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Exclusive: Lionsgate is developing adaptations of its Kim Kardashian West prank show You Kiddin’ Me?! in the UK and Australia and is also looking to line-up international linear deals for the Facebook Watch format.

British producer Primal Media and Australian indie Eureka are developing local versions of the show, which features celebrities and their families as they pull pranks on the public, and Lionsgate has been at Mipcom this week to talk about even more adaptations.

Jennifer O’Connell, Lionsgate’s alternative programming chief, said that it working out how to adapt the show for a longer linear format. “If it were to be for a linear network, which is what we’ve been [pitching] at Mipcom, there are plenty of places [in the show] to open it up, but when you’re dealing with a streamer and especially Facebook, they like to streamline so people want to watch the next one,” she told Deadline.

Former ITV exec will head up company’s UK TV division.

Former ITV drama chief Steve November has resurfaced at Mad Men producer Lionsgate’s UK TV division.

November left his position as director of drama for the terrestrial broadcaster after three years in April, having been responsible for shows including The Durrells, Cilla, Marcella and Cold Feet.

Based in Lionsgate’s London office, as creative director of UK television November will spearhead the company’s slate of original programming and manage its burgeoning relationships with British production partners.

In July, Lionsgate acquired a stake in Primal Media, the fledgling indie established by Gogglebox Entertainment duo Mat Steiner and Adam Wood, while it has also invested in Kindle Entertainment. It also co-financed What Larks’ Channel 4 sitcom Damned.

November, who worked at ITV for 16 years, will report to Lionsgate UK chief executive Zygi Kamasa and group chairman Kevin Beggs.

Kamasa said November was a “visionary and experienced...

The studio is building its unscripted portfolio with the announcement that it has bought a stake in new production company Primal Media.

The company, formed by Gogglebox founders and executive producers Mat Steiner and Adam Wood, will develop and produce unscripted programmes in the UK and work with Lionsgate’s alternative programming team in the Us to produce Us formats for the UK market.

Lionsgate will distribute Primal Media’s content worldwide and will produce formats owned by Primal Media for the Us and worldwide market.

Steiner and Wood’s formats have garnered six Emmys and include UK formats Release The Hounds (ITV2), Cash Cab (ITV), The Code (BBC1), Playing It Straight (C4), Man v Fly, and Breakaway (BBC2).

Primal Media’s first two commissions will see a third season of Release The Hounds and a second season of The Code (BBC1), both in 2017.

In the last 12 months Lionsgate has formed a strategic alliance with Us reality...

Lionsgate announced on Tuesday that it has acquired a stake in the UK unscripted television production company Primal Media. Primal was formed by “Gogglebox” format creators and executive producers Mat Steiner and Adam Wood. Their credits include UK formats “Release The Hounds,” “Cash Cab,” “The Code,” “The Exit List,” and “Breakaway,” among many others. Their formats have sold across the world, amassing over 15,000 episodes. Primal Media has already secured its first two commissions with the third season of “Release The Hounds” and a second season of “The Code,” both for 2017. Also Read: Lionsgate-Starz Deal Shows How Digital Has Upended TV Business (Analysis) Lionsgate.

Lionsgate has acquired a stake in Primal Media, the UK production company formed by Gogglebox founders Mat Steiner and Adam Wood. The deal with Primal marks another step in Lionsgate’s expansion into the unscripted arena. In the past year, it has partnered with U.S. reality producer Pilgrim Studios and is growing an in-house slate including Kicking & Screaming (Fox), Revenge Body With Khloe Kardashian (E!), Monica The Medium (Freeform), Douglas Family Gold (Oxygen) and Tra…...

Horror/game show hybrid Release The Hounds debuted as a Halloween special on the UK’s ITV2 last year. The one-off episode received positive notices for the premise, and an outpouring of interest on Twitter. ITV has now commissioned a six-episode series to be produced by Sony Pictures Television‘s UK production joint venture Gogglebox. Production starts on the hourlong show this spring. It will be fronted by UK TV personality Reggie Yates. Release The Hounds mixes two genres by sending unsuspecting contestants into a forest at dusk as they seek out chests full of prize money. In order to win big after a series of challenges, they must outrun a pack of hounds trained to guard the cash. Gogglebox created the series with Sony Pictures Television distributing the format internationally; it’s currently in discussions with other territories. Executive producers are Gogglebox founders Adam Wood and Mat Steiner. Related:...

Here’s an original idea: A horror-themed game show. Sony Pictures Television‘s UK production joint venture Gogglebox created and is producing Release The Hounds, a one-hour format that mixes the two genres by sending three unsuspecting contestants into a forest at dusk as they seek out chests full of prize money. Little do they know, in order to win big, they’ll face the “scariest challenges ever endured on TV” – those include navigating a field of crucified scarecrows, descending beneath the floorboards in a deserted cabin, and reading bedtime stories in the nursery from hell. The ultimate challenge is to out-run a pack of hounds who are trained to guard the cash. ITV2 has given the first commission to the show and will air the UK version as a special later this month, in time for Halloween. Executive producers are Gogglebox founders Adam Wood and Mat Steiner. The format...

LONDON -- Sony Pictures Television International (SPTI) has made an undisclosed financial investment in start-up indie factual entertainment company Gogglebox Entertainment, launched by former Lion Television executives Mat Steiner and Adam Wood, it was announced Thursday.

The new venture, in which Sony will take an equity stake in return for international distribution rights, will create and produce entertainment and factual entertainment formats for the U.K.

"As we expand our non-scripted business in Europe, we are delighted to invest in Mat and Adam's new company" said SPTI senior vp Antony Root.

"In their earlier careers they have created and produced highly successful non-scripted formats for the U.K. and international markets. We look forward to working closely with them to establish Gogglebox as a premier, independent U.K. entertainment producer," he added.

Prior to launching Gogglebox Wood was head of entertainment at Lion TV and Steiner was head of creative, working on a range of formats including "Playing It Straight" and "Mum's on Strike". Before that Wood was head of entertainment at Endemol U.K.