Pivot Announcements from TCA
July 14, 2014 /3BL Media/ - PIVOT GREENLIGHTS SEASON THREE OF ‘PLEASE LIKE ME’
Pivot announced a third season of the highly praised comedy Please Like Me, just prior to the second season premiere on August 8. The coming-of-age comedy created, written and executive produced by 27-year-old comedian Josh Thomas, is inspired in part by the painfully awkward events of his own life.
“I’m thrilled to announce that Please Like Me is coming back for a third season,” announced Belisa Balaban, EVP, Original Programming for Pivot at the network’s summer 2014 TCA press tour panel. “Josh Thomas’ work is a true reflection of the soul of his generation – messy and complicated, smart yet naïve, wickedly self aware and unapologetically hopeful. We're delighted to continue our collaboration with ABC Australia on the show.”
Season two of Please Like Me, premiering August 8 at 10:30 p.m. ET/PT (immediately after the debut of the workplace docu-comedy, Human Resources at 10:00 p.m. ET/PT), follows Josh half-heartedly fighting a quarter-life crisis and trying to get through the day without upsetting anyone. His mum continues to struggle with mental illness; his best friend Tom chooses all the wrong girls; his dad has a new baby to look after; and Josh, in his own awkward, self-centered and entertainingly frank way, has to juggle them all while trying to find himself a boyfriend.
Please Like Me, a Pivot Original Series, is a Pigeon Fancier and John & Josh International Production, produced in association with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. The series was created and written by Josh Thomas, and executive produced by Todd Abbott and Kevin Whyte. Jeff Skoll and Holly Hines serve as executive producers for Pivot. Rick Kalowski and Brett Sleigh serve as executive producers for ABC (Australia). The series also stars Thomas Ward, Debra Lawrance, David Roberts, Caitlin Stasey, Wade Briggs, Nikita Leigh-Pritchard, Renee Lim, Denise Drysdale, Keegan Joyce, Charlotte Nicdao, Charles Cottier, and Hannah Gadsby.
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PIVOT ANNOUNCES JANUARY 2015 PREMIERE FOR ‘FORTITUDE,’ AN ORIGINAL DRAMA SERIES STARRING GOLDEN GLOBE® AWARD WINNER STANLEY TUCCI
Pivot announced today at the summer 2014 TCA press tour, a January 2015 premiere for Fortitude, the network’s first original scripted drama. Airing in 12 one-hour episodes, the series tells the story of the small, Arctic town of Fortitude whose peaceful existence is shattered after a brutal and shocking murder. Sheriff Dan Anderssen (Richard Dormer) leads the investigation and is forced to work alongside DCI Morton (Stanley Tucci), a detective who’s flown into Fortitude. As the search for the killer progresses, the list of suspects – and suspicions – grows.
Starring Stanley Tucci (The Lovely Bones, The Hunger Games), Michael Gambon (Harry Potter, The King’s Speech), Christopher Eccleston (Thor: The Dark World, Lucan), Sofie Gråbøl (The Killing), Richard Dormer (Game of Thrones, Good Vibrations), Jessica Raine (Call the Midwife, The Woman in Black), Luke Treadaway (Clash of the Titans), Nicholas Pinnock (Top Boy) and Johnny Harris (This is England). Fortitude was filmed on location in Iceland and the UK. Pivot is the exclusive US television home for the series produced by Fifty Fathoms Productions, which sits under the umbrella of Tiger Aspect and Endemol, for Sky Atlantic HD.
Fortitude is a Sky/Pivot Original Series, with international distribution handled by Sky Vision. The series is created, written, and executive produced by Simon Donald. Jeff Skoll and Holly Hines serve as executive producers for Pivot. Patrick Spence and Frith Tiplady serve as executive producers for Fifty Fathoms and Tiger Aspect. Anne Mensah and Cameron Roach serve as executive producers for Sky Atlantic.
About Sky Vision
Sky Vision is the international distribution arm of UK broadcaster, BSkyB. Formed in August 2012, Sky Vision represents a catalogue of award-winning primetime entertainment, formats, scripted and factual programming for international distribution. As part of one of the world’s leading broadcasters, Sky Vision leverages relationships with global media organisations to fully exploit programming across all media platforms. The company works closely with the commissioning team at Sky as well as independent producers across the globe to build a catalogue of quality and scale.
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PIVOT GREENLIGHTS ‘THE OPERATIVES,’ AN ORIGINAL SERIES SPOTLIGHTING AN ELITE TEAM OF CONSERVATIONISTS THAT TAKES ON THE WORLD’S WORST ECO OFFENDERS
During Pivot’s 2014 TCA press tour panel, the network announced a new, original series The Operatives, chronicling the life of adventurer, author, and eco warrior Pete Bethune and his team of extreme conservationists that travels the globe to take on and expose the offenders who are harming vulnerable wildlife, natural resources and ecosystems around the world.
