Sky Studios Strikes Podcast-To-Screen Deal With ‘Sweet Bobby’ Producer Tortoise Media; BBC Studios Natural History Unit Unveils $1.1M Global Talent Initiative – Global Briefs

EXCLUSIVE: Prime Video Nordics is pushing heavily into the Scandinavian unscripted originals market, unveiling a handful of reality shows at a splashy event in Sweden today. The streamer has also struck a multi-territory movie output deal with Nordisk Film for the likes of John Wick: Chapter 4 and The Hunger Games prequel, we can reveal.

EXCLUSIVE: BBC Studios Productions is pushing further into the ad-funded programing (AFP) space by hiring a dedicated Head of Branded Entertainment.

EXCLUSIVE: Shout! Studios has acquired all North American rights to the feature documentary Refuge from levelFILM, Katie Couric Media and Artemis Rising Foundation. The multi-platform entertainment distribution and production arm of Shout! Factory plans to release the film in theaters and across all major digital platforms early next year.

EXCLUSIVE: Freestyle Digital Media has acquired U.S. rights to The New Abolitionists, a documentary about the movement to end sex trafficking in Southeast Asia directed by Christina Zorich and produced by her mother, the late Olympia Dukakis. 

Meet any high-profile Indian director or producer these days, and the talk is all about bibles, writers rooms and showrunners, rather than making films. Driving down Mumbai’s main artery, the Western Express Highway, most of the billboards are promoting new premium drama series from Prime Video, Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar, rather than the latest Bollywood release.

BBC Studios Makes Pair Of European Hires

When you’re deep in among the cocktail parties and dinners or meeting up with much missed contacts at Mipcom this week, it might be easy to forget why everyone is there: the shows. To help you remember, we bring you Deadline’s The Hot Ones, our guide to some of the best TV being sold in Cannes in 2022. You may hear whispers along the Croisette about the next big global hit, and The Hot Ones is our pick of a wealth of programing, featuring some of the biggest names in television from the top players in distribution.

K.J. Yossman BBC Studios is set to wholly acquire Sid Gentle Films, the production company behind hits such as “Killing Eve” and “Ragdoll.” BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial production and distribution arm, is intent on growing its portfolio of U.K. scripted labels. It already wholly owns Lookout Point (“Happy Valley 3”), Clerkenwell Films (“Somewhere Boy”), House Productions (“Sherwood”) and most recently Firebird Pictures (“Wahala”) and is the controlling shareholder in Baby Cow (“Chivalry”). In 2018 it acquired a 51% stake in Sid Gentle, which was founded in 2013 by Sally Woodward Gentle, with Lee Morris and Henrietta Colvin.

BBC Studios has taken full control of Killing Eve producer Sid Gentle Films.

Liza Foreman “Artemis Fowl” writer Eoin Colfer’s first live action original project was amongst news announced during this year’s MipJunior Keynote from BBC Studios’ Kids & Family head Cecilia Persson. With over 25 million copies of the “Artemis Fowl” series sold, the author’s new project is being written in collaboration with screenwriter Viko Nikci.  The idea “combines a gripping high-stakes mystery with a fun gang of unlikely young heroes,” in this sci-fi series which combines action, comedy and multiple plot twists,” according to a BBC statement.   

Marta Balaga Sky Studios has confirmed its commitment to premium content at MIA Market in Rome. “When we say premium, we talk about mature, provocative, sophisticated storytelling,” said Meghan Lyvers, director of original drama at Sky Studios U.K. Noting the company’s interest in prestige, high-end limited series (“‘Chernobyl’ was an incredible example of that”), “blockbuster” event series, but also ones that can potentially return. An adaptation of Heather Morris’ novel “The Tattooist of Auschwitz” is in the works, which will see Sky partnering up with Peacock. TNT has acquired “The Lazarus Project,” while crime series “A Town Called Malice,” created by Nick Love and launching next spring, will be a “love letter” to the 1980s.

International co-productions are all the rage right now, and Europe’s top players are looking to the U.S.

