Annabel Langbein says the deal will enable her to develop her brand in the manner of Jamie Oliver. Photo / Babiche Martens

Annabel Langbein says the deal will enable her to develop her brand in the manner of Jamie Oliver. Photo / Babiche Martens

New Zealand is getting its own Julia Child. Cooking and food writer Annabel Langbein has signed an international licensing deal with international television distributor Fremantle Media Enterprises.

The deal starts with a 13-part TV series based around Central Otago.

But Langbein - who stresses she is a home cook and not a chef - said Fremantle had indicated it was focused on developing her brand.

"I call it global domination by spatula," she said.

Called Free Range Cooking With Annabel Langbein, the series was filming this week. The show is being made by TVNZ, which will have New Zealand broadcast rights.

But it will be Langbein who owns the show rights and who will benefit if and when sales kick off around the world. Langbein has developed a strong brand for her cookery books and also online.

Fremantle - which distributes some of the most successful TV shows in the world - could not be reached at print time.

But Langbein said Fremantle saw the New Zealand locale - with its reputation for freshness - as a selling point.

The series will be produced by Dana Youngman, a former head of the TVNZ internal production unit.

Langbein pointed to other cooking brands Fremantle had developed, such as Jamie Oliver and Martha Stewart. Her publishing manager is Debra Millar, former publishing boss at ACP Magazines New Zealand.

MIKE O TO GO?

The biggest creative spark behind Saatchi & Saatchi is expected to step down from the company soon. An announcement is expected that Mike O'Sullivan - one of New Zealand's most successful advertising executives - will no longer be executive creative director of the agency. O'Sullivan is the key figure behind Saatchi accounts including the three Ts - Tui, Toyota and Telecom.

His departure would mark a significant shift at Saatchi & Saatchi. It would also signal big changes ahead at the agency. The reasons for a break-up of O'Sullivan's relationship with chief executive Andrew Stone are not clear.

The two characters have sometimes seemed joined at the hip and rumours in the advertising world yesterday suggested the two admen men might be exiting together. That seems unlikely, but yesterday Saatchi & Saatchi did not return calls.

TELECOM