingpin.
Lara vs. Escobar is being produced by Banijay Benelux Jv Scenery and distributed by Banijay Rights, which will launch sales in a few days’ time at Mipcom.
BAFTA-winning director Mags Gavan said she dedicated over a decade to get access for the feature, which delves into Rodrigo Lara’s Escobar-backed murder and the incredible fallout. Upon learning of his father’s death, Jorge Lara was initially out for revenge but a twist of fate reconciled him with Escobar’s son, one of the most notorious criminals of all time, as he realized that they had more in common than he thought. The doc will be told via double narrative, weaving between past and present.
Lara vs. Escobar is being produced by Banijay Benelux Jv Scenery and distributed by Banijay Rights, which will launch sales in a few days’ time at Mipcom.
BAFTA-winning director Mags Gavan said she dedicated over a decade to get access for the feature, which delves into Rodrigo Lara’s Escobar-backed murder and the incredible fallout. Upon learning of his father’s death, Jorge Lara was initially out for revenge but a twist of fate reconciled him with Escobar’s son, one of the most notorious criminals of all time, as he realized that they had more in common than he thought. The doc will be told via double narrative, weaving between past and present.
- 10/14/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
Banijay Rights has set a new returning drama series titled “Runners” with writer John Preston and exec producer Ellie Wood of Clearwood Films, the team behind “Stonehouse” and “The Dig.”
“Runners” tells the story of the world’s first police force, the Bow Street Runners, who were formed in the 1740s in London, which at the time was facing a colossal crime wave.
The Chief Magistrate of London at the time, Heny Fielding (who also happened to be a celebrated novelist), decided to take on this criminal underworld by assembling a group of police.
“This extraordinary story will tell of how a group of just six police officers, none with any training or experience, set about imposing law and order on a completely lawless society and embarked on solving one of the strangest cases of its time – one with momentous political and social ramifications,” reads the logline.
Wood (“Bleak House...
“Runners” tells the story of the world’s first police force, the Bow Street Runners, who were formed in the 1740s in London, which at the time was facing a colossal crime wave.
The Chief Magistrate of London at the time, Heny Fielding (who also happened to be a celebrated novelist), decided to take on this criminal underworld by assembling a group of police.
“This extraordinary story will tell of how a group of just six police officers, none with any training or experience, set about imposing law and order on a completely lawless society and embarked on solving one of the strangest cases of its time – one with momentous political and social ramifications,” reads the logline.
Wood (“Bleak House...
- 9/7/2022
- by K.J. Yossman
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Banijay Rights has picked up global distribution rights to ITV’s Romeo & Duet, the network’s hybrid singing/dating competition and latest big entertainment bet.
The global producer/distributor will shop the format internationally following launch this Saturday as both format and finished tape.
The show from Goat Films gives contestants just one “sing” to entice a singleton down from a balcony, and at that point the two come face-to-face for the first time. The newly formed couple will then head off on a duet-date to learn a duet, before returning later in the show to perform the song in a singing competition against the other couples to be crowned the winners.
Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse is hosting as Romeo & Duet gets set to launch on Saturday, following a number of other big ITV entertainment bets including Starstruck and Walk the Line.
“Romeo & Duet is a heart-warming...
The global producer/distributor will shop the format internationally following launch this Saturday as both format and finished tape.
The show from Goat Films gives contestants just one “sing” to entice a singleton down from a balcony, and at that point the two come face-to-face for the first time. The newly formed couple will then head off on a duet-date to learn a duet, before returning later in the show to perform the song in a singing competition against the other couples to be crowned the winners.
Strictly Come Dancing star Oti Mabuse is hosting as Romeo & Duet gets set to launch on Saturday, following a number of other big ITV entertainment bets including Starstruck and Walk the Line.
“Romeo & Duet is a heart-warming...
- 4/13/2022
- by Max Goldbart
- Deadline Film + TV
“Lego Masters” is heading to China following a major deal from distributor Banijay Rights.
Chinese production firm Long Qing Media has been commissioned to create a first run of the show for Shenzhen TV, for which production is already underway. The deal was brokered on the China side by Huo Yuan Media (The Content Connected).
The show features pairs who compete against each other to wow judges with the most eye-catching and spectacular constructions built out of Lego blocks. The format has already been adapted for 15 international broadcasters across Europe, the U.S., Australia and Asia. In addition to the new China commission, there have been recent orders from New Zealand’s Tvnz 2, Spain’s Atresmedia and Norway’s TV2.
This year, “Lego Masters” has found particular success in the U.S., where it is currently on air with Fox and proving popular. It has risen to become the...
Chinese production firm Long Qing Media has been commissioned to create a first run of the show for Shenzhen TV, for which production is already underway. The deal was brokered on the China side by Huo Yuan Media (The Content Connected).
The show features pairs who compete against each other to wow judges with the most eye-catching and spectacular constructions built out of Lego blocks. The format has already been adapted for 15 international broadcasters across Europe, the U.S., Australia and Asia. In addition to the new China commission, there have been recent orders from New Zealand’s Tvnz 2, Spain’s Atresmedia and Norway’s TV2.
