News round-up: Media Ranch strikes DiTurn deal; Blue Ant factual orders; BET sets ‘Black + Iconic’

Wonwoo Park

Media Ranch strikes DiTurn deal

Canada’s Media Ranch will represent two new formats from Wonwoo Park’s Korean shingle DiTurn – gameshow Round Table and matchmaking series Love Maze.

This is the first deal between Media Ranch and DiTurn, with the goal to build a collection of IP by format creator Park, who is the creator of The Masked Singer and Lotto Singer.

Love Maze is a matchmaking game show where an elaborate maze stands in the way of two people falling in love, while Round Table is a game show where celebrity contestants without any singing skills must sing to win.

Head of content and storytelling at Media Ranch, Philip Kalin-Hajdu, will lead development on both formats.

Blue Ant factual orders

Blue Ant Media has ordered three new factual series for its Canadian specialty TV networks T+E and Cottage Life, and its FAST channels HauntTV and Total Crime.

Haunted By History (working title) is a 6 x 60-minute series following paranormal investigators, Corine Carey, Leanne Sallenback and Kelly Ireland, as they travel across North America and meet with real people who recount their intense, terrifying and emotional ghost experiences.

The series is slated for spring 2023 on T+E in Canada and will also air on Blue Ant Media’s free streaming channel HauntTV in the US, UK and Australia in 2023.

A Secret to Die For (2 x 60-minutes) investigates how a person’s secret life can end up costing them their own, following a suspenseful story arc that will keep viewers guessing who the murderer is until the very end.

The first two pilot episodes of the true crime documentary series will make its debut on T+E in Canada this summer 2023. The series will also air in 2023 on the free streaming channel Total Crime in the US.

Secrets in the Sand (6 x 60-minutes) examines extraordinary curiosities that were once concealed in the deserts of the planet. The six-part series is slated to premiere in summer 2023 on Cottage Life in Canada.

BET sets ‘Black + Iconic’

BET has ordered Black + Iconic, a four-part docuseries from executive producer Stanley Nelson and Firelight Films.

The series will celebrate Black cultural icons, pioneers, and activists and their impact, influence and legacies in fashion, music, film, and dance. Executive producers Connie Orlando and Jason Samuels developed Black + Iconic for BET, along with senior supervising producer Steven Ramey.

Directed by Lynne Robinson, the inaugural film in the series, Black X Iconic: Style Gods, has signed on actor, singer, director, producer and activist Billy Porter to narrate, host, and serve as executive producer. It will debut on 18 February.

“We’re thrilled to be working with BET again after the success of our first project together, ‘Through the Fire: The Legacy of Barack Obama,'” said Stanley Nelson, co-founder of Firelight Films and Executive Producer of the “Black + Iconic” series. “I couldn’t think of a better home for this series celebrating Black icons via the numerous mediums through which Black creatives have made an indelible mark on the culture.”