Endemol Shine in Mid-East Production Pact

AMSTERDAM: Endemol Shine Group has entered into a production pact with IMAGIC in the Middle East as it restructures its business in the region.

Endemol Shine is shifting its Mid-East strategy from operating a regional production hub to boosting its local format distribution and licensing business. With this new deal, IMAGIC will exclusively produce adaptations of Endemol Shine’s non-scripted formats across the Middle East and will have access to the group’s global library of IP. IMAGIC’s credits include regional adaptations of Got Talent, X Factor, MasterChef and Extreme Makeover.

With the new structure, Imane Mezher Gibran has been appointed as format distribution and licensing coordinator to drive Endemol Shine IP distribution in the Middle East. Based in London, she reports to Marina Williams, COO of international operations at Endemol Shine and to IMAGIC CEO Rony Jazzar. Lara Haddad, managing director of Endemol Shine Middle East, is stepping down.

“I want to thank Lara for her great leadership over the last seven years,” Williams said. “Together with her team she has delivered some of the Middle East’s most successful entertainment series including Star Academy, Your Face Sounds Familiar, The Money Drop and many others. Going forward, our new structure will be the most effective way for us to serve the region in the current market environment. IMAGIC is the Middle East’s number one producer and combining this new partnership with an expanded sales and distribution business will best position us to deliver world-class productions of our global formats to platforms across the region.”

Jazzar added, “Endemol Shine has an unrivaled library of IP across all genres, including some of the world’s biggest and most valuable formats. We look forward to bringing our local creativity and production expertise to this partnership, which will equip us to deliver a rich diversity of top-rated shows to linear and digital platforms throughout the Middle East.”