BBC Worldwide & Cuba Pictures Extend Partnership

LONDON: As part of an extended partnership, BBC Worldwide will invest in Original Talent, the newly created parent company for both Cuba Pictures and Curtis Brown, taking a 10 percent stake.

BBC Worldwide and Cuba Pictures have partnered on content development and distribution since 2014. The new pact will see BBC Worldwide’s first look across all TV output initially extended for a further five years, until 2021.

BBC Worldwide will be represented by a director on the board of Cuba Pictures and one on the Original Talent board, along with joint Curtis Brown CEOs Ben Hall and Jonny Geller, Sarah Spear and Nick Marston.

Cuba Pictures’ TV credits include Boy A for Channel 4, with The Weinstein Company, and Coalition, also for Channel 4, as well as Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell for BBC One.

Geller said: “BBC Worldwide has, over many years, proven itself a first-class partner for independent British production companies. Coming on the back of an established working relationship, our closer collaboration will help us accelerate Cuba Pictures’ ambitions.”

Hall added: “This new relationship will unlock further production opportunities from the richness of Curtis Brown’s talent relationships and access to IP. I am proud of all that Cuba Pictures has achieved to date, and excited about what we can deliver for a range of commissioners and channels in the future.”

BBC Worldwide’s chief content officer, Helen Jackson, said: “This deeper partnership is one of a small number we are forging with independent producers of the highest quality content—securing access and facilitating new premium content. It is an investment in British creativity, with Cuba Pictures’ quality credentials already evident. As well as retaining a long-term content partner for BBC Worldwide, this deeper relationship lets us back a British production team playing on the world’s content stage for the next phase of its growth and success.”