Film Production
Something Special licenses Battle in the Box’s US rights to UK’s Interstellar
Mumbai: Seoul-based international format agency Something Special’s president Jin Woo Hwang announced that they licensed the US rights for ‘Battle in the Box’ to UK production company, Interstellar. Interstellar produced the UK version which aired this past summer with host-comedian Jimmy Carr on U&Dave TV (owned by UKTV, a subsidiary of BBC). The show was created by Nmedia and is globally represented by Something Special. It originally aired in South Korea on MBN with top ratings.
The program is about two celebrity teams who enter an empty box divided by a movable wall armed only with a toothbrush to live with for 24 hours. Teams earn space and luxuries by conquering physical and mental challenges. Victory expands their living area, but more room for one team means less for the other. With challenges occurring around the clock, the celebrities must be strategic to secure their space.
Hwang stated: “Something Special is thrilled how Battle in the Box was received in the U.K. and now has an opportunity to go to the U.S. This unique game show format, created by their partner Nmedia, launched in S. Korea on MBN and was a major hit. Take two pairs of celebrities and put them in an expandable box for 24 hours, what could go wrong? We love working with Interstellar and look forward to even more versions of Battle in the Box.”
Interstellar MD David Williams stated: “Bringing the brilliant Battle in the Box to U&Dave in the UK has been an absolute joy. We cannot wait to take everything we’ve learned about this groundbreaking reality and gameshow format and apply it to a host of new famous faces in the US. American celebrities beware, the Box is coming for you!”
Film Production
Priyanka Kaur Dhillon joins SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution
A seasoned content dealmaker with 16 years in digital and satellite media joins the Bengali entertainment powerhouse as it pushes into the pan-India music market
Mumbai: Priyanka Kaur Dhillon has made her move. The content acquisitions and commercials veteran, most recently commercial manager at Sony Pictures Networks India, has joined SVF Entertainment as lead for music distribution, stepping into one of the more interesting briefs in regional entertainment right now.
SVF is no ordinary regional label. Over 30 years it has built a formidable legacy in Bengali cinema and music, driven by culturally resonant storytelling and a catalogue that consistently punches above its weight. Its recent success with Chiraiya underlines the point. But the Kolkata-based powerhouse now has its sights firmly set beyond Bengal, most visibly through Legacy, a rap reality series produced in collaboration with hip-hop label Kalamkaar that signals a deliberate push into the pan-India music ecosystem.
Dhillon brings precisely the kind of muscle SVF needs for that expansion. At Sony Pictures Networks India, she led film acquisition and commercials and handled music licensing across the entire satellite network. Before that, she spent nearly 15 years at Hungama, rising to assistant general manager and leading strategic content licensing for the platform’s digital entertainment business, with a particular focus on international markets. Her label relationships span the full roster: Sony Music, Universal Music, Warner Music, Believe International, Tunecore, The Orchard and a clutch of smaller aggregators. She has negotiated and closed deals with Hollywood studios, Bollywood production houses and regional content players alike, building pricing models and deal structures off data analysis rather than instinct.
Announcing the appointment, Dhillon said she was “thrilled to begin this journey with an iconic Bengali music label and content powerhouse,” adding that SVF’s “constant drive to push boundaries” was what drew her to the role.
SVF has spent three decades proving that regional does not mean limited. With a sharp commercial operator now steering its music distribution, its bid to go national just got a good deal more serious.
