The School That Tried To End Racism indie sells minority stake

Proper Content has joined Channel 4’s Indie Growth Fund cohort, as the broadcaster acquires a stake in David DeHaney’s indie.

Broadcast revealed that a deal between the companies was on the cards in September and terms have now been agreed for C4 to take a minority stake in The School That Tried to End Racism business.

The deal forms part of a pivot by head of Growth Fund Caroline Murphy to focus investment on BAME-owned and nations & regions indies. C4 invested in Cardiff-based Yeti Media earlier this year, with Murphy hopeful of closing a total of three deals in 2020.

She said that the deal with Proper Content will help it to “grow and prosper”.

“David has a proven track record in creating engaging factual programmes which explore important and challenging social issues,” Murphy added.

A former exec at Love Productions, Firecracker and Nutopia, DeHaney launched Proper Content in 2016 and won a Grierson Award for 2019 Channel 5 documentary Suicidal: In Our Own Words.

Previously part of C4’s Indielab Accelerator scheme, Proper signed a first-look distribution deal with Banijay last year.

DeHaney has forged a reputation for tackling challenging topics including BBC3’s Britain’s Gay Footballers and The Baby Borrowers and C4’s Young, Autistic & Stagestruck.

“Our passion has always been to make difficult subjects entertaining and accessible, which can genuinely make a difference to people’s lives,” DeHaney said. “Our other passion is to become a hot-bed of talent who want to do the same.”

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Link: https://www.broadcastnow.co.uk/channel-4/proper-joins-c4-growth-fund/5155206.article