Off The Fence posts string of deals in Germany
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Editor
| 27 April 2023
The international distribution arm of factual content specialist Off The Fence (OTF) has reported a surge in specialist factual sales in Europe’s biggest TV market with German business showing demand particularly strong for its new slate of specialist factual.
Off THe Fence 27april2023
The deals see Servus TV and GEO Televison, part of RTL Television, acquire Giants, a five-part series about the planet’s largest creatures, past and present. The series is fronted by wildlife filmmaker Dan O’Neill, who calls on a team of experts and cutting-edge CGI to explore and explain the links between extinct monsters and present-day behemoths.

In addition, NDR has snapped up the 90-minute documentary Blue Carbon, produced by Make Waves Media and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios in partnership with OTF and CNN. Directed by Emmy/BAFTA-winning Nicolas Brown and exec produced by Oscar-nominated Fernando Meirelles the film unpacks the science around the newly discovered power of the ocean to absorb significantly more carbon from the atmosphere than trees. Grammy-nominated DJ and marine biologist Jayda G looks at how this ‘blue carbon' could be harnessed in the battle against global warming.

ZDF ARTE and ORF have both acquired one of OTF’s most popular history documentaries, Queens of Ancient Egypt (3x60’ – pictured ), produced by Tile Films for Curiosity Stream and OTF Studios. Drawing on new discoveries and research, the series tells the stories of three largely forgotten but incredible Egyptian queens, who became standard-bearers for their gender long before the modern era.

ZDF ARTE has also bought Last Horns of Africa(1x90’) from White Spark Pictures, Banovich Studios and Cross Border Productions. The gripping film follows two heroic conservation specialists as they battle to bring down South Africa’s rhino-poaching syndicates.

Other deals see feature documentary Unearthed Ancient Murder Mysteries (6x60’), produced by OTF Studios for Curiosity has been licensed by ZDFinfo and A+E Networks Germany, as part of the extended partnership with OTF. The series that looks at iconic epochs and cultures to re-tell the stories of infamous and little-known murders from a fresh perspective has also been acquired by A+E Networks UK to premiere on Sky HISTORY, AMC and Viasat.

The company also says interest has been building in OTF Studios series Nature’s Ultimate Survivors (5x60), which been licensed by ZDF 3sat. The series, which explores the abilities that creatures need to survive in the wild, also features on the launch slate of US-based FAST channel Xumo Play’s Free Nature and Wildlife channel.