(Toronto, Canada – May 28, 2020) – Blue Ant International has signed a raft of new licensing deals in multiple territories around the world. The recent sales include over 320 hours of programming across the distributor’s key genres, including factual entertainment, specialist factual, high-impact documentaries and kids and family programming. Broadcasters within the U.S., U.K., Canada, Europe, Asia, Africa and Australia have picked up a broad range of series and documentaries, which points to the breadth of the distributor’s diverse offering. Blue Ant International’s catalogue can be viewed here.
“In these unprecedented times, we are in constant virtual contact with our buyers around the world, helping them curate their slates and fill content pipelines to ensure audiences always have access to something fresh and compelling,” says Ludo Dufour, SVP, International Co-Productions and Sales, Blue Ant International. “Blue Ant International’s library offers our partners a lineup that includes award-winning natural history and high-impact documentaries, trusted kids and family programming and a factual category that includes escapist, binge-worthy shows that everyone is hungry for.”
Leading off Blue Ant International’s announcement are sales the distributor has secured for four of its series with multiple top-tier, international broadcasters. The Bryk Retreat (7 x 30’ HD ; Saloon Media), which follows designer Danielle Bryk as she takes over the daunting task of renovating the cherished family lake house amid family demands and tight timelines, has new broadcast deals with U.S. home and lifestyle network, HGTV, as well as Foxtel (Australia), Blackstar TV (South Africa) and True Visions (Thailand).
Season 5 of fan-favourite series, See No Evil (16 x 60’; HD; Arrow Media and Saloon Media), a ground-breaking series about how real crimes are solved with the help of surveillance cameras, featuring real footage and dramatic reconstructions, combined with first hand testimonies, have been picked up by Discovery (UK and Italy) and A+E Networks (Italy), Nine Network (Australia), A+E Networks (Asia), Foxtel (Australia), ProSiebenSat.1 (Germany).
The distributor has secured a bevy of sales for its recently released factual series Witches of Salem (4×60’; HD; Saloon Media, in association with Talos Films). The four-part series, which tells the tale of history’s most terrifying real-life witch hunt, has been picked up by ViuTVsix (Hong Kong), SVT (Sweden), A+E Networks for its HISTORY channel (Germany), international broadcaster, Viasat World for Viasat History (Central & Eastern Europe, Baltics, Scandinavia, Russia and CIS) and Travel Channel (U.S.A.).
Additionally, Season 1 of award-winning live action kids series, Detention Adventure (10 x 11’; HD; LoCo Motion Pictures & Broken Compass Films), which follows three nerdy friends who have to get in trouble so they can search the detention room for the hidden entrance to Alexander Graham Bell’s secret laboratory, has been picked up by NRK Super (Norway), HRT (Croatia), C More Entertainment (Sweden, Denmark, Finland) and ABC (Australia).
Blue Ant International Sales Highlights in North America:
In the United States, Rebel Without a Kitchen (13 x 30’; HD; General Purpose Entertainment), featuring Chef Matt Basile who creates dishes based on his eclectic culinary travel adventures, is heading to U.S. digital network, Tastemade USA. Additionally, in Canada, Best Cake Wins Season 3 (10 x 30’; HD; Architect Films), a baking competition in which expert bakers create intricate birthday cakes for young kids with wild imaginations, is heading to specialty channel Zeste in Quebec.
Blue Ant International Sales Highlights in the UK & Europe:
UK sales include: Equator (8 x 60′ HD; NHNZ), a series that explores life under the baking sun across regions in the southern hemisphere, which has been picked up by Sky and Seasons 1 and 2 of Unboxed (16 x 30’; HD; Our House Media), which sees celebrity designer Nikki Chu transform homeowners dated digs from drab to fab, sold to ITV. Additionally, A+E Networks (UK & Ireland) has acquired National Park Secrets and Legends (20 x 30’; HD; Galafilm), which is a bone-chilling series that takes viewers into the unexplored areas of some of North America’s largest landmarks, where horrific catastrophes, occult murders and UFO phenomena took place.
