TV Real In-Demand: People & Society

Stories about real people continue to fascinate, and we have a truly eclectic mix in this final fall season In-Demand report, from famous and infamous personalities to everyday individuals on remarkable missions: all3media international’s Grayson Perry’s Big American Road Trip, GRB Studios’ Turquoise Fever, Terranoa’s Salman Rushdie, Death on a Trail, Rive Gauche Television’s Very Scary People and Boat Rocker Studios’ Relative Race.

Grayson Perry’s Big American Road Trip

Commissioned By: Channel 4, all3media international
Produced By: Swan Films
Rights Available: All rights available from all3media international.
Description: In this 3×60-minute production, Grierson Award-winning broadcaster Grayson Perry travels across the U.S., using his unique artist-anthropologist’s eye to explore underlying divisions of this nation, finding extraordinary in the ordinary.
Pitch Perfect: Grayson Perry’s Big American Road Trip sees the acclaimed artist and broadcaster unpicking the tribal and cultural conflicts that underlie this deeply divided nation. As the U.S. elections approach, Grayson spends time with people from diverse backgrounds to explore how Americans today view issues of identity, race, money and class.
Slot Winner: The show attracted an average 798,000 viewers with a 5.8 percent share, exceeding the slot average by 21 percent. Seventy percent of the audience were adults ABC1, 17 percentage points above the channel average profile. The show performed best among adults 45-plus with a 6.3 percent share of adults 45-54, a 15 percent uplift on the channel average, and a 5.7 percent share of adults 55-plus, surpassing the benchmark by 82 percent. It appealed to men and women, outperforming the slot average by 20 percent for men 4-plus with a 5.4 percent share.
Sales Contact: Stephen Driscoll.

Turquoise Fever

Commissioned By: Produced for INSP
Produced By: Glassman Media
Rights Available: All rights are available exclusively worldwide, excluding the U.S., from GRB Studios.
Description: For the Otteson family, every day is an adventure. Follow them as they hunt for the most sought-after turquoise in the world. Season one consists of 7×60-minute episodes.
Pitch Perfect: This action-packed docuseries will keep audiences fully engaged as they delve into the dangerous world of turquoise mining. Not only is each episode an adventure, but audiences will also fall in love with the Otteson clan as the series follows the ups and downs of their family business.
Slot Winner: The show’s debut marked INSP’s highest-rated original series premiere. The series also held the network’s highest rating for a single episode of an original series as well as the highest L+3 and L+7 ratings for an episode of an original series.
Sales Contacts: Hud Woodle, EVP, International; Melanie Torres, VP, International; Liz Levenson, Sales Consultant.

Salman Rushdie, Death on a Trail

Commissioned By: ARTE
Produced By: Flach Film Production
Rights Available: Rights are still available in Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, Denmark, Norway and Asia, from distributor Terranoa.
Description: A 1×52-minute intimate portrait of one of today’s most free-minded and significant writers of literature. Based on exclusive interviews, historical archives and rarely seen personal footage.
Pitch Perfect: “Rushdie brilliantly embodies the cosmopolitan mindset of our times and the rise of postcolonial literature as a visionary writer questioning what defines our identity in a globalized world and shedding light on the rise of radical Islam,” says Isabelle Graziadey, the executive director of international co-productions, sales and acquisitions at Terranoa. “Spending an hour with Rushdie is enough to be resilient for a decade.”
Sales Contacts: Isabelle Graziadey, Laetitia Doyle, Marine Gombart.

Very Scary People

Commissioned By: HLN in the U.S.
Produced By: HLN Original Series
Rights Available: Exclusive worldwide rights, excluding the U.S., from Rive Gauche Television.
Description: Very Scary People chronicles the twisted lives of some of the most frightening, diabolical characters in recent history. Each individual is chronicled in two hour-long episodes that trace the heinous, criminal acts of these elusive miscreants and the eventual road to justice. Two seasons available for a total of 24×60-minute episodes.
Pitch Perfect: “Very Scary People chronicles some of the most well-known serial killers around the world, and it sheds new light on them through creative storytelling and archival footage sometimes only available to the HLN/CNN production team,” says Marine Ksadzhikyan, the COO and executive VP of sales at Rive Gauche Television.
Sales Contacts: Jon Kramer, CEO; Marine Ksadzhikyan, COO & EVP, Sales; Justina Hemperek, SVP, Acquisitions & Sales.

Relative Race

Commissioned By: BYUtv/BYU Broadcasting
Produced By: Lenzworks Productions
Rights Available: All rights available worldwide, excluding the U.S., from Boat Rocker Studios.
Description: In this race unlike any other, four teams take a ten-day journey across the country to discover new relatives and compete for a $50,000 grand prize. A total of 60×60-minute episodes, with five seasons available and one in production.
Pitch Perfect: Using the contestants’ DNA as a road map, this first-of-its-kind, genealogy-based reality show is all about meeting family and completing challenges.
Sales Contacts: Jon Rutherford, Managing Director, Kids & Family & President, Rights; Natalie Vinet, VP, Global Sales, Factual.