France and Europe-based media conglomerate and distributor Mediawan has acquired the European and Latin American format rights to CBC Gem series For the Record.

Produced by Anthology Productions and iThentic, the 6 x 15-minute digital series uses music to follow a couple who must divide their record collection after a break-up, with each episode driven by a specific song.

Mediawan, which has also acquired international distribution rights to the series, brought the format rights to MIPCOM.

Creator and producer Julian De Zotti tells Playback Daily he met with Mediawan following the series’ international premiere at SXSW via Telefilm and RDV Canada’s Meet the Series initiative for TV and web series producers.

“[For the Record] showcases how universal music is and how it can bring us together as a connector and a healer. Mediawan has responded to the universality of the format and how it can translate beyond Canada to throughout the world,” says De Zotti, adding that a “feel-good, heartwarming and emotional” series is a hot commodity in the global TV market.

De Zotti says Anthology Productions is looking for additional format sale opportunities, particularly in the U.S. and South Korean markets.

The company is also looking for partners on a number of projects in development. Among them is the romantic comedy feature Pick One, which was selected for Ontario Creates’ 2021 International Financing Forum with Alberta’s Peterson Polaris Corp on board as a production partner.

It tells the story of a bisexual man who falls in love with both a man and a woman and struggles to choose between them. “It’s a rom-com with a bisexual twist, but has many things to say about identity and labels in our current society and where do we all fit in,” says De Zotti.

Other projects include Existential Disasters, a workplace comedy set in the Canadian Arctic, featuring a think tank tasked with preparing for the end of the world, created by De Zotti and Cosima Herter, the science consultant on Orphan Black; and a limited series adaptation of Francine Prose’s best seller Lovers at the Chameleon Club, Paris 1932, in development with screenwriter and playwright Theresa Rebeck.