Cineflix builds with Wood

Cineflix Studios has linked up with the former creative director of UK indie Lime Pictures to form a new prodco, with an Eddie Izzard drama already in the pipeline.

Buccaneer Media will develop and produce a range of scripted programming for broadcasters worldwide, according to Peter Smith, board director at Buccaneer and CEO of Cineflix Studios since August last year.

The fledgling prodco will be headed by CEO Tony Wood, who left Lime earlier this year having overseen production of The Only Way Is Essex and long-running drama Hollyoaks, and was also exec producer of Nickelodeon’s House of Anubis.

“Our ambition is to build a globally focused company producing everything from family entertainment to high-quality drama and structured reality rooted in the social media landscape,” said Wood.

Buccanneer has already signed a development deal with Impact Film & Television, producer of CBBC’s one-off 2011 special Last Christmas, on four projects. They include an upcoming “dramatic, fresh new take” on Jekyll and Hyde, starring Izzard, which does not yet have a broadcaster attached.

Meanwhile, deals are also in place for two so-far unnamed “scripted family” projects with North American networks, Wood told C21.

Buccaneer’s programming will be sold internationally by Cineflix Rights, distribution arm of Cineflix Media.

“Forming this partnership with Cineflix Studios will mean I can draw on their expertise and experience in producing for US and Canadian networks while retaining the creativity and independence to achieve my ambition for Buccaneer,” added Wood.

Cineflix Studios, the scripted division of Cineflix Media, launched in 2010 and has so far coproduced period drama Copper for BBC America with Nomadic Pictures in Canada and is working on upcoming drama Will alongside Participant Media for the latter’s new Pivot channel.

Meanwhile, Cineflix Studios is looking to partner with more companies, specifically in the UK and Canada, in order to increase its drama output, Smith told C21.