BBC WW Ups Stake In Lookout Point; Factory 42 Launches With VR ‘Giselle’
BBC Worldwide has increased its stake in British drama producer Lookout Point from 35% to 49% with an option to take full ownership at a future date. Lookout Point, run by Chairman Simon Vaughan and his co-CEO Faith Penhale, was founded in 2009 and has become a leader in global drama financing. The company recently teamed with The Weinstein Co and the BBC on epic miniseries War And Peace. Its other credits include period crime series Ripper Street and Benedict Cumberbatch-starrer Parade’s End. The company is eyeing expansion as it launches a slate of new high-end drama including Mike Bartlett’s newspaper drama Press, for BBC One; Andrew Davies’ adaptation of Les Misérables, also for BBC One; and Oliver Goldstick’s post-war Paris fashion series The Collection, for Amazon Prime and France Télévisions. Lookout Point has also been collaborating as a financier with BBC Cymru Wales on period mystery drama The Living And The Dead, and with Sid Gentle Films on Len Deighton’s alternate history thriller adaptation SS-GB.
Former Sky channel head John Cassy and director Daniel Smith have formed immersive content production studio, Factory 42. The London-based company’s first commission will be a bespoke virtual reality experience for Sky. Inspired by the English National Ballet’s upcoming Giselle, Giselle VR will become one of the first pieces available on Sky’s new VR app which launches in October. Cassy is a 10-year Sky veteran who launched the Sky Arts Channel and was also director of 3D. Smith helmed the BAFTA-winning David Attenborough’s Natural History Museum Alive 3D, commissioned by Cassy, for Sky. Smith’s most recent VR scripted short, FlySpy, has won more than a dozen awards on the festival circuit, and stars Ophelia Lovibond. Factory 42 intends to work across film, TV and games on multiple platforms and using various technological innovations.
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