ViacomCBS International Studios partners with emerging talent in the UK

Iman Qureshi (photo: Bessell Photography)

CONTENT LONDON: ViacomCBS International Studios (VIS) has struck five first-look deals with emerging talent from the UK covering the media giant’s channels and platforms, including Paramount+.

Iman Qureshi (photo: Bessell Photography)

The first round of deals are part of an ongoing initiative by VIS intended to provide meaningful opportunities for diverse creators.

As a part of the strategy, the VIS content and production team has identified five writers from underrepresented groups in the UK, all of whom will have the opportunity to pitch five ideas to VIS over two years.

The writers – Morgan Bailey, Bec Boey, Chris Bush, Iman Qureshi and Kaamil Shah – were chosen based on their proven scriptwriting talent, their variety of interests and writing styles and potential to collaborate on distinctive development projects intended for Paramount+, ViacomCBS said.

VIS has committed to commissioning at least two projects to the treatment stage of development, and of those at least one will be taken to script.

The first-look deal programme was conceived and developed by Kate Laffey, VP of VIS, and Claire Sowerby-Sheppard, VIS’s head of development for the UK.

Chris Bush

The programme comes on the heels of the launch of VIS Social Impact, the new studio division of VIS dedicated to the development of social impact-driven content.

One of the first projects to come of out of this initiative is set to be announced at Content London tomorrow on a panel featuring Georgia Arnold, senior VP of social responsibility at ViacomCBS Networks International.

“As ViacomCBS continues its expansion of Paramount+ globally, it’s critical that we create content that speaks to all audiences. This new initiative will ensure we continue to infuse diversity, equity and inclusion into every aspect of our work, particularly our UK-originated content,” said Laffey.

Both the first-look deal programme and VIS Social Impact are part of Content for Change, a global ViacomCBS initiative that aims to counteract racism, bias, stereotypes and hate, on- and off-screen.