Zodiak Entertainment Scores With Celebrity Coach

Zodiak Entertainment has announced the acquisition of international distribution rights to the much sought after format from co-producers Animo TV and Kite Entertainment, Celebrity Coach.
Currently airing in Ireland as Celebrity Bainisteoir, the series sees eight unlikely celebrities take the reigns of local amateur gaelic football teams for an all-Ireland tournament.
The show has been an indisputable hit in Ireland during Sunday night primetime on RTE1 and winning an average audience share of 36%. As a result, the second series was re-commissioned mid-season and a third series will enter pre-production in November this year.
Celebrity Coach has been optioned by Studio Lambert in the UK and US (headed by Steven Lambert, the creator of celebrated formats such as Wife Swap, Secret Millionaire and Faking It while at RDF Media), and to Screentime in Australia and New Zealand.
A proven ratings winner, Celebrity Coach is expected to garner much interest from international buyers at the forthcoming MIPCOM market in Cannes.
Flexible and versatile, the Celebrity Coach format may be applied to a range of sports, from European soccer to American football. Such ideas are already the subject of negotiation between Zodiak Entertainment and some of its international broadcast partners prior to the format's official MIPCOM launch.
Matthieu Porte, Zodiak Entertainment Head of Format Sales, said: "This format is fantastic, we're delighted to have secured it against fierce competition. Uniquely, it manages to satisfy audiences thirst for celebrity reality, whilst also providing a feel good narrative which will leave viewers feeling emotional and inspired.
"With the 2010 World Cup fast approaching, I am delighted to have such a topical format in the Zodiak line-up for MIPCOM."
Managing Director of Animo Television, Adrian Lynch and Managing Director of Kite Entertainment, Darren Smith, said of the new relationship: "As producers, it's key that we place our formats with the right distributor and for this one, it had to be Zodiak Entertainment - they simply 'get it' and have a real passion for the show.
"Some distributors saw it as just yet another celebrity-based football hybrid, but Zodiak managed to see beyond that and realise it can be a really smart piece of feel-good, uplifting TV that is as much about community and pride as it is about hair and make-up getting wet."
Visit the Zodiak Entertainment Stand: LR4 02 during MIPCOM, between October 5 and 9, 2009.
(KMcA/BMcC)