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Danny Cohen’s Access buys into Tranter’s Bad Wolf
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Access Entertainment has acquired a 24.9% stake in Bad Wolf, the Wales-based prodco that is making a TV version of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials.
Access has already invested in House Productions, the drama indie run by former Channel 4 drama chief Tessa Ross and ex-Working Title Television UK boss Juliette Howell.
Former BBC director of television Danny Cohen joined the production financing business Access Entertainment last year. It is the TV and content arm of the billionaire Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries.
Miles Ketley, who joined Bad Wolf as chief operating officer from legal firm Wiggin LLP, put the Bad Wolf deal together. He will step down in completion of the deal to become a partner in a new media investment firm.
Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner left BBC Worldwide in 2015 to set up Wales-based Bad Wolf, with support from the Welsh government.
“This investment is a fantastic endorsement of our vision for Bad Wolf and Welsh Government’s strategy for the industry,” said Tranter. “Access Entertainment is a bold and ambitious company who shares our appetite for drama of scale.
“Joining forces with Len Blavatnik and Danny Cohen was absolutely central to our decision. We have had a long and productive relationship with Danny over the years and Len is a true visionary who immediately understood what Bad Wolf stands for. With this partnership, we are supremely well positioned to take Bad Wolf to the next stage of its expansion.”
Bad Wolf is currently producing A Discovery of Witches, which is based on the best-selling novels by Deborah Harkness, and an adaptation of Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles. Alsoin development are scripts from “some of the most respected writers in the industry”, the company said.
“We established Access Entertainment to work with the world’s best creative talent and support them in realising their ambitions,” said Blavatnik. “We are delighted to partner with the Bad Wolf team at this critical stage in their development.”
Cohen said: “Jane and Julie are brilliant television executives, highly creative and with an appetite for projects of global scale and impact. I’m very confident that Bad Wolf will produce outstanding work in the coming years – and we are looking forward to going on this journey with them.”
Financial details of the Access deal were not disclosed.
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