TCB Media Rights moves into premium feature-length docs
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Joseph O'Halloran
| 16 July 2019

UK rights-ownership company TCB Media Rights is broadening its offering from factual entertainment to also encompass high-end feature-length documentaries.

The London-based distributor has achieved this by inking a deal with UK producer Top Hat Productions and has also commissioned a premium three-part documentary series from producer Conscious Life, developed in conjunction with Oscar-nominated Spring Films. Both titles will be launched at MIPCOM 2019.

Leading the slate is Top Hat’s 90-minute documentary The $50m Art Swindle, commissioned by the BBC’s Mark Bell, for the world’s longest running art strand, Arena. Made by acclaimed filmmaker Vanessa Engle (The Funeral Murders) it is scheduled to air on BBC Two this summer.

The programme centres on rogue New York art dealer Michel Cohen who, in 2000, swindled more than $50 million from the art establishment before going on the run, never to be seen again. Eighteen years later, Engle manages to track down the fugitive and persuade him to tell his story. The documentary delves into Cohen’s psyche to discover what drives a loving family man to become a reckless and unscrupulous fraudster, while shining a light on the murky underbelly of the international art market.

Also part of the premium documentaries is TCB Original, How I Created A Cult, another premium documentary series from UK indie Conscious Life. Over 3 x 60’ episodes, it follows the journey of Andrew Cohen from enigmatic spiritual leader and seeker of enlightenment to the head of a global cult with absolute power over thousands of devoted followers.

The series reveals how, over the course of three decades, Cohen’s spiritual utopia descended into a nightmare of life-threatening punishments, mock amputations, brainwashing, extortion and extreme psychological abuse. Hannah Demidowicz will act as executive producer for TCB Media Rights and Alex Howard and Meagen Gibson for Conscious Life .

Commenting on the company’s’ programming pivot, Jimmy Humphrey, head of acquisitions and co-productions at TCB Media Rights, said: “We certainly don’t want to forget our heartland of factual and fact entertainment, this is our lifeblood and it’s what the buyers know us for. However, with these two shows in particular it allows us to make a less clunky, more obvious move into the premium space. These two projects reflect the polarisation of the market that we now see across many platforms, that is, between big budget ‘noisy’ and lower budget higher volume. Both areas have to perform quickly however and TCB is set up to flex and exploit the unscripted market and these are two hugely stand out, well- crafted stories.”