BBC Studios LA Names Formats Veteran Nicholas Oakley As SVP, Unscripted Development

Meet any high-profile Indian director or producer these days, and the talk is all about bibles, writers rooms and showrunners, rather than making films. Driving down Mumbai’s main artery, the Western Express Highway, most of the billboards are promoting new premium drama series from Prime Video, Netflix and Disney+ Hotstar, rather than the latest Bollywood release.

K.J. Yossman As the BBC celebrates its one hundredth anniversary today (Oct. 18), the broadcaster’s top executives have paid tribute. “The BBC is one hundred today – it’s a time to celebrate, but also to embrace the future,” said BBC chairman Richard Sharp. “I believe its best days are ahead. We have always innovated, changed and adapted. Our path has always been guided by the needs of audiences. We are just as mindful of that today as we have always been. By continuing to put the public first, we will continue to inform, educate and entertain for another century.” BBC director-general Tim Davie added: “With the BBC reaching the milestone of 100 years, our mission to inform, educate, and entertain, has never been more relevant or needed. For a century, the BBC has been a beacon of trusted news and programming across the world, as well as being part of the fabric of the U.K. and one of its key institutions. It has been a story of a devotion to public service and constant reinvention – which those in the BBC today remain utterly committed to. We exist to serve the public – doing that will guide the next 100 years.”

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Tim Davie, BBC director-general, underscored the importance of creative risk-taking to the British broadcaster, when interviewed onstage at TV market Mipcom on Monday, which coincided with the BBC’s 100th anniversary. Davie’s appearance onstage followed a presentation by Tom Fussell, CEO of BBC Studios, the broadcaster’s commercial arm. He announced that BBC Studios is set to wholly acquire Sid Gentle Films, the production company behind hits such as “Killing Eve.” He showed a clip from the company’s new show “Rain Dogs,” starring Daisy May Cooper. Cash Carraway is writer and executive producer. Fussell also announced that BBC Studios’ managing director of scripted, Mark Linsey, is set to relocate to Los Angeles in order to help build its co-production, investment and commissioning opportunities internationally.

BBC Studios Makes Pair Of European Hires

When you’re deep in among the cocktail parties and dinners or meeting up with much missed contacts at Mipcom this week, it might be easy to forget why everyone is there: the shows. To help you remember, we bring you Deadline’s The Hot Ones, our guide to some of the best TV being sold in Cannes in 2022. You may hear whispers along the Croisette about the next big global hit, and The Hot Ones is our pick of a wealth of programing, featuring some of the biggest names in television from the top players in distribution.

BBC DG Tim Davie and Studios CEO Tom Fussell have said the BBC is now a “fully global operation,” as they shared a stage for the first time at Mipcom Cannes.

K.J. Yossman BBC Studios is set to wholly acquire Sid Gentle Films, the production company behind hits such as “Killing Eve” and “Ragdoll.” BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial production and distribution arm, is intent on growing its portfolio of U.K. scripted labels. It already wholly owns Lookout Point (“Happy Valley 3”), Clerkenwell Films (“Somewhere Boy”), House Productions (“Sherwood”) and most recently Firebird Pictures (“Wahala”) and is the controlling shareholder in Baby Cow (“Chivalry”). In 2018 it acquired a 51% stake in Sid Gentle, which was founded in 2013 by Sally Woodward Gentle, with Lee Morris and Henrietta Colvin.

BBC Studios has taken full control of Killing Eve producer Sid Gentle Films.

EXCLUSIVE: The story of popular UK lads magazine Loaded, which covered the 1990s Cool Britannia era in all its glory, is to be told in a TV series from Channel 4-backed Spirit Studios.

Liza Foreman “Artemis Fowl” writer Eoin Colfer’s first live action original project was amongst news announced during this year’s MipJunior Keynote from BBC Studios’ Kids & Family head Cecilia Persson. With over 25 million copies of the “Artemis Fowl” series sold, the author’s new project is being written in collaboration with screenwriter Viko Nikci.  The idea “combines a gripping high-stakes mystery with a fun gang of unlikely young heroes,” in this sci-fi series which combines action, comedy and multiple plot twists,” according to a BBC statement.   

K.J. Yossman Amazon Prime Video and BBC Studios Factual are the latest comopanies to sign up to We Are Doc Women’s pledge to commit to 50% female directors for their factual output. They follow previous signatories BBC Documentaries, Channel 4 Documentaries, Hilary Clinton’s HiddenLight Productions, Lenny Henry’s Douglas Road Productions, Gordon Ramsay’s Studio Ramsey, and Louis Theroux’s Mindhouse, who have all previously committed to the pledge. Also comprising the 67 signatories are production companies including The Garden, Blast Films, Wall to Wall, Twenty Twenty, Lime Pictures, Minnow Films, Dragonfly Film & TV and Arrow International Media, 72 Films, Dorothy Street Pictures, Rogan Productions, Story Films, Empress Films and Grain Media.

When you’re deep in among the cocktail parties and dinners or meeting up with much missed contacts at Mipcom next week, it might be easy to forget why everyone is there: the shows. To help you remember, we bring you Deadline’s The Hot Ones, our guide to some of the best TV being sold in Cannes in 2022. You may hear whispers along the Croisette about the next big global hit, and The Hot Ones is our pick of a wealth of programing, featuring some of the biggest names in television from the top players in distribution.

Naman Ramachandran BBC Studios Natural History Unit (NHU) will invest £1 million ($1.08 million) over three years to develop and support aspiring natural history filmmakers in the U.K. and globally. The NHU produces popular natural history programs including “Blue Planet II,” “Planet Earth II,” “Seven Worlds,” “One Planet,” presented by David Attenborough, “Dynasties,” “Blue Planet Live” and “Springwatch” In places where the NHU is filming, the initiative will fund opportunities for locally based production talent to access in-country training, offer field experience working with NHU teams on location, and invest in local talent to attend U.K.-based training courses. 

Sky Studios Strikes Podcast-To-Screen Deal With Tortoise Media

EXCLUSIVE: James Reed, director of Oscar-winning Netflix documentary My Octopus Teacher, has struck a one-year development partnership with BBC Studios.

The BBC is teeing up the farewell party for its first female Doctor, setting a departure date and issuing a new trailer spotlighting title star Jodie Whittaker.

First-Look Image Of Adam Driver In Michael Mann’s ‘Ferrari’Today the producers of Michael Mann’s upcoming biopic Ferrari shared first-look images from the film’s set, including Adam Driver in costume as Enzo Ferrari. Check out the image above. The film is shooting in Italy and features Driver alongside Penélope Cruz, who plays Laura Ferrari, and Shailene Woodley as Lina Lardi. The cast is rounded out by Patrick Dempsey, Jack O’Connell, Peter Collins, Sarah Gadon, Linda Christian, and Gabriel Leone. Michael Mann directs from a script he co-wrote with Troy Kennedy Martin (The Italian Job). Set during the summer of 1957, the film follows ex-racecar driver Ferrari as bankruptcy stalks the company he and his wife, Laura, built from nothing ten years earlier. Their tempestuous marriage struggles with the mourning for one son and the acknowledgment of another. He decides to counter his losses by rolling the dice on one race – 1,000 miles across Italy, the iconic Mille Miglia.

BBC Studios has taken full control of Firebird Pictures, the British drama indie behind Prime Video’s Wilderness and BBC One’s Wahala.

EXCLUSIVE: Season two of Euston Films’ BBC Three horror comedy Wreck is in development prior to the first airing, as creator Ryan J. Brown opens up about portraying queer identity and a scarcity of British slasher.

CBS Studios has promoted three executives on its development team.