Sky & Discovery pick up Britney doc amid raft of global sales

Eighteen international broadcasters, including Sky in the UK and Discovery for Italy and the Philippines, have picked up the feature-length documentary Controlling Britney Spears.

The 1 x 75-minute film is a follow-up to the Hulu and FX doc Framing Britney Spears, which debuted earlier this year, and was produced in partnership by The New York Times and Red Arrow Studios-owned Left/Right. This new film explores fresh allegations from insiders with knowledge of the pop icon’s daily life under her controversial conservatorship.

Alongside Sky and Discovery, the documentary has also been acquired by Nine in Australia, Crave in Canada, Three in New Zealand, Talpa TV in the Netherlands, VGTV in Norway, TV2 in Denmark, TV4, MTV and Cmore for Sweden and Finland, Originals Factory for French & German-speaking Europe, HOT8 and yes-DBS for Israel, TV Nova’s streaming platform Voyo for the Czech Republic & Slovakia, Pro Plus for Slovenia, Globo for its GloboPlay streaming service in Brazil, and TVN Grupa Discovery for Poland, including for its streaming platform Player.

Controlling Britney Spears, which premiered last month on FX and Hulu in the US, is directed by Samantha Stark, with Liz Day serving as supervising producer and reporter, and Mary Robertson is showrunner.

Tim Gerhartz, president & MD at Red Arrow Studios International, which recently acquired global distribution rights to the documentary, said: “Just as we experienced with Framing Britney Spears earlier this year, the broadcaster response to this compelling and equally captivating follow-up feature has been phenomenal.

“Controlling Britney Spears brings more stunning and first-hand revelations about exactly how the conservatorship controlled the pop star’s daily life. The vast line-up of broadcasters we have on board is testament to the importance and powerful insights of this documentary.”