U.K.-based sports film specialist Noah Media has moved into sales and has already sealed eye-catching U.K. deals with Amazon Prime Video and the BBC for its cricket film “The Edge.”
Sports indie Noah’s other projects include “Steve McQueen: The Man & Le Mans” and “Bobby Robson: More Than a Manager.” It has brought on Catherine Quantschnigg to head up international sales. She was formerly head of sales at Atlantic Productions, and has also been at Goldcrest and Cornerstone Films.
Quantschnigg will be at Mipcom in Cannes looking to close further deals on “The Edge,” plus the McQueen-Le Mans feature doc, which played at Cannes.
Other shows on the slate include “Take His Legs,” charting Australian comedian Adam Hills’ formation of the world’s first disabled rugby league team, and “Out of Their Skin,” in which former Arsenal and England star Ian Wright charts the history of black people in British soccer. Noah’s new unit will also sell its as-yet-untitled upcoming film about soccer player, manager, and World Cup winner Jack Charlton.
“As a young independent company with a fast-growing slate, we feel it is important to keep evolving in the constantly changing media world, and our sales arm is our next stage in this,” said Noah Media Group CEO John McKenna.
Sports documentaries are in vogue, with numerous features and series launching or in the works, driven by strong demand from the streamers. “The appeal of intelligent, sports-focused documentaries has never been greater,” said Quantschnigg. “We look forward to bringing our unique slate to the international marketplace.”
The BBC snagged live cricket rights in a deal that kicks in next year, making “The Edge,” which is about England’s national team, a timely acquisition to complement its coverage.
Speaking about the deal for film, which had a theatrical release in the U.K., the BBC’s head of factual acquisitions, Mandy Chang, said: “BBC Two is delighted to be showing this uplifting and epic tale of the England Test cricket team’s rise to the top of the world rankings, and the subsequent challenges they faced both on and off the field, to its audiences next summer as live TV coverage of English international and domestic cricket comes back to BBC Television.”