Kimmelot, ITV America strike unscripted deal

Kimmelot, the company formed by Jimmy Kimmel and Wheelhouse Group CEO Brent Montgomery, has struck an unscripted production deal with ITV America.

Montgomery was formerly CEO at ITV America, before departing to form Wheelhouse Entertainment in 2018 and forging a content venture with the Jimmy Kimmel Live! star.

Kimmelot’s first show produced through the exclusive arrangement with ITV America will be a revamp of Crank Yankers for Comedy Central.

The show celebrates the world’s favourite profane puppets as they prank on phones, social media and e-sport platforms. The showrunner for the title will be Jonathan Kimmel, who exec producers alongside Jimmy Kimmel, Adam Carolla, and Daniel Kellison.

The deal was brokered by Danielle Bibbo, EVP of business and development strategy at ITV America, and Tonko Soljan, SVP of business affairs.

Kimmel said: “I couldn’t be more pleased to partner with ITV America on our first Kimmelot series. David and Danielle understand how crucial it is to expose a new generation of Americans to the art and beauty of crank calling.”

Kimmelot is based in Los Angeles and will have a presence in New York. It serves as Kimmel’s “creative lab”, operating in unscripted, scripted, digital, and app/mobile based realms.

The deal was first revealed on Deadline.