Foxtel/Binge’s Amanda Laing Exiting; Hulu’s Irish Comedy-Drama ‘Obituary’ Travels; Banijay ‘Cricketainment’ Play — Global Briefs

Jesse Whittock and Hannah Abraham

23 April 2024 at 5:41 am·2-min read

Foxtel/Binge Topper Amanda Laing Exiting

Foxtel and Binge’s Chief Commercial and Content Officer Amanda Laing has resigned and is exiting later this year. She joined the Australian TV giant in 2018 and has overseen the launch of streamer Binge, which is behind worldwide comedy hit Colin From Accounts. No word on her next move, but in a statement Foxtel CEO Patrick Delany paid tribute to Laing, saying she has “led dozens of negotiations with US studios for content and channel acquisitions, as well as supported the business as a leading executive on our sports rights deals.” Laing said it had been “privilege to work across both sport and entertainment.” She will remain with the company until September to ensure “a smooth transition of leadership.”

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Hulu’s Irish Comedy-Drama ‘Obituary’ Travels

Dark Irish comedy-drama series Obituary has landed on a host of networks around the world. The six-part RTÉ series, which we revealed in November 2022, launched earlier this year in Ireland and on Hulu in the U.S., and is now headed for Netflix in the UK, TVNZ in New Zealand, Proximus in Belgium, RTS in French-speaking Switzerland, RTP in Portugal, BluTV in Turkey and Cyprus and TET in Latvia. Co-produced by the UK’s APC Studios and Ireland’s Magamedia in association with Fís Éireann/ Screen Ireland, Coimisiún na Meán and The Wrap Fund, the show stars award-winning Irish TV and theatre actor Siobhán Cullen (The Dry, Origin), who plays an underpaid obituarist working at a small-town newspaper who becomes a serial killer. Michael Smiley, Ronan Raftery, Danielle Galligan and David Ganly also star. Ray Lawlor wrote the scripts, John Hayes is the lead director and Oonagh Kearney directed the second block. Nell Green is the producer.

Banijay Asia Teams With Ravi Shastri On ‘Cricketainment’

Deepak Dhar’s Banijay Asia has teamed with veteran cricketer and coach Ravi Shastri’s Sporting Beyond to make cricket and entertainment (‘cricketainment’) content. The pair will collaborate to create cricket entertainment live events and cross platform content. Dhar, Group CEO of Banijay Asia and Endemol Shine India, said the pair would work together to “deliver unparalleled cricket entertainment experiences” and “craft a new and unique narrative in cricket entertainment in India, and across the globe.” Banijay launched a sports division in November last year, focusing on docs, digital and ‘sportainment.’ Shastri is known as an Indian cricket commentator and was the former head of the national team. He also played for the test team between 1982 and 1991, and founded sports management, marketing, consulting and advisory firm Sporting Beyond with Jaiveer Panwar in 2021.

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