MBC Group signs a multi-year deal with MGM International to develop original series

MBC Group and MGM International TV Productions have signed a multi-year deal to develop and co-produce premium original series.

Projects produced under the pact will air exclusively on MBC Group-owned streamer Shahid VIP throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa, with MGM handling coproduction and distribution for the rest of the world.

The new agreement will expand existing ties between the companies after MBC Group served as regional partner for upcoming MGM series “Last Light” and “Billy the Kid.” “We have 30 years of experience telling stories that touch the lives of hundreds of millions of people across the Middle East and North Africa. Now with a great and global partner like MGM, we’re extending our reach beyond this region,” MBC Group CEO Sam Barnett said.

Projects produced under the pact will air exclusively on MBC Group-owned streamer Shahid VIP throughout the Middle East and Northern Africa, with MGM handling coproduction and distribution for the rest of the world. “With MGM International TV Productions’ content and talent partnerships in France, Australia, the Nordics, Latin America and now the Middle East and Northern Africa via MBC Group, MGM Television is perfectly positioned to continue building our international expansion of signature premium content together with Rola [Bauer] and the incredible team we have assembled,” said MGM Worldwide Television chairman, Mark Burnett.

Waleed bin Ibrahim Al Ibrahim, MBC Group Chairman, said the deal represents a “major step forward in diversifying the group and building on its current strengths,” while MGM International TV Productions president Rola Bauer added that it will “connect storytellers from east and west.”

The company also recently inked a coproduction partnership with NENT Group to develop original series, in addition to an exclusive first-look deal with international actor, producer and director Simon Baker.

MBC Studios’ recent and current productions include: action film Kandahar, which stars Gerard Butler as a CIA agent who attempts a harrowing escape from Afghanistan; Rashash, which recounts Saudi police’s investigation of a notorious criminal who left a trail of destruction in the 1980s; Bride of Beirut, a love story that over its three seasons explores issues of generational conflict; and Desert Warrior, an epic starring Anthony Mackie and set in seventh-century Arabia.