ITV’s Leftfield inks Crybaby deal

Leftfield Entertainment, the US prodco owned by UK broadcaster ITV, has struck a programming deal with Crybaby Media.

Crybaby is the casting and development firm founded by former VH1 development exec Danny Passman in 2010. Under the terms of the overall deal, it will work up unscripted projects across reality, lifestyle, docusoap and competition genres for Leftfield.

Leftfield Entertainment vice president, business development & international, Ed Simpson said: “With Crybaby, Danny Passman created a valuable brand in his own right, honing an expertise that is at the heart of all reality TV: casting.”

He added: “His keen, innate sense of the types of ‘characters’ that resonate with both US and international audiences and buyers – and his ability to uncover them – helped make Crybaby the go-to shop for many production companies and networks producing reality TV.”

Passman said: “While we’ve been successful across the business, the opportunity to focus on the Leftfield group will allow us to be even more strategic and creative. I’m excited to dig deep with everyone at Leftfield and help raise the bar for all of our network partners.”