Spirit Studios, Quintus Studios collaborate to adapt YouTube series Outsmarting Evil

Escaping My Dad’s Cult After 30 Years, part of the Outsmarting Evil series

Channel 4-backed UK indie Spirit Studios has partnered with German distributor and digital channels operator Quintus Studios to adapt YouTube factual series Outsmarting Evil into a linear docuseries and podcast.

Produced by Spirit Studios, the 10×10’ true crime series was originally called Outsmarting and was commissioned by Channel 4 for its digital channels.

It will now be remade into a longform 6×60’ project, telling the stories of ordinary people who managed to escape the clutches of serial killers, trolls, human traffickers and stalkers.

Quintus Studios is handling global distribution and digital rights. Outsmarting Evil plays on its channels, including Free Documentary. Spirit and Quintus recently partnered on another true crime project, Missing Presumed Dead, with A+E Networks EMEA.

Matt Campion, creative director and co-founder, Spirit Studios, said: “At Spirit, our strategy is to exploit IP in as many ways as possible in order to create brands that can entertain different audiences on different platforms.

“Our ambition was always to tell these stories in a long-form format and we originally shot the footage to achieve this.”

Adam Jacobs, creative director, Quintus Studios, said: “You have to be nimble in this current climate, so when the opportunity arose to produce a long-form version of Outsmarting, we acted quickly to make it happen.”