International TV giant, Fremantle has bought a majority stake Beach House Pictures, one of Asia’s busiest independent TV and Film production companies.
Headed by Donovan Chan and Jocelyn Little, Beach House has previously been partly owned by Canada’s Blue Ant Media group. While deal terms of the new transaction have not been disclosed, it was announced that Blue Ant has sold all of its stake.
Beach House works across both film and TV, scripted and non-scripted genres and has a wide pan-Asian reach, including China and India. It is also pioneering brand-funded programming for regional and international platforms.
The company is known for Emmy-nominated Netflix lifestyle series “Mind Your Manners” and the award-winning documentary series “Evolve,” for Amazon Prime & Curiosity.
It is currently in production on: the Chinese IMAX documentary feature “The Elephant Odyssey”; the Sung Kang (“Fast and Furious”)-led car culture series “The Ride Life,” for Insight TV, and wildlife-survival documentary series “Survival of the Beast” for Love Nature.
In 2021, Beach House took a majority stake in Singapore-based Momo Film. Momo’s productions include “Dreaming & Dying,” which won two awards at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival, “A Useful Ghost” and “Don’t Cry, Butterfly” (Cannes 2023).
“This is a significant milestone in the growth of Beach House Pictures; from a small and scrappy documentary company over 18 years ago to the multi-genre Asian super indie today,” said Little and Chan. “We are very proud of what we have achieved, but we are even more excited about the many things we can build together with our new partners Fremantle, whose immense scale and reach, incredible quality and deep library of formats is second to none.”
Fremantle says that the acquisition underlines its strategic growth plans to invest in and partner with premium production companies.
“Fremantle invests in and works with the best creatives in the industry, and Jocelyn, Donovan and the team at Beach House Pictures are exactly that. Their taste and approach to storytelling is inspirational. Asia is a dynamic market and one we have targeted for strategic growth,” said Jennifer Mullin, Group CEO, Fremantle.
“We have been looking for the right partner in Asia to expand our output and footprint [Beach House Pictures] are a true powerhouse, with great synergies to our business,” said Ganesh Rajaram, CEO Asia and Latam, Fremantle.
Fremantle has made other acquisitions. These include Belgium-based A Team Productions (“Baghdad Messi,” “Land of the Heroes”), U.K. production company Dancing Ledge Productions (“The Responder,” “Big Mood”), scripted Italian production company Lux Vide (“Devils,” “Leonardo”), international development and production company Fabel (“Bosch”), Australian-American television production company Eureka Productions (“Parental Guidance,” “Finding Magic Mike”), Irish production company Element Pictures (“Normal People,” “Poor Things”), 72 Films (“All or Nothing: Arsenal,” “9/11: One Day in America”), Wildstar Films (“America The Beautiful,” “Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory”) and Silvio Productions (“Shadow of Truth,” “The Baby Daddy,” “Buried”).
