Yahoo Finance England Soccer Manager Gareth Southgate Documentary Set at YouTube Originals – Global Bulletin
In today’s Global Bulletin YouTube Originals sets England soccer team manager Gareth Southgate documentary; Firebird options debut novel “Wahala”; Vice Distributions sells programming to streamer Pluto TV; and the BBC’s women’s representation 50:50 Project proves successful.
“Raise Your Game with Gareth Southgate,” a feature documentary on England soccer team manager Gareth Southgate, will launch in June as part of YouTube’s Originals series, ahead of the Euro 2020 soccer championship.
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Produced by the U.K.’s Zig Zag Productions, the documentary sees YouTube creators ChrisMD, SV2, Yung Filly and StuntPegg explore the life and career of Southgate and the future of English soccer. Each YouTube creator story will break off from Southgate’s interview to tell a tale of an inspirational young person in the U.K., linking back to one of his three core motivational beliefs of “Be Kind, Be Brave, and Follow Your Dreams,” demonstrating how his philosophies are being realized in the real world.
The film is directed by Jacob Proud and Greg Hardes of Burning Flag films, produced by Madeleine Sanderson of Curate Films and executive produced by Zig Zag’s Danny Fenton and Matt Graff. The series producer is Dan Riley.
RIGHTS
Firebird Pictures, the BBC Studios-backed drama production house co-founded by former BBC commissioning editor Elizabeth Kilgarriff (“Luther,” “The Serpent”) has won the option for Nikki May‘s debut novel “Wahala” in a competitive situation.
The novel follows three 30-something Anglo-Nigerian female friends living in London, whose lives change when a charismatic person appears in their lives, and leads to a tragic act.
TV rights were acquired by Firebird co-founder Craig Holleworth from ICM literary agent Josie Freedom on behalf of Hannah Ladds at the Madeleine Milburn literary, TV and film agency.
SALES
Vice Media Group‘s Vice Distribution has placed 215 hours of non-scripted programming on free streamer Pluto TV. Library titles including the first two seasons of “Dark Side of the Ring” and “Cyberwar,” the first season of “The Devil You Know,” “Black Market” and “I Was A Teenage Fellon,” as well as past series of “F*** That’s Delicious,” “Gaycation,” “Weediquette” and “Hate Thy Neighbour” will be programmed across multiple Pluto TV channels including Spike Pluto TV, Logo Pluto TV, Pluto TV Pro Wrestling, Food TV, Pluto TV Lives, Pluto TV Travel, Pluto TV True Crime. They’ll also be available on-demand. All titles originally aired on VICE TV.
WOMEN’S REPRESENTATION
Over 100 organizations in 26 countries have joined the BBC‘s 50:50 Project in a challenge to feature 50% women contributors in their own content, including Unilever, PWC, RTÉ, TVNZ, the Financial Times, ABC News (Australia), Edelman and Lansons. The results, published Thursday, reveal that 50% of the partners taking part in the challenge report they’ve reached the 50% women contributors mark in their content in March.
At the BBC, 670 teams across all content divisions — including news, entertainment, sport and science — to date have signed up to the 50:50 Project. Some 70% of BBC programs and services reporting data in March featured 50% women contributors, up 4% on last year.
BBC director general Tim Davie said: “The 50:50 Project continues to enrich BBC’s content with new voices, helping us to reflect the audiences we serve. With our external partners, we are now also seeing a real impact beyond the BBC on a global scale. I encourage any organizations interested in taking up the challenge to get involved.”
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