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The BBC has commissioned feature documentary “Abba: Against The Odds” to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the iconic Swedish group winning the Eurovision Song Contest, which takes place this year in Sweden. The documentary will be produced by multi-award winning documentary makers Rogan Productions (“Freddie Mercury: The Final Act”) and directed by James Rogan. It will tell the story of Abba’s greatest period of musical achievement framed between the albums “Arrival” (1976) and “Super Trooper” (1980).

The film is funded by several European broadcasters including BBC, Ard/Wdr, France Télévisions, Svt and Dr. It will feature access to Svt (Swedish public television) archives including rare footage that captures the band’s rise to fame and the negativity they faced at home.

In the U.K. the film will be shown on BBC One and iPlayer in May. BBC Studios will distribute the film internationally and will present it to buyers at BBC Studios Showcase,...

Exclusive: It’s a big week for husband-and-wife production duo Luke Hyams and Sunita Mirchandani Hyams.

Not only does their debut documentary, The Sidemen Story, launch tomorrow (February 14) on Netflix in the UK, but this interview with Deadline is the first they’ve given since the launch of their indie cross-cultural producer Pangaea.

In a wide-ranging chat that interrupts a break in Jamaica — what they call their “first holiday in quite a few years” — they talk about the gruelling hours of work that went into shooting and producing a doc on British YouTube stars The Sidemen, the state of the UK production sector and a slate that includes Work in Progress, a talk show in which UK TV host, broadcaster and creative Julie Adenuga quizzes major public figures.

Hyams is the former Head of Originals for YouTube Emea, Director of Global Content for The Walt Disney Company and the creator...

The Sidemen are celebrating Valentine’s Day on Netflix. On February 14, the creator group consisting of members Ksi, Zerkaa, Miniminter, Vikkstar123, Tbjzl, W2S, and Behzinga will premiere The Sidemen Story, an original documentary that will track the septet’s rise from its humble beginnings to YouTube glory and beyond.

According to Deadline, the doc has been in the works since 2022. The Sidemen confirmed the project’s distribution deal on X, where the group’s official account shared the Netflix logo and the cryptic message “coming soon.”

Luke Hyams will direct The Sidemen Story, with Sunita Mirchandani Hyams producing through the Hyams’ media venture Pangaea. The directing half of the Hyams is well-versed in Sidemen lore, as he previously served as YouTube’s Head of Originals for the Emea region.

Hyams left YouTube in 2022, when the platform pivoted away from original programming. The Sidemen previously landed a YouTube Original of...

Netflix has acquired a doc about British YouTubers The Sidemen — the debut project from former YouTube Emea content chief Luke Hyams’ production company.

A teaser posted yesterday on social media for uber-popular group confirmed the Netflix deal for The Sidemen Story, with a launch date of February 14 set.

Hyams is directing, with Pangaea co-founder Sunita Mirchandani Hyams producing. Arcade Media is also attached. Luke Hyams said the doc would follow “an inspirational decade plus [a] story of friendship, ambition, perseverance and seven grown men who still love to play Hide N Seek.” It includes behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, including contributions from the group, commentators and industry sources.

The doc has quietly been in the works since 2022.

The Sidemen — a group comprising web personalities Olajide ‘JJ’ Olatunji (Ksi), Simon Minter (Miniminter), Joshua Bradley (Zerkaa), Tobit ‘Tobi’ Brown (Tbjzl), Ethan Payne (Behzinga), Vikkstar123, and Harry Lewis (W2S) — have amassed well over 100 million subscribers across platforms,...

Jess Search, a British documentary veteran who co-founded the Doc Society, died July 31 of brain cancer. She was 54.

Search’s death was announced in a Doc Society statement yesterday, which said she had died peacefully surrounded by the love of her life Beadie Finzi, their children Ella and Ben, and friends.

The statement called Search a “beloved partner and parent, a brilliant friend, an industry catalyst, master campaigner, consummate producer, preternatural public convener, and mentor to many.”

