Fox Networks Group Content Distribution Gears Up for MIPCOM

Fox Networks Group Content Distribution (FNGCD) will debut more than 70 new titles across almost 550 new hours at MIPCOM this year, with highlights such as Deep State, Fox Networks Group’s first regional scripted commission for Europe & Africa.

Deep State is a contemporary, international espionage thriller starring Mark Strong (Kingsman: The Golden Circle, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) and with Matthew Parkhill (Rogue) as co-creator, writer, director and showrunner. MIPCOM sees FNGCD debut the first two titles from National Geographic’s new scripted focus: The Long Road Home, based on Martha Raddatz’s best-selling book of the same name, and The State, from award-winning writer/director Peter Kosminsky.

From the company’s growing Turkish drama catalog, the new big-budget series City of Secrets (Kayıtdışı) is a highlight. Produced by Karga Seven, the thriller is set in Istanbul and stars Erkan Petekkaya (Broken Pieces) as an undercover government agent looking to take down Turkey’s most dangerous crime lord. City of Secrets is joined by FOX Turkey’s first-ever action-adventure drama Warriors (Savaşçi). The Untold Truths (Deli Gönül) tells of a couple torn apart by lies and Man Up (Şevkat Yerimdar) is a popular culture-clash comedy.

From Latin America, FNGCD will launch the comedy Run Coyote Run, about two childhood friends—one Mexican, one American—who launch a business smuggling people across the walled border into the U.S. One Against All (Um Contra Todos) comes to MIPCOM with a third season already commissioned. It is based on a true story, following a public defender who gets mistakenly arrested as a high-profile drug dealer.

Regarding factual highlights, Diana: In Her Own Words is produced by 1895 Productions for National Geographic, featuring rarely and never heard recordings of Princess Diana. Dian Fossey: Secrets in the Mist uses extensive archive footage plus interviews and personal correspondence, to tell the story of Fossey’s life, legacy and untimely death. Sigourney Weaver narrates. Hell on Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of ISIS, executive produced by award-winning duo Sebastian Junger and Nick Quested (Restrepo, The Last Patrol, Korengal), is a new feature-length doc chronicling Syria’s descent into the chaos that allowed the rise of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. Year Million is a new documentary-drama hybrid science series that explores what it will be like to be human 1 million years from now. When Nature Calls follows six professional animal wranglers across the U.S.

There are also a number of new formats, including Grilled, a competitive series that sees would-be food entrepreneurs battle it out in a variety of restaurants in a bid to win seed funding to start their own business. Design HQ is a hosted format from Condé Nast Productions that visits celebrity houses for transformation tips and makeover advice. Mygration is a competitive adventure format that sees a ‘herd’ of humans follow the grueling six-week course of the annual wildebeest migration in Africa, undertaking a range of challenges before they reach the Mara River.

Connie Hodson, Fox Networks Group Content Distribution’s VP of content and marketing, commented: “I am incredibly excited to bring our slate to MIPCOM this year supported by some of the very best on and off screen talent. Mark Strong and fellow cast members from Deep State will be with us for the launch event, Peter Kosminsky and Sam Otto from The State, Martha Raddatz, who wrote The Long Road Home and its stars, including Michael Kelley, will join National Geographic CEO Courteney Monroe for the MIPCOM Keynote address and actors Erkan Petekkaya, Songül Öden and Dolunay Soysert will also be with us for a launch event for City of Secrets. We are thrilled to be able to give our buyers the opportunity to meet the talent behind these outstanding shows.”