In today’s Global Bulletin, Steve Coogan takes Alan Partridge on the road; Another Screen offers a free, month-long selection of films from Palestinian women filmmakers; Spain gets a “Temptation Island” spinoff show; the Gulf Cooperation Council launches a campaign to bring audiences back to the cinema post-COVID; VIS makes its first reality format deal in the Nordics with SVT; and ITV appoints Kunal Shah as sales director for South Asia.
THEATER
Steve Coogan is bringing his most famous character to the stage in “Stratagem With Alan Partridge,” a new live show set to tour the U.K. and Ireland in the Spring of 2022. Tickets for the tour go on sale this Saturday.
With a TED Talk-style head-mic, perfectly quaffed hair and a love-hate-able shtick that has tickled British audiences for decades, Alan Partridge will bring his unique brand of motivational speaking to audiences in a show produced by Phil McIntyre Live Ltd and Coogan’s Baby Cow Productions, written by Coogan and Neil and Rob Gibbons.
The Partridge character was created by Coogan and Armando Iannucci for the 1991 BBC Radio 4 satire news program “On the Hour,” eventually migrating to TV in 1994 as “The Day Today.” In 1997 Partridge got his own sitcom, “I’m Alan Partridge,” which won two Baftas and was eventually revived for a second season in 2002. The character has continued to pop up in specials across various platforms since, and is cemented as one of the U.K.’s best-loved comedic figures.
PROGRAM
Recently launched streaming platform Another Screen, operated by feminist film journal Another Gaze, is offering free access to a month-long, specially curated program titled For a Free Palestine: Films by Palestinian Women. Available globally, the selection of films was curated by Another Gaze co-founder and Another Screen lead programmer Daniella Shreir, and features films from ten Palestinian women filmmakers, with several more planned to join them over the coming month. All films will have subtitles options in multiple languages. Although the program will be free to access, viewers are asked to donate, with money raised set to go towards medical, legal and infrastructure aid on the ground in Gaza. Secondary funds will support filmmaking initiatives in the area.
REALITY
Spain’s “La Isla de las Tentaciones,” the local version of Banijay’s global hit format “Tempation Island,” is getting a new companion show from Cuarzo Producciones, part of Banijay Iberia, in collaboration with Mediaset España, producers of the main program. Currently in development, “La Última Tentación” (“The Last Temptation”) will be fronted by “Temptation Island” host Sandra Berneda and feature cast members from the first three seasons who will bring their new partners with them to revisit decisions made during shooting and face all new temptations. Shooting is scheduled for this summer.
CINEMA
Nine exhibitors from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have teamed on a new campaign to promote the cinema-going experience to audiences in the region and remind them what they’ve been missing since COVID lockdowns shut the doors of brick-and-mortar theaters. #BetterAtTheMovies is organized by VOX Cinemas, Novo Cinemas, MUVI Cinemas, Cinépolis Cinemas, AMC Cinemas, Empire Cinemas, Roxy Cinemas, Star Cinemas and Mukta A2 Cinemas, with a 50-second spot being developed and produced by ad agency Freedom. The spot will be shared across each of the exhibitors’ social media platforms in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman.
FORMAT
ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS) Distribution has sold its U.K. reality dating format “Make or Break” to Swedish broadcaster SVT in an option deal struck by Banijay production company Mastiff, which will make a local version of the show for SVT Play, premiering July 13 of this year. The sale is VIS’ first of a reality format to a public broadcaster in the Nordic region. Following the SVT pickup, Banijay has optioned the series across the rest of the Nordics and Netherlands.
APPOINTMENT
ITV Studios has appointed Kunal Shah, NBCUniversal’s director of sales liaison for South Asia, as its new sales director for the territory. A 21-year industry vet, Shah will be based in Mumbai and report to Augustus Dulgaro, ITV executive VP of distribution for Asia Pacific. Among his responsibilities, Shah will be responsible for seeking out new business opportunities and maximizing the value of ITV’s current content catalog throughout the region.