FilmRise and ITV Studios have announced an expansion of their deal that adds more than 3,000 hours of British TV content to FilmRise offerings for AVOD and FAST channels.
This is fabulous news!
As a devoted user of AVOD and FAST channels (in addition to SVOD), I am thrilled that streaming network FilmRise and program creator/producer/distributor ITV Studios have expanded their existing deal to bring 3,000+ more hours of British TV programming to the US, upping the total to more than 5,000 hours.
The newly-added content includes classic and new dramas and comedies, plus unscripted and factual programs within the competition, home & garden, lifestyle, reality, and true-crime genres. Many of these programs haven’t been made available for streaming in the US before, and numerous titles will be exclusively distributed on AVOD and FAST by FilmRise in the US and Canada.
Amongst the titles that FilmRise is introducing to stateside viewers via ad-supported streaming is the Italian-British co-production Romulus, an epic historical drama series about the founding of Rome. Set in the 8th century BC, the story is told through the eyes of three people marked by death, loneliness, and violence: Yemos (Andrea Arcangeli, Paradise), Prince of Alba Longa; Wiros (Francesco Di Napoli, Piranhas), a slave; and the young vestal Ilia (Marianna Fontana, Double Soul).
FilmRise also picked up the first five seasons of the award-winning British comedy-drama series Brassic, which became Sky One’s most successful comedy series in seven years after it began airing in 2019 (as well as one of my personal faves). While this series isn’t completely new to the US, Seasons 4 and 5 are, and these will only be available on AVOD/FAST (at least in the foreseeable future). Co-created by series star Joseph Gilgun (Preacher, Misfits) and Danny Brocklehurst (Safe, Shameless), Lancashire-set Brassic follows the lives of Vinnie (Gilgun), “a bipolar thief that lives in the woods,” and his crime-minded friends in the (fictional) town of Hawley. Costars include Michelle Keegan (Fool Me Once), Ryan Sampson (Plebs), Tom Hanson (The Outlaws), Damien Molony (The Split), Aaron Heffernan (War of the Worlds), and Parth Thakerar (Gangs of London).
The complete series of BAFTA Awards-winning crime drama Prime Suspect, starring Oscar® winner Helen Mirren (The Queen), and Primetime Emmy®-winning ensemble cast period drama Upstairs, Downstairs (the original 1971 version) are also included in the deal, as are four seasons of reality series Nanny 911 and twelve seasons of observational docuseries The Hotel Inspector. Of the latter two, the first is an American show based on the British series Little Angels, in which British nannies are brought into homes with troublesome tots; in the second, celebrated hotelier and businesswoman Alex Polizzi visits struggling British hotels to try and turn their fortunes around by giving advice and suggestions to the owners.
A renewal of celebrity chef Gordan Ramsay’s immensely popular “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Kitchen Nightmares” franchises — whose popularity across AVOD and FAST helped propel FilmRise’s success during its early years — is also a part of the deal. Currently, FilmRise manages six “Hell’s Kitchen” FAST Channels in North America and seven “Hell’s Kitchen/Kitchen Nightmares” FAST Channels in the US.
The deal was negotiated by FilmRise’s Max Einhorn, SVP, Acquisitions and Co-Productions, and brokered by ITV Studios’ Rob Kaplan, SVP Sales, U.S. & Global Accounts, along with Stephanie Coon, Sales Director USA, Global Partnerships.
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