Premium documentary titles featuring iconic musicians including John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, Tupac Shakur and Amy Winehouse have sold widely for BBC Studios.
Rogan productions’ feature-length documentary for BBC Two, “Freddie Mercury: The Final Act,” charts the final chapter of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury’s life story. International sales include the U.S. (The CW Network), Australia (ABC), Greece (COSMOTE TV), France (Arte), MNET and ShowMax across sub-Saharan Africa, Sweden (TV4), Norway (TV2), Denmark (DR), Finland (YLE), Netherlands (NTR), Belgium (VRT), Czech Republic (Czech TV) and Spain (Movistar Plus).
Marking the ten-year anniversary of the death of Amy Winehouse last year, Curious Films’ “Reclaiming Amy” has sold to the U.S. and Canada (BBC Select), Brazil (Globo), Australia (SBS), New Zealand (TVNZ), France (CANAL Plus), Germany (ZDF), MNET and ShowMax across sub–Saharan Africa, Sweden (TV4), Denmark (TV2), Finland (YLE), Netherlands (RTL) and Belgium (VRT).
Produced by the BBC Studios’ documentary Unit, “A Life In Ten Pictures” re-examines the lives of six famous faces from the recent past — Amy Winehouse, Muhammad Ali, John Lennon, Elizabeth Taylor, Tupac Shakur and Freddie Mercury — through the photographs that have come to define them. Sales include Brazil (Globo), Spain (Movistar Plus), Australia (ABC), New Zealand (Sky TV), Canada (CBC documentary Channel and GEM), Germany (Sky Deutschland), Italy (Sky Italia), MNET and ShowMax across sub–Saharan Africa and Denmark (DR).
The sales were revealed during the BBC Studios annual Showcase event.
Louise McNab, director of content sales at BBC Studios, said: “Appetite for authentic and engaging factual content is growing year on year, we’re seeing in particular a trend for premium documentaries which are reassessing modern history through well-known figures. We’ve got an internationally renowned documentary unit as well as partnerships with award-winning independent production houses, both of which provide exclusive access to people and places and in turn create premium accessible content with global relevance.”
