FremantleMedia Enterprises Inks First-look Deal with David Leaf

LONDON, May 25: FremantleMedia
Enterprises (FME) has reached an exclusive first-look deal with Los
Angeles-based writer, director and producer David Leaf that covers television,
DVD and ancillary rights worldwide, excluding North America, on non-fiction
productions from his newly-formed company.

Under the David Leaf Productions
banner, Leaf will work with FME on bringing the stories of iconic figures and
events to the screen. Last year, Leaf co-wrote, directed and produced the
acclaimed feature documentary The U.S. vs. John Lennon, which premiered at the 2006 Venice Film Festival.
Leaf’s other credits include writing and directing the Grammy-nominated
feature-length documentary Beautiful Dreamer: Brian Wilson and the Story of SMiLE (Showtime) and he was also one of the
Emmy-nominated and Peabody Award-winning writers on the U.S. broadcast
networks’ telethon America: A Tribute To Heroes. Leaf was a producer of the Emmy-nominated Billy
Joel: In His Own Words (A&E)
and also co-wrote, produced and directed The Bee Gees: This Is Where I Came
In for A&E. He wrote and
produced You Can’t Do That, a
documentary on the Beatles’ A Hard Day’s Night for Disney, and was the consulting producer on
A&E’s Live By Request.

David Ellender, the CEO of
FremantleMedia Enterprises, commented: “The pop culture genre is really taking
the world by storm and continues to be a key staple in our portfolio. David
Leaf is one of the most pre-eminent writer-director-producers of his time in
the music world and very much has his finger on the pulse, knowing how to cause
quite a stir both on the small screen and the big screen. We’re delighted to be
partnering with him on his upcoming projects and we’re certain that his unique
storytelling style will prove to be a hit with audiences the world over.”