Exclusive: Banijay Rights extends first-look deal with UK factual firm Proper Content

The School That Tried To End Racism

Banijay Rights has extended its first-look development deal with UK factual specialist Proper Content for a further two years.

Under the new agreement, the two companies will continue to develop and produce series for the UK and international markets, building on the arrangement first inked at the Indielab Accelerator in 2019.

The announcement comes as Indielab launches GrowthLab, a new event taking place in London today, which was set up by Indielab CEO Victoria Powell to “explore new ways to thrive in the changing marketplace,” as she told TBI last month. Banijay Rights is a major sponsor of the initiative, while TBI serves as its exclusive media partner. 

Launched in 2016, Proper Content is a UK indie specializing in factual entertainment and documentary content, led by creative director David DeHaney. Shows to emerge from the existing deal with Banijay Rights include Channel 4 series The School That Tried to End Racism and Channel 5 docuseries The Queen’s Guards. Most recently, the company was commissioned to produce 6 x 60-minute factual series Wife On Strike (working title) for Channel 5.

The Proper Content renewal agreement was brokered by Banijay Rights’ VP of acquisitions, Leila Hobday, who recently joined the company from BBC Studios. “From ground-breaking social experiments to incredible access documentaries, our partnership with Proper Content has been nothing but fruitful and we are pleased to extend it for another two years,” said Hobday.

DeHaney, meanwhile, called Banijay Rights “a great partner, offering advice, production support and delivering in sales.”

Banijay Rights’ parent company, meanwhile, recently took full control of Australia-based producer and distributor Beyond International. The acquisition handed Banijay more than 8,000 hours of programming such as Highway Thru Hell and MythBusters, as well as Back In The Groove outfit, Beyond Productions.