Fremantle

Fremantle promotes international execs

Fremantle has promoted its international content execs, with new roles in place for Angela Neillis (pictured, above) and Rebecca Dundon (below). The global distributor has promoted Neillis to SVP of non-scripted content, while Dundon has been named VP of scripted content. Both execs will report into Jens Richter, CEO of Fremantle International. Based in London, […]

Hulu picks up ITV drama Butterfly

Hulu has picked up US rights to ITV mini-series Butterfly, which follows the story of an 11-year-old boy as he transitions into a female. Created and penned by BAFTA award-winning screenwriter Tony Marchant and starring International Emmy actress Anna Friel (Marcella), the emotional 3×60-minute series will make its debut on Hulu on 18 January 2019. […]

Wildside is developing an Audrey Hepburn drama

Fremantle’s Wildside is developing a drama series on Audrey Hepburn’s life, based on a story by Hepburn’s son Luca Dotti and Luigi Spinola. Dotti and Spinola are the scribes behind New York Times bestseller Audrey At Home, which explores Hepburn’s passion for life as a muse, a mother and a humanitarian. In developing the new […]

iQiyi takes Fremantle’s My Brilliant Friend to China

iQiyi is set to take Fremantle’s critically-acclaimed drama My Brilliant Friend to China. My Brilliant Friend follows Elena Greco as the most important friend in her life seems to have disappeared without a trace. She met Raffaella Cerullo, whom she has always called Lila, in the first year of primary school in 1950. Set in a dangerous Naples […]

Fremantle to develop South African drama with Multichoice

Fremantle is set to join forces with African pay TV operator Multichoice to develop an eight-part contemporary South African investigative crime thriller, Reyka. Set against the tropical coastline and vast sugarcane field of KwaZulu Natal, the story follows the life of Reyka Gama, a flawed but brilliant female detective, who is haunted by her past. […]

Canada’s CBC takes Fremantle mini-series Butterfly

Canadian national broadcaster CBC has acquired Butterfly, a mini-series the follows the story of an 11-year old boy as he transitions into a female. The 3×60-minute series will launch on CBC in late winter of 2019. Created and penned by BAFTA award-winning screenwriter Tony Marchant, and starring International Emmy winner Anna Friel (Marcella), Butterfly is a […]

Fremantle strikes first-look deal with Natalie Dormer

Game of Thrones actor Natalie Dormer has struck a multi-year first-look deal with Fremantle. The pact will see the star create a slate of dramas that will be co-developed with the producer-distributor. She most recently starred in the Fremantle-produced and distributed Foxtel/Amazon drama Picnic At Hanging Rock, and also co-wrote and starred in feature film In […]

Fremantle launches scripted podcast label

Fremantle has launched Storyglass, a new scripted podcast label that will be headed by former Amnesty International creative director Robert Delamere (pictured). The new label will commission and develop original scripted ideas from a range of storytellers from around the world. Delamere, who is also the founder of digital platform for the arts Digital Theatre, […]

Fremantle bets on Irish multi-platform format National Treasures

Fremantle has picked up format rights to EZ Films’ multi-platform series National Treasures. The business has acquired format rights in key territories around the world from distributor NordicWorld for the RTE-commissioned series. Territories include France, Australia, New Zealand, Belgium, Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Poland and Brazil. Created by Dave Clarke and Ciarán Deeney’s EZ Films for the […]

Fremantle hires 7Wonder’s Abbott as COO unscripted

Fremantle has appointed 7Wonder’s Liza Abbott as chief operating officer for unscripted out of the UK. Taking up her post in the newly created role later this month, Abbott will oversee commercial activity, legal and business affairs, digital and production across Fremantle’s UK unscripted labels, which include Thames, Talkback, Boundless and Shotglass. She will report […]