News and Press

ON AIR: BBC2: Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson; Sunday 26 July - 10:30pm - 12:00am

17th July 2009

Oscar nominated Director Alex Gibney and narrated by Johnny Depp.  2008 Theatrical release by Magnolia Films; & Executive Produced by Roy Ackerman for Diverse Production

The definitive film biography of Dr. Hunter S Thompson, a mythic American figure who launched a brash, irreverent, fearless style of journalism - named 'gonzo' after an anarchic blues riff by James Booker. Thompson is often described as an iconic crusader for truth, justice and a fiercely idealistic American way. The film focuses on his work, particularly his most provocative and productive period from 1965 to 1975.

Few journalists have attained the notoriety of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. His legendary status is due as much to his scintillating writing as his outrageous antics. He became a living legend whose persona often overshadowed his work. However, Thompson's steadfast ability to remain true to his convictions created an entirely new style of journalism, dubbed "gonzo," and has solidified his place in history as one of America's most influential writers and rebels.

Fueled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true iconoclast: goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steely-eyed obsession to right wrongs. Focusing on the good doctor's heyday--from 1965 to 1975--the film also includes clips of never-before-seen (and heard) home movies and audiotapes, and passages from unpublished manuscripts.

Director Alex Gibney intelligently interviews a broad spectrum of Thompson's peers and paints a three-dimensional portrait that reveals what a larger-than-life icon he was, a man whose actions both attracted and repelled the people closest to him. What's remarkable is how daring he truly was in taking on the establishment and how absent that voice is today. His passing created a void that may never be filled, but Gibney's terrific film, in doing justice to the writer, the legend, and the man, at least helps preserve his legacy.

12 January 2008 Sundance website : Gonzo in competition at Sundance

Gibney directed the Oscar shortlisted ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM and produced the Diverse coproduced film THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER.

DIVERSE APPOINTS LEADING INDUSTRY FIGURE ALAN BROWN

23rd June 2009

London, 23 June - Diverse, a Zodiak Entertainment company, today announces the appointment of Alan Brown, one of Britain's leading television executive producers as Creative Director across all of the Diverse Group.

Over the past ten years Alan Brown has originated and produced an extraordinary wide range of hit shows from factual entertainment formats, comedy entertainment panel shows and documentary series.

After several years as producer director at the BBC and Granada, Alan got his first executive producer credits at the BBC in Manchester under Wayne Garvie. There Alan created a string of new shows including the ground breaking nostalgia brand I 70/80s for BBC2. The format sold worldwide and became the #1 show for VH1 in the USA.  Alan went on to join BBC Factual as an executive producer on high profile series such as ‘Great Britons' and ‘Reputations'. In 2003, Alan became a BBC Senior Commissioning Executive for Entertainment ordering the first British series of business formats, ‘The Apprentice' and ‘Dragons Den'. After two years, Peter Fincham and Daisy Goodwin took him to talkbackThames as a key creative, running the factual/comedy entertainment shows. This included the second, audience breakthrough series of ‘The Apprentice', he extended the brand with the spin off show ‘You're Fired' with Adrian Chiles. In comedy entertainment he oversaw the revival of ‘Never Mind The Buzzcocks'.

Returning to BBC Production in 2007, Alan created and produced the fifteen part reality show ‘The Restaurant' featuring chef Raymond Blanc,. It's success led to an offer to join Daisy Goodwin, this time at Silver River as a Creative Director, Alan made one of the hit features hit shows of the year, ‘Grow Your Own Drugs' with new talent James Wong for BBC2 and launched the very successful ‘Oops TV' with Justin Lee-Collins for SkyOne.

The quality and originality of his work have won him recognition and awards from The Royal Television Society, BAFTA, Grierson and the Rose d'Or.

Commenting on Brown's appointment, Paul Sowerbutts, Managing Director of Diverse said today "I am extremely pleased to welcome Alan to our team. His enormous enthusiasm for the industry and creative spirit will be of immense value to Diverse as we expand the group and grow. We always seek to keep a creative edge over our competitors and with Alan on board, we will be able to build on our reputation for great factual programmes into shows across the entertainment genre. I expect Alan to offer great leadership in his initial role as Group Creative Director and to take on further responsibilities both within Diverse Group and Zodiak Entertainment."

Speaking of his appointment Alan Brown said "I am sad to leave Silver River, it's a great place to work and it's really tough to leave behind shows such as ‘Grow Your Own Drugs'. However, Diverse offers me a great opportunity to develop professionally. Diverse was one of the pioneers of independent British television. For 25 years it has had a reputation for creating quality factual programmes in London, Bristol and the USA.  Now, with the backing of Zodiak Entertainment, the company can build on this reputation, broaden its output and create some powerful factual and entertainment brands for Britain's broadcasters and the world market".

