By Ray Pride Pride@moviecitynews.com
HBO, Magnolia In Pink With Sundance Doc Tickled
[PR] HBO has acquired the U.S. television rights to the shocking Sundance documentary, TICKLED, while MAGNOLIA has picked up North American theatrical rights, and world rights outside of North America excluding Australia and New Zealand. Co- directed by David Farrier & Dylan Reeve and produced by Carthew Neal, TICKLED is about a journalist who stumbles upon a “competitive endurance tickling” competition. As he delves deeper he comes up against fierce resistance, but that doesn’t stop him getting to the bottom of a story stranger than fiction.
Josh Braun of Submarine negotiated the HBO deal and Braun, Matt Burke, Dan Braun, David Koh and Ben Braun of Submarine negotiated the Magnolia deal with SVP of Acquisitions Dori Begley and VP John Von Thaden. Christina Rogers of Magnolia International will be representing the film at EFM.
TICKLED premiered to rave reviews in the World Documentary Section (New Zealand) at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival. The Hollywood Reporter called the film “captivating and jaw-dropping” while Variety says TICKLED is “An alarming cautionary tale about how easy it is in the Internet age to ruin people’s lives while hiding behind a cloak of anonymity, the pic boasts a humorously titillating entry hook that soon gives way to an engrossing conspiracy-thriller.” The film was financed by the New Zealand Film Commission and MPI.
David Farrier says, “I’m just over the moon it will be on HBO, alongside my favourite shows. I’m tickled pink.” Co-director Dylan Reeve adds, “When we started out on this journey my expectations for the film were very modest. To have the film headed to the big screen in the U.S. is beyond exciting!”