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Tag: Naked Entertainment

  • FremantleMedia acquires French scripted producer Kwai

    FremantleMedia acquires French scripted producer Kwai

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia has acquired a majority stake in French scripted producer Kwai. The Paris-based fiction company specialises in TV films and series and is headed up by writer and producer Thomas Bourguignon, creator of Femmes de Loi, the popular French detective series that ran from 2000-2009.

     

    Together with the recent acquisition of Fontaram, the deal gives FremantleMedia more scripted prowess in France and adds another prominent creative talent to its global network. Bourguignon has extensive experience and success in France and has the ambition to produce series that appeal beyond the French borders.

     

    The deal was brokered by FremantleMedia France CEO Monica Galer, who will also be the CEO of Kwai.

     

    Galer said, “Thomas Bourguignon is a brilliant writer and producer and we look forward to creating some really exciting scripted projects with him, in France and beyond.”

     

    Kwai has recently delivered two TV films, Un Fils and Meurtre a Carcassonne, as well as pilot Le Zebre, all on air earlier this year. Upcoming series include Republican Gangsters for Canal+ and Godzilla for Arte.

     

    Prior to founding Kwai, Bourguigon was a film critic for Positif as well as a member of Gilles Jacob’s selection committee for the Cannes Film Festival for five years. He also worked as a TV program counsellor for M6; then joined Alizés Films where he created and produced the series Femmes de Loi. In 2002, Bourguignon set up BB Films with Patrick Benedek. Together, they produced many series for various French TV channels.

     

    This is the latest in a number of acquisitions and creative talent partnerships by FremantleMedia including Corona, Wildside, Fontaram, Naked Entertainment, No Pictures Please and Skylark.

  • FremantleMedia picks up 25% stake in Simon Andreae’s Naked Entertainment

    FremantleMedia picks up 25% stake in Simon Andreae’s Naked Entertainment

    MUMBAI: FremantleMedia has taken a 25 per cent stake in Simon Andreae’s newly formed production company Naked Entertainment.

     

    Based in London, Naked Entertainment will develop original entertainment, factual, and factual entertainment formats, with series and one-off specials. The deal will further strengthen FremantleMedia’s content pipeline for the UK and global distribution market.

     

    FremantleMedia CEO Cecile Frot-Coutaz said, “We are actively looking for the right companies and talent to expand and strengthen our business. Simon is one of the industry’s preeminent factual entertainment producers with a long history of delivering hits with global appeal. He already has a strong development slate and I’m really pleased to be partnering with him to bring his projects to audiences around the world.”

     

    Andreae added, “I’m excited to be back in the UK and delighted to be partnering with FremantleMedia, whose depth of experience and breadth of reach in entertainment programming is unrivalled. Naked, as the name suggests, aims to be provocative and risk-taking – but also kind of simple and straightforward –  producing content designed to attract, surprise, and I hope delight audiences both in the UK and overseas.”

     

    Andreae was most recently at Fox Broadcasting’s Alternative Entertainment as executive vice president in the US. Here, he oversaw all the network’s unscripted series and specials, including MasterChef, Hell’s Kitchen, So You Think You Can Dance, World’s Funniest Fails, Pitbull’s New Year’s Revolution, and Hilary Swank’s Cause for Paws.

     

    Prior to Fox, he was senior vice president, development and production, for Discovery, where he developed ratings hits Naked and Afraidand Fast N Loud, as well as supervised the multi-award winning Curiosity series hosted by Stephen Hawking, Donald Trump, and Samuel L Jackson, among others.

     

    He was also a founding partner of UK indie Optomen Television, helping grow it into one of the UK’s largest non-scripted prod-cos with a broad mix of programming including Police, Camera, Action!, The Naked Chef, Anatomy of Desire and Gore Vidal’s American Presidency.