Wednesday round-up: Latest news, deals & hires

Sister buys into Common Interest 

Elisabeth Murdoch and Jane Featherstone's Sister has taken a minority investment in communications and entertainment group Common Interest.

Founded in 2023 by chief executive Anthony Freedman, Common Interest’s entertainment portfolio spans creative companies, agencies and talent-led brand experiences, among others. It now houses eight companies: 21st Century Brand, Amplify, Baby Teeth, CultureLab, Knock Three Times, Otherway, Seed and Wonder. Together with Life360, Baby Teeth recently developed and produced Finding Jamie, a microdrama series for the Jamie Oliver Group, of which Freedman is the non-executive chair.

The partnership combines Sister group and Common Interests’ respective areas of expertise: the latter’s knowledge of brand-building, entertainment and commercial relationships with the storytelling and craft experience of Sister’s expansive stable of companies. Read more

Rules of Prey written ypo for MGM+

MGM+ has greenlit drama series Rules of Prey, based on journalist John Sandford's book series Prey.

The show has been created by Bruce Terris, who also serves as showrunner and executive producer, and is being produced by MGM Television and Take 5 Productions.

Jensen Ackles will star and executive produce the eight-episode season, with production beginning this month in Toronto. MGM+ has rights in the US, UK, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina and Chile.

Rules of Prey follows a former detective in the Minneapolis Police Department who is drawn out of seclusion back into law enforcement to investigate a series of confounding murders designed to send a message specifically to him.

Blue Ant's Crew Girl lands S2

Netflix has extended Crew Girl into a second season.

The coming-of-age teen drama series launched on 10 September, having been developed by Vivian Lin (SkyMed, The Lake) and Morwyn Brebner (Anna Pigeon, Coroner).

Blue Ant Studios produces, with the show tracking how a 16-year-old girl who was a rising star in single sculls rowing has her life turned upside down by a family scandal.

Revenues dip at UK's Zinc

Zinc Media Group’s revenue has dropped 42% year-on-year to hit £13.2m for the first six months of this year.

According to its interim results, Zinc attributed the decline from H1 2025’s £22.9m to the conflict in Iran, which has caused £8m of contracted production to be moved to H2. This has offset the boost that expansion into entertainment and the Middle East has given the company.

Zinc reported an adjusted EBITDA loss of £0.9m, having benefitted from their record performance last year, which delivered a profit of £0.9m. Additionally, the adjusted loss before tax will be £1.5m in H1, in line with Zinc’s reported revenue phasing. Read more