Lionsgate, Feig in first-look pact

Lionsgate Television Group in the US has signed a first-look deal with writer, director and producer Paul Feig and his producing partner Jessie Henderson.

Paul Feig

The partnership covers scripted and unscripted series as well as formats for Lionsgate through Feig’s Feigco Entertainment banner.

Lionsgate’s relationship with Feig already includes unscripted half-hour comedy series The Joel McHale Show, which Feig executive produces alongside McHale (Community), KP Anderson and Henderson. The show launched globally on Netflix last month.

Feig also created classic comedy Freaks & Geeks and served as director and co-executive producer on The Office. His Other Space series marked his return to television in 2015.

He has also directed movies including Bridesmaids, Spy, Ghostbusters and The Heat. His thriller with Lionsgate, A Simple Favour, which stars Blake Lively, Anna Kendrick and Henry Golding, is currently in post-production and will be released on September 14.

The first-look deal was negotiated for Lionsgate by executive VP of television business affairs Dan Hadl and announced by Lionsgate Television Group chairman Kevin Beggs.

Feigco has also promoted Dan Magnante to oversee the banner’s television development.

The pact with Feig and Henderson comes soon after Lionsgate’s overall deal with prolific unscripted TV producers Katy Wallin (The Gong Show) and Stephanie Bloch Chambers (Better Late Than Never), announced earlier this year.

Under the agreement, the duo will create original non-fiction programming and formats for TV and digital platforms through their new Wallin-Chambers Entertainment banner, working with Jennifer O’Connell, Lionsgate’s exec VP of alternative programming. Wallin will remain CEO of her other company MysticArt Pictures.