U.K.-based indie producer Barcroft Media and Kew Media’s TCB Media Rights are working up a longform version of hit digital series “Extreme Love.”
The shortform show, which looks at unusual relationships that turn traditional notions of romance upside down, has had 146 million hits on YouTube and 42 million on the new Facebook Watch platform.
There are three 10-episode series available online and Barcroft and TCB will reversion these into a longer form traditional format for TV, with five stories per hour-long episode. There will be eight episodes in all.
Barcroft has been taking its most popular digital shows and using them as the basis for longform commissions for traditional TV. It partnered with Viacom’s Channel 5 on its “Extraordinary People” strand, and made “Inside the KKK” for Channel 4. It is making “Amazing on the Inside” for Netflix, the streamer’s first property show.
It is also one of the few European indies working with Facebook, and putting content on the U.S. Watch service.
TCB is at MipTV speaking to buyers about the “Extreme Love” series. ‘‘Barcroft Media has shown its unrivaled prowess once again in gaining access to the world of stories that feature in ‘Extreme Love’. It’s a perfect example of how a non-linear idea can inspire new long form ideas to new TV audiences,” said TCB CEO Paul Heaney.
“People are endlessly fascinated by unusual relationships – and now we get to supersize this subculture for television” added Barcroft Media CEO Sam Barcroft.
