STV Productions & GROUP M Entertainment

RNS Number : 2316X

STV Group PLC

27 August 2015

 

PRESS RELEASE                  PRESS RELEASE                  PRESS RELEASE

STV PRODUCTIONS & GROUPM ENTERTAINMENT  

FORGES STRATEGIC DEVELOPMENT PARTNERSHIP

27 August 2015

STV Productions and GroupM Entertainment have joined forces to create a strategic development partnership that will see the two companies co-invest, co-develop and co-produce ideas across a broad range of genres.

The innovative deal involves substantial development investment from both companies and has been shaped to capitalise on the strengths of each business. The focus will be on the creation of new entertainment, factual and drama projects which will be targeted at major broadcasters in the UK and internationally. The companies will work together internationally, as well as with third party distributors, to exploit ideas developed under this deal.

The partnership builds on the successful production and development relationship between the companies which has resulted in a number of successful co-productions including The Poison Tree (ITV); Perez Hilton: Superfan (ITV2); Prison - First and Last 24 hours (Sky1) and most recently Safeword (ITV2).

The first project to be developed as a pilot under this new deal is announced today and will be available to present to broadcasters later this year:  The Dressing Room, a documentary series that gets inside the changing rooms of sports teams across the country to bring all of the drama, excitement and emotion they experience - but none of the sport. 

The partnership is non-exclusive and will see both STV & GME continue to work with other channels, distributors and content creators.

Alan Clements, Director of Content for STV Productions, said: "We are delighted to be announcing this significant development in the strong relationship that has already formed between STV Productions and GroupM Entertainment.  This arrangement will bring together the best of both companies to co-develop projects and achieves increased scale and a new impetus to our development activities across a range of genres. We look forward to working closely with our colleagues at GME in this next phase of our successful partnership."

Tony Moulsdale, Director of Programming, GroupM Entertainment, said: "This partnership further cements a very successful relationship with STV built over several years. It shows what's possible if you take an imaginative approach to content both creatively and commercially. This is about investing in the early stages of development and taking the long view on high value IP, especially on development that is expensive or time consuming. But ultimately it's about giving broadcasters greater choice where they are telling us they want it. Strong effective collaboration and clear focus from conception to exploitation, targeted at what commissioners want both in the UK and globally, will allow us to create unparalleled opportunities for both our businesses."

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For further information, please contact:

Richard Holligan

PR & Communications Manager, STV press office

0141 300 3670/07803 970 143

[e-mail]

David Grabert,

Global Director of Corporate Communications, GroupM

[phone]

Notes to editors

About STV Productions

STV Productions is one of the UK's leading content businesses with ambitious plans for growth both domestically and internationally. 

The company has a record of success across a range of genres including drama, entertainment and factual for a wide range of broadcasters.    Ratings winner Antiques Road Trip has run for twelve series on the BBC, with a further five series of sister programme Celebrity Antiques Road Trip also produced.    In entertainment, the company produces Catchphrase for ITV, Safeword for ITV2, The Link for BBC Daytime and The Lie for STV, TV3 in Ireland and S4C in Wales.  

Specialist factual successes have included Tutankhamun: The Truth Uncovered for BBC1 and Swallowed By The Sea - Ancient Egypt's Greatest Lost City for BBC2.    Documentaries have been another strong growth area.    Fire in the Night, a feature documentary to mark the 25^th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster, won a BAFTA Scotland Award for Best Single Documentary and the Audience Award at the Edinburgh International Film Festival.   Since then we have produced The Lockerbie Bombing for the Smithsonian Channel in the US and ITV, and The 7/7 Bombing: Survivors' Stories for ITV.   Coming soon are Prison: First and Last 24, an 8 hour series for Sky One, Dunblane:  Our Story  for BBC2 and Rollermania for BBC Scotland and BBC4.

STV Productions has a track record of producing quality returnable drama series including Taggart and Rebus and intends to build on this solid reputation. In the last five years it has produced Fast Freddie and The Poison Tree, both for ITV. It currently has script commissions from the BBC, ITV and Channel 4.

STV Productions has a partnership with Red Arrow International which co-invests in and co-develops projects as well as distributing STV Productions' completed programmes and formats, outside the UK.

In August 2015, STV Productions entered a strategic development partnership with Group M Entertainment Ltd to create new entertainment, factual and drama projects for the UK and international markets.

About GroupM Entertainment UK

GroupM Entertainment is a global content investment and rights management company, which creates, finances, produces, distributes & commercializes content via innovative, strategic, commercial models & partnerships. GME's global business interests extend across all media platforms and a broad range of genres in partnership with some of the world's leading production and distribution talent. GME is part of GroupM, the world's leading full-service media investment management operation, a WPP company.

 

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