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Reality TV producer Efran Films has rebranded as Bright North Studios after Jeff Zucker and Gerry Cardinale’s RedBird Imi closed an acquisition of the Toronto-based production banner.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but the acquisition follows RedBird Imi paying $1.45 billion to acquire the British TV and film production powerhouse All3Media from Warner Bros. Discovery and Liberty Global. Adding to its global production business, RedBird Imi has named co-founder Morgan Hertzan as CEO of Bright North Studios USA, while Shawn Efran continues as CEO of Bright North Studios Inc.

Canadian regulators approved the takeover deal. In an earlier move, RedBird Imi acquired a stake in Media Res, the studio behind the Apple TV+ shows The Morning Show and Pachinko, founded by former HBO executive Michael Ellenberg.

The renamed Bright North Studios has produced reality TV series like FBI True (CBS), Never Seen Again (Paramount+), 100 Days to Indy...

RedBird Imi, the media investment firm led by CEO Jeff Zucker, has acquired Bright North Studios, the TV production company previously known as Efran Films Canada.

Toronto-based Efran Films Canada is rebranding as Bright North Studios. The company, which specializes in narrative nonfiction TV, has produced shows including “FBI True” (CBS), “Never Seen Again” and “Pd True” (Paramount+), “100 Days to Indy” (CW), “While the Rest of Us Die” (Vice TV), and “Who the (Bleep) Did I Marry?” (Investigation Discovery).

Financial terms of RedBird Imi’s acquisition of Efran Films were not disclosed. As part of the deal, Shawn Efran will continue as CEO of Bright North Studios and co-founder Morgan Hertzan will assume the role of CEO of Bright North Studios USA. Hertzan and Efran previously worked together at “60 Minutes” and sold Lx.TV to Zucker. Hertzan was most recently president of global TV at Vice Media Group, where he oversaw all television operations.

Efran Films Canada, the company behind series such as CBS’ FBI: True and Investigation Discovery’s Who The (Bleep) Did I Marry?, is rebranding after being acquired by Redbird Imi.

The company has rebranded as Bright North Studios after the new All3Media owner, which is overseen by CEO Jeff Zucker, completed its acquisition of the company last week and had it approved by the Minister of Canadian Heritage. Zucker will take a seat on the board.

This also comes after former Vice TV boss Morgan Hertzan returns to the company as CEO Bright North Studios USA, working alongside Shawn Efran, who continues as CEO of Bright North Studios.

The company was founded by Efran and Hertzan and is also behind series such as Paramount+’s Never Seen Again, The CW’s 100 Days to Indy and Vice’s While the Rest of Us Die. It has its primary production hub in Toronto.

While Paramount+ isnt regularly mentioned as a top-tier streaming service, it has managed to offer plenty of binge-worthy shows throughout the years. As such, the latest series heading to the platform next month is no different. The upcoming shows wont necessarily appeal to every viewer, but that doesnt mean they arent worth checking out.

From various reality programming and military dramas to a family-friendly animated series, the streaming service has a myriad of options for its subscribers. There might not be a slew of offerings compared to other streaming platforms, but viewers wont be lacking something to watch. No matter what a person prefers to watch, Paramount+ has at least one show that is likely to pique their interest next month.

Pd True (Season 1) Stream on August 6 Your browser does not support the video tag.

From the same team behind FBI True and Never Seen Again on Paramount+, Pd True...

Today, Paramount+ announced the new docuseries Pd True will premiere with ten episodes exclusively on the service in the US on Tuesday, August 6. The gripping half-hour series takes viewers into moments of crisis in some of the biggest cases of our time, as told by the police officers who worked them.

Developed by See It Now Studios, the team behind the Paramount+ hits FBI True and Never Seen Again, Pd True features real, raw, and unfiltered stories shared between the men and women officers who worked shoulder-to-shoulder to solve shocking and even unthinkable crimes.

In each episode, they recount serial killings, mass shootings, crimes of passion and revenge, and more. Viewers may have seen the headlines and know the basics, but they’ve never heard them from the cops themselves, who had to sift through horrific crime scenes or carry out risky undercover assignments.

What got them through, they say,...

There’s a great variety of new titles heading to top streaming services this week, from popular kids shows to college basketball and everything in between.

Have patience, NCAA basketball fans. The 2024 Men’s Basketball tournament has to wait until next week, and while that probably seems like an eternity for fans of teams heading to the big dance, it’s at least worth noting that the months-long wait for the tournament to start again is almost over!

