The Real King’s Speech Lands New Broadcasters

LONDON: DRG has wrapped up 13 new deals for the Channel 4 doc The Real King’s Speech, with sales to Canada and Latin America, among other markets.

From 1212 Productions, The Real King’s Speech is inspired by the theatrical adaptation, which won this year’s Academy Award for best motion picture. The one-hour special has been picked up for prime-time slots by such broadcasters as ABC in Australia, Bravo! and CTV in Canada, DR in Denmark and National Geographic for Latin America. Also on board are NRK in Norway, Prime in New Zealand, TVE in Spain and YLE in Finland. Multiple home entertainment deals have been concluded as well, including one with Time Life in Australia.

Patrick Roberts, the senior VP of international sales at DRG, said, “Its U.K. premiere delivered one of C4’s highest ratings for a documentary this year and today’s deals underline the world’s fascination with an extraordinary King’s struggle. 1212’s ability to deliver such a superb and fast turnaround documentary has allowed us to capitalize on the global success of the feature film, the special will be further promoted at MIPTV.”

Also on the DRG slate for MIPTV are Perfume, a three-parter for BBC Four that explores the industry and the characters behind it, and Hidden Treasures of Art, a three-part series produced by Modern TV for BBC Two that sees Griff Rhys Jones travel the globe to explore remote cultures and their art. From ITV1 comes Martin Clunes & the Lion Man, presented by Buffalo Pictures and examining the lives of the lions of Tanzania. Renegade Pictures’ Marathon Boy is a co-commission from BBC, HBO and ARTE that tells the story of the youngest marathon runner ever. Wedding Wars is a VH1 reality series produced by 495 Productions that watches couples physically battle to win the wedding of their dreams. There’s also Grin & Build It, from Zone 3 for Canada’s W Network, which watches as people with struggling relationships and collapsing homes are set on a road to repair. The docusoap Chop Shop is set inside in a hip salon. It’s a Paperny series for Slice. Rounding out the catalogue are The Strafford Brothers, a WD Entertainment series for FOX8 in Australia about wild party boys, and Renegade Pictures’ How to Live with Women, a show for BBC Three that spotlights inspirational women who are transforming bad boys into the perfect partners.

Diane Rankin, the senior VP of acquisitions at DRG, continued, “It’s fantastic to be launching 40 new non-fiction titles and also have 15 series returning. Our factual slate for MIPTV is tremendously diverse and it showcases creativity from producers around the world and builds on our strategy to continue to bring programming for key prime-time demographics to our international broadcast partners.”