Manchester City parent City Football Group (CFG) and Sony Pictures Television (SPT) have announced a new strategic collaboration which will see the companies co-develop and produce new original scripted, nonfiction, and kids’ television projects for worldwide audiences.
The initiative will combine CFG’s global network, expertise in sport and access to football talent, facilities and the group’s own media creative production unit, City Studios with SPT’s globally acclaimed production legacy.
Projects developed as part of the collaboration will include stories related directly to CFG and its clubs and players, as well as the creation of projects inspired by football, or where football is the central theme or plotline.
As well as scripted and unscripted series, projects can also include one-off documentaries, animated projects, or children’s programming.
The creative alignment will see both organisations further invest in content production, aligning with CFG’s forward-thinking approach as a growing entertainment company, and SPT’s tenacious approach to exploring and developing IP to tell great stories.
From concept ideation, development funding, through to production and distribution, the strategic collaboration will “build on City Studios’ track record of innovation in the content space,” adding the expertise of SPT’s global television production group.
SPT’s global production footprint includes the US scripted studio; the SPT Nonfiction and SPT Kids television divisions; and the SPT International Production group, which spans scripted companies across the UK, Latin America, and Australia, including Left Bank Pictures, Bad Wolf, Eleven, and Eleventh Hour Films.
Over several years CFG has been at the forefront of innovation in the football content space following Manchester City’s appearance as the first football club to feature on Amazon’s All or Nothing documentary series in 2018, and as the first Premier League football club to produce an in-house documentary and conclude a distribution deal with Netflix earlier this year with Together: Treble Winners.
CFG CEO Ferran Soriano, said: “We are incredibly excited to be collaborating with Sony Pictures Television in this joint initiative.
“City Football Group is already a global entertainment company, and this initiative builds on our long-standing track record of innovation in the content space and the growth of City Studios in the last years.
“We will now take an even more dynamic approach to content production, and we are already developing several scripted and nonfiction series that will delight audiences globally.
“Bringing together the expertise of both CFG and SPT will enable us to create brilliant shows and remain at the forefront of football-led content production”.
Wayne Garvie, president, international production, Sony Pictures Television, added: “Football is the great global game, no other sport produces so many heroes, tears and laughter, joy and heartbreak as football.
“The basics are always the same: 22 players, two goals, one ball, but the game always evolves and over the last decade City Football Group have become an unprecedented innovator and global leader.
“Our aim is to be part of the next evolution of the game, creating a new generation of innovative football-based entertainment to thrill the world.”
Projects co-developed by CFG and SPT will be led by industry executive Ged Doherty, supported by a bespoke team who will work with wider teams across both organisations’ global networks to deliver the projects.
