MIPTV 2014: eOne brings its factual buckets to Cannes

Entertainment One has forged a reputation as a distributor of US and Canadian drama, but this MIPTV is making a concerted push into factual.

Prentiss Fraser, senior VP, worldwide sales and acquisitions says that the initiative has seen it stock up on content and reorganise the way in which it is presented to buyers. The factual content will now, she explains, be organised into four specific categories: ‘Eat’, ‘Entertain’, ‘Crime’ and ‘Discover’.

“There are so many well-established factual companies and we wanted a clear strategy and identified different ‘buckets’,” she says. Accordingly, there is new content for each strand at MIPTV.

The overall factual highlight for MIP is upcoming Discovery series Cars that Rock with Brian Johnson. The six-parter is being produced by UK indie Back2Back Productions and follows AC/DC front man Brian Johnson as he indulges his passion for cars. In the show he travels to the home countries of iconic car marques including Porsche, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Rolls Royce and Bentley, taking viewers inside the factories in which they are made and talking to owners and experts.

Also in Entertain there is Force Four-produced Shannon and Sophie. The 8x30mins series, which will go out on Canadian specialty channel W Network in May is a chalk and cheese reality show following Shannon Tweed-Simmons, the Canadian actress, model and wife of Kiss frontman Gene Simmons and her straight A daughter, who runs a kids charity in Vancouver.

The highlight of the Eat strand is Cook Your Ass Off, from New York-based Jane Street, the indie producer behind Chopped. The 13x60mins food competition is being shopped by eOne in finished and format format form. It challenges a trio of chefs to turn high-fat dishes into lean, but delicious, alternatives against the clock.

Other foodie series include Food Network’s carnival food series Midway Munchies and food-travel series One Night Stand with Annie Sibonney.

The Discover strand includes one-off doc Twin Life: Sharing Mind and Body. The TLC documentary follows twins who can see and taste what the other one sees and tastes. It has gone out on TLC and aired on Canadian pubcaster the CBC in March.

The Crime line-up includes 50 Ways to Kill Your Lover, which was made by UK indie Thumbs Up Productions for A+E’s Crime and Investigation Channel. The series has stylised reconstructions of bizarre spousal murders, covering three in each instalment.