“Jess leaves a global family who we know will continue to speak out on injustice, challenge the status quo and live lives of purpose with love in their hearts,” it added. “We consider ourselves to be ‘Lucky F***ers’ to stand beside all of you.”

Search announced that she had a brain tumour several weeks ago, at which point she unveiled the Independence Project – a global research project to “fully articulate the unique and vital contribution to society,...

Exclusive: YouTuber and Strictly Come Dancing finalist Joe Sugg is among the talent signed up to appear at the TellyCast Digital Content Forum in London later this month.

Online UK star Sugg recently launched Final Straw Productions and has branched out into acting, after finding fame online, where his YouTube channels have nearly 13 million subscribers. He appeared in the 2018 season of BBC One’s Saturday night show Strictly and is headed to the UK event, which takes place on November 30.

He’ll be appearing alongside execs from Meta, Snap, Channel 4, Itvx and BBC Studios, plus new UTA Emea brand clients exec Samantha Glynne, whose move from Fremantle Deadline recently revealed, and the manager of social media stars The Sidemen at the event, which takes place at BFI Southbank, home of the London Film Festival. The conference focuses on digital-first content and is being held for the first time by...

YouTube Originals is planning to stay focused on the U.K. market for the present and will release documentaries featuring British personalities, bestselling pop star Anne-Marie, music entrepreneur Posty and gamer Behzinga this fall.

“Currently we are keeping firmly planted in the U.K.,” Luke Hyams, head of YouTube Originals Emea, told Variety. “We are reviewing plans of expansion into other territories, but right now, for this year and the beginning of next year, we really are focusing on the U.K.”

The fall documentary season begins with four-parter “Together We Rise: The Uncompromised Story of Grm Daily.” Launching Sept. 28, it tells the story of YouTube channel Grm Daily, a leading platform for various U.K. rap genres, and its founder Posty, the young, Black, British entrepreneur. It is produced by Warner Music Entertainment and directed by Theo Williams.

Posty said: “The doc showcases the passion and hard work that...

YouTube has unveiled a trio of UK originals that will aim to provide profiles on three British talents through the lens of observational documentaries.

Together We Rise: The Uncompromised Story Of Grm Daily is a four-part documentary on grime and rap YouTube channel, Grm Daily, through the eyes of founder Posty. It drops September 28.

The series is produced by Warner Music Entertainment, with Kate Shepherd and Laura Collins executive producing. Theo Williams is the director, while Joss Crowley produces.

Renowned Films will make How To Be: Anne-Marie, a single film that will profile the singer-songwriter Anne-Marie as she emerges from the coronavirus pandemic.

Sally Freeman directs and executive produces alongside Kate Maddigan, Tim Withers, Max Welch and Duane Jones. Becky Mansell is the producer.

Finally, Ethan Payne — a member of YouTube star Ksi’s gaming and comedy crew — will be the subject of a three-part documentary on his journey from overweight gamer to marathon runner.

’The subject of Tackling Disruption: Industry, Platforms, Audiences’ was ideally suited to the circumstances.

Life during the coronavirus pandemic will surely see “TV shows and formats coming out of Zoom,” said Jordan McGarry, head of talent development and production at Film London, speaking during the virtual Cph:conference on March 25.

That kind of creativity is something she encourages and McGarry said she hoped filmmakers working across documentary and fiction will broaden their horizons beyond only 90-minute features destined for cinemas. “There are other opportunities for filmmakers and storytellers. The skills that our community has are so transferable. You don’t have...

YouTube is driving into the feature documentary space with a bold new film on drill music from one of the U.K.’s most celebrated documentarians.

The controversial genre represented in the Brian Hill-directed “Terms and Conditions: A U.K. Drill Story” has become inadvertently associated with violence and knife-crime in the U.K., and marks a daring step for a platform that has faced protests from groups demanding action against violent content on the site.

Luke Hyams, head of originals for Emea at YouTube, tells Variety that the platform’s new push for docs – particularly social issue-driven fare – comes from an awareness that content can disappear on YouTube, and must be provocative to stand out.

