Stephen Fry, Queen Elizabeth II Shows Sell for Abacus, Passion in Asia ATF Bulletin

September 2024 · 6 minute read

ASIA SALES UPDATE

Shows featuring Stephen Fry are popular in Asia as sales from Abacus Media Rights and Passion Distribution demonstrate.

Abacus has sold more than 70 hours of scripted and unscripted programming broadcasters across Asia, it was revealed at Singapore’s Asia TV Forum and Market.

Now TV in Hong Kong has acquired factual series “Stephen Fry: Willem and Frieda – Defying the Nazis”; “‘Tis the Season: The Holidays On Screen”; “The Trouble with Kanye”; “Bankrupt Billionaire”; “The Man Who Stole the Scream”; “Backyard Beats,” “The Ghost of Richard Harris”; and Seasons 1-5 of hit scripted series “Line of Duty.”

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South Korea’s KBS Media has picked up “Ningaloo Nyinggulu” from Artemis Productions.

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In China, Bilibili, via Haining Jianguo TV and Film Media, has licensed “The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katia and Maurice Krafft,” directed by Werner Herzog. China’s Lean In Media has acquired factual titles “Yellowstone Supervolcano”; “Icemen: 200 Years in Antarctica”; “Quoll Farm”; “The Kingdom: How Fungi Made Our World” and “Billionaire Wonderland.”

Thailand’s TrueVisions has picked up “The Bizarre Pet Vets,” “Million Dollar Buffet” and “The Fire Within: A Requiem for Katie and Maurice Krafft.”

Meanwhile, Passion has sold “Dinosaur With Stephen Fry” to Warner Bros. Discovery for its Animal Planet network across Asia and Japanese public broadcaster NHK. “Big Ben Restored: The Grand Unveiling” has also been picked up by NHK.

Hong Kong’s HK Television Entertainment has licensed “The Royals: A History of Scandals,” “Elizabeth: A Life Through the Lens,” “Miriam and Alan: Lost in Scotland,” “The Cotswolds With Pam Ayres,” “How to Build a City” and “Tool Club.” Also in Hong Kong, TVB has acquired “Engineering Reborn” and all three seasons of “Lap of Luxury.”

AETN18 Media, India, has picked up Season 2 of “Secrets of the Superfactories.”

Elsewhere, the Australian Children’s Television Foundation has sold both seasons of the live-action Australian children’s series “Hardball,” produced by Northern Pictures for the ABC, to NHK. It will premiere on NHK linear channels and catch-up on NHK Plus in April 2024.

KOREAN DOCTOR TRAVELS

The SLL-produced hit drama series “Doctor Cha” is set to be remade in Turkish, following a deal signed with Turkish production company MF Yapim.

“Doctor Cha” follows the story of a middle-aged housewife who decides to get back to her medical career after surviving an unexpected crisis. She starts her first year of medical residency at the hospital where her disapproving husband works, unaware of the fact that her husband is having a secret affair with another doctor. The combination of the story and SLL’s production capabilities led the show to rank in Netflix‘s Global Top 10 lists of Non-English TV categories for seven weeks, peaking at #2. Within Korea, the series became a phenomenon, with a peak viewership rating of 18.5%, according to Nielsen Korea, based on paid subscriptions.

MF Yapim was founded in 2012 as a partnership between Faruk Bayhan, who has over 40 years of experience in the Turkish media industry, and Medyapim. The company has since been involved in multiple format adaptations with shows originating from Korea, Japan and the U.K.

KOREAN AGENT

The U.K.’s ITV Studios has appointed Jaye Entertainment as its new distribution agent in South Korea in an exclusive two-year deal that commences in 2024. Jaye will represent ITV Studios’ catalogue of finished content throughout South Korea, including the “Love Island,” Gordon Ramsey’s “Hell’s Kitchen,” “Line of Duty,” “Vigil,” “Bodyguard,” “Snowpiercer,” “Murdoch Mysteries,” “A Year On Planet Earth” and “Queer Planet.” The shows are all drawn from ITV Studio’s 60+ production labels including Lifted Entertainment, World Productions, Tomorrow Studios and Plimsoll Productions, as well as selected independent producers.

The deal was brokered by ITV Studios senior VP sales Carla Ferry and Jaye Entertainment South Korea sales executive Ji Hye Park.

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