Participant acquires stake in Cineflix

The Help producer Participant Media has acquired a stake in international producer and distributor Cineflix Media.

This comes after feature film firm Participant Media, which has produced Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana, Charlie Wilson’s War, Contagion and Al Gore-fronted documentary An Inconvenient Truth, hired Evan Shapiro, former boss of US cable networks IFC and Sundance, to launch a television division.

Participant has acquired an equity stake in Cineflix and the two companies will work together to develop and produce “original television programming that will follow Participant’s model of commercial and socially relevant entertainment”.

“Cineflix has grown over the past decade from an independent production start-up to an international media corporation, and our investment in this innovative company provides Participant with the talent and creative resources to expand our business into television,” said Participant Media CEO Jim Berk.

This comes after the announcement of Cineflix Studios first scripted series Copper, which will launch on BBC America this summer. Cineflix produces and distributes around 400 hours of programming per year including American Pickers, Mayday and Nazi Hunters.