News UK is taking significant steps to expand its original IP ambitions with the development of 14 new projects based on its extensive archive of journalism. This initiative marks a pivotal moment for the company as it seeks to leverage its rich content for television.
News UK Expands Original IP Ambitions with 14 New Projects
EXCLUSIVE: Rupert Murdoch’s News UK is co-developing over a dozen licensed TV projects based on its original journalism.
Partnership and Expansion
The owner of The Times, Sunday Times, and The Sun launched a partnership last year to leverage its extensive archive for scripted projects suitable for its U.S. counterpart, Fox. Richard Halliwell, who oversees film and TV IP development for News UK, stated that this initiative has significantly expanded beyond Fox and the scripted genre.
Upcoming Projects
News UK’s first major project under Halliwell, the Channel 4 documentary Poison, premieres tonight. Halliwell revealed that News UK licensing has an additional 14 projects in various stages of development on a “very deep slate,” with approximately half aimed at Fox and the other half collaborating with UK producers.
“We have a vast treasure trove of content [at News UK],” Halliwell told Deadline. “There are numerous projects with writers and many more with UK independents. Poison will be the first but certainly not the last show featuring our brand. We possess an ambitious scale that we can support over the next three to five years.”
Strategic Conversations
When Halliwell joined News UK last year, he noted that a “mature conversation” with Fox executives revealed the necessity to formalize their collaboration, utilizing the wealth of IP generated from their operations and the extensive studio resources in L.A.
Despite Fox having a first-look deal on licensed News UK articles, the team is now open to discussions with various partners. “We quickly realized that we don’t need to limit ourselves to a single genre, and the content produced here is vast. What happens when Fox doesn’t want to proceed with a project?” Halliwell explained. “Poison was never going to find a scripted outlet at Fox but was perfect for Channel 4. Our role is to serve Fox while also recycling IP or finding homes for projects unsuitable for a U.S. studio.”
Development and Licensing
Initially, Halliwell and his team sought a development executive to explore their newspaper portfolio for scripted TV projects, but Halliwell effectively filled this role himself. He brings extensive experience from his previous positions at DRG and Nent Studios in the UK and is an executive producer on the upcoming series King and Conqueror.
Halliwell emphasized that News UK already has three business units producing original shows, ranging from podcasts to YouTube series, including a recent documentary on Madeleine McCann in collaboration with ITN and Channel 4. However, licensing is “opening a new door to working with production companies to develop original programming around our unparalleled archive of award-winning journalism.”
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Future Prospects
“We attracted incredibly talented program makers [for the development exec role] who wanted to cultivate ideas, but what we really needed was someone to plant seeds,” he explained. “My breadth of experience allows me to identify commercial opportunities and understand how producers operate. We aim to follow a licensing model rather than a production model.”
That said, Poison, which launches tonight, is much more than a licensing deal, according to Halliwell.
The series, produced by David Abraham’s Wonderhood Studios, is hosted by The Times journalist James Beal, who authored the original investigation and created a podcast on the topic. The documentary highlights the shocking story of a Canadian chef accused of sending over 1,000 packages of poison to vulnerable young individuals worldwide, resulting in numerous deaths.
“Not every project we undertake will be massively commercial, but for this one, we are not merely licensing a headline and walking away,” Halliwell added. “We are not trying to become program makers, but we want to secure our place at the table in alternative ways. There are 400 journalists around me researching and uncovering stories, a resource no production company can match.”
This initiative reflects the TV industry’s increasing reliance on IP in recent years, as Halliwell noted, moving beyond merely adapting novels.
“It has become a crucial part of the commissioning process, and perhaps we have focused too heavily on the book publishing market and not enough on the newspaper and journalism sector,” he continued. “We have been licensing articles to producers who want to create shows but have never fully embraced that process. We are now being more proactive, and one reason I am in this role rather than a program maker is that I have this extensive network to leverage.”
More information about the 14 projects in development will be revealed in due course, Halliwell concluded.
