EXCLUSIVE: National Geographic has been shopping in Europe for true crime.
The Disney-owned network acquired U.S. rights to the ten-part series Missing Presumed Dead from Berlin-based Quintus Studios, which sells the show on behalf on UK producer Spirit Studios.
The agreement is one of several Quintus has struck, with the others coming for German-made doc series Behind Bars – The World’s Toughest Prisons.
Missing Presumed Dead follows the real life-stories of people who vanished, from their own perspective and those of the people who found them. These include items on a British family who became lost at sea, kidnap and torture victim Peter Shaw, aid worker Ian Purchase, who was taken by the Taliban, and journalist Michael Scott Moore, who was captured in Somalia.
The Nat Geo deal follows an original co-production deal Quintus struck with Hearst Networks EMEA, which secured rights in the UK.
When we first revealed the series in February last year, the deal was noted to include rights for Hearst (then A+E Networks EMEA) nets in Benelux, CEE, Greece and Middle East, and the Sky Crime channel in Italy. Quintus also distributed it globally outside the UK on its FD Crime channel.
Matt Campion, Spirit Studios’ Creative Director, has dubbed the series “a true crime show with a happy ending.”
Behind Bars – The World’s Toughest Prisons, meanwhile, has sold to Viasat World, which took Season 2 for its Viasat Explore channel in Central and Eastern Europe, the Baltics and Scandinavia. Mediawan has taken French rights to Season 3, while CH Media in Switzerland landed Seasons 3 and 4. Discovery Latin America bought Season 5.
The series offers a raw look at daily life inside fix of the world’s toughest correctional facilities, looking at the harsh realities faced by both prisoners and guards. It has broadcasted on the likes of Discovery, A&E and N-TV.
“These deals highlight the strong international demand for impactful, character-driven factual storytelling,” said Anouk van Dijk, Head of Sales & Co-Productions at Quintus Studios. “Both series deliver premium content with real global resonance, and it’s exciting to see them continue to travel to major broadcast partners around the world.”
Besides distribution, Quintus owns and operates a portfolio of AVOD channel brands that reach more 13 million subscribers in total. These include Free Documentary, which has 5.4 million YouTube subscribers, FD Real, FD Crime, FD History, FD Nature, FD Paranormal and ENDEVR.