“It’s so important now in the age of social media and search and discovery that when you make something for YouTube, where content can get lost, (this film) can serve as a discussion starter.

British television presenter Rick Edwards attempts to levitate in the trailer for “The Edge of Science,” a new YouTube Original that is the first by BBC Studios for the platform.

In the special, Edwards and his team embark on stunts and carry out experiments to try to explain levitation, speaking to scientists, inventors and experts along the way. “I’m about to do something I’ve always dreamt of but never thought would be possible: levitate,” Edwards says in a darkened studio at the top of the clip.

The presenter said the show was a great fit, given his scientific leanings. “I’ve always been fascinated – fine, obsessed with – science, so I’m delighted that YouTube is letting me explore the mad stuff happening at its outermost reaches,” he told Variety.

The on-screen team on also includes plumber-turned-inventor and YouTube star Colin Furze, MIT physics graduate Dianna Cowern (Aka Physics Girl), Ines Dawson,...

YouTube is officially kicking off its shift to Avod (ad-supported video on demand) today by dropping the first season of its most popular original scripted series Cobra Kai, starring Ralph Macchio and William Zabka, in front of the paywall for a limited time.

The streamer also has set Season 2 premiere dates for comedy series Liza on Demand, headlined by YouTube star Liza Koshy., on September 25 and drama Impulse on October 16, along with free windows to catch up with each series’ first season.

As part of the kickoff, YouTube today also announced a pickup and October 8 premiere date for the Johnny Cash documentary film The Gift, which had premiered at SXSW, as well as premiere dates for a slate of three original European non-scripted programs announced at Edinburgh last week, including Virtually History, a special commemorating the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. In the coming months, YouTube...

After announcing plans to make all original programming free next month, YouTube’s content head in the Europe, the Middle East, and Africa -- Luke Hyams -- acknowledged that the company’s content strategy is in a transitional stage.

Hyams told Deadline that the company is not looking for scripted projects, but is setting its sights squarely on non-scripted shows. Reports first surfaced that YouTube was pulling back on premium scripted series stateside last November. Deadline reports that three of the service's hallmark programs -- Step Up: High Water, Wayne, and Dark Cargo -- were looking for distribution elsewhere.

Deadline reports that non-scripted content will continue to focus on music, education, and native personalities. To this end, YouTube has ordered three new series. BBC Studios’ The Edge Of Life, starring U.K. presenter Rick Edwards and YouTube inventor and stuntman Colin Furze (pictured above), will put bizarre science ideas to the test.

The BBC’s production division, BBC Studios, has won its first YouTube Originals commission, “The Edge of Science.”

Starring presenter and science enthusiast Rick Edwards and YouTuber Colin Furze, “The Edge of Science” will carry out a range of stunts and experiments to explore if it’s possible to levitate.

The presenters will meet the scientists behind research into acoustic and quantum levitation and test their theories through various stunts.

It is produced through BBC Studios Science Unit, and will premiere on the BBC Earth YouTube Channel in December 2019

The commission is one of more than 30 that BBC Studios has won since it launched as a commercial subsidiary of the BBC in April 2017, able to make shows for rival broadcasters and digital platforms as well as the BBC.

Its science commissions including “Fatberg Autopsy: Secrets of the Sewers” for Channel 4, “Under The Knife” for UKTV’s W channel, “Stargazing...

YouTube is in a “little bit of a transition” in terms of its original commissioning strategy, according to its European content exec Luke Hyams.

Hyams, who is Head of Originals, YouTube, Emea, confirmed that the digital platform is not looking for scripted projects and has commissioned a slew of non-scripted projects.

This comes after Deadline revealed that it had stepped up its scripted pullback in the States, with three projects previously earmarked for its YouTube Premium service, Step Up: High Water from Lionsgate TV, Wayne from Endeavor Content, and Dark Cargo from Entertainment One, looking for new homes. The pullback is part of a programming strategy shift for YouTube as it is moving from an Svod (subscription supported video on demand) to an Avod (ad-supported video on demand) model with a focus on music, learning and personalities fare.

