ELECTUS, QUEEN LATIFAH'S FLAVOR UNIT, PRINCIPATO-YOUNG
TO ADAPT HIT SINGAPORE FORMAT THE KITCHEN MUSICAL
FROM SMALL WORLD IFT
LOS ANGELES (October 13, 2016) -- Electus, an operating business of IAC [NASDAQ: IAC], today announced a partnership with Queen Latifah and Shakim Compere's company Flavor Unit Entertainment and Principato-Young Entertainment to adapt the Singaporean hit series The Kitchen Musical for the U.S. market. John Pollak, President of Electus International, initiated and negotiated the U.S. format rights deal with Tim Crescenti, president of Small World IFT, which most recently brought the hit series Better Late Than Never to NBC.
The format acquisition builds on Electus' reputation as a proven leader in sourcing and adapting the top formats from around the globe, including: No Tomorrow, adapted from the Brazilian series Como Aproveitar o Fim do Mundo, which launched this month on The CW; World's End, based on Icelandic dramedy Heimsendir and currently in production with TBS; Killer Women, adapted from the Argentine crime drama Mujeres Asesinas, which aired on ABC; and the Golden Globe-nominated and Peabody-winning Jane The Virgin, based on the Venezuelan telenovela, Juana La Virgen.
The Kitchen Musical tells the story of a young woman named Maddie who becomes the new sous chef of her father's famous restaurant, The Avilon. Maddie challenges the restaurant to reinvent itself and sparks her own journey of self-discovery in this innovative musical series packed with hit songs and vibrant choreography, set in the cutthroat world of the culinary arts.
"We are thrilled to be adapting this unique series for American audiences," said Pollak, "The Kitchen Musical blends two of the biggest trends in television today - musical programming and cooking competitions - to create a concept that audiences will love."
"Electus has an established track record of discovering the best formats from around the world and transforming them into hit series for American audiences," said Chris Grant, CEO of Electus. "The Kitchen Musical is our next step in a line of successes, and we are excited to be partnering with Flavor Unit to bring this adaptation to life."
Tim Crescenti of Small World IFT added, "The Kitchen Musical is a fantastic scripted format for local adaptation, and I am confident it will hit all the right notes for a US audience. Electus was the first call I made when I found this in Singapore from The Group where they had produced 13 episodes. "
Queen Latifah and Shakim Compere will executive produce for Flavor Unit Entertainment, Peter Principato, Paul Young, and Randi Michel will executive produce for Principato-Young Entertainment, and Chris Grant and John Pollak will executive produce for Electus. CAA, which represents Queen Latifah and Flavor Unit, will be the packaging agent for the series.
About Electus
Electus is the first integrated multimedia entertainment studio to unite producers, creators, advertisers and distributors under one roof and produce all forms of content for distribution across a variety of platforms around the world, including: broadcast, cable, digital, OTT and various emerging technologies. The company connects advertisers, distributors and content creators early on in the development process, enabling marketers and advertisers to be true partners in campaigns and content creation. Electus International, the global distribution arm of Electus, is responsible for all international sales and distribution for Electus' programming and its studio partners as well as programs and formats from other well-known 3rd party providers. Electus is an operating business of IAC [NASDAQ: IAC]. For more information on Electus, visit www.electus.com.
About Flavor Unit
Flavor Unit Entertainment is a production company owned and operated by Queen Latifah and her partner, Shakim Compere. Flavor Unit Entertainment is quickly establishing itself as one of the most important production companies in the film industry. They began by executive producing Disney's box office # 1 hit Bringing Down the House and then continued with Beauty Shop for MGM and The Perfect Holiday for Paramount. They have also produced The Cookout with Lionsgate, as well as the film Just Wright with Fox Searchlight. On the small screen, they executive produced HBO's critically acclaimed film Life Support which garnered a number of awards including an Emmy nomination and Golden Globe win for Queen Latifah . Flavor Unit Entertainment made a multi-year deal with BET to create new original programming including the original movie The Cookout 2 and its first-ever scripted romantic comedy titled Let's Stay Together which premiered with 4.4 million viewers. In 2011, Flavor Unit Entertainment's original film Single Ladies, was expanded into VH1's first hour-long scripted series with approximately 3 million viewers throughout its two season run. Lifetime's Original Movie, Steel Magnolias which stars Queen Latifah, Phylicia Rashad, Jill Scott and Alfre Woodard premiered in October 2012 as the third most-watched telecast ever on the network, averaging 6.5 million total viewers. Most recently, Flavor Unit co-produced HBO's original movie Bessie, which premiered on May 16th. Bessie stars Queen Latifah in the title role of Bessie Smith, who overcame her tempestuous personal life to become one of the most acclaimed performing and recording artists of the 1920s and '30s, earning the nickname "Empress of the Blues." Most recently, Flavor Unit produced The Real MVP: The Wanda Pratt Story, The Best Place to Be; Curvy Style with Timothy Snell, and The Perfect Match. Flavor Unit also recently partnered with Jesse Collins Entertainment to produce VH1's one-hour special event Dear Mama which premiered on Mother's Day, shining the spotlight on mothers. VH1 recently renewed "Dear Mama" as an annual special.
About Principato-Young Entertainment
Principato-Young Entertainment (PYE), one of today's top production and talent management companies within the film and television industry in the United States. Founded in 2000, Principato-Young Entertainment is an Emmy award winning production company that is currently producing the following television shows: Black-ish (ABC), Wet Hot American Summer: 10 Years Later (Netflix) and second season of Will Arnett's series Flaked (Netflix). Their past series include Married (FX), Key & Peele (Comedy Central), Running Wilde (Fox), Do Not Disturb (Fox), Reno 911! (Comedy Central), Players (Spike), Hollywood Residential (Starz), and Campus Ladies (Oxygen). In the feature film world, PYE most recently released New Line's Central Intelligence starring Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Hart, which has grossed more than $215 million worldwide. They had another New Line action-comedy hit this spring with Keanu, starring Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. Previous feature credits include the independent films Meet Me in Montenegro and Hell Baby.
About Small World IFT
Small World IFT was founded in 2005 by Tim and Colleen Crescenti to find, acquire and distribute the most unique and entertaining formats. With over 30 years of experience, producing over 160 shows in over 65 countries, Small World has placed five format titles on US networks and over 25 format titles in the rest of the world, including such titles as Silent Library and the 2009 Rose d'Or winning I Survived a Japanese Game Show on ABC. Other format finds include Miss Country Girl, and Grandpas Over Flowers which have all recently launched in additional countries in the past few months. Small World IFT signed an ongoing strategic deal with global entertainment company Content Media Corporation in 2012, which sees Content's management team and sales executives working closely with Small World to build a global formats sales company.
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