EXCLUSIVE: After almost a decade and a half at NBCUniversal, Doug Liman, Dave Bartis and Gene Klein’s Hypnotic is leaving the company for a multi-year, exclusive deal with indie studio Entertainment One.
The pact covers scripted and unscripted television and select new media programming. eOne will serve as the studio on all projects emerging out of the partnership in addition to handling worldwide rights.
“We are incredibly excited to hit the ground running with Doug, Dave, Gene and the entire team at Hypnotic,” said Pete Micelli, eOne’s Chief Strategy Officer, Film & Television. “We are looking forward to taking these next steps together because Hypnotic’s entrepreneurial spirit fits perfectly with eOne’s model of selling everywhere in the marketplace and constantly innovating both structure and storytelling. As an end to end independent studio, it’s exciting to be joining forces with an industry titan like Hypnotic.”
Hypnotic, launched by Liman and Bartis in 2001, had been based at Universal Media Studios for about five years when the studio spun off its cable production operations into Universal Cable Prods in 2008. Hypnotic moved to the new unit and helped establish it as its first major pod. The company was behind two of UCP’s first home gown series, USA Network’s Covert Affairs and Suits, and its first series for a non-NBCU network ,MTV’s I Just Want My Pants Back. At UCP (now Universal Content Prods.), Hypnotic has the upcoming ninth and final season of Suits and spinoff Pearson on USA as well as Season 2 of drama Impulse on YouTube Premium.
“After an incredible run at UCP, we’re ready to expand our horizons with eOne. We’re excited to be in business with a company that has such a strong global presence and the ability to be so nimble in their deal making. We look forward to launching many new series with them!” said Bartis who has had a long-standing relationship with Micelli.
eOne’s slate of upcoming series includes Run for HBO starring Domhnall Gleeson and Merritt Wever, from Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Vicky Jones, and Deputy for Fox staring Stephen Dorff. Additionally, eOne recently announced Albedo starring Evangeline Lilly for Vudu and Bell Media.
Source: Read Full Article
