Australia to get Ed Sheeran, Lou Pearlman documentaries

Australians will get to view two documentaries on different platforms.

Apple Music bought for a seven figure sum the world rights to Ed Sheeran’s Songwriter.

It had its world premiere in February in Berlin, and its North American debut at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City earlier this week.

It was directed by Sheehan’s cousin Murray Cummings, a music video maker in whose flat he would crash out after his early small gigs in London.

He then toured with him as his resident video director when he was opening for Taylor Swift, recording at Abbey Road Studios, struggling with the Justin Bieber hit ‘Love Yourself’ while clad in pyjamas on a tour bus, and playing to 90,000 at Wembley Stadium.

For his first film, Cummings focuses on Sheeran’s art of writing songs, for himself and for others.

“Let’s face it, who else could do it?” he says. “At 15, he was determined to be a star.

“In the early days, he’d tell the audience at a gig, I’ll play you a show in your living room if you let me crash out for the night at your place and give me a cup of tea in the morning.”

YouTube has ordered a documentary on the late disgraced music producer and boy band svengali Lou Pearlman.

With the working title The Lou Pearlman Project, It was executive produced by *NSYNC member Lance Bass with Craig Piligian of Pilgrim Media Group.

*NSYNC, Backstreet Boys, O-Town and Take Five were among acts that Pearlman created and took to stardom, often with dark consequences..

He died while serving a 25-year prison term for multiple counts of fraud.

It features interviews with many of the band members as well as their mothers and federal agents and colleagues.

Said Bass, “I’ve always wanted to tell the story of the rise and fall of Lou Pearlman; I thought I knew most of the story since I had a front row seat.

“I was fascinated to learn so much more through the eyes of other artists that were also subjected to Pearlman and his nefarious operation.”

Susanne Daniels, global head of original content at YouTube stated, “Viewers are going to be captivated by these riveting stories from some of the biggest names in music as they recount the extraordinary challenges they’ve faced on their rise to fame.

“Music is wildly popular on our platform, and this documentary gives fans a level of access to the true stories and real life highs and lows of their favourite artists that they can’t find anywhere else.”

The Pearlman documentary is expected to premiere on YouTube Red at the end of 2018.