– Ten-part drama The Young Pope, starring Jude Law, has been sold to Japan by FremantleMedia International. The Kadokawa Corporation has picked up all rights to the Paolo Sorrentino series, which will see the company take the drama to all platforms across Japan. The series is a joint production of Sky, HBO and Canal+ and is produced by Wildside, in which FremantleMedia has a majority stake, and co-produced by Haut et Court TV. The series has been placed by FremantleMedia International with C More (Pan-Scandinavia), MNET (Pan-Africa), HBO (Pan-CEE), BETV (Belgium), OTE TV (Greece), 365 (Iceland), Sky (New Zealand), Hot (Israel), TV4 (Sweden), Videoland (Netherlands) and FOX (Netherlands).
– TCB Media Rights has struck US and European sales and pre-sales for Combat Trains (8 x 60 mins) and Combat Ships (10 x 60 mins), produced by Bob & Co indie Woodcut Media. Among the broadcasters to have acquired one or both of the series are Smithsonian Channel in the US and RTL Germany’s news and documentary channel n-tv. The deals have also prompted TCB Media Rights and Woodcut Media to enter into a strategic development partnership, under which both parties will work together to co-create, fund and distribute new factual projects with international appeal and high revenue potential.
– Mattel Creations has struck multiple deals in China for Thomas & Friends. Chinese state television broadcaster, China Central Television (China) has taken series 16 to 18, as well as LeEco, China Mobile and Air Media have acquired the feature Thomas & Friends: Sodor’s Legend of the Lost Treasure. A Thomas & Friends channel recently launched on Youku. Other Asian broadcasters onboard to take new Thomas & Friends content include NHK (Japan), Global TV (Indonesia), GMA (Philippines), KBS (South Korea), TVNZ (New Zealand) and TVB (Hong Kong).
– Red Arrow International has secured a number of deals for its new social experiment format Look Me in the Eye which launched at Mipcom. Created by CPL Productions, and commissioned by ProSiebenSat.1 in Germany, the format has been picked up by TF1 Group in France and Endemol Shine for SBS in Australia. In this format, estranged people are brought back together to share two minutes of silent eye contact, in a bid to help them to reconcile their relationship where all other efforts have failed.
Staff Reporter
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