Beat Your Host beats ITV’s average [Beat The Star, UK]

24th April 2009

Will Ferrell goes wild for 'Man'

15th April 2009

Actor to guest on Discovery Channel show.

Will Ferrell is crawling into the extreme trenches with Bear Grylls for an upcoming episode of Discovery Channel's "Man vs. Wild."

Discovery announced Ferrell's guest stint, set to air in June, at its Wednesday upfront presentation in Los Angeles. Also at the presentation -- the last of its upfront showcases around the country -- Discovery execs cheered the strong ratings from Tuesday night's season-five bow of "Deadliest Catch."

The Thom Beers-produced "Catch" easily won the night in cable, averaging 4.2 million viewers -- up 23% from its season-four bow -- and a 2.0 rating/5 share with adults 18-49, its best number in the demo ever. The "Deadliest Catch" lead-out also helped fuel solid numbers for the premiere of "Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment."

Also at Discovery's presentation, net execs mostly highlighted a slate already announced earlier this month, which, beyond "Man vs. Wild" and "Deadliest Catch," also includes "Mythbusters," "Storm Chasers" and "American Loggers." Discovery also will bow specials such as "Engineering the Universe," "Mega Beasts" and "Discovery Atlas."

In addition, Discovery is prepping the six-hour special "Out of Egypt," starring renowned Egyptologist Kara Cooney, who shows how the ancient civilization's practices spread throughout the world. Other Discovery specs doubling as backdoor pilots include "Weaponizers" and "Belly of the Beast," hosted by Rossi Morreale.

Ferrell's "Man vs. Wild" seg is tied to the June 5 release of the thesp's Universal release "Land of the Lost."

Ferrell's appearance is part of a larger partnership between Discovery and Universal Pictures. Discovery previously integrated U's "Frost/Nixon" into an episode of "Cash Cab," while the studio's "Fast and Furious" was linked into an episode of Discovery's "Destroyed in Seconds."

In the "Man vs. Wild" episode, Ferrell joins Grylls in the far north of Sweden, where they spend 48 hours performing tasks such as rappelling down hundred-foot frozen waterfalls, tandem-abseiling off a helicopter and staying warm overnight in subzero temperatures.

The two also find food in the forest, improvise snow shoes and drink their own urine.

"Will did an amazing job in subzero, very unforgiving conditions," Grylls said. "He trusted me when it mattered, and we survived. ... He should be very proud of how he performed."

Ferrell called the stint on "Man vs. Wild" "a thrill of a lifetime, even though I did get urine-drunk, which is sad."

Discovery Channel prexy-general manager John Ford noted that the duo not only share a snow shelter but eat reindeer eyeballs together.

"That says it all," Ford said.

Discovery Communications ad sales prexy Joe Abruzzese points to the Ferrell guest spot as an example of working closely with advertisers on content integration, while Universal Pictures media promotions VP Annah Zafrani called it the studio's "most innovative project to date" with Discovery.

"We're able to connect 'Land of the Lost' to Bear's fans -- people who love adventure and mysterious worlds," Zafrani said.

DIVERSE LONDON UPS MARK ROBERTS TO HEAD OF FACTUAL

6th March 2009

"Gonzo" in cinemas from Friday 19th December

30th November 2008

Gonzo : The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

click >  http://www.diverse.tv/programme/GONZO-The-Life-and-Work-of-Dr-Hunter-S-Thompson-4689.html?filter=type_

http://www.huntersthompsonmovie.com    (view trailer)

 The ViewLondon Review

Worth seeing?
Gonzo is a hugely entertaining documentary that will have you running to the nearest bookshop to pick up Thompson's work. Highly recommended. 

Superbly directed, hugely entertaining documentary that's a treat for both newcomers and aficionados of Thompson's work.

What's it all about?
Directed by Alex Gibney, Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson paints a fascinating portrait of one of America's most notorious journalists. The title, Gonzo, refers to the uniquely personal style of journalism that Thompson created, putting himself into the story and writing with a passionately partisan, no-holds-barred style that was both shocking and exhilarating at the same time.

Narrated by Johnny Depp (who played Thompson in Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas), the film concentrates on Thompson's most productive period, between 1965 and 1975, using a wealth of material that includes audio clips, home movie footage, photos and lengthy passages from his books and articles, as well as interviews with friends, colleagues, people he wrote about (including former President Jimmy Carter) and both his ex-wives. There are also sections on the making of Fear and Loathing, Thompson's fascinating coverage of the 1972 Presidential campaign and even an acknowledgement that Thompson hated Garry Trudeau's caricature of him in his Doonesbury strip.

