Bunim/Murray Ties Up with Insight Productions

LOS ANGELES/TORONTO: Banijay Group’s Bunim/Murray Productions (The Real World, Project Runway) has entered into a joint development deal with Canada’s Insight Productions (The Amazing Race Canada).

The creative pact will develop new formats across multiple genres, including entertainment and competition series for the U.S., Canadian and international markets. The companies will also exploit existing Bunim/Murray and Insight formats. The partnership will be overseen by Julie Pizzi, co-president of entertainment and development at Bunim/Murray, and Jane Rimer, chief of international business and creative development at Insight. Zodiak Rights will manage the international distribution of all formats.

“We have collaborated with Insight several times, have deep respect for what John Brunton, Barb Bowlby, Jane Rimer and the Insight team have done over the past few decades and thought it was time to formalize a strategic relationship between our two like-minded production companies,” said Gil Goldschein, Bunim/Murray’s chairman and CEO. “There is an increased appetite for high-quality global formats, and with our combined expertise, we see huge opportunity.”

“Insight is thrilled to partner with our good friends at Bunim/Murray,” added John Brunton, Insight’s chairman and CEO. “Our companies have very similar DNA, and since we’re both so focused on continuing to diversify and expand our slates, the timing makes perfect sense. Bunim/Murray essentially invented reality television as we know it, and we have enormous admiration for Gil and his team and the amazing work they have produced over the last 30-plus years.”