Critical Content


Joker hires ex-Relativity exec as MD

Splendid Group’s indie Joker Productions has hired former Relativity exec Julie Link as managing director. Link has been hired with a focus on ramping up originals, development, and expanding the global reach of its formats, factual and scripted production and distribution business. She succeeds former MD Patrick Ach, who has left the company. Florian Reinhardt, […]

Critical co-founder Marcus exits

The co-founder of US producer Critical Content, Andrew Marcus, has exited. The move means Critical will now focus primarily on unscripted programming, with scripted chief Marcus focus on pursuing drama and comedy ambitions elsewhere. Critical launched in January 2016 out of the ashes of Relativity Television, which was sold off after Relativity Media went under. […]

Critical buys into Renowned Films

LA-based Critical Content has made its firsat acquisitions move by taking a stake in UK producer Renowned Films. Five-year-old Renowned had previously received investment from Channel 4’s Growth Fund, and terms of the agreement see Critical taking over this stake plus an additional shareholding. Forman and Marcus launched Critical out of the ashes of Relativity […]

Critical holds The Left Hand of Darkness

US producer Critical Content is developing a television version of Ursula K. LeGuin’s novel The Left Hand of Darkness as a limited series. The book tells the story of a lone human emissary’s journey to an alien world where inhabitants have a complex and androgynous sexuality. It was published in 1969 and a year later […]

History lines up annual presidents anthology

US cable channel History is preparing an annual anthology drama event focused on American presidents. The A+E Networks-owned station has optioned several best-selling novels on US presidents as source material for The Commanders, which will come from stablemare A+E Studios. The anthology will dramatise pivotal moments in the presidencies of several US leaders, with Bill […]

Channel 4 buys JonBenét Ramsey true crime series

Channel 4 has acquired The Case of: JonBenét Ramsey, the two-part true crime event series that bowed on CBS in the US earlier this year. The 2x120mins event special is produced by Critical Content and distributed by Electus International, which struck the UK deal. The show examines the infamous case of Ramsey, the six-year-old who was […]

Hollywood heavyweights form Critical board

Mark Itkin, Lauren Zalaznick and Frank Biondi are among the big name Hollywood execs that form fledgling prodco Critical Content’s new board. LA-based Critical launched at the start of the year after Anchorage, a senior secured lender of Relativity Media, bought the assets of Relativity Television. Having secured a series of deals in its first […]

Critical picks up German TNT drama

Critical Content has taken international rights to The Valley, the murder mystery drama that played on the TNT Series pay TV channel in Germany. Critical is the content company created by Tom Forman and Andrew Marcus after they took over Relativity’s TV division. It is making and distributing drama and unscripted shows. It has taken […]

Nine, Prime buy CBS JonBenét Ramsey series

Nine Network in Australia and New Zealand channel Prime have bought CBS’s upcoming true crime series The Case Of: JonBenét Ramsey from Electus International. The deals comes after US producer-distributor Electus partnered with The Case Of… prodco Critical Content in a worldwide distribution deal. It also comes ahead of the doc-series’ US debut on broadcast […]

Talpa hires Critical’s Danska

Talpa Media USA has poached Jennifer Danska from Ellen Rakieten Entertainment, which sits within Tom Forman’s Critical Content. Danska (pictured) will be senior VP, programming and development at Talpa Media’s North American arm, which has also promoted VP Monica Stock to SVP of production and director ReBecca Crawford to VP, current programming and development. Talpa […]