The Good
Thompson also had a legendary appetite for excess, particularly of the drink, drugs and guns variety and the film doesn't shy away from that side of things, just as Thompson himself embraced his lifestyle in his writing. The film also takes an unusually unsentimental view of his suicide in 2005, since Thompson had always said that he'd do it (his spectacular funeral, in which his ashes are fired from a rocket launcher, is also included and was apparently bankrolled by Depp).

The Great
Gibney keeps a tight grip on the material, spending just the right amount of time on each section before moving on. As such there are some terrific sequences, particularly the scenes involving Thompson's destruction of Edmund Muskie's 1972 campaign by talking about his addiction to a made-up drug called Ibogaine.

Review byMatthew Turner 27/10/2008

****

The New York Times - Movie Review by A. Scott

Directed by Oscar Nominated Alex Gibney, it will air in Britain as a Storyville on the BBC, and was in competition at Sundance.

Few journalists have attained the notoriety of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson. His legendary status is due as much to his scintillating writing as his outrageous antics. He became a living legend whose persona often overshadowed his work. However, Thompson's steadfast ability to remain true to his convictions created an entirely new style of journalism, dubbed "gonzo," and has solidified his place in history as one of America's most influential writers and rebels.

Fuelled by a raging libido, Wild Turkey, and superhuman doses of drugs, Thompson was a true iconoclast: goring sacred cows with impunity, hilarity, and a steely-eyed obsession to right wrongs. Focusing on the good doctor's heyday--from 1965 to 1975--the film also includes clips of never-before-seen (and heard) home movies and audiotapes, and passages from unpublished manuscripts.

Director Alex Gibney intelligently interviews a broad spectrum of Thompson's peers and paints a three-dimensional portrait that reveals what a larger-than-life icon he was, a man whose actions both attracted and repelled the people closest to him. What's remarkable is how daring he truly was in taking on the establishment and how absent that voice is today. His passing created a void that may never be filled, but Gibney's terrific film, in doing justice to the writer, the legend, and the man, at least helps preserve his legacy.

Gibney directed the Oscar shortlisted ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM and produced the Diverse coproduced film THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER.

ZODIAK ENTERTAINMENT UNVEILED AS THE NEW FORCE IN THE PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF GLOBAL CONTENT

26th November 2008

London, 26 November - At a briefing today in London, Lorenzo Pellicioli, CEO of De Agostini Group and CEO of Zodiak Entertainment, unveiled details of the brand new company set to rival all existing international content groups.  Zodiak Entertainment will spearhead De Agostini's move into the global television content market.

The creation of Zodiak Entertainment follows De Agostini's recent raft of acquisitions to ramp up its media and communications division with some of the major and most experienced players in international television content, including Magnolia Productions, Marathon Group and Zodiak Television Group.

At its launch Zodiak Entertainment already has an enviable number of advantages over its competitors: a strong international footprint with a direct presence in more than twenty territories, a full range of scripted and unscripted programming, a group of award-winning, international creative teams and a highly successful distribution company. In terms of results, at the end of 2008 Zodiak Entertainment has forecast over 400 €MN as revenue and more than 70 €MN in terms of EBITDA.

The new company, headquartered in Paris, is made up of many of the most internationally renowned and respected brands in television and content production in the world today, including 5th Element, Adventure Line Productions, Broadcasters, Bullseye, Diverse Production, Dixi Media, Jarowskij, Kanakna, KM Productions, Lucky Day, Magnolia, Marathon, Mastiff, Mastiff Media, Neo Network, Palm Plus, Quadrio, Red House, Social Club Productions, SOL, TeleAlliance Media Group, Télé Images, Yellow Bird, YS Films.

All of these award-winning and highly successful companies are creators of diverse and popular shows from animation to documentary and drama to video clips.  They are also well known for their expertise and experience in producing outstanding ratings winning local versions of third party entertainment formats on behalf of international broadcasters.  Zodiak Entertainment will continue to build on these longstanding and beneficial relationships with its broadcast partners.

