UMG NASHVILLE ENTERS FILM & TV BIZ

Universal Music Group Nashville is entering film and television with Sing Me Back Home Productions, which will foster music integration, tapping into the company's catalog of artists as well as celebrating new talent.

UMG Nashville Chair & CEO Cindy Mabe (right) and SVP of Digital Business and Creative Development Dawn Gates will lead the new division, focused on developing documentaries, original scripted and unscripted television, feature films and short-form content. Sing Me Back Home will be heavily involved in securing production partners, music supervision and distribution.

The first projects under its aegis are a docuseries on the husband-and-wife duo The War and Treaty and the doc Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive.

“Country music has always been the home of the richest storytellers in music. Storytellers like Merle Haggard, whose song ‘Sing Me Back Home’ helped frame the intent of our production company,” Mabe said. “Creating a new canvas for our storytellers to paint was a natural next step for our artists to talk to their fans. With several productions underway, this new endeavor fits prominently into what we are sustaining and building as a music company: roots, legacy, music discovery and storytelling. We're finding that faith, family and heartland are at the core of our business and are making sure we're building generational content for different mediums across a variety of platforms and shepherding it into the homes of our audience.”

The production company has partnered with ITV America’s Thinkfactory Media to develop and produce The War and Treaty docuseries, which will follow the personal as well as professional lives of Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter. It's already in the works with a broadcast partner.