‘Reluctant Traveler’ Producer Twofour Staffs Up; Cineflix Readies Kurt Cobain Doc; APC Studios Names Sales Chief; ITV ’99 To Beat’ — Global Briefs

Jesse Whittock and Max Goldbart
·3-min read

Twofour Hires ‘007: Road To A Million’ Producer & ‘Circle’ Exec

UK producer Twofour has made a pair of hires and promoted several execs in and around its senior management. Karen Hudson, whose credits include 007: Road to a Million and The Grand Tour, has been named Head of Production. Dan Gray will be Executive Producer, Reality and Entertainment, having previously worked on the likes of The Circle and UK versions of the Real Housewives franchise. Elsewhere, Creative Director David Clews has been upped to Chief Creative Director, with exec producer Nic Patten stepping up to Creative Director. Shireen Abbott has been promoted to Director of Production and Operations. Twofour is notable for being the first producer in the ITV Studios stable to land an unscripted series on Apple TV+, The Reluctant Traveler with Eugene Levy, and ITVX’s first reality order, Loaded in Paradise.

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Cineflix Brings Kurt Cobain Doc To Final MIPTV

Cineflix Rights has picked up a slate of shows ahead of the final MIPTV next week, including a single doc about Kurt Cobain. The UK-based distributor has acquired sales rights to BBC Two’s Moments That Shook Music: Kurt Cobain, which tells the story of the events surrounding the grunge icon’s tragic death in 1994. Cineflix will also be selling Ramses the Great: King of Ancient Egypt, a six-part doc series from France; Canadian prehistoric history single Little Sapiens; Girl in the Video, a Lifetime true crime telemovie starring Cush Jumbo set in the world of online criminals; and Crimes of Fashion: Killer Clutch, which is for the Hallmark Channel about an American psychologist who gets caught up in a murder investigation after landing a dream job helping a French company prepare for Paris Fashion Week.

APC Studios Hires Julie Mateille As Sales Chief

France’s APC Studios has named Julie Mateille as its Head of International Sales. The former All3Media International and Paramount Global sales exec will lead both the APC Studios and APC Kids sales teams. She was most recently Director, Content Distribution and Partnership at Paris-based Animaj. She has also held senior roles at Mediawan Kids & Family and Lagardère. She joins founders Emmanuelle Gilbert and Laurent Boissel at APC ahead of MIPTV, which begins on Monday. APC is known for financing and selling shows such as Hulu and RTÉ co-production Obituary, BBC drama Wolf and Sundance Now, Channel 4 and S4c drama The Light in the Hall.

ITV Greenlights UK Version Of ’99 To Beat’

ITV is making a version of Belgian gameshow 99 To Beat from Big Brother maker Initial. The show sees 100 players face off in distinctive and hilarious games with just one rule: ‘Don’t come last.’ After each round, one player will get eliminated with only one person taking the top prize at the end of the game. The show originated on Belgium’s VRT and has sold to the likes of The Netherlands and Germany. Belgian sales house Primitives struck the deal. “We are really excited about 99 To Beat coming to the UK audience,” said Simone de Pruyssenaere de la Woestyne, Director Sales & Acquisitions. “Its highly entertaining format grounded in a simple, yet compelling premise is its biggest asset.”

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