Mipcom 2012: Brit TV Indie to bring Eddie Izzard Doc to Market

LONDON – Zodiak Rights, the international division of Zodiak Media, has signed a first-look development deal with U.K. indie Western Front Films.

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Through the deal buyers will be offered a first look at Meet the Izzards, a documentary about comedian and actor Eddie Izzard and his search for his family roots using his own DNA to tell the story of humans and his own ancestry.

The two-part show, airing on BBC One, the public broadcaster's flagship channel in the U.K., is billed as exploring "key moments on the human journey that took the Izzards from hunter-gatherers to farmers and comedians."

Financial details of the pact between Zodiak Rights and Western Front Films are being kept under wraps but the deal includes sales duties on Western Front's slate of factual programming.

Western Front Films, founded in 2011 by managing director Nick Watts and creative director Eric Harwood, specializes in factual programming.

It is the latest TV production banner to join the Zodiak Rights' roster of producers on a first look basis giving the company distribution rights for both the format and finished shows.

Other deals include those with Big Fat Gypsy Wedding producer Firecracker Films and The Food Hospital’s production company betty.

Also making its international market debut via the deal with Western Front will be America’s Secret War Plan, a documentary detailing the story of a 1930s American strategy to wage war against the British Empire.

Dubbed War Plan Red, the strategy was never put into action but the program reveals why it was devised and how close it came – huge military manoeuvres, top-level authorisation for the use of poison gas and secret hearings in Congress.

Zodiak Rights London managing director Jane Millichip said: "We are delighted to bring an indie of Western Front’s production talent to the Zodiak Rights stable, and we look forward to launching Meet The Izzards at MIPCOM."