E! in First-Look Deal with Richard Branson’s Virgin Produced

LOS ANGELES: E! Entertainment Television has secured the exclusive rights to all reality series development from Virgin Produced, the production arm of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group.

The multi-year first-look development deal gives E! access to Virgin Produced unscripted series. The partnership with E! marks Virgin’s first move into television. The company has traction on the film front with its multi-year joint venture with Relativity Media. The company plans to produce two to three films per year through the Relativity partnership.

Lisa Berger, the executive VP of entertainment programming for E!, said, “Having developed series with Jason and Justin at their former company J2TV, I’m truly excited about the new project ideas their team at Virgin is developing and think both brands are truly symbiotic.”

Added Virgin Produced’s CEO, Jason Felts, and chief creative officer, Justin Berfield, “E! has a proven track record of pioneering great characters and new innovative formats in the unscripted space. At Virgin we are looking to produce programs that make some noise. ‘Traditional’ is not in our vocabulary, so this combined with our brands and shared programming tastes make for a natural partnership.”