Coote-Hayes lines up Alliance venture
Pic deal in works
Based in Hollywood, Coote-Hayes was born last October when former Village Roadshow Pictures prexy and chief operating officer Greg Coote and Village Roadshow TV prexy Jeff Hayes acquired the television arm of Oz film, theme park and radio monolith Village, which was off-loading noncore assets. Last week, that disposal program saw Village sell its 50% stake in leading Oz animator Yoram Gross to Germany's EMTV.
"Obviously, this slate did not materialize overnight. It is a combination of assets we acquired from our management buyout of Village Roadshow Pictures Television," Coote says. "That included our relationship with MGM and Telescene, and we have added our new association with Alliance Atlantis."
Two major shows with Alliance Atlantis are "Beastmaster," a 22-hour series for Tribune syndication Stateside and Endemol Entertainment in Europe, and "Amazon," a 66-hour Peter Benchley original for Eyemark syndication in the U.S., BetaFilm for European distribution and Alliance Atlantis for the rest of the world.
Also with Alliance Atlantis, Coote-Hayes has "Driving Miss Daisy" helmer Bruce Beresford developing "The Fatal Shore," a four-hour miniseries of Robert Hughes' bestseller about the history of Oz for the U.K.'s BBC, and Phillip Noyce developing "Saigon," a four-hour miniseries for U.S. pay cabler Showtime and Virgin Century TV, part of Richard Branson's Virgin group.
In late April, Coote-Hayes will start on a 22-hour series of "The Lost World" with Telescene for Action Adventure Network and New Line Distribution in the U.S., Village Roadshow in Oz-New Zealand and Fremantle for the rest of the world.
Also with Telescene for Action Adventure Network, a two-hour pilot of "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde" has been shot for a planned 22-hour series, while Roger Donaldson ("Species") will shoot "Fearless," a two-hour pilot for a planned series.
Currently in production is a fourth 22-hour season of "Flipper" for the Pax net (bringing the show's total to 88 hours) with MGM, and "The Aquanauts," a 52-seg half-hour docu series for Endemol Entertainment in Europe and Great North Distribution in the rest of the world. This show has been presold to Discovery's Animal Planet and Travel Channel in the U.S.
Finally, Coote-Hayes will produce a four-hour miniseries remake of United Artists' 1959 classic "On the Beach" for America's Showtime and Kerry Stokes' Seven Network Australia with Oz major Southern Star.
"We bought the company to hit the ground running," Coote told Daily Variety, before admitting the banner probably already has reached its production capacity. "This is about it; we couldn't do much more than this in TV terms."
But then there are movies. Coote said his banner "will probably try to start on two movies this year" if Alliance Atlantis bites at any of his five movie proposals.
Most of Coote-Hayes' product will lense at Australia's Warner Roadshow Studios in the state of Queensland. A project Hayes said "proudly makes us the largest employer in Queensland's busy production industry and possibly the largest (in Australia)."
