News round-up: ANZ broadcasters’ content deals; Broadway Licensing takes Florence Foster Jenkins & Radioman docs; Trioscope gains Krafton funding  

Jeremy Pang’s Asian Kitchen

ANZ broadcasters’ content deals

Broadcasters and platforms across Australia and New Zealand have acquired close to 400 combined hours of content, following deals with distributor Abacus Media Rights.

SBS Australia has picked up titles including The Rise and Fall Of Boris Becker (working title), This Is Joan Collins;, Ross Kemp: Shipwreck Treasure Hunters and Jeremy Pang’s Asian Kitchen.

Foxtel has acquired broadcast rights for Australia and New Zealand for shows including Grand Tours Of Scotland seasons 1-3, Kokoda – The Spirit Lives and Waterloo’s Warriors.

Madman Entertainment has taken titles including The Man Putin Couldn’t Kill, The Fire Within: A Requiem For Katia And Maurice Krafft and Back in Time for Australia and New Zealand.  Warner Bros. Discovery New Zealand has acquired Maxine and TVNZ will air Married To A Psychopath;, 30 Greatest Moments: Adele and Line Of Duty seasons 1-5.

Further deals were struck with Acorn TV, Rialto TV New Zealand, Sky New Zealand, Paramount Australia, ABC Australia, BBC Studios Australia for New Zealand and Stan Entertainment.

Broadway Licensing takes Florence Foster Jenkins & Radioman docs

Broadway Licensing has picked up The Florence Foster Jenkins Story and Radioman for its free ad-supported BOD smart-TV channel, following a deal with documentary and factual-entertainment distributor Espresso Media International.

The Florence Foster Jenkins Story (1 x 90-minutes or 1 x 52-minutes), profiles the superstar Florence Foster Jenkins, a famous singer from the 1920s New York scene who famously couldn’t sing at all.

Espresso has also licensed Radioman (1 x 66-minutes or 1 x 56-minutes), the story of a homeless man in New York who became a film icon with more than 100 credits to his name. Tom Hanks, George Clooney and Helen Mirren are but a few of his admirers and co-stars.

The Liberator

Trioscope gains Krafton funding

The Liberator producer Trioscope has secured the first tranche of bridge financing, led by Krafton, a collective of independent development studios that invests across multimedia entertainment.

Trioscope said that it will use the investment to further scale both its business and brand globally.

“Trioscope is delighted to partner with Krafton as we continue to widen our international footprint and cultivate our vision,” said L.C. Crowley, co-founder and CEO of Trioscope. “This round of funding will fuel our ability to move forward with the tech-driven, immersive experiences and epic universes we’re synthesizing.”

Pact report: UK indies face rising costs

A survey by UK trade body Pact has found that local indies’ costs have increased by 10-20% over the past year, with many saying that broadcasters and streamers have not offered support with these rising overheads.

The UK’s cost of living crisis has seen significant increases in expenditure for production companies, with Pact’s survey finding that 86% of respondents have seen impacts on their margins, while 42% said that broadcasters and streamers “have not been understanding or tried to help with rising costs.”

In total, 43% t of respondents said that labour costs (crew, freelancers etc) had increased by 20% over the last year with only 3% saying that these costs had not increased at all. And nearly half (49%) said that their costs for services (catering, locations, post production etc) increased by 10%.

Thirty-three per cent of respondents said that costs for materials (art department, costumes etc) had increased by 10%, rising to 40% for producers based in London.

For on screen talent, 40% said costs had increased by 10% over the last year with 26% saying that costs had increased by over 10%.

For off screen talent, more producers (42%) said that costs had increased by 10% over the past year and 32% of respondents said they had increased by 20%.