In brief: The Gold heads around the world; C5 picks up Making Manson; Paper Owl Films opens in Belfast

The Gold heads around the world 

All3Media International has landed European and US sales for the first and upcoming second series of BBC1 drama The Gold, produced by Tannadice Pictures. Inspired by the true story of the 1983 Brink’s-Mat robbery, both series will head to PBS’s Masterpiece for audiences in the US and English-speaking Canada, with CBC Gem securing VoD rights for the latter. MagentaTV/Telekom in Germany, Stan in Australia, Rialto Channel in New Zealand, BBC Studios for Asia and India and ERR in Estonia have also acquired both series. Meanwhile series one will also travel to Portugal on RTP2, E to Ireland on RTE and Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina on Pickbox NOW and Pickbox TV in. Season 2 will air on NPO in the Netherlands, Cosmote TV in Greece and MTV in Finland.  

Channel 5 picks up Making Manson  

Channel 5/ Paramount+ has picked up Peacock’s true crime series Making Manson, produced by Renowned Films. After Sphere Abacus acquired worldwide distribution rights to the title, a sale has also been agreed with Bell Media in Canada. The three-parter explores cult leader Charles Manson and features never-before-heard audio of him.  

Paper Owl Films opens Belfast Studio  

The Bafta-nominated production company Paper Owl Films has opened a new studio in Belfast as the company looks to expand its roster of in-house productions and strategic international partnerships. The 5,000 square foot studio will house the company’s core team of creatives working across animation, production, design, live action and post production as well as growing its own slate of projects. 

Nightsleeper scribe to pen Bonafide drama 

Nightsleeper writer Nick Leather has tied with Mood indie Bonafide Films to develop a true crime drama. Based on research from those at the the National Crime Agency, the as-yet-untitled series will focus on the 2020  infiltration of the encrypted phone-system ‘EncroChat’ to carry out the most successful law enforcement operation in UK history. The drama will be exec produced by Bonafide’s Tom Dunbar (The Walk-In). Bonafide Films is in discussion with a number of broadcast platforms for the drama. 

Banijay scores Bergerac deals 

UKTV’s reboot of Bergerac has sold across Europe and to Oceania. PSBs NPO (Netherlands), VRT (Belgium), SVT (Sweden), YLE (Finland), NRK (Norway) and DR (Denmark) have acquired the detective drama, with BBC First (Poland) and TVNZ in New Zealand also taking the show. The BlackLight TV-produced series is set to air on U and U&Drama on 27 February. 

Serial Maven Studios merges with Cantina Media 

Canadian outfits Serial Maven Studios and Cantina Media are combining to create a production, distribution and financing company. Serial Maven will be the name of the merged entity, with Cantina becoming its production arm. The combined outfit will have an expanded slate of more than 350 hours of unscripted programming.