"I'm thrilled to be working with Pivot on this new, action-packed series that tackles environmental and wildlife issues in a way you have never seen before on television,” says Bethune. “Pivot has a history of supporting ground-breaking conservation documentaries and series, and to have them bring our series to their network is awesome."
In the first of eight, one hour-long installments, Bethune and his team of operatives, including a former SEAL Team 6 member, a US Marine, and a Maori paratrooper, set out to film the Namibian seal pup kill that results in the deaths of 90,000 annually. Bethune asserts that the Namibian government does everything it can to shield the activity from the public so it’s their team’s task to secretly film the kill and put pressure on the government to shut it down. Making their mission even more treacherous is the location – the area they’ve targeted is an active diamond mine teeming with armed security guards who will shoot on sight.
The Operatives is a Pivot Original Series, acquired from Zodiak Rights who also handles international distribution.
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PIVOT’S NEW SERIES ‘WELCOME TO FAIRFAX’ AND ‘FREESTYLE LOVE SUPREME’
SET TO PREMIERE OCTOBER 17
LOS ANGELES—July 11, 2014—On Friday, October 17, Pivot will debut two new half hour series during the 10 p.m. hour,Freestyle Love Supreme, a new comedic improv series inspired by the acclaimed stage show from Tony and Grammy award-winners, Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail. And Welcome to Fairfax,a series that explores the vibrant and arts district of Los Angeles and the entrepreneurs whowork and live on these blocks.
Freestyle Love Supreme, the high-energy, comedic hip-hop improv show from Lin-Manuel Miranda and Thomas Kail, creators of the Tony and Grammy award-winning musical, “In The Heights,” made its television debut on Pivot as an original special, and was picked up for 10 half-hour episodes. Touted by The New York Times as “masters in the art of Freestyle rhyme,” “Freestyle Love Supreme” uses rap to spin audience suggestions into fully-realized musical numbers. In addition to Lin-Manuel, the team includes Utkarsh Ambudkar, Anthony Veneziale, Chris Sullivan, Bill Sherman, Arthur Lewis, and special guests. The live portions of the series will film at the famous Ars Nova Theater in Manhattan. Love Supreme was conceived by Anthony Veneziale and Thomas Kail. The series is executive produced by Anthony Veneziale, Thomas Kail, Jon Steingart and Jill Furman for Ars Nova, and Ryan McFaul. Jeff Skoll and Christy Spitzer serve as executive producers for Pivot.
Shot in cinema vérité style, Welcome to Fairfax is comprised of 10, half-hour episodes that focus on the journeys of the young entrepreneurs living and working in the Fairfax District of Los Angeles, a neighborhood brimming with those on the cusp of breaking onto the national stage. Among the many locals featured are Gavin "Mizzle" McNeill, a self-taught creative director and the embodiment of the “do-it-yourself” ethic that is the code of the Fairfax scene. Mizzle is an entrepreneur and founder of the street wear line “Just Be Cool” who works to balance managing his store and growing his brand while also caring for his father, Fred McNeill, Sr., a former NFL Star who suffers from dementia and CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy); Felicia La Tour, Mizzle’s girlfriend, who grew up in the violence of poverty-plagued Stockton, CA, came to Fairfax to pursue her own dreams. As a successful makeup artist, she is now hoping to pay it forward by mentoring young women; Julian “Jay Uggh” Smith is a hip-hop emcee who is at the forefront of the music scene in Fairfax and the founder of CBG (“Chill Black Guys”) with fellow members Young Hawaii Slim and Corzillah, a charismatic rap group with the potential to cross over from underground notoriety to worldwide success; Gabe Brooks has all the abilities to become a star as a street BMX rider, but must face the ghosts of his gang-affiliated past; and Tori Bradley, a newcomer to Fairfax, who came to the block to be a part of the street-wear explosion while leaving behind an abusive relationship and now is passionate about raising awareness about domestic violence. Welcome to Fairfax is produced by Matador with executive producers Todd Lubin, Jay Peterson, Ryan Sidhoo, Ben Selkow, and Jonathan Silberberg. Jeff Skoll and Christy Spitzer serve as executive producers for Pivot.
About Pivot
Pivot (Pivot.tv), which launched nationally in August 2013, is a television network serving passionate Millennials (18-34) with a diverse slate of talent and a mix of original series, acquired programming, films and documentaries. Pivot focuses on entertainment that sparks conversation, inspires change and illuminates issues through engaging content and, through its partner website TakePart (TakePart.com) connects audiences to a wealth of content and actions. Pivot is available in approximately 45 million homes in North America via traditional Pay TV subscription, integrating a Live and on demand streaming option via the Pivot app. Follow Pivot on Twitter at @pivot_tv and on Facebook at facebook.com/pivottelevision. Pivot’s parent, Participant (ParticipantMedia.com) is the global entertainment company founded in 2004 by Jeff Skoll to focus on feature film, television, publishing, and digital content that inspires social change. Through its films, social action campaigns, digital network, and its television network, Participant seeks to entertain, encourage and empower every individual to take action.