Hurricane Ian not only left a path of destruction in Florida, but also added homeless or lost pets to animal shelters that were already struggling with being overcapacity.  Manatee County Animal Welfare was one of many shelters across south Florida experiencing a surge in animals post-Ian, Fox 13 Tampa Bay reported. "We started to see almost double the animals coming into our facility on a daily basis," Sarah Brown, the division chief of Manatee County Animal Services, told the outlet.

K.J. Yossman Amazon Prime Video and BBC Studios Factual are the latest comopanies to sign up to We Are Doc Women’s pledge to commit to 50% female directors for their factual output. They follow previous signatories BBC Documentaries, Channel 4 Documentaries, Hilary Clinton’s HiddenLight Productions, Lenny Henry’s Douglas Road Productions, Gordon Ramsay’s Studio Ramsey, and Louis Theroux’s Mindhouse, who have all previously committed to the pledge. Also comprising the 67 signatories are production companies including The Garden, Blast Films, Wall to Wall, Twenty Twenty, Lime Pictures, Minnow Films, Dragonfly Film & TV and Arrow International Media, 72 Films, Dorothy Street Pictures, Rogan Productions, Story Films, Empress Films and Grain Media.

When you’re deep in among the cocktail parties and dinners or meeting up with much missed contacts at Mipcom next week, it might be easy to forget why everyone is there: the shows. To help you remember, we bring you Deadline’s The Hot Ones, our guide to some of the best TV being sold in Cannes in 2022. You may hear whispers along the Croisette about the next big global hit, and The Hot Ones is our pick of a wealth of programing, featuring some of the biggest names in television from the top players in distribution.

Naman Ramachandran BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) will invest £1 million ($1.08 million) over three years to develop and support aspiring natural history filmmakers in the U.K. and globally. The NHU produces popular natural history programs including “Blue Planet II,” “Planet Earth II,” “Seven Worlds,” “One Planet,” presented by David Attenborough, “Dynasties,” “Blue Planet Live” and “Springwatch” In places where the NHU is filming, the initiative will fund opportunities for locally based production talent to access in-country training, offer field experience working with NHU teams on location, and invest in local talent to attend U.K.-based training courses. 

K.J. Yossman London-based longform news and podcasting outlet Tortoise Media has inked an exclusive first-look deal with Tortoise Media. The multi-year deal will see Sky potentially adapting Tortoise’s original podcasts including their investigative podcast “The Slow Newscast” into scripted and factual high-end series and/or features in the U.K., Italy, Germany and more. Tortoise will collaborate with Sky Studios during the development purpose on the Sky Original projects. Among the podcast series Tortoise Media has put out are “Sweet Bobby,” an investigation into one of the world’s most sophisticated catfishes, and “Hoaxed,” a multi-part series about one of Britain’s most   Since 2019, Tortoise Media has produced chart-topping podcast series such as “Sweet Bobby” and “Hoaxed,” their latest multi-part series exploring one of Britain’s most unusual conspiracy theories, in which an affluent London school community was torn apart by allegations of a satanic paedophile ring was in operation.

EXCLUSIVE: James Reed, director of Oscar-winning Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher, has struck a one-year development partnership with BBC Studios.

First-Look Image Of Adam Driver In Michael Mann’s ‘Ferrari’Today the producers of Michael Mann’s upcoming biopic Ferrari shared first-look images from the film’s set, including Adam Driver in costume as Enzo Ferrari. Check out the image above. The film is shooting in Italy and features Driver alongside Penélope Cruz, who plays Laura Ferrari, and Shailene Woodley as Lina Lardi. The cast is rounded out by Patrick Dempsey, Jack O’Connell, Peter Collins, Sarah Gadon, Linda Christian, and Gabriel Leone. Michael Mann directs from a script he co-wrote with Troy Kennedy Martin (The Italian Job). Set during the summer of 1957, the film follows ex-racecar driver Ferrari as bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgment of another. He decides to counter his losses by rolling the dice on one race – 1,000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.

Stacey Dooley shouted her pride for her man Kevin Clifton as she watched him perform on stage in his new show. The former Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer is continuing to flourish in his musical theatre career with a role in the new musical adaptation of Strictly Ballroom.