Propagate Inks Development & Distribution Deal With Blackpills For YA Content
EXCLUSIVE: Ben Silverman and Howard Owens’ Propagate is joining forces with blackpills (Bonding), the Paris-based production studio specializing in premium, short-form scripted content aimed at millennials, to develop and distribute YA content. In addition to a distribution partnership, the companies will be co-developing an original slate of premium content to take to market together.
Blackpills, a digital upstart founded in 2017 by co-CEOS Patrick Holzman and Daniel Marhely, focuses on content aimed at young audiences for whom smartphones are the first screen with an emphasize on themes such as identity, coming of age, dating and digital addiction.
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The partnership announcement follows the recent release of blackpills’ first Netflix original series, Bonding, from Rightor Doyle (Barry). The seven-episode short-form dark-comedy series stars Zoe Levin and Brendan Scannell, and was co-produced by Anonymous Content.
Blackpills’ latest anthology series, Do Not Disturb, produced in association with Pulse Films, premieres at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. Directors of Do Not Disturb’s nine 10-minute episodes include Michael Haussman, Jude Law, Jake Chapman, Mounia Akl, Dylan Southern, Will Lovelace, Zoe Casavettes and Matthew Huston. Blackpills’ feature film Dead Women Walking, which consists of short vignettes about nine women on death row, screened at the Tribeca and Venice Film Festivals.
“We are thrilled to be in business with this vibrant new company and to bring together Propagate’s extensive talent relationships and global production and distribution experience with blackpills’ impressive command of youth-oriented digital content creation,” Propagate Chairman and Co-CEOs Silverman and Owens said in a joint statement. “With new streaming outlets like Quibi, and Netflix’s increasing interest in short-form, mobile-ready content, this is an essential new outlet for our production activities.”
Founded in 2015, Silverman and Owens’ Propagate has a portfolio that includes November 13: Attack On Paris and Haunted for Netflix, Lore for Amazon, Charmed for the CW, In Search Of for the History Channel and Planet of the Apps for Apple.
“The Propagate team are innovators and industry leaders in sourcing compelling IP and producing blockbuster content for global distribution,” said blackpills’ CEO Holzman. “We are honored to be partnering with them and know this relationship will be a huge asset as we move even more aggressively into the worldwide streaming market.”
Added head of Global Content, David Sigurani, “This joint slate of original series will help us continue to create at the highest level, with short form content as the best medium to give a voice to talent telling authentic and unheard stories.”
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