Lionsgate dances with Televisa

Indie studio Lionsgate has acquired the format rights to Televisa’s Mexican hit Dancing for the Wedding of my Dreams as it ramps up its reality business. Lionsgate is currently shopping the series – which sees contestants dance it out for the chance of a dream wedding – to broadcasters from the US, UK and Australia.

Kevin Beggs, president of TV programming and production at Lionsgate, said: "We’ll pursue it in the US initially and it’s a format that can travel to other English speaking countries. It’s incredibly hot, it’s performed well in Mexico, and it fits the celebrity dancing craze but also adds an aspirational element like The Bachelor."

Lionsgate is continuing to expand its worldwide reach since taking control of its own international distribution, headed up by Craig Cegielski, eighteen months ago. It has sold Weeds, the comedy that stars Mary Louise Parker as a pot-dealing mom struggling to survive in suburbia, in over 125 territories and has also just closed deals for Hidden Palms, its first scripted series for a major US net (The CW), produced by Dawson’s Creek creator Kevin Williamson.