Fremantle buys into former Endemol exec’s indie

FremantleMedia has bought a 25% stake in Full Fat TV, the indie set up earlier this year by the former boss of Endemol Shine Group-owned indie Remarkable Television, Colette Foster.

The agreement gives FremantleMedia a quarter stake in the Birmingham-based UK prodco and an option to increase that in the future.

Prior to launching the indie, Foster was Joint managing director at Endemol Shine’s Remarkable, where her credits included Supersize vs Superskinny and How To Look Good Naked.

FremantleMedia CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz said: “Colette has a strong vision of what she wants to achieve and she is one of the most successful and respected creatives in the UK. Full Fat TV is a great complement to our existing portfolio and we’re looking forward to working with her on what will be a great slate of programming.”

Foster said: “We are hugely excited about developing new standout factual entertainment programming and we am thrilled to be working with the team at FremantleMedia.”

FremantleMedia has not been part of the high-level consolidation and M&A sweeping the international production and distribution sector, but has been actively buying into production businesses in recent months.

Its 2015 deals include acquiring stakes in scripted indies Naked Entertainment and Corona Pictures in the UK; factual company No Pictures Please in the Netherlands; scripted outfits Fontaram and Kwai in France; and Wildside in Italy.