Banijay Launches Premium Docs Label DSP Films & Signs Netflix’s ‘Missing: Dead Or Alive?’ EP To Run It

EXCLUSIVE: Banijay has taken another leap into the premium docs space with the launch of DSP Films, an offshoot of long-running UK unscripted indie DSP. The super-indie has poached Netflix’s Missing: Dead or Alive EP Graeme McAulay to run DSP Films and he will leave his current role at UK doc indie Blast Films next month.

DSP Films will develop premium docs for both streamers and UK broadcasters, coming at a time when the big production houses are keen to push into the space. The launch is unveiled just two months after Fremantle opened Undeniable, a similar label helmed by Global Head of Documentaries Mandy Chang.

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During his stint as Blast Creative Director, McAulay was behind Netflix’s Missing: Dead or Alive true crime docuseries, which entered the streamer’s U.S. Top 10 last week, along with Channel 4’s BAFTA-nominated Jeremy Kyle Show: Death On Daytime. Prior to joining Blast, he worked on the likes of 24 Hours In Police Custody and Life And Death Row.

When he joins next month, London-based McAulay will report to DSP MD Donna Clark, who will continue to focus on popular factual and specialist factual programming including Interior Design Masters and The Big Steam Adventure.

“DSP has long been synonymous with high quality documentaries, so re-igniting this focus with Graeme at the helm makes enormous sense as we continue to grow,” said Clark.

McAulay said the “opportunity to lead a new creative label building on the world-class film-making heritage of DSP was just too good to miss.”

The move has been paid for via Banijay’s £50M ($62M) UK Growth Fund, which has so far seen Banijay take stakes in new drama indie Conker Pictures and Chloe producer Mam Tor, along with striking talent deals with the likes of Whitney director Kevin Macdonald and former Netflix commissioner Chris Sussman.

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