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Cannes, 9 October 2006. Beta Film picks up new American programs for international distribution. The rights sales company announced on Monday in Cannes that it will invest in the CBC event miniseries The Trojan Horse and handle international sales. Budgeted at ten million dollars, this secret-agent thriller about a White House conspiracy will be one of the major highlights of the coming year. Beta Film is also working with the U.S. broadcaster Lifetime and distributes Lifetime productions, including Last Trimester and the TV movie Obsession, which has already been successfully aired. Lifetime is a female-skewed broadcaster that focuses on in-house productions.
"We are delighted to be working with American partners," says Eric Welbers of Beta Film. "Our goal is to step up our investments in U.S. product following our co-operations with Paramount, Columbia and Hallmark." Beta Film has been distributing US productions for years now, including long-running series such as JAG and Sabrina – The Teenage Witch and miniseries such as Odyssey (with Christopher Lee and Isabella Rossellini). Most recently, the company group was involved in the production of the HBO series Rome as a co-producer.
The Trojan Horse (2 x 90') is the story of the journalist Helen who, while tracking down her son's murderers, uncovers a gigantic conspiracy that can change the balance of power in the entire world. The Whizbang Films miniseries (Director: Charles Binamé) stars Greta Scacchi (Robert Altman's "The Player") and Tom Skerrit ("Law and Order," Ridley Scott's "Alien") and is currently being shot. Last Trimester (Director: Mark Cole; starring Chandra West and Matthew Harrison) relates the story of Tracy and Eric, who want to adopt a child through a surrogate mother. When she is murdered, Tracy begins to have terrible suspicions. In Obsession (Director: David Winkler; starring Daphne Zuniga and Elise Gatien), the newly divorced Deborah and her daughter Erika fall under the spell of Erika's charming new dance teacher. They become part of a diabolical plan from which there seems to be no escape. Both TV movies (each 1 x 90') were produced by Thunderbird Films and Craig Anderson Productions.
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