Zodiak Entertainment programming includes a wide range of productions such as, Adiboo Adventures, Atomic Betty, Agathas's Double Beat the Star, Anna e I 5, Beyond Boundaries, Bloody Mountains, Born Survivor - Bear Grylls, Born To Be Wild, Camera Caffè, Celebrity Survivor, Dolmen, Exit, Famous 5, Fort Boyard, Gormiti, Hombres y Mujeres, Il Protagonista,  Isola dei Famosi/Supervivientes, Italia next top model, Koh Lanta, La Ghigliottina, Land Rover G4 Challenge, L' Eredità, Lyrics Board, Ma come ti vesti, Marsupilami, Millennium, Monster Buster Club, Nanny 911, Operatunity, Paris Stories,  Peking Express, Saint Tropez, Ricomincio da qui, Ricominciare, Scacco Al Re, Sexarama, Sisterhood, SoS Tata, Stars on Stage, Strictly Come Dancing, Studio 24, Street Football, Summer Crush, Supernanny The Amazing Spies, The Great Savannah Race, The Queen and the Cardinal, The Star Parivaar Awards, Team Galaxy, Totally Spies!, Tribal Wives, Twist & Shout, X Factor and Wallander.

Lorenzo Pellicioli also announced names of the members of the Zodiak Entertainment Strategic Committee who will support him in strategy development and operational management.  The highly regarded, dynamic and exceptionally experienced executives who will take the new company forward are Laurent Boissel, Chief Financial Officer; Pascal Breton Senior Vice President, Fiction; Vincent Chalvon-Demersay, Senior Vice President, Animation; Giorgio Gori, Senor Vice President, Light Entertainment and Patrick Svensk, Senior Vice President Mergers and Acquisitions/Business Development.  

Paolo Ceretti, General Manager of De Agostini Group, will also join the committee.

Lorenzo Pellicioli commented, "The creation of Zodiak Entertainment today confirms our commitment to create a worldwide leading brand, producing creative entertainment content for television and new media.  Consolidating and building on the strong relationships with broadcasters, which we have inherited from these excellent businesses, gives us a huge advantage in a very competitive marketplace.  We are also investing in new and exciting talent to create even better, dynamic and popular programming in the areas of both scripted and non-scripted. We also intend to significantly extend our reach in developing programming for new platforms, as well as growing our consumer products, licensing and publishing units into a substantial and lucrative global business utilising the advantages and synergies from collaboration between Zodiak Entertainment and De Agostini's other fields of activity, particularly publishing (De Agostini Publisher) and the gaming sector (Lottomatica / Gtech)."

He added, "Our main focus going forward will be to combine organic growth with further acquisitions and strengthen our position both in the UK and US, as well as in high growth emerging markets. This strategy will support our ambition to become one of the key international players in the TV content market in the next three years by achieving our revenue target of 800-1000 €MN and EBITDA of 130-150 €MN and being ready to list the company on a stock exchange"

For further information contact:

Klara Halkjaer, Zodiak Entertainment Sas

Tel  +44 781 804 8802 klara.halkjaer@zodiakinternational.com

Laura Saunders, The Lippin Company Ltd

Tel: +44 203 008 5407 laura@lippingroup.com

De Agostini Group is a financial conglomerate with international interests in publishing, gaming, finance and media and communication.  A privately owned company created in 1901 by the De Agostini family, the Group is now operating on a global scale in a wide variety of industrial sectors with a large portfolio of financial investments.   

De Agostini Publishing, the sub-holding of the Group's publishing activity, is active across 30 countries with publications available in 13 different languages.  

De Agostini Communications specialises in three different Media & Communication sectors: content production, spearheaded by the launch of Zodiak Entertainment which comprises some of the most successful companies in the industry, including Magnolia, Marathon and Zodiak Television; broadcasting via Antena 3 de Televisión (Spain); and distribution by Mikado Film (Italy).  

De Agostini also counts Lottomatica / Gtech, one of the leaders in the international market of games and lotteries, and DeA Capital, investors in private equity and alternative asset management, amongst its extended portfolio.

DeAgostini says new TV unit will double profit in three years

26th November 2008

DeAgostini says new TV unit will double profit in three years

26th November 2008

Italian media company DeAgostini has created an umbrella brand, Zodiak Entertainment, for its production and distribution activities and says the entity will double revenues to €1 billion within three years.

Unveiling the new unit at a London press conference, DeAgostini CEO Lorenzo Pellicioli said that the company has a significant war chest for acquisitions and is looking to buy content-owning companies, specifically in the US and UK.

Having acquired Marathon and Zodiak, DeAgostini already owns a raft of TV production companies that were part of these groups, including Bullseye, Diverse, Jarowskij and Yellow Bird. It also owns Italian producer Magnolia and across the group the catalog stretches to 5,000 hours.

