Deal round up: Fremantle pitches in with Tent City

FremantleMedia North America has scored a production deal with US prodco Tent City Entertainment, to-line news in today’s round up.

The deal will see FremantleMedia’s US arm working with Tent City co-founders and former LMNO Productions execs Lori Rothschild Ansaldi and Lisa Bourgoujian (pictured) on true crime programming.

LA-based Tent City is known for shows such as DB Cooper: Case Close, a History two-night special that performed well for History in the US last year, The Coroner: I Speak For the Dead, Murder Book and Diabolical Women.

“True crime is something we at FMNA haven’t yet tapped into and it’s a genre that continues to be in-demand with viewers in the US and abroad,” said FMNA co-CEO Jennifer Mullin.

Elsewhere, SallyAnn Salsano and her FMNA-owned prodco, 495 Productions, has renewed a production pact with Viacom.

495 has already provided Viacom networks with Jersey Shore, one of MTV’s big hits of recent years, Spike’s Tattoo Nightmares and VH1’s Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Dinner, which was the highest-rated unscripted cable launch of 2016.

The deal marks the seventh consecutive deal Salsano has signed with Viacom.

In Canada, Group TVA has takena fourth season of psychological drama The Killer Inside, which Israel’s Armoza Formats sells internationally as a format.

Europe

Across the pond in the UK, BBC Worldwide-backed channels group UKTV has commissioned two retrospective specials featuring British comedy and drama icon David Jason (Only Fools and Horses) for its Gold network, which turns 25 this year.

David Jason: My Life on Screen will run to three hours, with ITV Studios-owned Shiver producer, while North One Television is creating 5x60mins series The Story of Only Fools and Horses.

Other deals announced today include European specialist factual coproduction The Celts: Blood, Iron & Sacrifice selling to a host of channels.

Australia’s SBS and Foxtel, Spain’s RTVE, Italy’s Rai, iPrima in the Czech Republic, Estonia’s Tallinn TV and Viasat World for Scandinavia, eastern Europe and African pay TV have all bought the show, which examines the lives of ‘celts’ (or ‘gauls’) who inhabited Europe from thousands of years ago.

UK and German pubcasters the BBC and ZDF produced the show in association with Franco-German network Arte, with ZDF Enterprises selling it internationally.

Asia

European distributor Eccho Rights, meanwhile, has sold a package of Ukrainian and Turkish dramas to India’s Zee Entertainment Enterprises for its Zindagi premium channel.

Included is Ukrainian series Snowdrop (Bessmertnik), billed as the first from its country to air in India. Eccho did not reveal the Turkish series in the deal, said “Indian viewers can expect series from producers Endemol Shine Turkey and Ay Yapim”.