The best news is that The Streamable will, as usual, have a list of new TV and movie streaming premieres ready to go for basketball fans, as well as audiences who don’t care about sports to get you through the week. Don’t bite your fingernails off or work yourself into a frenzy waiting for March Madness, just distract yourself with the new titles heading to a streaming service near you this week!

As the calendar changes to March, Paramount+ is ringing in the month with its latest list of library additions, film and series premieres, and more. Get ready for the Paramount+ Original coming-of-age feature “Little Wing,” starring Brooklynn Prince, Che Tafari, Brian Cox and Kelly Reilly, midway through the month, as well as a sequel follow-up to the groundbreaking 2005 documentary “The Aggressives,” the feature follow-up “The Thundermans Return,” and Season 5 premiere of “Never Seen Again.”

The new month will also include many additions and exclusive premieres available only to Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, like the premiere of “A Gentleman in Moscow,” Ewan McGregor, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Leah Harvey, Johnny Harris, and more. March will also mark the debut of the streaming premieres of two recent award winners: the 2022 Cannes Caméra d’Or winner “War Pony” and the 2023 SXSW Film Festival Grand Jury Award-winning British horror film “Raging Grace.”

Subscribers and potential...

As August comes in, hundreds of new titles come to Paramount+. The streamer has one of the most robust incoming lineups, with a wide-ranging list of titles to choose from across its library shows, films, originals and exclusives, and sports. And while the upcoming fall schedule is guaranteed to look much different than previous seasons with the strike continuing, Showtime’s “Billions” and “The Chi” will both have their season premieres this month on Showtime, which can both be watched with the recently Paramount+ With Showtime plan.

The August additions also include the much-requested extended episodes of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” Season 15, hit movies from “Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure” and “Boogie Nights,” and several National Women’s Soccer League (Nwsl) matches.

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What Are the Best Shows and Movies Coming to Paramount+ in August 2023? “Billions” Season 7 Premiere | Aug.

Exclusive: The team behind award-winning documentary 11 Minutes, which told the story of the mass shooting at Las Vegas’ Route 91 Harvest music festival, have set up another docuseries at Paramount+.

The streamer has ordered Crush, which will explore the Halloween tragedy in Seoul, South Korea, that left 159 dead and hundreds injured.

The series, which is set to launch this fall, likely around the anniversary of the tragedy, comes from See It Now Studios, Triage Entertainment, and All Rise Films. It is exec produced by Jeff Zimbalist, who directs, Stu Schreiberg, Terence Wrong and Susan Zirinsky with Josh Gaynor as co-exec producer, Aysu Saliba as supervising producer and Alana Saad as producer.

The Seoul crush tragedy occurred on October 29, 2022 during Halloween festivities in the Itaewon neighborhood of the South Korean city and was the country’s largest crowd crush in its history.

The multi-part series will be an immersive moment-by-moment dive...

Susan Zirinsky has criticized documentarians who pay their contributors as she urges her fellow execs to “keep your moral compass.”

The former CBS News President, who is now running CBS production outfit See it Now Studios, joked “you may as well strip me naked and beat me” rather than asking her to pay participants and sources.

“Ken Burns never pays, Alex Gibney never pays, but there is a camp that feels you should pay,” she added. “But for us if you pay someone you will never believe that what they are telling you is something you want to hear. I will walk away before one dime is given for a story.”

Zirinksy launched See It Now around one and a half years ago and the company is producing content for both Paramount’s brands including Paramount+ and Smithsonian Channel, along with pitching to third parties such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.

Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Jake Halpern returns with season three of his hit investigative podcast series Deep Cover – the show about people with secret identities, double lives, and how far people are willing to go in the pursuit of a greater cause. This season starts with the story of Brooke Henson, who disappeared from her home in South Carolina and is never seen again. Seven years later, detectives receive a tip that Brooke Henson is a Columbia University student living in New York City. However when the police come knocking, “Brooke Henson” disappears again. In Deep Cover: Never Seen Again, Halpern unravels a case of identity fraud that led local police, federal investigators, and even the U.S. army on a nationwide manhunt for one woman – Esther Reed.

Told through first-hand interviewers with South Carolina detectives, federal investigators, family members, and Esther herself, Deep Cover: Never Seen Again unravels the lives of two missing young women,...