South Africa’s Known Associates Launches Unscripted Division, Acquires Production Outfit Zero Gravity (EXCLUSIVE)
variety.comChristopher Vourlias South Africa’s Known Associates, the fast-growing parent company of Johannesburg-based Known Associates Entertainment (KAE) and Cape Town-based Moonlighting Films, is launching into unscripted programming, Variety can reveal.
The company has acquired a 60% stake in Zero Gravity, a production outfit founded in 2017 by former Endemol Shine Africa and Trace Studios CEO Sivan Pillay, and will team up with South African media giant Primedia to “relaunch multiple new high-end unscripted formats,” according to Pillay.
Though specific titles covered by that agreement have not been finalized, Primedia’s catalog includes hit series “The Masked Singer,” “Deal or No Deal” and “Ready Steady Cook.” “For us, it’s a natural progression,” said Known Associates chairperson Joel Phiri at the Joburg Film Festival. “We’re bringing our production expertise, and it’s keeping in line with our acquiring [production services giant] Moonlighting [in 2022].
It’s linking with our servicing facilities and growing that side of the business.” The acquisition is a sign of things to come from the company’s unscripted division.
Read more on variety.com
