Friday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

Hot Snakes & Websleuths link for true crime shows

Breaking Amish producer Hot Snakes Media is partnering with online community Websleuths to create a slate of true-crime projects.

The deal grants Hot Snakes access to real-world crime and missing persons cases as they emerge on Websleuth’s internet platform. Websleuth has been a hub for amateur detectives for over 25 years and its armchair sleuths have assisted with law enforcement.

Hot Snakes has been behind shows including The Curious Case of Natalia Grace for ID, VH1’s My True Crime Story, Amish Mafia for Discovery+ and aforementioned Breaking Amish for HBO Max. Co-founder Shannon Evangelista is also expanding her investigative work in an upcoming Investigation Discovery series.

Al Jazeera buys Espresso docs

Espresso Media International has licensed a package of over 20 documentaries to Al Jazeera, with the deal including a diverse array of history, arts, and current affairs programmes.

Current affairs and history titles include Below the Belt (exec produced by Hillary Clinton and Rosario Dawson), 38 Minutes to Live, and Kaepernick & America. Among the arts and culture titles are Picasso: My First Time and Project Home.

The package also features several science documentaries including The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain, The New Human, The Scent of Fear, and Zero Gravity. Other titles include A Crack in the Mountain, Legend Ends: The Loch Ness Monster Story, and true crime doc Cynara. 

Primitives licenses Swedish format to Slovakia

Belgian distributor Primitives has licensed a Swedish travel-entertainment format to Slovak Television and Radio (STVR).

Entertainment quiz show På Spåret (aka On the Right Track) airs on Friday nights in Sweden and is currently in its 36th season. The format sees viewers guess the location of celebrity teams from their train, car or bus.

STVR has licensed the format for a remake with the local title Na Správnej Ceste. The first 16-episode run of season one is set to launch on 9 January.

UK’s C4 orders Avalon health doc

Avalon is behind an upcoming Channel 4 single looking at the “silver bullet” of the health and fitness industry: protein.

Hour-long Protein: Everything You Need to Know is fronted by radio presenter and wellbeing enthusiast Gemma Atkinson, who will investigate what is really in protein-branded products.

Joined by Dr Jack Moseley, son of the late Michael Moseley, former Made in Chelsea star and cookbook writer Lucy Watson, and GP Dr Rupy Aujla, Atkinson will educate viewers on how much protein we really need, the marketing tricks used, and how to shop for alternative and often cheaper products.

The documentary was commissioned out of the lifestyle department by senior commissioning editor Clemency Green. Read more