‘The Game‘ To Be Played On BritBox, Foxtel & More
The Game (fka Catch You Later), which stars Jason Watkins and Robson Green in a cat-and-house thriller, has sold to BritBox in North America. Distributor Sphere Abacus has also wrapped sales with Foxtel (Australia), YLE (Finland), SVT (Sweden), Pickbox (Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia), Virgin Media (Ireland) and Sky Free (New Zealand). This comes after the Clapperboard Studios drama launched on UK terrestrial 5 in May. Bell Media-owned Sphere Abacus has also shopped Australian drama The Family Next Door to to AMC Networks in the U.S. and Canada), CBC (Canada), ITV (UK), Pickbox (Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria), Sky Free (New Zealand), RTE (Ireland), YLE (Finland), TV4 (Sweden) and Proximus (Belgium). Starring Teresa Palmer, Bella Heathcote and Philippa Northeast, the drama series has been a major hit for ABC iView, the streaming service of Australian pubcaster the ABC.
Buendia Estudios Hires Begoña Álvarez
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Spain’s Buendia Estudios has hired Begoña Álvarez as an executive producer. She is among the most experienced scripted producers in the Spanish-speaking business, having worked in TV fiction for over three decades. Álvarez will report to Laura Abril, Executive Director of Fiction and Global Business Development at the Marbella producer. Álvarez began her career working on Telecinco drama Médico de Familia in 1995 and went on to have a 21-year spell at the show’s producer, Globomedia. In 2016, she moved to Banijay-owned Zeppelin, where she oversaw the Spanish adaptation of Norwegian young adult drama Skam. She later become Director of Fiction at Unicorn Content, producing shows such as Desaparecidos. Álvarez said she was joining “a leading company in the audiovisual sector at a great moment for national fiction.” Yesterday at Iberseries in Madrid, it was announced Buendia and Sony Music Vision México are development on two projects about the life and career of Rocío Dúrcal, the internationally popular Spanish singer.
Banijay Takes ‘Masked Singer’ Maker’s Music Format
Banijay Entertainment has landed language format rights to 100, the latest musical gameshow out of Korea. The format is the latest from The Masked Singer creator Park Wonwoo from Ditum Korea, who co-developed it with Japanese broadcaster ABC Japan, which is owned by Asahi Broadcasting Group Holdings Corporation, and Fotini Paraskakis’ Empire of Arkadia (EOA). Launched as an event program in Japan and Korea, 100 sees teams of amateur and celebrity performers seek to make combined ages of exactly 100, and score a perfect 100 from the audience and panel during a comedy musical guessing game. Helen Greatorex, Head of Format Acquisitions at Banijay, said 100 was “a joyful, primetime celebration for the whole family.”