MAD Solutions & IRTH Strike Pan-Arab Production Pact — SkimNews
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- MAD Solutions announced a strategic partnership with IRTH at the Venice Film Festival, pairing MAD's distribution, sales, talent management and PR infrastructure with IRTH's drama development operation, which spans Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
- IRTH, led by Egyptian author-screenwriter Haitham Dabbour (novels include Devoured by Seven Lean Cows; screenwriting credits include El Gouna prizewinner Gunshot and Berlinale Generation title The Tale of Ahl El Daye), brings a network of Arab writers and creative professionals to the partnership.
- The partnership will develop original films and TV series — including projects built around MAD Celebrity talent — while also offering script doctoring, rewriting, and development consultancy to third-party producers preparing material for regional and international markets.
- Kareem Samy, executive director of MAD Celebrity, said the deal creates a more direct route between talent management and project creation, allowing the company to help originate opportunities rather than just find them for represented talent.
- MAD Solutions, founded in 2010 by Alaa Karkouti and Maher Diab, has a Venice presence this year through its involvement in Giornate degli Autori title Al Baraneya and Conversations with the Sea in the Venice Spotlight section.
- MAD will also present its annual award at Final Cut in Venice, marking 12 consecutive years of the company's support for the post-production and co-financing program focused on films from Africa and the Arab world.
Why it matters: This deal consolidates MAD Solutions' 15-year distribution, international sales, and talent infrastructure with IRTH's proven drama development pipeline, giving Arab projects from Egypt and Saudi Arabia a more complete pipeline from script stage to global sales. The Venice timing signals the partnership is being marketed to international buyers and festival programmers, not just regional audiences. MAD Celebrity talent now enters the creative process earlier, blurring the line between representation and project origination.
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