BBC Studios Inks Development Deal with Forest

BBC Studios has signed an exclusive three-year distribution deal with Forest, led by Jeremy Lee and Mobeen Azhar, to support the indie’s growth ambitions.

As part of the deal, BBC Studios will have the first look at any content produced by Forest during the three-year term. Forest, which was founded four years ago, previously produced The Trouble with Kanye, The Battle for Britney, Santa Claus the Serial Killer and Streets of Gold: Mumbai.

Forest Sounds, the audio division of Forest, is an award-winning podcast production company that has produced Hometown, The Kanye Story and Ashley vs WWE for Audible.

Forest also operates a tree planting and maintenance initiative working with local partners to plant trees on behalf of their employees both past and present.

“I am thrilled to welcome Forest to BBC Studios in this significant partnership,” said Kate Ward, managing director of factual productions at BBC Studios. “We have long been admirers of their fearless, impactful and contemporary documentaries. Forest’s work and ambition represents a new wave of exciting factual television. We are looking forward to bringing their work to audiences around the world.”

Lee, creative director and co-founder of Forest, commented, “BBC Studios feel like the obvious partner to help us deliver the next wave of Forest projects to a worldwide audience. We’re excited to see what we can achieve together.”