Indies Raw Cut and Eagle Eye Drama both have new owners after a brace of acquisition deals.
Factual indie Raw Cut, which specialises in ‘blue light’ emergency services ob doc series such as Sky's Road Wars and Channel 5's long-running Police Interceptors [pictured], has been bought by Zinc Media Group, owner of labels such as Brook Lapping, Tern and Rex.
Founded in 2002, Raw Cut was set up by Steve and Sandra Warr, who remain managing director and chief operating officer respectively.
It is based in London and also has a presence in Cardiff through sub-label Tomos Media, giving Zinc its first production base in Wales.
The publicly-listed indie delivered £4.4m in revenues last year and is forecast to report £4.6m for the year to 31 December 2024.
Zinc has initially paid £1m in shares for Raw Cut, with a promise to pay up to £5.5m more if the producer hits EBIDTA growth targets.
The group recently offloaded its non-core publishing business and announced its commitment to strengthening its TV portfolio.
Zinc chief executive Mark Browning said the acquisition "strengthens our production capabilities, expands our IP catalogue, and reinforces our commitment to regional storytelling".
Eagle Eye Drama
Meanwhile, ITV Studios has taken a majority stake in Eagle Eye Drama, the scripted indie specialising in international drama, including English adaptations of foreign-language series.
Its portfolio includes Channel 4 series The Couple Next Door, Before We Die and Suspect and ITV’s Hotel Portofino and Professor T.
The deal also includes Happy Duck, a label run by Belgian producer/director Dries Vos, who directs and co-produces several of Eagle Eye’s shows, including upcoming UKTV series Bookish, which was shot in Belgium.
Eagle Eye was set up in 2018 by the team behind C4’s foreign-language drama platform Walter Presents – Walter Iuzzolino, Jo McGrath and Jason Thorp – and has been backed by C4’s Growth Fund since 2019.
“Walter, Jo and Jason have built a really impressive scripted business,” said ITVS managing director Julian Bellamy.
“Disruptive, innovative and international, Eagle Eye has carved out a real point of difference in the market.”
