News round-up: Arte adds Lebanese drama; Al Jazeera, Asharq & OSN sample Espresso shows; C4’s Spirit ties with beer brand

Awake

Arte adds Lebanese drama Awake

European broadcaster Arte has taken rights to Lebanese drama Awake, following a deal with producer Momaz Flick and UK-based sales house Videoplugger.

Arte has taken French-speaking and German-speaking rights to the 16 x 45-minute show, which follows a young woman who wakes up from a coma 12 years later unable to speak or really interact with others.

Surrounded by her loving family, and with the help of her sisters, she slowly comes to grips with what happened to her and how social media has taken over the world.

Mid-East broadcasters acquire Espresso series

Al Jazeera, Bloomberg’s Asharq News and OSN in the Middle East have picked up rights to a slew of shows from Espresso Media International.

Al Jazeera has added On Broadway and I Am Gen Z, while UAE’s OSN has licensed Beirut Blast: The Story Of Warehouse 12 and Bloomberg’s Asharq News has acquired more than five hours of documentary content, including They Say It Can’t Be Done.

C4’s Spirit ties with beer brand

Spirit Studios, the Channel 4-backed UK producer, has partnered with James Watt, co-founder of brewery firm BrewDog, to create a drama-doc highlighting the issues facing the world’s shark species.

Mission Finpossible will feature “an arresting original scripted element” together with input from the world’s leading shark experts, in addition to archive footage to explore how humans are affecting the world’s shark populations.

The companies are in production on the film and in discussions with distribution partners, with Spirit Studios’ Matt Campion and Martin Sadofski exec producing with Brewdog’s James Watt.