FME Adds New Thom Beers Programming to Catalogue

LONDON, August 11: FremantleMedia
Enterprises (FME) has picked up all visual rights, excluding North America, to
five new shows from Thom Beers’ Original Productions that focus on blue-collar
heroism, and plans to launch the titles at MIPCOM.

Verminators follows a team of
pest-busters as they try to rid Los Angeles of rats, roaches, killer bees, bats, black widow
spiders, termites, bedbugs, flies, fleas and fire ants, among others. America's Port looks at the network of men and machines
that guide the commerce in the Port of Los Angeles, while L.A. Hard Hats examines the labor of builders who are
working on one of the first residential high rises to be built in downtown L.A.
in the last 50 years. Also included in the package are 1000 Ways to Die, which looks at unusual experiences
that could lead to death, and Black Gold, centered on oilmen drilling in west
Texas.

"I couldn't have
asked for a better international partner for these five shows,” said Beers, the
CEO and executive producer at Original Productions. “This deal will firmly
establish the Original Productions brand in the global market.”

Continued Philip Segal,
the president of Original Productions: “As a worldwide distributor,
FremantleMedia Enterprises offers an outstanding opportunity to reach 150
countries. We are excited to introduce our unique brand of authentic reality
programming to millions of new viewers.”

Jeff Tahler, FME’s VP of
acquisitions and development for the Americas, commented: “Original Productions
is at the absolute forefront of this exciting genre and it’s great to be in
business with producers who are at the height of their game.”

FME’s CEO, David Ellender, added: “These shows bolster a new and important
part of the FME catalogue. Reality programming is continuously evolving and
maturing and we now have something rugged, bold and adventurous for the male
audience. Blue-collar reality has a clear following and we are confident that
it will appeal universally. We look forward to working alongside Original
Productions within this new genre, and delivering these distinctive shows to a
global audience.”

—By Kristin
Brzoznowski