Wall to Wall sends its Child into Europe. Ed Waller C21 21 Mar 2007
Child Genius, the Channel 4 documentary project that has been likened to landmark British social history series Seven Up, has been sold by UK indie Wall to Wall TV to networks across Europe.
In the run-up to MipTV next month broadcast deals have been struck by Wall to Wall's international sales team with buyers from YLE in Finland, TV4 in Sweden, Denmark's TV2, RTL in Holland and Spain's Documania.
Beyond Europe, the doc has been acquired by Yes Documentary Channel in Israel, Filmlux of South Africa, Hong Kong's ATV channel, Australia's Nine Network and Prime TV in New Zealand, said Wall to Wall's newly appointed sales exec Tess Charman.
"The demand for quality documentaries on universal themes continues to be strong in the international market. There is a real buzz around this fascinating project," said Charman, who joined the indie from Warner Bros International TV Distribution this week.
Child Genius follows 10 super-intelligent children and is a long-term commission from Channel 4's factual entertainment department, allowing Wall to Wall's producers to follow the children into their teenage years to discover whether their intelligence is a gift or a curse. Channel 4 has already aired the first feature-length film, drawing over three million viewers at 20.00 on February 7 this year, and the plan is to return to the 10 kids annually, Charman told C21. Wall to Wall is already in discussions with US broadcasters regarding an American version of Child Genius, which would add to previous US versions of its UK formats, such as Things I Hate About You (Bravo) and 1900 House (PBS).
