AETN takes The People Speak to the UK, preps other versions

AETN International is launching a UK version of The People Speak event program and says several other local versions are in the works.

The original US version of the two-hour TV film, which is based on the Howard Zinn A People’s History of the United States and features Matt Damon, Josh Brolin, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Springsteen and others, will premiere on History in the US this December before launching on the AETN channel in other parts of the world in 2010.

The producers are hoping that a raft of international versions will follow the US film. “We think the original US show will play around the world, but we hope that’s a stepping stone to people creating their own local versions,” the show’s co-director Anthony Arnove told TBIvision.

Sean Cohan, senior VP of international at AETN said it expected at least three more local versions to be made next year. The UK version will feature British actor Colin Firth and will be produced by (Out)sider Productions.