Former Gogglebox Entertainment Founders to Create and Produce
Unscripted Programs for Global Marketplace
SANTA MONICA, Calif. and
LONDON, July 13, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Building on
its unscripted portfolio, Lionsgate (NYSE: LGF), a premier next
generation global content leader, announced today that it has
acquired a stake in Primal Media, the new production company formed
by Gogglebox founders, format creators and executive producers Mat
Steiner and Adam Wood. Primal Media
will develop and produce unscripted programs in the UK, as well as
work with Lionsgate's alternative programming team in the U.S. to
produce U.S. formats for the UK market. Lionsgate will distribute
Primal Media's content worldwide and will produce formats owned by
Primal Media for the U.S. and worldwide market.
Steiner and Wood's extensive credits include UK formats
Release The Hounds (ITV2), Cash Cab (ITV), The
Code (BBC1), Playing It Straight (C4), Man v Fly
(GSN/The Sun), Plain Jane (MTV International), Singing In
The Rainforest (Watch), Move Like Michael Jackson (BBC3), The Exit List
(ITV) and Breakaway (BBC2), among many others. Their formats
have sold across the world, amassing over 15,000 episodes and
winning multiple awards, including six Emmys and, in 2016, a Royal
Television Society Award for Best Entertainment.
Primal Media has already secured its first two commissions with
the return of the award-winning, third season of Release The
Hounds and a second season of The Code (BBC1), both for
2017.
The acquisition marks another step in Lionsgate's continued
growth into unscripted programming around the world. In the past
year, the Company has formed a strategic alliance with leading
U.S. reality producer Pilgrim Studios and has developed a
growing in-house slate from its alternative programming division,
including Kicking &
Screaming (Fox), Revenge Body with Khloe
Kardashian (E!), Monica the
Medium (Freeform), Douglas Family
Gold (Oxygen), Tracks (Spike), and many
more.
"As Lionsgate's Television Group expands its capabilities in the
unscripted market, Mat and Adam are the perfect addition to our
growing family of first-rate reality companies and best-in-class
producers who are developing formats with global reach," said
Lionsgate Television Group Chairman Kevin
Beggs. "The deal is a win-win as it provides Mat and Adam
the support they need to grow Primal Media while enabling Lionsgate
to enhance our footprint in the UK, to expand the pipeline for our
U.S. business and to access a fabulous library of product that can
be distributed worldwide."
"We have a lot of respect for Mat and Adam, who are among the
most prolific and successful unscripted producers in the UK," said
Lionsgate UK Chief Executive Officer Zygi
Kamasa. "As we grow the Lionsgate UK presence in television,
we are very pleased to bring in such a well respected and talented
team as the one at Primal Media."
"We are very excited to be working with Kevin, Zygi and the
entire Lionsgate team, both in the UK and the U.S.," said Steiner
and Wood. "While Lionsgate is a global player in the television
space, it continues to have an entrepreneurial spirit that aligns
perfectly with what we are trying to accomplish as we develop
Primal Media into a major player creating both entertainment and
factual entertainment formats with global appeal."
The deal was negotiated by Laura
Kennedy, Executive Vice President, TV Operations &
Corporate Development for Lionsgate, Alexandra Keen, Executive Vice President,
Business & Legal Affairs, Lionsgate UK, and Malcolm Murray, Lucy
Strauss and Jeremy Gawade at
Lee & Thompson (representing Lionsgate) and Michael Brader and Medwyn Jones at Wiggin (representing Primal
Media).
About Lionsgate
Lionsgate is a premier next generation
global content leader with a diversified presence in motion picture
production and distribution, television programming and
syndication, home entertainment, international distribution and
sales, branded channel platforms, interactive ventures and games,
and location-based entertainment. The Company has nearly 80
television shows on 40 different networks spanning its primetime
production, distribution and syndication businesses. These include
the critically-acclaimed hit series Orange is the New Black,
the beloved drama series Nashville, the syndication successes
The Wendy Williams Show and Celebrity Name Game (with
FremantleMedia), the breakout series The Royals and the
Golden Globe-nominated dramedy Casual.
The Company's feature film business spans eight labels and
includes the blockbuster Hunger Games franchise,
the Now You See Me, Divergent and John Wick
series, Sicario, The Age of Adaline,
Roadside Attractions' Love &
Mercy and Mr. Holmes, Codeblack Films'
Addicted and breakout concert film Kevin Hart: Let Me Explain and Pantelion
Films' Instructions Not Included, the highest-grossing
Spanish-language film ever released in the U.S.
Lionsgate's home entertainment business is an industry leader in
box office-to-DVD and box office-to-VOD revenue conversion rates.
Lionsgate handles a prestigious and prolific library of
approximately 16,000 motion picture and television titles that is
an important source of recurring revenue and serves as a foundation
for the growth of the Company's core businesses. The Lionsgate and
Summit brands remain synonymous with original, daring, quality
entertainment in markets around the
world. www.lionsgate.com
About Lionsgate UK
Lionsgate UK is the diversified
UK-based filmed entertainment arm of Lionsgate (NYSE:LGF), the
leading independent filmed entertainment studio. The company
(formerly Redbus Film Distributors) was acquired by Lionsgate in
October 2005 and has since
established a reputation in the U.K. as a leading producer and
distributor and acquirer of commercially successful and critically
acclaimed product, recently releasing crowd pleaser Eddie The
Eagle, the multi award winning Brooklyn, the BAFTA Nominated
Sicario, and blockbuster London Has Fallen. Upcoming
titles for the 2016 slate include Noel
Clarke's Brotherhood, Peter
Berg's Deepwater Horizon and Damien Chazelle's La La Land.
Press Contacts:
Joanna Dodd Massey
310-255-3602
JMassey@Lionsgate.com
Lorna Mann
+44 2072998816
LMann@Lionsgatefilms.co.uk
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SOURCE Lionsgate