In a move to ramp up its TV business in Britain, Lionsgate UK has taken an undisclosed equity stake in Andrea Calderwood and Gail Egan’s Potboiler Television.
Lionsgate will partner with the well-respected producers, who are behind projects such as HBO’s Generation Kill and features The Constant Gardner and The Last King of Scotland, on their expanding TV slate. It has also signed a first-look deal for global distribution of Potboiler’s television product.
The deal marks the latest step in Lionsgate’s bid to expand its global TV business. In the UK, the company recently invested in production companies such as Primal Media & Kindle Entertainment, co-financed Channel 4 comedy Damned and also recently appointed ITV exec Steve November as Creative Director of its UK Television unit.
Lionsgate’s investment into Potboiler’s TV arm builds upon the two companies’ existing relationship: they’ve already partnered on several feature film projects including Alan Rickman’s A Little Chaos, starring Kate Winslet and Matthias Schoenaerts; Trespass Against Us, a Michael Fassbender and Brendan Gleeson starrer set for a March UK release; and Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Rachel McAdam starrer A Most Wanted Man, which was released in the U.S. in partnership with Lionsgate’s sister company Roadside Attractions.
The deal was negotiated for Lionsgate by Exec Vice President TV Operations & Corporate Development Laura Kennedy and Alexandra Keen, Executive Vice President, Business and Legal Affairs together with Reno Antoniades and Oliver Shipton for Potboiler. Consultant Marc Lorber brought the deal into Lionsgate UK.
Lionsgate’s indie TV slate encompasses nearly 90 series on 40 different U.S. networks including Orange is the New Black, Nashville, The Royals, Greenleaf and Graves along with new series Dear White People for Netflix and White Famous for Showtime.