The new group will divide distribution activities across two bases, one in London where Zodiak's sales operation is already headquartered and one in Paris, where Marathon is based. The French base is expected to handle distribution of scripted programming and the London based unscripted.

DeAgostoni is attempting to build an "international leading brand in the production of creative entertainment content for television and new media," Pellicioli said. Once established the idea is to float the company while remaining the controlling shareholder, as DeAgostini has done with various other offshoots, he added.

A key tenet of Zodiak Entertainment's strategy is acquiring producers in the UK, US and, unspecified, high-growth markets. DeAgostini is also a major shareholder in Spanish free-to-air broadcaster Antena3, but Pellicioli said the company's attention in the TV sector is now firmly focused on production and distribution.

source: Television Business International

"BEAT THE STAR" TO RETURN

13th October 2008

TRIBAL WIVES 2 - Do you want a life changing experience?

12th October 2008

After the success of the first series, Diverse Bristol is making a second series of Tribal Wives for BBC2.

We are looking for British women to spend one month living with a tribe in a remote area of the world.  It could be anywhere from Papua New Guinea to Sub Saharan Africa or Northern Greenland.

It's a unique opportunity to find out about some of the oldest and most unknown communities in the world. It's also a chance to challenge yourself and experience a completely different way of living.

This will be a tough challenge both physically and emotionally, and we are looking for women who have the strength of character to integrate themselves with the tribe. This could include initiation rituals, ceremonies and traditional practices.

You must have a sense of adventure, the ability to step outside your comfort zone, and feel comfortable being filmed and sharing your experience on camera.

You need to be available for a one month period between February and November 2009.

If you are interested, download the Application Form at the bottom of this page.

and send it back ASAP. Please attach a photo to the form.

Please submit the form via: 

Email: tw2@diverse.tv

Fax:  +44 (0) 117 930 4368

Post: 

Tribal Wives Casting
Diverse Bristol
5^th Floor
Embassy House
Queens Avenue
Clifton
Bristol BS8 1SB

Application Form (MS Word format)

DIVERSE BRISTOL EXPANDS PRODUCTION TEAM WITH NEW HIRE

1st October 2008

Red House opens doors in London

28th February 2008

JOHN SILVER LAUNCHES RED HOUSE TELEVISION

28th February 2008

Beat The Star - Vernon Kay signs with ITV

30th January 2008

ITV orders Beat Your Host remake

30th January 2008

ITV to Air British Version of Beat Your Host

30th January 2008

ITV buys German gameshow

30th January 2008

Broadcast interview: Paul Sowerbutts and Roy Ackerman

22nd November 2007

LUCKY DAY PRODUCTIONS - Diverse to set up new indies

22nd November 2007

Zodiak Appoints for London Distribution Office

12th November 2007

Organizational changes in Zodiak Television

12th November 2007

Diverse shake up Factual Division, signing Cricks & Roberts

4th October 2007

Why We Fight Wins Peabody Award

5th April 2007

Diverse joins Zodiak Television

18th October 2006

Diverse in Top 100

20th September 2006

Diverse ups Smyth, poaches Wall to Wall's Tait

1st September 2006

After the War wins RTS

27th June 2006

Young Black Farmers wins at Banff

14th June 2006

TV Show Decodes British Museum Treasures

22nd May 2006

More4 repeats Musicality

4th May 2006

Diverse named in top 100

13th April 2006

Film London / Diverse Placement Scheme

23rd March 2006

BBC Regional Development Programme

8th March 2006

Global Partnership Announced

14th February 2006

FBC on acquisition hunt

9th January 2006

FBC MEDIA GROUP APPOINTS FORMER CHANNEL 4 SENIOR EXECUTIVE

15th December 2005

Operatunity Oz

8th December 2005

THE MARKETING BRIEF FROM HELL

14th November 2005

American know-how helps vicar breathe new life into parish

7th November 2005

In God They Now Trust

6th November 2005

Thank heavens for reality TV: +óGé¼-£Priest Idol+óGé¼Gäó show helps to save church that didn+óGé¼Gäót have a prayer

5th November 2005

Diverse woos Richardson

3rd November 2005

Second helpings for Beyond Boundaries

2nd November 2005

Channel 4 Programme Highlights - November 2005

2nd November 2005

BBC2 goes Beyond Boundaries again

1st November 2005

Diverse produces tsunami documentary

17th October 2005

Greatest Ever Movies

14th October 2005

Beyond Boundaries II: Africa

14th October 2005

C21 Interview

30th September 2005

Televisual Magazine

28th September 2005

Gone to the Dogs

25th September 2005

The Trouble With....

6th August 2005