Pixar Vet Alan Barillaro Moves To Passion Pictures; ‘First Dates’ Creator Joins Banijay Label RDF; ‘The Vanishing Triangle’ Re-emerges With Pre-Buy Deals; AMC Networks Ups Mark Dee-Shapland; Cineflix Sells ‘Reginald the Vampire’ To Key Territories – Global Briefs
Pixar Vet Alan Barillaro Moves To Passion Pictures
Searching For Sugar Man producer Passion Pictures has signed Oscar-winning Pixar veteran Alan Barillaro as Creative Director for its Animation division. Barillaro will further Passion’s push into animated features and TV series, having already been behind the likes of Netflix’s Love, Death and Robots. He is the second Pixar veteran to join Passion in the past year, following David Park’s move to be Head of Production and Exec Producer. Barillaro joined Pixar in 1997 and worked on the likes of A Bug’s Life, Lightyear, Finding Nemo and The Incredibles, along with winning an Oscar for animated short Piper. He recently secured a global three-book deal with Candlewick Press and the Walker Books Group. Passion Founder Andrew Ruhemann called him a “true pioneer in the animation world and an inspiration to many.” Barillaro hailed Passion as a “creative hub for some of the most talent and celebrated artists in the industry.”
More from Deadline
Banijay Balloon Format 'Blow Up' Heads To Germany As Mipcom Approaches
Banijay Set To Acquire 'Mythbusters' Firm Beyond International
‘First Dates’ Creator Joins Banijay Label RDF
First Dates creator Meredith Chambers has joined Banijay label RDF as Managing Director. Chambers joins after eight years as MD of Million Pound Menu producer Electric Ray, which was recently subsumed by Sony. He will be responsible for managing RDF’s London hub, while Jo Scarratt-Jones continues to oversee Bristol and Wales and Kitty Walshe manages both along with Banijay stablemate Remarkable Factual. Chambers created Channel 4 hit format First Dates during a stint as Creative Director of Twenty Twenty. Walshe said the indie is “on a mission to produce the next generation of big, purposeful fact-ent shows that RDF is so well known for.”
Virgin Media & AMC Drama ‘The Vanishing Triangle’ Re-emerges With Pre-Buy Deals
Irish drama The Vanishing Triangle is piling up pre-sales before Mipcom next week. The show, which Deadline first revealed news of in September, has gone to Acorn TV in the UK and several other territories. SBS has picked up Australian rights, with SVT (Sweden), DR (Denmark), NRK (Norway) and YLE (Finland) and VRT (Belgium) also pre-buying from distributor Eccho Rights. The series is for Ireland’s Virgin Media and AMC Networks’ Sundance Now in the U.S and stars Allen Leech and India Mullen. It’s loosely based on true events that shook Ireland in the 1990s when several women disappeared without a trace.
AMC Networks Ups Mark Dee-Shapland Ahead Of Mipcom
AMC Networks has promoted Mark Dee-Shapland to Vice President of Global Content Sales on the eve of Mipcom. Previously Head of International Content Sales, he will now oversee the global sales team and manage sales in territories including the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, and Italy. Dee-Shapland, who joined the company in 2016, will continue to report to Mike Pears, Executive Vice President of Distribution and Content Sales. AMCN’s expanded content sales team has new directors of content sales: Lucas Verga, who oversees sales in the Middle East, Europe and Africa; and Todd Bartoo, who covers Latin America, Asia and Oceania.
Sky, NBCU & Others Swoop For ‘Reginald The Vampire’
Cineflix Rights has announced a raft of international sales for the first season of Reginald the Vampire, which debuts in the US on SYFY this October. The series has been picked up by Sky for the UK, and Ireland, NBCUniversal International Networks & Direct-To-Consumer for its science fiction channels SYFY in France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, and Switzerland; and SCIFI in Poland and the Balkans, and AMC Networks International for Latin America. The show stars Jacob Batalon (Spider-Man: No Way Home) as an unlikely hero who crashes headlong into a world populated by beautiful, fit, and vain vampires while navigating numerous obstacles in his new undead life: the girl he loves but can’t be with, a bullying manager at work, and the vampire chieftain who wants him dead. The show is produced by Great Pacific Media, Modern Story, December Films, and Cineflix Studios for SYFY in the US. The series showrunner is Harley Peyton (Twin Peaks). “We’ve had a lot of interest from buyers in Reginald the Vampire since its launch at MIPTV, so I’m really pleased to announce these first international sales in advance of its launch on SYFY,” said James Durie, Head of Scripted, Cineflix Rights.
Best of Deadline
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
