London – Drive the production funding and distribution agency led by Lilla Hurst and Ben Barrett announces a number of pre-sales, co-production and completed programme sales that also form the company’s first distribution slate for MIPCOM. Drive secured pre-sale funding from SBS Australia and ZDF for Building Star Trek, a 50th anniversary special celebrating the cultural and technological impact of the iconic series.

The special was produced by yap films for Smithsonian Channel and Discovery Canada, with Drive taking both 1 x 120’ and 1 x 60’ versions to MIPCOM. The company will also be launching The World’s Deadliest Weather: Caught on Camera at the market. The series was financed through a range of pre-sales secured by Drive, and will be available in 13 x 60’ or 26 x 30’ formats. The series is a co-production between Drive and UK producer Back2Back.

Also on the slate is Hell Below, a series tracking the dramatic narrative of the greatest submarine battles of World War II. Produced by Parallax Film Productions, the series was commissioned by Smithsonian Channel and National Geographic Channels International in deals brokered by Drive, who will now handle worldwide distribution.

As previously announced Drive has also signed an exclusive agreement with Barcroft Media to distribute over 1000 short form films, which will also launch at MIPCOM. Drive’s recently announced the sale to Netflix of Ronachan Films’ one-hour documentary First Contact: Lost Tribe of the Amazon. Drive launched its distribution division, Drive Media Rights in September 2016.