Fremantle, BRON Ventures back prodco from ‘El Chapo’ duo Camila Jimenez and Silvana Aguirre

El Chapo

Fremantle has taken a 25% stake in The Immigrant, the recently launched prodco co-founded by Camila Jimenez and Silvana Aguirre who were behind El Chapo for Netflix and Univision.

BRON Ventures, the venture arm of BRON Media Corp, will also invest in the company with a minority stake as part of the deal, which marks Fremantle’s first major equity investment in the Latino and Hispanic scripted market. The production and distribution outfit said it planned “to grow equity participation” in the coming years.

Silvana Aguirre

The Immigrant was founded earlier this year and is concentrating on premium dramas that focus on Hispanic and Latino content, targeted at the US and international audiences.

It has already secured a full commission, details of which have not been released, while projects in active development include a co-production with Fremantle’s Wildside (My Brilliant Friend) that has Lucia Puenzo (La Jauria) attached as showrunner.

The Immigrant is based in LA, with offices in Mexico and Spain. A new office is opening in Colombia in 2020. with further Latin America expansion planned.

Prior to setting up outfit, Jimenez was content officer at Univision-backed Fusion Media Group, heading up its Story House label and executive-producing projects including El Chapo and Murder Mountain. Aguirre was the creator and showrunner of the Netflix drug drama and was previously creative director at Story House.

Camila Jimenez

Aguirre is the co-founder and head of development for the new firm while Jimenez is CEO. The latter said Fremantle’s “established brand, international footprint and strong network of creative outlets, coupled with BRON’s bold support of creators, perfectly align with our strategic vision. Together we will build on our initial success and transform The Immigrant into an IP and international production powerhouse.”

Andrea Scrosati, COO at Fremantle, added: “Camila and Silvana are exactly the type of talent that Fremantle was born to be home to. Their unique multicultural approach to storytelling is very impressive, and it is an approach we believe is incredibly relevant in the times that we are living in.”

The company joins Fremantle’s roster of prodcos including Italy’s Wildside and Scandi label Miso Film (The Rain), while BRON has backed films including the recently released Joker.

ACF Investment Bank and Sheppard Mullin advised Jimenez and Aguirre on the deal.