Speaking at the Edinburgh International TV Festival, Hyams said, “In terms of...

YouTube is reaching for the stars as it prepares to launch its first high-end European scripted show, a 10-part sci-fi series entitled “Origin.” The drama was commissioned from the Sony-owned London-based Left Bank Pictures, and comes from creator Mika Watkins, who developed the show after working as a development assistant at Left Bank.

“Mika joined the company on a diversity scheme around five years ago,” Left Bank’s CEO Andy Harries tells Variety. “Within a few weeks we realized that she was very bright. Almost straight away we made her a trainee script editor.”

Prior to Left Bank, Watkins wrote her first screenplay at university, a Victorian Gothic retelling of the Doctor Faustus story. “It felt like the right medium for me. After that I got into writing professionally,” she says. She also penned two episodes of scripted content, for Sky’s “Lucky Man” and the BBC’s “Troy: Fall of a City.

Kayti Burt Nov 7, 2018

We talked to the cast and creator of YouTube Red's Origin, the streaming giant's next foray into original drama.

On November 14th, YouTube will combine the chocolate and peanut butter of genres with a relatively new format: the streaming service original drama.

The show is called Origin. It boasts two former Harry Potter actors in Tom Felton and Natalia Tena (the latter of whom is perhaps better known for Game of Thrones), high production values, and a new showrunning voice in Mika Watkins.

"I think it's a very versatile show," said Tom Felton when Den of Geek talked to the Origin cast and creator at last month's New York Comic Con. "I think people of all ilks will enjoy it. If you're into sci-fi, if you're in to characters, or if you're into the idea of the near distant future and what's going to be available to us.

Some 14,000 international TV executives, including around 5,000 buyers from over 100 countries, will be cruising down the Croisette in Cannes this weekend for the annual Mipcom market.

The sun is set to shine in the south of France and the major international distributors, including the Hollywood studios, will hope this helps shift their latest high-end dramas and non-scripted entertainment formats.

The Americans will be back in town, having largely given Mip TV in April a miss, with high-profile buyers from the FAANGs joining traditional buyers from the broadcast networks and cable stations. The likes of Apple’s Morgan Wandell, Hulu’s Craig Erwich, Amazon’s Cj Yu and Euro chief Georgia Brown, Facebook’s Toby Faulkner and Mina Lefevre and YouTube’s Luke Hyams are expected to be joined by Fox’s Rob Wade and teams from Bravo, FX, A+E Networks, Nat Geo and Discovery.

Hollywood talent chief Ari Emanuel will be...

The rise of the streamers is being felt on the business side of TV, in the markets where buyers and sellers congregate to trade programming. MipTV in April and Mipcom in October have traditionally been about distributing content territory-by-territory, but the world of TV, and its rights, has changed. That is increasingly evident in Cannes, where the theme this year is “the big shift.”

Laurine Garaude, director of Mipcom organizer Reed Midem’s television division acknowledges the impact of Ott and notes the Cannes markets have reflected that. “It’s been many years since Netflix first came to the show,” she says. All the digital platforms will be in town this year. “They are all present, in different ways,” Garaude says.

Speakers at Mipcom include Gong Yu, founder of Chinese streamer iQiyi, and Jennifer Batty, chief content officer at Southeast Asian Svod service Hooq. Matthew Henick will be talking Facebook Watch.

YouTube has ordered a pilot episode of the half-hour comedy It’s A Man’s World (working title), in which a woman who gets blacklisted from the gaming industry must pass herself off as a man to re-enter the field and continue supporting her family, Deadline reports.

Longtime TV writer Theresa Rebeck (Smash) is working on the series with scripter Heidi Schreck. The series will be produced by Assembly Entertainment in association with ITV Studios America.

The pilot order doesn’t mean It’s A Man’s World is guaranteed to get a full pickup from YouTube -- but if it were to do so, it would be joining a roster of 50 original series YouTube Premium plans to premiere in 2019. Luke Hyams, YouTube’s recently appointed head of originals in the Emea, said earlier this month that YouTube is seeking “personality-driven, authored pieces with the potential for international appeal.”

