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Unscripted round-up: ‘The Musical Of Your Life’ lands in UK; Anchor sinks Errol Morris deal; Netflix spins-off ‘Bling Empire’
The Musical Of Your Life lands in UK
All3Media-owned Objective Media Group has picked up remake rights to Belgian format, The Musical Of Your Life.
The show will reproduced by Objective’s Triple Brew Media and marks the 10th production deal for the format since it was launched at MIPTV earlier this year.
The format, which was created by Belgium’s Dedsit for Play4, combines moving up-close and personal celebrity interviews with musical performances of pivotal moments in their lives.
It is sold by Be-Entertainment, which has already struck deals with operators in Spain, Italy, Australia and the Nordics. Production has also started on the first season in Germany for ProSiebenSat.1.
Anchor sinks Errol Morris deal
LA-based producer Anchor Entertainment (Rebel Hearts) has struck a deal with filmmaker Errol Morris (A Brief History of Time) to adapt Barbara Bradley Hagerty’s article End Of Sentence, originally written for The Atlantic.
Zo Wesson (Shoot This Not That) will direct the story, which tracks the life of Benjamine Spencer, an innocent Black man who served 34 years of a life-prison sentence for a murder he did not commit.
Morris said: “I hate to use scare quotes but there’s no other way to talk about ‘justice’ in Texas. Benjamine Spencer’s story picks up where The Thin Blue Line left off.
“As Randall Adams was walking out of prison, Spencer was being sentenced to life by the same people who helped ensure Adams’s conviction. Both men were innocent. But one remained in prison for decades. End Of Sentence is a sickening, uncannily familiar tale: the particulars are different, but the tragedy is the same.”
Executive producers include Ethan Goldman and Keayr Braxton for Anchor, as well as Morris.
Netflix, VRT & Movistar+ snag DFW doc
Netflix has picked up documentary film Van Gaal: The Man Behind The Legend for its service in Germany, with Spain’s Movistar Plus+ and VRT in Belgium also snagging rights.
The 1 x 120-minute doc is sold by DFW International (the sales division for Dutch FilmWorks) and follows the football legend over a period of three years in both public and private moments. DFW International has also sold the TV and VOD rights (UK only) to Vertical Entertainment.
In related news, Netflix has ordered a spin-off from its Bling Empire franchise.
Bling Empire: New York will track Dorothy Wang from the original show’s second season as she moves from LA to New York City. Confirmation of the spin-off comes ahead of the third season of Bling Empire, which launches today.