ITV Studios Buys Majority Stake In Australia’s Lingo Photos – Deadline

ITV Studios has acquired a majority stake in Australian producer Lingo Photos — marking its first acquisition within the nation.

ITV’s manufacturing and gross sales arm paid an undisclosed quantity for the Sydney-based firm, which is greatest identified for Upright, the Sky and Foxtel Australia drama starring Tim Minchin and Home of the Dragons‘ Milly Alcock. Deadline understands the deal worth is within the eight-figure US {dollars} area.

The deal highlights the rising worth worldwide manufacturing teams are seeing in Australia, whose favorable tax breaks system is more and more enticing, and Australian dramas, with Paramount+’s Final King of the Cross one of the crucial sought-after titles obtainable at Mipcom final month.

Lingo homeowners Helen Bowden and Jason Stephens will proceed to move up Lingo, which is able to now sit in ITV Studios’ worldwide manufacturing arm, which Lisa Perrin leads as Managing Director.

Different worldwide drama labels within the group embody Ben Stephenson’s lately established Poison Pen Studios; Nicola Shindler’s Quay Avenue Productions; Dominic Treadwell Collins’ Blissful Prince, which homes Patrick Spence and David P. Davis’ 5Acts; Arturo Diaz’s Cattleya Producciones; Moritz Polter’s Windlight Photos; Marty Adelstein and Becky Clements’ Tomorrow Studios; and Tony To and Dan Sackheim’s Bedrock Leisure.  

Perrin stated: “I’m completely delighted to welcome Helen and Jason whose partnership has grow to be one of the crucial admired within the Australian and worldwide scripted house. Their expertise for producing prime quality scripted content material is obvious and they’re nicely positioned to take much more benefit of the unprecedented demand for English language drama as a part of our world community of manufacturing firms.”

Lingo’s current productions embody season two of The Secrets and techniques She Retains for Paramount+, BBC One and Sundance/AMC and manufacturing has wrapped on the second season Upright, which was nominated for Greatest Worldwide Drama on the Edinburgh TV Awards. It has additionally produced gothic drama Lambs Of God, which gained 9 AACTA (Australian Academy) awards, On The Ropes, and Wake In Fright (2017), a thriller primarily based on Kenneth Prepare dinner’s 1961 novel of the identical title. 

Upcoming initiatives embody Queen of Oz, a comedy starring and co-written by comic Catherine Tate, commissioned instantly by BBC One within the UK; The Messenger, primarily based on a best-selling novel by Markus Zusak, for Australia’s ABC; and Prosper for Australian streaming service Stan and Lionsgate. ITV Studios will deal with the worldwide distribution for all new Lingo sequence. In complete Lingo goes into manufacturing on six sequence this yr.

“What a privilege it’s to be a part of the worldwide powerhouse ITV Studios at a time when Australian tales are exploding all over the world. We’re so excited to be sitting alongside the different illustrious ITV Studios labels and may’t wait to get began,” stated Bowden and Stephens in a press release.

Previous to forming Lingo in 2015, Bowden was a founder and Managing Director of NBCUniversal-owned Matchbox Photos, whereas Stephens was Head of Growth after which Artistic Director at Fremantle Australia.

ITV Studios Australia has operated within the nation since 2013, when Grenada Media Australia rebranded. That enterprise produces the likes of I’m a Movie star… Get Me Out of Right here! Australia, The Chase Australia and The Voice Australia. Trade veteran David Mott has run it since 2015.

London-based Helion Companions suggested Lingo on the sale.