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

In a presentation today at the Edinburgh TV Festival, YouTube’s recently-appointed head of originals for Emea, Luke Hyams, said that the company plans to release 50 original series in 2019.

“We’ve had more than 65 shows and movies since [YouTube Premium] launched at the end of 2016, and we’ve got 50 shows releasing in 2019,” said Hyams -- who joined YouTube from Disney in December -- per The Hollywood Reporter.

In terms of what the service is looking for in future projects, Hyams said that it's seeking “personality-driven, authored pieces with the potential for international appeal” on the scripted front. In terms of comedy, YouTube Premium is considering “more serialized half-hours” than traditional sitcoms or stand-up specials. And on the unscripted front, YouTube is interested in “social impact stuff that is entertaining,” Hyams said -- including Priyanka Chopra’s interview series with inspirational figures titled If I Could Tell You Just One Thing.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

YouTube Premium is to debut 50 original series in 2019 and has got a range of celebrity-driven formats in development with producers of “all shapes and sizes”.

Luke Hyams, head of originals, YouTube, Emea, lifted the lid on the Google-owned company’s content drive in Europe, Middle East and Africa, at the Edinburgh International Television Festival.

Hyams revealed that it will launch these 50 shows next year, alongside its 65 existing originals and specials, in a variety of different ways, including putting some episodes up for free, while also balancing between full series binge drops and weekly episodes.

He told producers in the UK that he wants to work with local content, highlighting its recent Fulwell 73-produced series Training Days with Jack Whitehall, that can “take us into a new world” and The Sidemen Show. He also premiered a short clip from its forthcoming big-budget sci-fi drama Origin, which is produced by The Crown producer Left Bank Pictures.

As it pushes forward with its original-content and premium-subscription strategy beyond U.S. borders, YouTube is looking for character-centered dramas with international potential and comedies that depart from the usual sitcom template, said Luke Hyams, the online platform’s head of originals for Europe, Middle East and Africa.

“In scripted, we’re looking for personality-driven, authored pieces that have potential for international appeal and that take us into a new world or environment that maybe we haven’t seen in a drama before,” Hyams told a packed auditorium at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday. “Focus[ing] on one person’s narrative works really well for us.”

He cited “On Becoming a God in Central Florida,” an upcoming YouTube original starring Kirsten Dunst as a woman in 1990s Florida who works her way up the ranks of a Ponzi scheme-like company that drove her husband to his death.

On the comedy side,...

YouTube’s slate of original programming for its advertising-free premium service is ramping up, according to its head of originals Emea, Luke Hyams.

Speaking in front of a packed room of — mostly — TV producers at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday, the former Disney exec, who only joined the Google-owned video platform in December, touted the list of upcoming releases on the paid-for YouTube Premium service.

“We’ve had more than 65 shows and movies since it launched at the end of 2016, and we’ve got 50 shows releasing in 2019,” he said, adding that ...

YouTube Premium launched in a dozen new international territories Monday, making breakout streaming hit “Cobra Kai” and other original content available in countries including the U.K. and other European nations. YouTube Music also rolled out internationally, with the full album catalog of the Beatles part of the lineup.

Music is offered through an ad-supported free service with videos, albums, and concerts, or through Music Premium, which also removes ads and allows users to download. It costs £9.99 ($13.23) per month in the U.K. The paid version allows for downloads and listen in the background functionality.

The YouTube Premium and Music launches bring the services to new markets in a major push beyond the U.S. and the handful of other countries where the services are already available: Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and South Korea.

The paid-for, ad-free video and music streaming and download services are now available in the U.

Netflix is sending executive Diego Bunuel to the U.K. to oversee original factual programming out of its soon-to-open new London office, part of the the streaming giant’s increased emphasis on localizing its lineup of shows. Bunuel, who will relocate from Los Angeles, will commission original documentaries for Europe.

