Feel good Formats and shared viewing, the core of Distribution360's evolution

Distribution360 (D360) was set up by parent company, Canadian producer marblemedia (currently best-known for hit Netflix show, "Blown Away"), just over 10 years ago. Like distribution businesses everywhere, "we have seen a lot of change over that time as the industry and media landscape has evolved, but I’m delighted to say that we’ve had a year of substantial growth that’s been driven by a wider corporate business strategy", noted Diane Rankin, SVP Rights and Executive Producer in an exclusive interview with Señal News.

D360 has always been known for its catalogue of factual titles and kids’ series from both marblemedia and a series of talented third-party producers. In the past year, "we doubled down on our original development adding significant resources and expanding my sales role to include development and executive producer responsibilities, working ever-more closely with the team at marblemedia," she commented. "We now have a thriving slate that includes scripted originals, kids and family comedies and a variety of exciting new competition formats with a wide range of partners," she added. 

At MIPCOM D360 launched its unique sand-sculpting format produced for CBC in Canada, "Race Against The Tide". "I’m pleased to say that we are arriving at MIPTV with the momentum of it being under option with leading producers in lots of key territories, including the UK, Germany and Australia. With all the incredible beaches in Latin America, we are excited to talk to local producers and discuss how to make this a viable franchise in the region," highlighted the executive.

The Canadian distributor is also starting to roll-out "Best in Miniature", another skills-based competition format, but this time the focus is on going small. Produced for CBC and discovery+ UK/Ireland, expert miniaturists are tasked with building their dream home in miniature form, room by room in painstaking detail, all at 1:12 scale.  

Bringing families together for shared viewing experiences is a big focus for D360, and something that inspired the fun family game show "Just Like Mom & Dad", which is available as a format or finished series. In this studio show, teams of kids and parents play along together to find out how well they know one another, with the chance to win a family trip of a lifetime. "We have also made a move into scripted family content, with 'The Parker Andersons / Amelia Parker' which are two halves of one interconnected series that follows the comedic everyday of a diverse, newly blended family," stated  Rankin. Half the episodes are told from the family perspective and half are told from the POV of tween daughter Amelia. The structure of this series makes it a truly unique opportunity for an adaptation as a scripted format.

"To further build on our ambitions in the kids and family space, marblemedia brought in AJ Trauth as VP of kids, who has built an exciting slate of new kids’ content for the international market. AJ and I are working closely together to find international buyers and co-production partners and we’ll be making our first announcement very soon, watch this space! ", she said.

In addition to in-house development, third-party content remains a core strength of D360 catalogue. "We’re proud to have specialist series like 'Titanic: Stories From the Deep' and 'Tales by Light' alongside the globally successful 'Super Simple' preschool franchise (640+ episodes across 16 series) and easily localised kids series like 'ScienceXplosion', 'Happy House of Frightenstein', and 'Yaya and Zouk'. The diversity across the catalogue and development slates creates tremendous opportunities.," Rankin concluded.

                                                                                                                                                                                           By Romina Rodríguez