Latest in Sonar Entertainment

Taboo studio Sonar Entertainment is moving aggressively into the kids and family space after striking a distribution deal with UK kids' producer Wildseed Studios. The U.S. firm has struck a deal to develop, produce and distribute a slew of content from the British company, which was set up by former Aardman television…

The specter of Watergate has loomed large over Washington, D.C. recently — great timing for a television series looking at the scandal. Bridge of Spies writer Matt Charman has partnered with George Clooney and Clooney’s Smokehouse Pictures partner Grant Heslov for Watergate, an eight-part limited series. We hear that…

Jordan Peele and his Monkeypaw Productions banner are behind The Hunt, a hot drama series spec being shopped by Sonar Entertainment, garnering interest from cable and streaming networks. Written by David Weil (Moonfall) and inspired by true events, The Hunt follows a diverse band of Nazi hunters in 1970s America as…

Sonar Entertainment, the company behind such series as FX’s Taboo and AMC’s The Son, is expanding into non-scripted and kids and family content with the acquisition of L.A.-based indie producer-distributor Tricon Films & Television’s assets. Tricon, which produces shows including Disney XD’s Counterfeit Cat and…

Jordan Peele and his Monkeypaw Productions have signed a first-look deal with Sonar Entertainment. The agreement encompasses all content for television, including digital. Monkeypaw Productions was founded by Peele in 2012. In TV, it produced the Emmy-winning Key & Peele on Comedy Central for its five-season run, and…

Team Downey, the independent production company founded by Robert Downey Jr. and Susan Downey, has signed a first-look deal with Sonar Entertainment and have set their first project, Singularity, a new series created by Downey Jr. and Anthony Michael Hall. The series will star Hall, with the first episode being…

Sonar Entertainment has come on board eight-episode event series Das Boot, joining Germany’s Bavaria Fernsehproduktion and Sky Deutschland as co-producer and distributor. The series is set to begin production in 2017 for premiere worldwide in 2018. Sonar holds all global distribution rights to the series, with the…

France has shortlisted four films for the Foreign Language Oscar race with the official entry to be determined later this month. The selection committee will be voting on two films that Music Box has Stateside: Anne Fontaine's Sundance pic Agnus Dei which was released as The Innocents and has grossed about $1M to date…

George Clooney and Grant Heslov’s indie production company Smokehouse Pictures is continuing its push into television, inking a first-look deal with Sonar Entertainment. Their first project under the pact is America's Most Admired Lawbreaker, based on the serialized Huffington Post article by journalist Steven Brill. M…

Sonar Entertainment has optioned the rights to Jonathan Eig’s nonfiction book The Birth Of The Pill: How Four Crusaders Reinvented Sex and Launched a Revolution for development as an event series for television, with Denise DiNovi and R.J. Cutler executive producing and Cutler set to to direct. The Birth Of the Pill…

David Ellender, who recently stepped down as CEO of Slingshot Global Media, is joining another independent TV company, Sonar Entertainment. He has named to the newly created position of President, Global Distribution and Co-Productions, reporting to Thomas Lesinski, the newly appointed Sonar CEO. In his new position…

Thomas Lesinski, who has served as interim CEO of Sonar Entertainment since September, has been named CEO for the company. Lesinski, a member of Sonar’s board of directors, stepped in as a temporary replacement for Gene Stein, who left to take the top post at Gaumont International TV, while the board was searching for…