‘Prince Harry: The Interview’ Producer ITNP Details Scripted Ambitions Following Debut Order For Lifetime’s ‘Girl In The Video’
EXCLUSIVE: The international boss of ITN Productions (ITNP), the production outfit behind Prince Harry: The Interview, has detailed scripted ambitions including a desire to make a show that breaks free from its factual-led comfort zone.
ITN produces the ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 news in the UK but has built up a mini production powerhouse over the past few years, making hundreds of hours of fast-turnarounds, documentaries, and factual entertainment shows including for major streamers, while broadening its U.S. offering. ITNP has now entered the scripted space, unveiling its debut drama, Cush Jumbo-starring Lifetime movie Girl in the Video, late last week.
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Ian Russell, who runs the international operation, described the scripted move as a “natural evolution” for the near-15-year-old production outfit, which feels “incremental and comfortable.”
The plan had been in the offing for a while, building on ITNP’s success in the true crime and royal game. While ITNP will no doubt use its experience in these genres to effect in scripted, Russell stressed that it will be happy to break free of its comfort zone on future projects.
He is targeting one to two drama projects per year over the coming years and has two in development, one of which is “slam dunk in the middle” of ITNP’s expertise and the other “a step beyond.”
“The whole evolution of ITNP has been incremental – we are always moving into new things on an almost annual basis,” he said. “ITN is an unusual production company. We are a big building with three news operations, a massive archive and lots of journalists. I don’t know any other organization quite like it that isn’t part of a broadcaster and we are unusual in our skillset and archive. So we try and stick to things in which we have leverage and a natural advantage and those things have turned out to be crime, royalty, history and now hopefully drama.”
He described the process of making Girl in the Video as “having recognizable mechanics [to unscripted] but on a bigger scale.” The project was completed just prior to the now-ended SAG-AFTRA strike.
In the Lifetime movie, Jumbo plays Mo, who is parenting her two teens alone following the death of their dad, her husband. Mo’s daughter, Krissy, (Tia May Watts, The Chelsea Detective) has begun secretly chatting online with Toby, who presents in his messages as a cute, high school senior. Against her mum’s wishes, Krissy sneaks out to meet Toby one night, but when she arrives at the rendezvous, it’s clear he is far from the person he seemed to be online.
“We did it in a relatively short period of time but it’s got a present, true crime feel to it,” added Russell. “It is for people who think they are technologically literate and know about catfishing but still get caught out, so we looked into real things that are happening today which are truly shocking.”
“Sliding scale”
Russell’s five strong team is mostly based out of London but he spends much of his time in the U.S. and has boots on the ground in the shape of New York-based Yellowstone Live producer Bruce Kennedy. ” His team has also been behind the likes of Netflix’s Ancient Apocalypse and Peacock’s Cocaine Bear.
While pivoting somewhat to scripted, ITNP’s U.S. offering will still in the main focus on its factual heartland, and Russell pointed to the way in which barriers are breaking down. “There is a sliding scale from documentary to full drama and there are so many things in between,” he added.
He said ITNP will boost unscripted volume rather than shrinking in the wake of the drama strategy, positioning itself as a “growing business.”
Having helmed the likes of ITV and CBS’ Prince Harry: The Interview, which generated headlines worldwide, ITNP remains dedicated to its core royal content. Russell said that “big, headline-grabbing” shows like the Harry interview and a definitive nine-hour series on Queen Elizabeth II are the priority, with smaller, cheaper fare “more difficult to place.”
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