Netflix Signs Investment Deal With Black Mirror Creators

Netflix has made the rare move of investing in “Broke And Bones,” the new production company of Emmy-winning Black Mirror creators Charlie Brooker and Annabel Jones. This is a first-of-its-kind deal for Netflix (and its first big UK production investment), allowing the streaming service to have exclusive rights to any new project Brooker and Jones create. In addition, Netflix will have the option to take full control of Broke And Bones at the end of a multi-year-term, the length of which has not yet been disclosed. This deal comes as Brooker and Jones are reportedly working on a new project, which will be announced soon.

As THR reports, Broke and Bones got started in February and has been gathering some talented creators under its roof. People Do Nothing producer Jon Petrie has joined as head of comedy; Black Mirror: Bandersnatch producer Russel McLean will be working on more interactive content; Jo Kay will head production on drama and comedy, while Holly Salt will head production on formatted comedy. Netflix has seen Black Mirror win several Emmys since it took ownership of the series after its first two seasons on Channel 4, and the series has become a mainstream hit in its latter seasons. Black Mirror has arguably become the modern successor to shows like The Twilight Zone, and its Bandersnatch interactive movie offered a new form of content that was wildly successful. If nothing else, it seems like Brooker and Jones truly are the kind of talent worth investing in.

Netflix has been generally finding success with UK productions. In addition to Black Mirror, series like The Crown, Sex Education, Bodyguard, Sherlock, Top Boy, Penny Dreadful, Peaky Blinders (and others) have become hits for Netflix, which further explains why the streaming service is putting money into locking down some top UK content creators. Anime is another genre Netflix seems to be investing heavily in, as it tries to say on top of competitors in the increasingly crowded lane of streaming.

If you haven’t checked out Black Mirror on Netflix, you definitely should. Here’s what the series is all about:

“The show looks inwards, at the darker aspects of humanity and society. This is done through the theme of technology, hence the second meaning. The black mirror is the screen that rules our lives. Taking contemporary phenomena (ranging from the wild popularity of talent shows on TV to the impact of social media and smartphones on our lives) as a starting point and speculate how such phenomena could/would evolve in the future. Each episode tells a different story with different protagonists and focuses on a different theme.”