John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentThe Mediapro Studio Distribution has confirmed a flurry of new sales deals on “The Head,” “Paraíso,” “Express” and “Hunting Ana Bravo” and state-of-play roll-out on the first two titles which underscores a still bullish demand for high-end titles sold on the open market at events such as last week’s MipTV.The sales also have a bigger picture.
With major studio sales to third parties plunging as they retain productions for their own platforms – Netflix carried 748 Disney titles in 2015, just 221 in 2021, according to Ampere Analysis – it’s a great time to be an independent, the consultancy’s Guy Bisson announced at MipTV.
The Mediapro Studio’s latest sales details are also yet another indication of how geographical and language-targeted pay and global platform deals are driving so much of open market sales business for big independent players. ‘The Head’In a new deal, Canadian public-broadcaster CBC-SRC has clinched rights to English-language survival thriller “The Head,” TMS’ banner international franchise, bringing its distribution roll-out to more than 90 territories, including HBO in the U.S.“The Head” is now building up to Season 2 which maintains the series’ hallmarks – an isolated place; a survival thriller; no police and a super-international facing drama – and its two protagonists, played by John Lynch and Katharine O’Donnelly.
Introducing new cast members such as “Money Heist’s” Hovik Keuchkerian, the new season is set on a huge ocean freighter carrying a scientific mission at the Pacific’s Nemo Point where the closest human beings are astronauts aboard the International Space Station when it passes overhead.
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