Nat Geo drama-doc 1776: American Independence finds buyers worldwide

Drama-doc 1776: American Independence from Dash Pictures

SUNNY SIDE: National Geographic’s series marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence has been acquired by a host of international broadcasters from UK-based distributor Sphere Abacus.

Six-part drama documentary 1776: American Independence, produced by Dash Pictures, has been sold to Viasat World, Now TV Hong Kong, BBC Select Americas, Foxtel Group Australia and VRT.

The sales cover multiple territories including Central Asia, Eastern and Central Europe, Greece, Cyprus, Australia and New Zealand, North America and South-East Asia.

The sales were announced at Sunny Side of the Doc in France this week, which is being attended by Sphere Abacus global content director Will Stapley and sales director Laura Masson.

Also from Dash Pictures for National Geographic, Gladiators: Warriors of the Ancient World (6×60′) has been picked up by Foxtel Group Australia, Czech Television, ZDF in Germany and JCG Korea.

Other titles recently sold to international broadcasters by the distributor include Woodcut Media’s Queens That Changed The World; The Hunt for the Last Nazis, produced by Australia’s Mint Pictures for SBS; and Pernel Media’s The Maya: War of the Five Kingdoms.

Sphere Abacus executive director global distribution and partnerships Hana Palmer said: “History programming has always intrigued and fascinated viewers around the world. We’re seeing a big shift in the number of platforms and broadcasters that are looking at new ways for high-end historical storytelling to cater for their audiences’ continued appetites – from learning new details about well-known struggles and history’s huge characters to discovering largely unknown events from ancient times.”

Stapley added: “We are looking for more ancient and contemporary history ideas from producers and are hoping to have some promising discussions around this type of programming, amongst other genres, while at Sunny Side of the Doc.”