ITV Studios America & Circle Of Confusion Team To Launch New Studio Label For Scripted Programming

ITV Studios America and The Walking Dead executive producer Circle of Confusion have teamed to launch Circle of Confusion Television Studios, a studio label that will source, develop and produce premium scripted programming, with support from ITV Studios America.

The move signals an expansion of ITV’s strategy to expand its U.S. scripted TV operations under Philippe Maigret, President of ITV Studios America. The new TV studio label will be headquartered in Los Angeles and complement ITV Studios America’s existing operations, its partnership with Tomorrow Studios and investments in Blumhouse Television and Indigenous Media. ITV Studios Global Entertainment, ITV Studios’ distribution business, will manage distribution of the Circle of Confusion Television Studios’ output.

Circle of Confusion is expected to draw from its library of intellectual property as well as on its relationships with creative talent. Circle of Confusion and ITV Studios America will assemble a creative team to manage the TV studio’s day-to-day operations.

In addition to The Walking Dead, Circle of Confusion also exec produces its companion hit Fear the Walking Dead as well as Cinemax’s Outcast and BBC America’s Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. On the film side, the firm served as exec producer on Straight Outta Compton, recently produced Mr. Right starring Sam Rockwell and Anna Kendrick and is in preproduction on Ness at Paramount with Paul Greengrass directing.

Circle of Confusions’s client roster includes Sasha Alexander, Brian Michael Bendis, Amy Berg, Benjamin Bratt, Natalie Chaidez, Joe Robert Cole, Willem Dafoe, JD Dillard, Mike Dougherty, Brian Duffield, Michelle Forbes, Ana Gasteyer, Adam F. Goldberg, Lauren Gussis, Mary Harron, Todd Harthan, Chad and Carey Hayes, Anthony Jaswinski, Doug Jung, Robert Kirkman, Derek Kolstad, Frank Langella, Frances McDormand, Daniel Minahan, Michelle Monaghan, Molly Parker, Sarah Polley, Tony Revolori, Pablo Schreiber, Jon Spaihts, Scott Speedman, Lana and Lilly Wachowski, Gary Whitta and Alfre Woodard.

Circle of Confusion partners David Alpert, David Engel, Frank Frattaroli, Lawrence Mattis and Brad Mendelsohn issued a joint statement, saying: “We have been looking for the right collaborator with whom to expand on our success in the television space and ITV Studios America is the perfect partner to support and accelerate the growth of our TV business. ITV’s creative openness, financial strength and global reach will empower Circle of Confusion Television Studios to create more premium groundbreaking shows to excite audiences around the world.”

Said Maigret: “We are thrilled to join forces to create Circle of Confusion Television Studios. The team at Circle of Confusion has established a clear track record in both talent management and developing hit content that gives the new venture a great deal of creative and commercial potential. The portfolio of projects that will come out of Circle of Confusion Television Studios will be a perfect addition to our development and production slate as we continue to scale up ITV Studios’ U.S. scripted television business.”

The deal was negotiated by Chris Simonian at CAA, Howard Abramson at Behr, Abramson, Levy and Paul Bernstein at Venable for Circle of Confusion; and Tom Lane, EVP Business and Legal Affairs at ITV Studios America and Michael French at Squire, Patton, Boggs for ITV Studios America.