Red Arrow invests in Skogland’s Mad Rabbit

Red Arrow Entertainment’s latest strategic play is investing in a new production company led by Canadian director and showrunner Kari Skogland.

The international production arm of ProSiebenSat.1 Media has team with Skogland and industry veteran Peter Sussman to create Mad Rabbit Entertainment, a joint venture that will be based in Toronto and LA. The company will aim to create high-end scripted for the international market.

Skogland has directed episodes of House of Cards, The Walking Dead and Boardwalk Empire among others. She will lead the company as CEO, with Red Arrow International selling the firm’s programming globally.

Elsie Choi, a former development executive for Hollywood actor Bruce Willis, will lead development out of LA.

Former Entertainment Group CEO Sussman will chair Mad Rabbit’s board. He is also known a co-controlling shareholder in former CSI: Crime Scene Investigation owner Alliance Atlantis Communications and as co-founder and executive chairman of film and television financier Aver Media.

“Kari and Elsie, together with Peter, are exactly what we look for in partners: smart, absurdly talented and thoroughly likable in every way,” said Red Arrow CEO and chairman Jan Frouman. “We think that Mad Rabbit is a great opportunity for both our global scripted business, and our group as a whole.”

Red Arrow, which now has 16 production companies across seven territories, will hold a minority stake in the outfit.

The news comes a month after Red Arrow appointed its UK chief, James Baker, as president of the wider group.