Bunim/Murray Productions and Insight ink global formats deal

Keeping Up With the Kardashians and Born This Way producer Bunim/Murray Productions has inked a deal to create global formats across genres with Insight Production Company.

Julie Pizzi, co-president of entertainment and development at Banijay-owned BMP, and Jane Rimer, Insight’s chief of international business and creative development, will preside over the partnership, which both companies see as “huge opportunity” to reach tap an appetite for high-quality formats in the global market.

“By entering into this co-development deal, we hope to have our respective creative teams push and inspire each other to create new and exciting formats that can sell locally in Canada and the US and then travel globally,” Gil Goldschein (pictured), BMP chair and CEO, told realscreen in an email.

BMP and Insight, producers of The Amazing Race Canada, Battle of the Blades and Big Brother Canada, have collaborated in the past, optioning formats from one another that were pitched in their respective territories, according to Goldschein.

John Brunton, productions chair and CEO of Insight, told realscreen there is growing interest among American companies to partner with Canadians because of the opportunities the northernly neighbors can provide, namely bringing on Canadian broadcasters and media companies to partner on projects they develop and produce together, which they can then export.

“We are a great introduction for them into the Canadian market. They [BMP] help us with our formats and our projects together in the United States and other parts of the world,” Brunton said.

In return, Insight gets access to BMP’s extensive reach.

“Of course, Banijay is a huge international company. We’re hoping the content we produce together as partners in some cases will funnel into their international machine,” he said.

Zodiak Rights, Banijay’s international distribution division, will handle international distribution for all formats developed under the deal.