Netflix makes most of its programming decisions from L.A., but is expected to install content executives in its regional bases as part of its ramped-up localization effort. Bunuel, who has been with Netflix for about three months, was previously head of factual producer Explorer and is a former head of documentary at French pay-tv operator Canal Plus. A Netflix spokesman confirmed that Bunuel would be based in the British capital as director of original documentaries.

Netflix will move into a new Central London headquarters near Oxford Circus in the next few months, and Bunuel will work from there as part of the existing team.

YouTube’s is adding another show with British talent to its growing roster of originals with “The Sidemen Show.” The new series sees the eponymous group of YouTube personalities embark on adventures with celebrity guests including Nicole Scherzinger and Bear Grylls.

The U.K. is proving a key territory for YouTube in terms of its original programming. The recently-launched “Jack Whitehall: Training Days,” which is fronted by the eponymous comedian and produced by British indie producer Fulwell 73, was its first original out of Europe. Upcoming sci-fi drama “Origin,” from “The Crown” producer Left Bank, is in production.

Next up for YouTube’s global audience are “The Sidemen Show” and Whistle Sports-produced “F2 Finding Football,” a soccer-travel show in which the titular British freestyle skills experts seek out soccer culture from around the world.

The Sidemen are British-based and their series is being produced by L.A.-based Blue Ant Digital Studios and U.

YouTube has released the first trailer for its forthcoming celeb-laden reality challenge format The Sidemen Show, which will go live on its premium service on June 18.

As revealed by Deadline last month, the show, which is produced by Blue Ant Digital Studios in association with Antenna Pictures, features stars such as Dancing with the Stars winner Nicole Scherzinger, The Island’s Bear Grylls and British comedian Jack Whitehall.

Shot around the world, the show is a stunt, challenge format. Each episode will see the Sidemen, a group of young YouTubers that pal around playing computer games and winding each other up, challenged to perform a different task alongside a celebrity guest. I hear episodes were filmed in locations including the UK, Marrakech, Russia and Austria.

The Sidemen Show is executive produced by Dan Lubetkin, Jago Lee, Austin Long and James Tooley. Craig Pickles serves as Series Director. Chris Lore is Series Producer.

YouTube’s next original series — timed to dovetail with this summer’s 2018 FIFA World Cup — will follow the creators of popular YouTube soccer channel F2Freestylers on their global footballing adventures.

“F2 Finding Football,” produced by Whistle Sports, will premiere on the F2Freestyler’s YouTube channel on June 13. The original series follows soccer-skill specialists Billy Wingrove and Jeremy Lynch, the duo behind F2Freestylers. Part travel show, part sports show, “F2 Finding Football” features the guys kicking a ball through narrow alleyways of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas, mashing up trick-shots and tango in Buenos Aires, and eating live shrimp in Thailand.

In the show, the F2 travel around the world, visiting football pitches including in Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Iceland, France and Thailand, where they also meet up with celebrity guests. The F2Freestylers channel has garnered more than 1.3 billion views to date on YouTube.

“It’s been an unbelievable experience creating this series,...

YouTube’s first European original “Jack Whitehall: Training Days” is from the producers of “Carpool Karaoke,” and will look to take some of the production smarts of that series to the world of soccer, the host told Variety.

“The genesis of the idea was trying to make ‘Carpool Karaoke’ but for football,” Whitehall said. “Doing it in a World Cup year meant that we could also try to create the perfect format to get everyone excited for the biggest sporting event on the planet.”

Comedian and actor Whitehall meets some of the biggest names from the beautiful game in the ad-supported show, including Real Madrid’s Gareth Bale, Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho, and Colombian star Radamel Falcao (pictured). James Corden’s Fulwell 73 is on production duty.

The host deliberately took the stars out of their comfort zone and the stunts include sneaking England player Kyle Walker onto Simon Cowell’s “Britain’s Got Talent.

After greenlighting Training Days, its first European ad-supported original, YouTube has hired noted media exec Luke Hyams as its first-ever head of originals for Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.

