Gurin and Carlton look for new transatlantic hits

The producer of the US version of Weakest Link is continuing his string of Euro partnerships with a deal with the UK's Carlton Television to jointly develop and produce shows for both the US and the UK.

Phil Gurin, through his Gurin Company, signed the non-exclusive deal with Carlton's controller of entertainment Mark Wells. The deal builds on an earlier format swap deal, reported here, between Gurin and Carlton's format arm, Action Time.

Under the new partnership, Gurin and Carlton will develop new transatlantic entertainment formats. Gurin said that since his earlier relationship with Action Time {worked extremely well,{ it was time to {expand our relationship with the Carlton family.{

Wells added that Gurin {appreciates that many of the big hits on US networks in the last four years have come from Europe. An exchange of ideas between Phil's development team in LA and ours in London makes good sense.{

Since his first MipTV this year, Gurin has been making a number of alliances with Euro producers and distributors. He has so far teamed up with Holland's Storm Factory, and the UK's Zeal TV, Action Time and Mast Media, all for US rights to formats. He also formed a joint-venture with Sweden's Jarowskij for drama projects.