ITVX to Get 400 Hours of Content From Anime Ltd, CBS Reality – Global Bulletin

STREAMING

The U.K.’s ITV has signed an agreement with Glaswegian-based Anime Ltd, the largest independent anime licensor in the U.K., which will make its upcoming streamer ITVX the free-to-air home of 500 episodes and 200 hours of anime television series and films. The collection will include “Escaflowne,” “Lupin III Part 6,” “Megalobox,” Shinichiro Watanabe’s “Cowboy Bebop” and Hideaki Anno’s “Gunbuster.”

An additional deal involves the launch of True Crime U.K. from CBS Reality. Drawing from the library of CBS Reality, the factual entertainment channel in the U.K. popular amongst adult women, the service will provide ITVX with an additional 200 hours of true crime content at launch, and a further 50 hours in 2023. Titles include “Descent of a Serial Killer,” four series presented by renowned investigative journalist and criminologist Donal MacIntyre, two series of “The Real Prime Suspect” hosted by former detective Jackie Malton, the inspiration behind drama series “Prime Suspect,” “New Scotland Yard Files,” all of which are original programs from the CBS Reality library, along with three series of popular show “Medical Detectives.”

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These agreements also mark the first advertising revenue sharing deals for ITVX, a way by which ITV will be bringing on a range of third-party content.

COMMISSIONS

Warner Bros. Discovery U.K. has commissioned three true crime series, as well as the return of Quest Red’s “Deadliest Mums & Dads” for season 2. “The Swindlers” (working title) is a 6×60′ docu-series produced by Crackit Productions Ltd that examines audacious stories of brazen and ruthless serial swindlers who charmed and manipulated their way into the lives and wallets of their victims. The series, which will flip between the perspective of the swindlers and that of their victims, will air on Quest Red early next year. Also produced by Crackit, “Deadliest Mums & Dads” season 2, will be released on Quest Red in September. Each of the episodes will focus on a different harrowing story of parents who murdered their own children.

5×60′ documentary series “Dead Fake” (working title), is an exploration of fraudsters faking their own death and where true-crime meets intrepid caper, produced by Man Alive Entertainment. The series will launch on Discovery+ in early 2023. “Michael Sams: Kidnapper Killer” is a Candour-produced 1×60 documentary’ featuring never-before-heard audio tape of Sams — who murdered 18-year-old Julie Dart and then kidnapped estate agent, Stephanie Slater — once labelled ‘The Other Yorkshire Ripper,’ secretly recorded whilst he was in a high-security prison. The series will drop on Discovery+ in the U.K. on July 30. The series were ordered for Discovery+ by Clare Laycock and commissioned by Charlotte Reid. Executive producers for Warner Bros. Discovery are Deirdre Dowling, Romy Page and Matt Reid.

FESTIVAL

The Oscar qualifying Hollyshorts Film Festival‘s 18th edition takes place Aug. 11- 20 as a hybrid edition at TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood and virtually through the official festival streaming platform Bitpix. Films include “Five Cents,” starring Brian Cox; “Aurinko In Adagio,” produced By Lena Waithe; “Life And Debt,” starring Rosario Dawson; “Bainne,” directed By Jack Reynor and starring Will Poulter; “North Star,” featuring Kevin Bacon, Colman Domingo, Laura Innes, Chris Sheffield and Malcolm Gets; “Thoughts And Prayers,” starring Zachary Levi; “Be Careful What You Wish For,” featuring June Squibb and Ed Asner ; “Still Rolling Papers,” featuring Wiz Khalifa; “The One,” directed by Nina Dobrev, starring Madeline Brewer and Indya Moore; “Tara Messenger Of Death,” starring Margaret Cho; “Color Me Jane,” starring Penn Badgley; “Don’t Worry, It’s Gonna Be OK,” directed By Izabel Pakzad and produced by James Franco; and “Celebritas Ex Machina,” featuring Dolph Lundgren, Sean Astin and Danny Trejo.

The winners of HollyShorts’ three top prizes will be eligible for nomination at the 2023 Oscars. Six HollyShorts films were nominated for the 2022 Oscars with wins for Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed’s “The Long Goodbye” and Ben Proudfoot’s “The Queen Of Basketball.”

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