Hyams previously served as director of global content at Disney and, before that, head of content for PewDiePie’s now-defunct Revelmode. His hire suggests that YouTube is ramping up international programming efforts, notes Variety, on the heels of the James Corden-produced Training Days -- an unscripted look at top European soccer teams ahead of the World Cup -- and Origin, a sci-fi thriller for YouTube Red from Left Bank, the British production company behind Netflix’s The Crown.

Visit Tubefilter for more great stories.

British horror thriller [pictured] sells to the UK, Scandinavia and Greece.

French genre specialist Wtf has secured a slew of sales on British horror thriller Xmoor about two American students who go panther tracking in a remote corner of Britain.

The picture, written and directed by Luke Hyams, has sold to the UK (Signature Pictures), Scandinavia (Njuta Films), Greece (Odeon) and is in negotiation for the Us.

The film follows two American students, played by Melia Kreiling and Nick Blood, who travel to Britain’s remote Exmoor National Park in search of it legendary panthers.

Animal tracker Fox joins them in their quest. Along the way, the trio stumbles across a series of dead bodies. It slowly dawns on them that are no longer the hunters but the hunted.

The picture is produced by Robert Jones, Wayne Marc Godfrey and David Gilbery whose other credits include Dead Snow 2 and Vehicle 19.

Other titles...

From horror in the America’s to FrightFest’s foray into spatial horror with Luke Hyams’ moorish horror X Moor and Adam Spinks’ Amazonian adventure Extinction/The Expedition. From hunting a fabled beast on the moors to being the hunted in the jungle, these two British films took the FrightFest audience from open to dense terrain for two different kinds of hunts.

In a three part interview feature we spoke with X Moor’s lead actors Mark Bonnar, Melia Kreiling and Nick Blood as well as director Luke Hyams, along with the writer and star of Extinction/The Expedition Ben Loyd-Holmes on being the hunter versus the hunted in beastial horror.

Concluding the feature Ben Loyd-Holmes reflected on creating a thrill ride for audiences that would offer an escape from reality, and inspire audience’s to re-think next year’s holiday plans.

Why a creative career? Was there that one inspirational moment?...

From horror in the Americas to FrightFest’s foray into spatial horror with Luke Hyams’ moorish horror X Moor and Adam Spinks’ Amazonian adventure Extinction/The Expedition. From hunting a fabled beast on the moors to being the hunted in the jungle, these two British films took the FrightFest audience from open to dense terrain for two different kinds of hunts.

In a three part interview feature we spoke with X Moor’s lead actors Mark Bonnar, Melia Kreiling and Nick Blood as well as director Luke Hyams, along with the writer and star of Extinction/The Expedition Ben Loyd-Holmes on being the hunter versus the hunted in beastial horror.

Luke Hyams continues the feature as he reflects on the cold harsh reality of helming a film on the moors of Northern Ireland, as well as making a path for oneself to cross the landscape of British film.

Why a career in filmmaking?...

From horror in the America’s to FrightFest’s foray into spatial horror with Luke Hyams’ moorish horror X Moor and Adam Spinks’ Amazonian adventure Extinction/The Expedition. From hunting a fabled beast on the moors to being the hunted in the jungle, these two British films took the FrightFest audience from open to dense terrain for two different kinds of hunts.

In a three part interview feature we spoke with X Moor’s lead actors Mark Bonnar, Melia Kreiling and Nick Blood as well as director Luke Hyams, along with the writer and star of Extinction/The Expedition Ben Loyd-Holmes on being the hunter versus the hunted in beastial horror.

Mark Bonnar, Melia Kreiling and Nick Blood commence the feature as they reflect on the cold and unwelcoming English moor that was the stage of their tale…

Why a career in acting? Was there that one inspirational moment?

Mark Bonnar...

Playing as part of this year's Film4 FrightFest is Luke Hyams' scare-a-thon X Moor, and right now we have the official trailer for you guys to dig on. You don't even have to take a flight across the pond to see it! Enjoy!

Melia Kreiling, Nick Blood, Mark Bonnar, Olivia Popica, and James Lecky star.

