Omid Djalili Launches Production Outfit; BBC Buys ‘Kin’ S2; Serena DC Sales Company – Global Briefs

By Max Goldbart, Zac Ntim

January 19, 2024 1:23am

Omid Djalili Launches Production Outfit

British actor-comedian Omid Djalili has launched a TV, film and podcast production company. The star of The Infidel is forging Tiny Speck Productions with Infidel producer Shahin Sobhani and his “family of creatives” including producers Ara Devine, Isabella Djalili-Devine, and Louis Djalili. The company already has a scripted campus comedy series, a climate-related feature film, podcasts, and a feature documentary in development, it said. “My family and I have been working together for years, and we thought it would make sense to formalise it,” said Djalili. “I’ve always believed that when we are laughing our brains work better – we see things more clearly and feel better able to handle life’s difficult questions. It’s something we need in the world, now more than ever.” Djalili is a well-known British comedian who is a regular on the stand-up circuit and has also starred in the likes of Gladiator, His Dark Materials and Netflix’s Letter for the King. He won the Best Actor award at the Turin Film Festival for his lead performance in The Infidel, which was written by David Baddiel.

BBC Buys ‘Kin’ Season Two

The BBC has acquired the second season of Irish crime thriller Kin from Fifth Season. The acclaimed series continues the story of the Kinsella family, who are now at the top of the crime game in Dublin, but their triumph has incurred the enmity of an enemy even more dangerous than Eamon Cunningham. The RTÉ series, which aired in the U.S. on AMC+, is the latest high-profile show snapped up by the BBC buying team, following the likes of AMC’s Interview with the Vampire. It is produced by Joker financier Bron Studios and Man in the High Castle outfit Headline Pictures.

Emmy Nominated Filmmaker Serena DC Launches Distribution Company

EXCLUSIVE: Investigative filmmaker Serena DC, best known for the Emmy-nominated doc My Transparent Life, has launched distribution company Ad Astra. The company has already acquired several projects through partnerships with production companies, including CE Films (The Phenomenon) owned by James Fox, David Paulidis (The Missing 411), The Cousin’s Brothers (Endgame to Disclose), Small Town Monsters (American Werewolf), Lab 9, Elysium Media, and UFO TV Studios.