Netflix inks major deal with Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones
David Farnor | On 30, Jul 2020
Netflix has inked a major new deal with Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones, after the Black Mirror duo formed their own production outfit.
Brooker – who penned Dead Set and co-created Chris Morris’ Nathan Barley – and Jones have been significant creative force in recent years, thanks to their dystopian tech anthology series. Originally starting out at Channel 4, it became a global sensation after it jumped to the streaming giant.
That franchise still belongs to Endemol shine, where their company House of Tomorrow was set up. House of Tomorrow has so far made three seasons of Black Mirror for Netflix, as well as the interactive 2018 special Bandersnatch. Brooker and Jones have also created titles including Sky’s A Touch of Cloth and Brooker’s Wipe series for the BBC. In January this year, though, Brooker and Jones left to form their own company, Broke and Bones. Brooker’s return to the Beeb with Antiviral Wipe was the company’s first commission.
Deadline reports that the company has hired Jon Petrie as its comedy chief and Bandersnatch producer Russell McLean as the lead on new interactive projects. Endemol Shine execs Jo Kay and Holly Sait have also joined them, serving as head of production for drama and comedy and head of production for formatted company. Together, the team indicates the range of programming Broke and Bones is looking to produce – and it will do so exclusively for Netflix.
The streamer’s new deal gives Netflix’s the opportunity to acquire the company over a period of five years in chunks, which could eventually grow to become a nine-figure sum. That unusual structure marks it out as a first for Netflix in the UK, which has inked overall deals with creative talent, such as Peter Morgan, and puts Broke and Bones in a similar boat to comic book publisher Millarworld, which the streamer acquired in 2017 and StoryBots in 2019.