This year, “Lego Masters” has found particular success in the U.S., where it is currently on air with Fox and proving popular. It has risen to become the...
- 7/27/2021
- by Rebecca Davis
- Variety Film + TV
A suburban London psychiatrist and his patients are kidnapped by aliens in this delightfully clunky, on-a-budget adventure
This UK-produced apocalyptic science-fiction yarn looks as if it was made with just enough budget to cover a couple of lights, petrol, the delightfully clunky visual effects – the digital equivalent of sticky-back plastic and pipe cleaners – and a few sandwiches for the cast and crew. But props are due to writer-director Simon Cox, the several dozen producers credited and cast and crew who sunk time, money and effort to make something so ludicrously ambitious with such meagre means, even if the end result is markedly uneven.
The main protagonist is Tom Dunn (Simon Haycock), a psychiatrist living in the London suburbs with his school-teacher wife Mandy (Lucy Drive), who has just discovered she’s pregnant. This is bittersweet news for the couple who are still grieving the death a few years earlier of their small daughter,...
This UK-produced apocalyptic science-fiction yarn looks as if it was made with just enough budget to cover a couple of lights, petrol, the delightfully clunky visual effects – the digital equivalent of sticky-back plastic and pipe cleaners – and a few sandwiches for the cast and crew. But props are due to writer-director Simon Cox, the several dozen producers credited and cast and crew who sunk time, money and effort to make something so ludicrously ambitious with such meagre means, even if the end result is markedly uneven.
The main protagonist is Tom Dunn (Simon Haycock), a psychiatrist living in the London suburbs with his school-teacher wife Mandy (Lucy Drive), who has just discovered she’s pregnant. This is bittersweet news for the couple who are still grieving the death a few years earlier of their small daughter,...
- 12/4/2019
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Guardian - Film News
Exclusive: As UK studios and cinemas fill up with mega-budget U.S. superhero movies, here’s a rare David and Goliath story from the other end of the spectrum. Micro-budget UK sci-fi film Invasion Planet Earth, a passion project 20 years in the making, has secured UK distribution.
Lightbulb Film Distribution and Munro Film Services have teamed up to release the debut feature, which follows a couple’s struggle to survive as the UK comes under attack from an alien mothership.
Brit editor Simon Cox, now in his 50s, began working on the script in the ’90s and has been piecing it together for over a decade. His initial plan was to make “the biggest British indie sci-fi movie ever” but over the years a different reality set in. Even then, it has taken most of his adult life to pull it off.
The project, which was previously called Kaleidoscope Man,...
Lightbulb Film Distribution and Munro Film Services have teamed up to release the debut feature, which follows a couple’s struggle to survive as the UK comes under attack from an alien mothership.
Brit editor Simon Cox, now in his 50s, began working on the script in the ’90s and has been piecing it together for over a decade. His initial plan was to make “the biggest British indie sci-fi movie ever” but over the years a different reality set in. Even then, it has taken most of his adult life to pull it off.
The project, which was previously called Kaleidoscope Man,...
- 9/30/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Here’s the latest episode of the The Filmmakers Podcast, part of the ever-growing podcast roster here on Nerdly. If you haven’t heard the show yet, you can check out previous episodes on the official podcast site, whilst we’ll be featuring each and every new episode as it premieres.
For those unfamiliar, with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors. They also shoot the breeze about their new films, The Dare, World of Darkness,...
For those unfamiliar, with the series, The Filmmakers Podcast is a podcast about how to make films from micro budget indie films to bigger budget studio films and everything in-between. Our hosts Giles Alderson, Dan Richardson, Andrew Rodger and Cristian James talk how to get films made, how to actually make them and how to try not to f… it up in their very humble opinion. Guests will come on and chat about their film making experiences from directors, writers, producers, screenwriters, actors, cinematographers and distributors. They also shoot the breeze about their new films, The Dare, World of Darkness,...
- 9/18/2019
- by Phil Wheat
- Nerdly
Exclusive: Darren Star’s Younger is to be remade in Asia after Endemol Shine International struck a major scripted format deal with Korean producer Jtbc Content Hub.
The show, which was created by the Sex and the City creator and stars Sutton Foster and Hilary Duff, is the latest high-profile U.S. show to be remade on the continent after How I Met Your Mother scored a remake deal in China and Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing was picked up to remake in India. It comes during the week of the Asia Television Forum in Singapore.
The comedy drama, which is based on a book by Pamela Redmon Satran, tells the story of a recently divorced 40-year old mother, who is forced to get a job after her ex-husband gambled away her money. She lands a job in publishing, but has to start at the bottom, and is forced...
The show, which was created by the Sex and the City creator and stars Sutton Foster and Hilary Duff, is the latest high-profile U.S. show to be remade on the continent after How I Met Your Mother scored a remake deal in China and Tim Allen’s Last Man Standing was picked up to remake in India. It comes during the week of the Asia Television Forum in Singapore.
The comedy drama, which is based on a book by Pamela Redmon Satran, tells the story of a recently divorced 40-year old mother, who is forced to get a job after her ex-husband gambled away her money. She lands a job in publishing, but has to start at the bottom, and is forced...
- 12/6/2018
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
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