A muz Distribution has inked format licensing deals for Quebec-originated IP Les Boys (The Boys) for the U.S. and In Lieu of Flowers for France and Belgium.

U.S.-based Tucker Tooley Entertainment secured the rights to Les Boys, while Paris-based We Make Productions picked up format rights to In Lieu of Flowers. The deals were announced at MIPCOM in Cannes, which runs until Thursday (Oct. 19).

Les Boys centres on a group of friends as they face life’s daily challenges both on and off the ice. The 25-year-old franchise has spawned five films and a television series on Radio-Canada that ran for five seasons.

In Lieu of Flowers, originally produced by Montreal’s Zone 3, is based on the celebrity roast concept, with each episode featuring a guest star and a variety of sketches.

Cineflix Rights

Cineflix Rights has closed multiple sales for Cineflix Productions’ factual series Patrick Aryee’s Wild World.

Patrick Aryee’s Wild World (4 x 60 minutes) is produced by the Toronto- and New York-based prodco Cineflix Productions and U.K.’s Curve Media for Sky Nature. The series was picked up by pubcasters TVO and Knowledge Network for Canada, cable channel Odisea for Iberia, linear nature channel Ushuaia TV for France and BBC Asia.

Patrick Aryee’s Wild World explores the connections that link the tiniest of creatures of the planet to the mightiest carnivores.

CBC, meanwhile, picked up Hitler’s Engineers: Building the Third Reich from Cineflix Rights. The 6 x 60-minute series is produced by U.K.-based Like A Shot Entertainment for UKTV’s free-to-air channel Yesterday.

Media Ranch

Montreal-based producer and distributor Media Ranch and India’s Crazy Maverick Films have agreed to develop, co-own and distribute a slate of paper formats for global distribution, with an aim to partner and co-own with high-end industry talent.

The first partnership under the agreement is with Lucky Horseshoe, the recently launched prodco from country star Blake Shelton and The Voice producer and showrunner Lee Metzger. The initial deal is for two paper formats, including a new high-concept take on the dating series. Development will begin this fall, overseen by Media Ranch’s director of storytelling and business development, Philip Kalin-Hajdu.

Development and IP ownership for the first format will be with all three parties, with the focus on a strategic worldwide launch. Lucky Horseshoe will serve as the producer for the formats in North America, with CMF producing in India and Media Ranch marketing and distributing to the rest of world.

The goal of the partnership is to collaborate and co-develop to create new formats that appeal to a global audience, while identifying what makes each format feel local, personal and identifiable, with each company’s understanding of the nuances of their respective territories helping in the creative approach.

Off The Fence

Factual prodco and distributor Off The Fence (OTF) has sold the Go Button Media-OTF Studios copro Cursed Histories to broadcasters in Germany.

Cursed Histories (6 x 60 minutes), which is the second of a six-series partnership between OTF, Go Button and Super Channel, has been picked up by documentary channel ZDFinfo and Sky Deutschland.

The series looks at locations, icons and events that are seemingly cursed, exploring sites such as the tomb of Tutankhamun and Hope Diamond to the Lost City of Frenier.

BossaNova

London-based content creation and distribution company BossaNova Media has sold Go Button Media’s Castle Secrets and Mysteries of the Ancient Dead to A+E Networks in the U.K.

Castle Secrets (8 x 60 minutes) uncovers the construction secrets of historic castles and the lives of the people who lived within them. Mysteries of the Ancient Dead (6 x 60 minutes) uses latest forensics and advanced imaging techniques to explore the relationship of ancient civilizations with death.

With files from Realscreen

Photo courtesy of Amuz Distribution