Warner Bros. International Television to License Format Rights to Hit Drama Series Without A Trace and Cold Case, From Jerry Bruckheimer Television

Warner Bros. International Television will team up with international producers and broadcasters to create versions of the global hit drama series Without a Trace and Cold Case, both from Jerry Bruckheimer Television, in territories around the world, it was announced today by Jeffrey R. Schlesinger, President, Warner Bros. International Television (WBITV).

This will mark the first time that WBITV has offered international format rights to series currently being produced by the Studio for broadcast in the U.S. Previously announced format deals have all pertained to content from the Warner Bros. Entertainment library.

“We couldn’t be more excited about taking format rights to ’Without a Trace’ and ’Cold Case,’ two of the most successful drama series in the world, into the marketplace,” said Schlesinger. “These shows are compelling procedural dramas, with interesting human characters who work tirelessly to unravel mysteries and find the truth. These stories are some of the most widely accessible in the world, and we look forward to working with local partners to create successful adaptations around the globe.”

“This creates exciting possibilities for our series that previously did not exist and is a testament to the uniqueness of what Hank Steinberg and Meredith Stiehm created that this interest exists,” said Jerry Bruckheimer, executive producer, Without a Trace and “Cold Case.”

The development and eventual production of the international versions of the series will be supervised for WBITV by Denis Leroy, Vice President, Format Licensing and Production, who serves as the Studio’s point person on the formats initiative.

Both Without a Trace, about the elite FBI Missing Persons Squad and starring Emmy® and Golden Globe winner Anthony LaPaglia, and Cold Case, about a Philadelphia police homicide unit investigating long-unsolved crimes and starring Kathryn Morris, are top-rated hits around the world in their original U.S. versions. According to a global television survey released in August 2006 by Informa Telecoms and Media which identified series that ranked in the top 10 in 20 key international territories, Without a Trace is the seventh-most popular show in the world.

Without a Trace was created by Hank Steinberg and is executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, Hank Steinberg, Jan Nash and Greg Walker. The series is from Jerry Bruckheimer Television in association with CBS Productions and Warner Bros. Television.

Cold Case was created by Meredith Stiehm and is executive produced by Jerry Bruckheimer, Jonathan Littman, Meredith Stiehm and Veena Sud. The series is from Jerry Bruckheimer Television in association with CBS Productions and Warner Bros. Television.

Warner Bros. International Television Distribution is one of the world’s largest distributors of feature films, television programs and animation to the international television marketplace (broadcast, pay cable, basic cable, satellite, pay-per-view, video-on-demand, digital platforms, etc.). It licenses some 48,000 hours of programming (including more than 6,000 features and 74 current series), dubbed or subtitled in more than 40 languages, to telecasters and cablecasters in more than 175 countries.