NINE LIVES’ NEWS:

Nine Lives has secured eleven hours of new commissions from the BBC, Five, the C & I Network and The Learning Channel (TLC) in America and is currently employing eighteen programme makers.

My School Prom has been commissioned by the BBC three and will follow five British schools and six pupils through their end of school celebrations. Small Teen Big World is a film about Jazz Burkitt, who is sixteen-years-old but is only 3 foot 8 inches - the same height as an average seven to eight-year-old. The documentary follows Jazz for twelve months as she goes to the Little People of America conference in New York , attends her first music festival and tries to contact her average height father, who she has never met. Unforeseen events make this moving documentary compelling to watch and it will be broadcast on BBC three in July 2010.

The Tiniest Girl in the World is a documentary about two-year-old Charlotte Garside from Hull , who only weighs the same as a new born baby. The film follows Charlotte ’s parents as with the help of different doctors, they try to find out why their daughter is not growing normally. It was commissioned as a co-production by Five and American channel TLC, part of the Discovery network and is going to be transmitted on Five’s Extraordinary People strand on Monday 21 st June 2010 at 9pm . Nine Lives is also making another film for Five’s Extraordinary People about 36-year-old Kenny Easterday, whose body ends at his waist and who walks on his hands. Kenny has a rare condition called sacral agenesis, which resulted in his legs not forming properly in the womb, and meant he needed them amputated at birth. The Man with Half a Body tells the story of Kenny’s fascinating life and will be transmitted later this summer.

The company has also won its first commission directly for American channel TLC, which tells the story of 34-year-old JoAnne Fluke who was also born with very small legs due to an unusual condition called caudal regression, and was only expected to live for 72 hours. Despite this, JoAnne lives a totally independent life, working, driving and following her passion for dancing. This inspiring film follows her journey as she finds a new dance partner and enters an able bodied dance competition. The documentary is called The Dancer with Tiny Legs and will be on air in America in July.

Nine Lives has been re-commissioned by the Crime and Investigation Network to make the third series of its successful drama documentary real crime brand, Nightmare in Suburbia. The series has become one of the highest rating on the channel and the six new hour long episodes are being shot in HD.

The regional history documentary we recently made for the BBC’s History of the World strand, A Tale of Two Rival Cities, tells the story of the birth of Liverpool and Manchester , and reveals how they became rivals. It was broadcast last month and doubled the ratings for its BBC One slot.

The company has also just set up a new Training & Corporate Films Division, having been commissioned to make three training and promotional films for The University of Edinburgh, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation and The Salford Foundation. The feedback from these clients has been very good:-

“The final production was excellent. It not only matched our initial brief but suggestions from the team meant that there were significant improvements on our original ideas.” Diana Kerr, Research Fellow, The University of Edinburgh .

“ From the initial pitch right through to delivery of the DVDs, the professionalism of the service we received was exemplary. Nine Lives quickly understood our needs and worked sensitively with our clients. Both projects were approached with an infectious enthusiasm and the end-products exceeded our expectations.” Phil East, Deputy Chief Executive, The Salford Foundation.