Germany’s ZDFinfo & Record TV in Brazil pick up Quintus’s ‘Red Zones’

Red Zones (Source: Quintus)

Germany’s ZDFinfo and Record TV in Brazil have picked up Quintus Studios’ pilot episode of Red Zones.

The 1 x 60-minute special is part of a four-part docuseries that explores some of the world’s last remaining untamed frontiers.

The pilot and the three other episodes, which will now go into production, are being produced by filmmaker Fredrick Gillingham and explore how fragile territories continue to defy development and operate outside of law and order.

The pilot episode is shot in the Philippines, exploring how the paradise touted in tourism brochures is contrasted by a darker reality along its coastline, where people must engage in illicit gold mining and wildlife trafficking to survive. Executive producer is Adam Jacobs.

The show was part of Quintus’s original strategy, which sees the company develop and fund its own unscripted TV projects via a “producer partnership model” that allows indies and freelance producers to invest into projects in return for a greater revenue share.

Previous Quintus originals funded in this way include Banged Up: My Story (Middlechild Productions), Wild Cats (Big Media) and Mission to Collision: Kenya’s Flying Trucks (Africa Live Media).

“We’re very excited that Red Zones was picked up so quickly by these esteemed broadcasters giving us the opportunity to produce the remainder of the series,” said Anouk van Dijk, head of sales & co-productions at Quintus Studios.

Aside from production, the company owns and operates YouTube channel brands that claim a combined annual reach of more than 250 million unique visitors including Free Documentary, FD Real and FD History.