EXCLUSIVE: Zig Zag, the 25-year-old UK producer behind shows including Fox‘s I Wanna Marry Harry, is shutting its production arm after being hit by the unscripted commissioning drought.
Zig Zag is putting Zig Zag Productions Limited into insolvency as part of a financial restructuring that has resulted in six employees being made redundant.
The company, founded in 1999 by Danny Fenton, has appointed an administrator following a meeting with creditors on Wednesday. The insolvency company will be announced shortly.
Deadline understands that Zig Zag had three shows greenlit last year, worth as much as £4.5M ($5.6M), but the series were delayed indefinitely amid uncertain market conditions.
Zig Zag’s other companies, including Zig Zag Holdings and Zig Zag Media Rights, will continue trading, meaning it is not inconceivable that the brand will live on if commissions come to fruition.
Zig Zag is not currently in production so no shows are at risk. A recent project, the Antoine Fuqua-directed documentary Troublemaker: The Story Behind the Mandela Tapes, is not impacted.
Fenton told Deadline: “Due to well-publicised market conditions and a global slowdown of commissioning, we are in the unenviable position of restructuring our group of companies and, as a result, placing Zig Zag Productions into an insolvency process.
“I’m incredibly proud of Zig Zag Productions’ 25-year history and the award-winning programming we have produced during that time and sorry that we weren’t able to weather the storm. I’d like to place on record my thanks to all the staff and partners in the industry who have been on this journey with us.”
During its quarter of a century of trading, Zig Zag Productions made shows including Danny Dyer’s Deadliest Men, Vinnie Jones: Toughest Cops, and Freddie Flintoff Vs The World.
I Wanna Marry Harry was its most recognizable U.S. series, featuring single women competing for the hand of a man they thought was Prince Harry. It was pulled by Fox and canceled after only four episodes.
More recently, Zig Zag made YouTube Originals feature documentary Raise Your Game with Gareth Southgate, which streamed ahead of the England soccer team reaching the Euro 2020 final.
Sport has been a consistent theme of Zig Zag’s output. The company produced Amazon Prime Video’s Sonsational, spotlighting Son Heung-min, the South Korean soccer star who plays for Fenton’s beloved Tottenham Hotspur.
Other well-established UK producers have shut up shop amid market turbulence. River Monsters producer Icon Films closed last year, while Banijay shut Wife Swap and Only Connect producer RDF Television after 30 years in February.