OTF Announces First Sales For Weasley Twins’ Fantastic Friends

HBO, TVNZ and Bell Media acquire Dash Pictures’ magical travel series

The international distribution arm of factual content specialist Off The Fence (OTF) reports that Dash Pictures’ new travel series, Fantastic Friends, has been acquired by HBO Max EMEA, TVNZ and Bell Media. 

The six-part series, hosted by James and Oliver Phelps — aka the mischievous Weasley twins of Harry Potter fame — is scheduled to launch on Bell Media’s Crave in Canada (in English and French) on June 17, before rolling out on HBO Max EMEA in the first territories on July 2 and TVNZ on August 6.

Fantastic Friends is part adventure-travel series, part magic-infused challenge show and part a celebration of friendship. Produced and directed by Emmy Award-nominated filmmaker Daniel Sharp (Vikings: The Rise and Fall; Disasters Engineered; Top Gear America), each episode sees the Phelps twins travel to a destination to meet up with one of their famous friends, who then take on the role of tour guide. The cast includes the twin’s Harry Potter co-stars Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood), Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) and Luke Youngblood (Lee Jordan), as well as Game of Thrones’ Maisie Williams, Outlander’s Sophie Skelton and The Sixth Sense’s Haley Joel Osment. The action moves from Iceland to Ireland, from St Lucia to Dubai, as the twins expand their horizons and explore new worlds, while engaging in a series of magic-themed challenges and competitions.

Dash Pictures is now in production on a second six-part series of Fantastic Friends, produced by Daniel Sharp and Agata Pieczynska (For the Love of the Game; Prince Harry in Africa). 

Fantastic Friends is executive produced by James Phelps, Oliver Phelps, Martin Blencowe and Daniel Sharp.

Stefanie Fischer, OTF’s managing director of sales, said: “Daniel and the team at Dash Pictures have great access to some of the world’s best talent and Oliver, James and friends don’t disappoint. With their global and loyal fan base, we knew we’d be able to attract an array of broadcasters and platforms. The series is a fun, fresh and original travel series, with stunning locations to go alongside it.”

Daniel Sharp comments, “It has been great to be able to travel again and to create this fun, daring and innovate series.  It was a real pleasure to be joined by James and Oliver, who not only starred in the series but worked as hands-on execs throughout, bringing on guests as we went along.  Having Martin Blencowe, the founder of Cameo, as an EP was a huge plus as he is just brilliant at putting the right talented people together.”

OTF focuses on three content pillars — Yesterday (history), Today (natural history, travel and adventure, lifestyle, crime and impact) and Tomorrow (science) — across three business models: OTF Originals, OTF Studios and OTF Fast. With its focus on our relationship with ourselves and the planet, Fantastic Friends falls into the Today content pillar.