DRG, Outline in major content pact

Distributor DRG has entered into a content partnership agreement with Outline Productions, the UK indie that’s producing the UK remake of Norwegian format Born On.

DRG will help Outline expand its business and growth by contributing to a development fund designed to aid the creation of formats for the local and international markets.

DRG will advise Outline on formats that lend themselves to the international market, with Outline advising DRG on show concepts popular in the UK.

Also part of the deal, the Modern Times Group-owned distributor will also become the exclusive distributor of Outline’s new finished programmes and formats, plus select titles from the prodco’s back catalogue.

Outline is currently producing Channel 4’s factual entertainment series Born On, which DRG sells internationally through Nice-owned Scandinavian prodco Monster Entertainment.

DRG, part of MTG through its Nice Entertainment Group, currently sells Outline titles such as Jo Frost: Extreme Parental Guidance, and the two companies’ management teams will now work closely to identify opportunities, especially in the US market.

“It is essential that as the market consolidates we embrace new models and ways of working to ensure continued access to the very best pipeline of content,” said DRG COO Richard Halliwell.

“We are really pleased and excited to be developing a strategic relationship with one of the UK’s most successful production companies so that both companies can reach our shared international ambitions.”

“We’ve got a slate of ideas currently in production and development on both sides of the Atlantic which I couldn’t be more excited about, and now it’s time to push to a new level,” said Outline’s managing director, Laura Mansfield.

“DRG and the Nice Group are a forward thinking group, particularly in regard to hub production which they’ve used successfully in the past. We feel that this collaboration and approach will enable production of ambitious projects across multiple territories.”