Synopsis

With their sights set on a £25,000 reward promoted by a local newspaper, American documentarians Georgia and Matt head to Exmoor in North Devon to film the fabled beast supposedly slinking through the remote terrain. Setting up a forest camp with an old acquaintance, the trio fix cameras to the trees and rocks, linked back to a computer nerve centre where nothing should go unnoticed. But then they discover some putrefying body parts all neatly tied up, and before long they realise they are in the lair of a beast right enough, but certainly...

Xmoor is poised to debut at FrightFest in London on August 25th and we've got a look at the trailer for the film from writer-director Luke Hyams. Watch it via the player here.

In the film, the impulsive and beautiful Georgia drags her unwilling boyfriend Matt to the remote English countryside to prove the existence of the legendary Beast of Exmoor.

The post Trailer Debut for FrightFest Entry Xmoor appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Debuting on August 25th at FrightFest in the UK is Xmoor, a "blood and guts horror film" from writer-director Luke Hyams. That's a look at the poster art you see here. Hyams has mostly done television work; before this, he helmed the UK film Dubplate Drama. In Xmoor, the impulsive and beautiful Georgia drags her unwilling boyfriend Matt to the remote English countryside to prove the existence of the legendary Beast of Exmoor.

The post First Details, Poster Art for the FrightFest Entry ‘Xmoor’ appeared first on Shock Till You Drop.

Called “The Woodstock of Gore” by Guillermo Del Toro, otherwise more commonly known to the rest of us as FILM4 FrightFest, has recently announced the line-up of its 15th annual instalment that runs from Thursday 21st to Monday 25th August. This year sees FrightFest relocate to a new home at the Vue West End, Leicester Square, which has become home to the annual FrightFest All-Nighter.

In the year that sees one of the world’s leading genre festivals set down new roots, the programme will take on an international flavour whilst ensuring it embraces both genre features and shorts with “sixty-four films plus twenty shorts across five screens. There are sixteen countries representing five continents with a record-breaking thirty-eight UK or European premieres and eleven world premieres.”

FrightFest organisers are labelling the 15th chapter as an historic moment in the festival’s growth. Are you ready for a monstrous and memorable mayhem of killer claws,...

The line-up for this year's Film4 FrightFest in London has just been announced – and boy, is it a doozy! Sporting a record-breaking 38 UK/European premieres and 11 world premieres, this August is going to be an exciting time in the genre calendar.

Check it all out right here, including lots of new images!

This year Film4 FrightFest will be moving from its previous home at Leicester Square's Empire Cinema to the nearby Vue Cinema (also on Leicester Square), prompting an ingenious reshuffle of the screening arrangements.

All main screen films will be presented at different times across three different screens, with two extra screens reserved for single-slot screenings of the various films hitting this year's Discovery Screens.

Here's the full list of goodies:

Main Screens (5, 6, 7)

Thursday Aug 21

Opening Night Film - The Guest (UK Premiere)

Director: Adam Wingard. Cast: Dan Stevens, Maika Monroe, Brendan Meyer, Sheila Kelley, Leland Orser. USA 2014. 99 mins.

Film4 FrightFest 2014, returning for its 15th year, unveils its biggest line-up ever. From Thurs 21 August to Monday 25 August, the UK’s leading event for genre fans will be at the Vue West End, Leicester Square, to present sixty-four films plus twenty shorts across five screens. There are sixteen countries representing five continents with a record-breaking thirty-eight UK or European premieres and eleven world premieres.

Are you ready for a monstrous and memorable mayhem of killer claws, cannibalism, cult classics, murderous musicals, chiller thrillers, graphic novel action and sick celluloid masterpieces? Then prepare yourself for the biggest, strongest and most eclectic must-see programme in Film4 FrightFest’s history.

From the opening night turbo-driven thrill-ride The Guest to the UK premiere of the closing night mesmeric sci-fi fantasy The Signal, FrightFest has netted the latest works from genre big-hitters such as Eli Roth (The Green Inferno), Alan Moore and Mitch Jenkins (Show...