BUNIM/MURRAY PRODUCTIONS AND CHARLIZE THERON'S DENVER & DELILAH ANNOUNCE JOINT VENTURE
Colleen Ocean Hall Named SVP Development
Los Angeles, CA - July 29, 2013 - Following Style's announcement that it is developing reality competition series, GLAM WARS, Bunim/Murray Productions, a Banijay Group company, and Charlize Theron's Denver & Delilah are announcing the formation of a joint venture to develop and produce additional unscripted programming for television. This partnership marks a first for both companies: Bunim/Murray Productions' first production joint venture and Denver & Delilah's first unscripted initiative. In addition to developing GLAM WARS, Bunim/Murray and Denver & Delilah have optioned Israeli reality format WHOSE CLOSET IS IT ANYWAY? from Keshet International for development in the United States.
Colleen Ocean Hall has been named Senior Vice President of Development for the joint venture. Ocean Hall has an extensive background in development, production and programming, most recently serving as Senior Vice President of Alternative Programming for Original Media. Prior to that, she was Vice President of Alternative Programming, running development at Ashton Kutcher's Katalyst Films and Television. She has also consulted for Style, Game Show Network and ABC Media Productions.
GLAM WARS, a Bunim/Murray and Denver & Delilah production, is the first reality competition series to take the viewer behind the scenes and reveal what it takes for make-up artist and hair stylist glam squads to land the job of their dreams. Theron serves as Executive Producer along with AJ Dix, Beth Kono and Bunim/Murray's Jonathan Murray and Gil Goldschein.
WHOSE CLOSET IS IT ANYWAY? explores what would happen if someone swapped your entire closet with somebody else's. In each episode, three women, each with a distinct style and a strong fashion sense, trade their entire closets and have to cope with each of the other women's wardrobes. Each woman has to change her entire look and try on styles that are totally different from her own, all while going about her usual routine. What does it feel like to walk in another woman's stilettos? Will her family like her new look? What will her boss have to say?
"Charlize and her Denver & Delilah team have wonderful instincts and a fresh perspective which we think is a big plus in creating and selling reality television," said Jonathan Murray, Chairman of Bunim/Murray Productions.
"This partnership makes sense for Bunim/Murray as we continue to develop new programming with top talent across broadcast and cable. As we developed GLAM WARS, we realized there were so many possible projects to partner on and this joint venture is a natural evolution." said Gil Goldschein, President of Bunim/Murray Productions. "With Colleen on board we will be able to realize our very ambitious plans."
Additional projects include PASSPORT TO LOVE, based on Banijay Group's Norwegian reality dating series ORIGINS OF LOVE, and several original concepts in development.
About Bunim/Murray Productions
Bunim/Murray Productions is the leading producer of innovative entertainment content. The Emmy Award-winning company is widely credited with creating the reality television genre with its hit series The Real World (28 seasons for MTV). BMP continued to innovate with the first reality game show, Road Rules (MTV), in 1995; the first reality sitcom, The Simple Life (E!), in 2003; and the first reality soap opera, Starting Over, in 2003. Bunim-Murray's programming includes Bad Girls Club, Bad Girls All Star Battle, Love Games and Best Ink (Oxygen), Keeping up with the Kardashians, Kourtney and Kim Take Miami and Total Divas (E!), The Real World and The Challenge (MTV), The Ruckers: Southern Royals (WE tv) and Project Runway and Project Runway All Stars (Lifetime). Bunim/Murray Productions has also produced films, including Valentine Road (HBO), Pedro (MTV) and the Emmy Award-winning Autism: The Musical (HBO). Bunim/Murray Productions has launched additional entities including BMP Films, BMP Digital and BMP Latin. Based in Van Nuys, CA, Bunim/Murray Productions was founded in 1987 by Jonathan Murray and the late Mary-Ellis Bunim, who were inducted into the Television Academy of Arts & Science's Hall of Fame in 2012. The company joined Banijay Group in 2010.
ABOUT DENVER & DELILAH
With the Denver & Delilah banner, Oscar(R) winning actress Charlize Theron, alongside partners Beth Kono and AJ Dix, has built a successful production company with a large and diverse development slate. In 2003, the company produced the critically acclaimed feature film, MONSTER, for which Theron received an Academy Award(R) for Best Actress. Denver & Delilah's past films include THE BURNING PLAIN directed by Guillermo Arriaga, the documentary EAST OF HAVANA, and most recently the Jason Reitman-directed film YOUNG ADULT, which garnered Theron a Golden Globe nomination. Currently the company is in pre-production on DARK PLACES, written and directed by Gilles Paquet-Brenner, based on the New York Times best-seller by Gillian Flynn. Also in development at Denver & Delilah is AGENT 13 at Universal, an untitled thriller at Paramount written by Dan Nowak, and LADIES NITE written by David Caspe at Skydance. In addition, Denver & Delilah has an active television slate with projects being developed for both network and cable. Current projects in development include MINDHUNTER at HBO in collaboration with David Fincher and Fox 21.
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