FremantleMedia has taken a 25% stake in Corona Television, the nascent television production company which was recently set up by filmmakers Richard Johns and Rupert Jermyn.
A sister company to Corona Pictures, which Johns and Jermyn launched in 2009, Corona Television will produce television series for every country in the world, including the major established markets and key emerging markets such as China.
The deal gives FremantleMedia a first look option on all of Corona Television’s output and builds on FME’s stated ambition of building a scripted pipeline, which will be ripe for securing co-production and international licensing agreements. FremantleMedia’s Director of Global Drama Sarah Doole brokered the deal and will serve on the board of Corona TV.
“Richard and Rupert have together over twenty five years’ experience in producing successful feature films. Because of this, they look at scripted projects in a completely different way from most production companies, bringing a big screen presence to the small screen”, said Sarah Doole. “We’ve looked at their production slate and they have some exciting ideas which are ripe for international co-production funding.”
It also further extends FremantleMedia’s relationship with Richard Johns and Rupert Jermyn. The three previously teamed together to develop scripted drama series Birds Of Prey, an adaption of the first three entries from Wilbur Smith’s Courtney novel series which was being penned by Layer Cake scribe JJ Connolly.
“We’re absolutely delighted to have made this deal with the dynamic team at FremantleMedia”, added Richard Johns and Rupert Jermyn. “As film-makers we have always created big stories for the world rather than one particular market. This move gives Corona Television the strategic financing, distribution and marketing firepower most drama producers can only dream of, allowing us to tell stories for TV on a truly global scale.”
