Tuesday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

HBO Max, Canal+, NBCU among Beta deals

Canal+, HBO Max and NBCUniversal’s pay TV channel 13ème Rue have all struck deals in France for dramas from Beta Film.

The sales, via distributor Beta Film, will see both seasons of UKTV-commissioned Bookish airing on Canal+’s channel Polar+, while 13ème Rue has picked up Professor T.

The second season of the Dutch royal drama Maxima has also been confirmed for HBO Max in France, where it will debut on 29 April.

Canal+ has also acquired crime movie cycle Death in Denmark.

UK’s Rogan moves into drama

BBC Studios-backed Rogan Productions has recruited Buccaneer Media’s Anna Burns to a newly created role to mark the indie’s move into the scripted arena.

Burns has joined as head of scripted development, as two drama projects at the Grenfell: Uncovered indie move into funded development with as-yet unnamed broadcasters.

Burns’ appointment comes as two of Rogan’s drama projects are put into funded development with major broadcasters.

It also comes on the heels of Rogan’s HBO Max docudrama Boom Box: Beats and Betrayal, which recounted the events of Operation Peyzac, when a North London record shop was run by undercover police as part of a sting operation. Read more

Maker alum joins Blink49

Blink49 Studios has launched Creator Studios, which will partner with creators to identify, develop and scale talent-led IP.

Mickey Meyer has been appointed president of Global Creator Studios, based out of LA and reporting to Tara Long, president of global unscripted television.

The unit will work with creators who have built direct relationships with audiences and look to develop scalable IP across scripted, unscripted, and digital-first formats.

Meyer worked at Maker Studios and later served as president of Group Nine Studios, where he oversaw brands including NowThis, The Dodo and Thrillist. Most recently, he co-founded film and TV prodco The Unreasnble, alongside Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe.

Sony’s Eleventh Hour strikes Climate Spring pact 

Magpie Murders indie Eleventh Hour Films has joined with climate crisis company Climate Spring to develop a legal drama inspired by international law barrister Mónica Feria Tinta’s non-fiction book A Barrister For The Earth.

The British-Peruvian lawyer specialises in public International Law, and is renowned for her work in addressing climate change and environmental degradation.

She has served as counsel on the subject including before the Constitutional Court of Ecuador in Los Cedros case, the first ‘rights of nature’ case in the world. In 2022 her work secured a win in the Torres Strait Islanders case, a landmark moment in which the UN Human Rights Committee found a Sovereign state responsible for lack of action in addressing climate change.

Her book addresses 10 real legal cases in which she argues for the protection of the environment against the powers that be. Read more