Lionsgate in New Unscripted Content Venture

July 8, 2009 World Screen

SANTA MONICA: Lionsgate has formed a joint venture with Lost Marbles Productions, the independent production company recently formed by Marty Adelstein and Jon Kroll, to develop and produce original unscripted programming for television.

Adelstein, a founding partner of Endeavor, most recently served as executive producer of Prison Break and Tru Calling, among other shows. Kroll was previously executive VP of original programming at New Line Television, co-executive producer of The Amazing Race and executive producer of such shows as Big Brother, Amish in the City and High School Confidential. 

Announcing the deal, Kevin Beggs, Lionsgate’s president of television programming and production, noted: “This partnership opens up exciting new opportunities for the creation of unscripted content ranging from game shows to docu-soaps. Marty and Jon are great producers and this new venture is a natural fit for our companies, both creatively and financially.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of knowing the team at Lionsgate for many years and when Jon and I formed Lost Marbles, we were very interested in the prospect of working with them,” said Adelstein. “They’ve aggressively pursued very creative ways of working in this challenging financial environment and we’re delighted to be in business together.”

“Our alliance with Lionsgate is ideal since it supports our focus on format creation, not format adaptation,” said Kroll. “Our emphasis will be on producing primetime network shows that Lionsgate can distribute all over the world.”

Lionsgate already has a partnership with Michael Hirschorn and Stella Stolper’s Ish Entertainment, which produced the MTV series Paris Hilton’s My New BFF—which has spawned a British version and one is in the works for the Middle East—among others. Lionsgate’s other unscripted credits include Scream Queens for VH1.