Smithsonian Networks & ZDF to Co-Produce Warrior Women

LONDON: U.K. history producer Urban Canyons has inked co-production agreements with the U.S.’s Smithsonian Networks and German pubcaster ZDF for the upcoming drama documentary Warrior Women.

The 3×52-minute title will begin filming this month in locations around the world, including Malta, Kazakhstan, the U.S., Italy, France and the U.K., among others. It will be delivered in HD and UHD/4K in June 2017. Other presales for the series include deals with Scandinavia’s MTG and public broadcasters SVT Sweden, SRF Switzerland, ORF Austria and RTV Slovenia. AMC Iberia and Acht Belgium have also pre-bought the series.

The series will tell the stories of iconic female soldiers from the 5th century B.C. to the present day. It will feature dramatic reenactments, CG animation and interviews with historians, archaeologists and museum curators.

Sebastian Peiter, the managing director of Urban Canyons, said: “This deal involving such a range of European broadcasters and vital support from the European MEDIA Creative Europe proves how important inter-European cooperation has become in a market that is increasingly relying on co-production to produce high-end history programming.”

David Royle, Smithsonian Networks’s executive VP for programming and production, said: “We are delighted to be a lead co-producer for this new series. Urban Canyon has been a great creative partner, producing a beautifully filmed trilogy for us on Japanese warrior culture, and has also proved its skill at finding European partners that share our channel values.”

Kristina Hollstein, the director of acquisitions and co-productions, documentaries, at ZDF Enterprises, added: “We value Urban Canyons’s history output because of its high-end reenactments, as well as its suitability for various slots on the ZDF main channel and our specialist ZDF.info channel.”