Outright Shores Up European Deals

LONDON, January 15: Outright Distribution has secured a slew
of deals, spanning six European territories, for its formats Leave Us Kids
Alone and Back in Business.

The reality format Leave Us Kids Alone, originally produced for BBC Three by Twenty Twenty,
has been optioned by Endemol in Spain, Belgium and the Netherlands, as well as
by Baluba in Sweden. The property follows 12 opinionated teenagers as they set
out to prove that they can successfully run a school without the teachers.

Back in Business,
previously titled Grandad’s Back in Business, has been optioned to both Palm Plus in the
Netherlands and Endemol in Germany, while the finished program has been sold to
TV4 in Sweden and NRK in Norway. Also from Twenty Twenty, Back in
Business was originally produced for BBC
Two. The feel-good format pits young against old in a contest to see who is
stronger in the workplace, putting recent changes to the law on ageism to the
test.

Chris Bonney, the CEO of Outright Distribution, said: “The
basic eternal human issues uncovered in both programs make them perfect for
rolling out in other countries and cultures. It’s therefore great to see them
being taken up in Europe and we look forward to seeing even more deals both there
and elsewhere.”

—By Kristin Brzoznowski