Meanwhile, Viajar (Spain), a TV channel that is part of The Walt Disney Company in Iberia, has secured both China Revealed (10 x 60’ HD; NHNZ), a 3D expedition into a land of sublime landscapes and cultural sites that the Western world has never seen and Over Australia (2 x 60’; 4K & HD; Wildbear Entertainment), a sweeping aerial exploration of the oldest continent on the planet, showcasing how diverse wildlife has adapted to a developing mosaic of habitats. Cheating Hitler: Surviving the Holocaust (1×90’, 2×60’, 4K & HD; Saloon Media), featuring the moving narrative of three Holocaust survivors who travel back to the killing sites and hiding places of their childhood for the first time in 75 years in search of clues to their past, has been sold to A+E Networks (UK & Ireland, Central/Eastern Europe, MENA, Scandinavia, Benelux),as well as A+E Networks for its HISTORY channel (Germany), ITI Neovision (Poland) and SVT (Sweden). The Swedish network has also picked up The First World War: The People’s Story (3×60’; HD; Testimony Films), a three-part docu-series commissioned by BBC that draws on an archive of 200 interviews with the last survivors of the Great War, from the battlefields and the home front.
SVT (Sweden) has also licensed three originally commissioned Love Nature titles, including, Amazing Animal Friends Season 1 (6 x 60; 4K; Oxford Scientific Films), a heart-warming look at unlikely animal friendships like a rhino and a lamb and an elephant who thinks she’s a buffalo, Animals At Play Season 1 (2 x 60’; 4K; Offspring Films), a series that uncovers the fun secrets behind why animals play and Gangs of Lemur Island Season 1 (5 x 60’; 4K; True to Nature), which follows four warring troops of ring-tailed lemurs in the fast-changing, unique world of Madagascar.
In France, Canal+ has licensed My Gay Dog and Other Animals (1 x 60’ HD; Arrow Media) for its SVOD platform in France and French-speaking territories worldwide. The series explores why homosexual behaviour is found throughout the animal kingdom, guided by behaviourists and scientists who offer explanations on evolutionary reasons why animals might choose same-sex partners. France-based channel MyZen TV has secured Seasons 1 & 2 of Expat (22×60’; HD; Authentique Productions), which provides an inside look at the highs and lows of living abroad.
Radiotelevisione Svizzera (RSI) Switzerland) has picked up three episodes in Season 1 of Art of Craft (3 x 60’; HD; Beach House Pictures), which explores the passion, authenticity and unusual skill of modern-day master craftsmen and artists, following their pursuit of perfection in the worlds of glass-blowing, embroidery, violin-making and other intricate crafts.
TV 2 (Denmark) and TV 2 (Norway) and RTL (Netherlands) has picked up the highly anticipated second season of Prison (3 x 60’; HD; Spring Films), which won Best Documentary Series at the Grierson Awards, the Royal Television Society Awards, and the Broadcast Awards and also received a 2019 BAFTA nomination for Best Factual Series. The second season shifts its focus from a men’s UK-based facility, to HMP Foston Hall, a women’s prison, also in the UK, and highlights the unique challenges incarcerated women face.
Blue Ant International Sales Highlights in Africa:
In South Africa, Crazy Beautiful Weddings (20 x 30’; HD; Blue Ant Studios), starring Lynzie Kent, a self-described “anti-wedding” wedding planner who takes inspiration in a couple’s love story to create unique and jaw-dropping celebrations, is headed to Afrikaans-language, Via TV. The broadcaster has also licensed two crime series, including The Killer in My Family, Season 2 (6 x 60’; HD; Woodcut Media) a gripping series that examines crimes through the lens of the killer’s family members and Our Toughest Cases, Season 1 (6 x 60’; HD; Woodcut Media), which explores criminal cases that devastated communities, defined careers and took their toll on even the most experienced officers.
Blue Ant International is a leading worldwide distributor of high-quality, creative content that engages audiences worldwide and across multiple platforms. The company offers a full-service approach to production partners with sales operations in London, Toronto, and Los Angeles. Blue Ant International has a growing slate of over 3,500 hours of premium content, including distinctive series and formats in five key genres including factual entertainment, specialist factual, high-impact documentaries, kids and family, and scripted. Blue Ant International also has one of the world’s largest offerings of 4K natural history content. Blue Ant International is a division of Blue Ant Media.
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