Banijay Rights Sets First-Look Deal With U.K.’s Touchdown Films

By Robert Mitchell

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Banijay Rights has set a first-look deal with U.K. production company Touchdown Films, the company announced Wednesday. The deal will see , the international distribution arm of Banijay Group, and factual specialist Touchdown work together to develop and produce factual series covering history, crime and celebrity subjects.

The first project under the deal is one-off documentary “Apollo 8: The Mission That Changed the World” (pictured), which tells the story of the 1968 Apollo 8 mission. An archive documentary, directed by Touchdown founder John Osborne, “Apollo 8” relives the first ever manned mission to the moon, which captured the first color image of the Earth from space. The documentary features interviews with key people directly involved in the mission.

Emily Elisha, head of factual for Banijay Rights, said the deal with Touchdown would provide Banijay an exciting opportunity to develop programs with broad international appeal, especially those tied to landmark events and anniversaries such as this year’s 50th anniversary of Apollo 8.

“John Osborne has renowned expertise in unearthing previously unseen archive,” said Elisha. “Add to that his ability to secure strong contributors who can speak personally about the events featured and we believe we have a winning formula.”