ITV

Tag: Gary Goetzman

  • Tom Hanks to Produce ‘Factory Man’ on HBO

    Tom Hanks to Produce ‘Factory Man’ on HBO

    MUMBAI: Tom Hanks’ production company and HBO have bought the broadcasting rights for the bestselling book by journalist Beth Macy ‘Factory Man’ and is planning to develop the story into a miniseries.

     

    Actor Tom Hanks and producer Gary Goetzman plan to co-produce the project through their production company, Playtone, with Steven Shareshian serving as co-executive producer and Peter McGuigan as co-producer. The cast of the miniseries have not been decided yet.

     

    The book follows and chronicles the story of the Basset family in Virginia, who have been running The Basset Furniture Company since the early 1900s and became the world’s largest wood furniture manufacturer. However, in the ’80s, Asian countries and businesses boomed, placing the long-running furniture company in competition with its Asian counterparts. In order to keep up to the times and the demand in furniture at that time, the family was forced to outsource its labour and production overseas which meant that a lot of local Virginians lost their jobs in the process. This changed when John Basset III decided to take a stand and bring back the factory’s production to Virginia. The company currently has more than 700 Virginians working for the Vaughn-Basset Furniture Co. and has sales that total more than $90 million.

     

    This news comes after Hanks’ review of the book on twitter on 24 July, “Great summer reading. I give it 42 stars. No, I give it 142 stars. Yeah, it’s THAT good. Hanx.”

     

    Playtone is currently producing a miniseries based on Elizabeth Strout’s bestselling book Olive Kitteridge, starring Oscar-winner Frances McDormand. Playtone has also produced such Emmy-award winning hits like Band of Brothers, The Pacific and John Adams.

  • FremantleMedia International swings acquisition of The Sixties

    FremantleMedia International swings acquisition of The Sixties

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia International further expands its factual portfolio with the acquisition of global distribution rights (excluding the U.S.) to The Sixties, a 10 x 1 hour documentary series from CNN Originals. The series is executive produced for CNN/U.S. by the multiple EMMY® Award-winning producers Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman (HBO’s John Adams, The Pacific, and Game Change) of Playtone; and the EMMY® Award-winning producer Mark Herzog (History’s Gettysburg) of Herzog & Company (HCO).  FremantleMedia International will launch The Sixties at this year’s MIPTV market in April, 2014.

     

    The provocative and sweeping The Sixties explores the most transformative years of the modern era in America and beyond, examining how and why this decade became a period of such consequence and fascination.  From the assassination of JFK, the Cold War and civil rights, to social change and the British invasion with Beatlemania. The Sixties presents a unique view of this decade as it retraces the familiar and unearths the unknown.

     

    Through rarely seen archival footage, personal movies, interviews with eyewitnesses and expert commentary from a range of leading historians including David McCullough, Robert Dallek, and Robert Caro and prominent participants including Smokey Robinson, Carol Burnett, The Smothers Brothers, journalist Morley Safer, and political activist Tom Hayden; the series will reveal all of the key moments that helped to shape this pivotal decade.

     

    Hayley Dickson, Vice President, Television Acquisitions and Development, Global Content, FremantleMedia International, who collaborated with Stacey Wolf, Vice President for Business Affairs at CNN and HLN for the deal, said, “The Sixties is a truly paramount docu-series that is unlike anything that I have seen before. Featuring fascinating topics, beautifully remastered rarely seen archive footage, and award-winning producers Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, and Mark Herzog at the helm, this special series is already generating a lot of excitement throughout the US and we’re confident that it will be equally as popular around the world.”

     

    The Sixties is co-produced by CNN, Playtone, and Herzog & Company for CNN/US. The series launched on CNN in the US, in November 2013 with a 90-minute special episode, The Assassination of JFK (1963), timed with the observance of the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy and seen by 21.0 million total viewers and 8.2 million viewers in the coveted 25 to 54 age demo during 19 broadcasts.   

     

    The Assassination of JFK (1963) and The British Invasion will encore on CNN/U.S. with the full The Sixties series which is due to launch in May 2014.

     

    Visit FremantleMedia at MIPTV 2014 at Stand No. C11.A1 (Croisette 11, Aisle 1), Palais du Festival, 7 – 10 April