Universal Music Group (UMG) and Grace/Beyond (GB), the entertainment production company led by principal partners Josh Wakely (pictured), Mikael Borglund and Trevor Roy, have announced development on three new television series with the working titles of 27, Melody Island and Mixtape.
The partners have also collaborated on Netflix/Seven’s Beat Bugs and are collaborating on an Untitled Motown Project at Netflix that will feature newly recorded versions of Motown classics.
MORE: Beat Bugs – How a young Aussie writer landed rights to 300+ Beatles songs
As part of a new agreement between the companies, GB will develop future projects based on UMG’s recorded music and publishing catalogs.
Beat Bugs
The newly commenced projects include:
27 (current title)
A startling array of legendary musicians, artists and entertainers died tragically young at the age of 27. This series explores the life circumstances behind a fictionalised variety of characters coming to a crossroads at the pivotal age of 27. The live-action, scripted program features songs from artists spanning the UMG publishing catalogs.
Melody Island (current title)
Each episode of this animated series for children features a story inspired by a classic UMG master or composition with an uplifting message and tropical island feeling.
Mixtape
Mixtape is an episodic drama that mirrors the way a mixtape works – fast forwarding, pausing and rewinding on the pivotal moments that define the relationships, love and heartbreak of the stories’ characters. Each episode is based on and connected to an iconic song to form the 12-track season.
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GB principal partners Wakely, Borglund and Roy are the creative and production team behind the Emmy Award-winning Beat Bugs, which features re-imagined versions of The Beatles’ classics by music superstars of today including P!nk, Sia, Eddie Vedder, Rod Stewart, and many others.
In addition, GB’s principal partners are behind a highly anticipated Untitled Motown Project that features newly recorded versions of Motown songs from the Jobete and Stone Diamond publishing catalogs by some of music’s most popular and acclaimed artists. Smokey Robinson is the series’ Executive Music Producer and UMG is a primary investor in the series. The soundtrack will be released on UMG’s Motown/Capitol label through GB’s Melodia imprint, which previously released the Beat Bugs soundtrack through UMG’s Republic Records.