Off The Fence Supports New ITN Series

Distributor Off The Fence has funded a new 10-part series called the Top Tens of Warfare.

The series will be a collaboration between ITN Productions and ITN Source, and is the first such collaboration between the two divisions. ITN Productions is ITN's in-house production unit, and ITN Source, is the footage licensing division of ITN.

The 10x60' series, to be sold globally, will tell the stories of war as seen through archive footage straight from the battlefield. It aims to identify and rank the most influential, and most iconic features of war, examining how technological advances have changed warfare from the First World War to modern-day conflicts.

Each programme will cover a theme, such as 'Battles', 'Leaders', 'Inventions' or 'Aircraft'. The series will also look at modern warfare battles such as the Somme and Stalingrad, while major war leaders will be examined including Mao, Churchill and Roosevelt. World-leading experts will contribute to each episode to provide commentary, context and analysis.

Ian Russell, ITN Productions head of international programming, said: "We will profile the iconic technologies of war, from the legendary Spitfire fighter to the Stealth Bombers of the second Iraq conflict – revealing war's greatest heroes and villains, its leaders and tyrants, the most epic battles, the most powerful weapons and the military inventions which went on to change the way we live."

Simon Wood, ITN Source UK Head of Sales, added: "This is a unique collaboration for ITN Source and shows what can be achieved when archive, producer and distributor pull together in the same direction both creatively and economically – in an era of fixed-rig and reality TV, its exciting to know that large scale, archive led pieces seem to be coming back into favour and finding a market, and we are looking forward to developing a slate of projects like this in future."

Mark Dee-Shapland, VP of Sales & Co-Productions at Off The Fence, commented: "ITN Source has an incredible archive of material from the last 100 years of history put to film. In our discussions with ITN Productions it became clear that they were the perfect partner for us to create series tailored to the requirements of our international clients. We are excited at the prospect of further collaboration between Off The Fence and ITN."

Top Tens Of Warfare is supported by the ITN Source archive. It incorporates 20 major picture archives, including ITN, ITV, Reuters and Fox News to British Paramount and Fox Movietone. It also includes stills images from Rex Features which are incorporated into the programme.

www.offthefence.com

www.itnproductions.co.uk

www.itnsource.com

(JP/CD)