Fremantle has forged a ground-breaking three-year partnership agreement with a creative alliance of nine leading independent production companies to help them develop and fund high-quality international dramas series and films.
Called The Creatives, the alliance spans eight countries and has been spearheaded by France’s Haut Et Court, the production and distribution banner behind “The Returned” and “Possessions.”
Along with Haut et Court, the partnership includes Lemming Film from the Netherlands, Versus Production from Belgium, Maipo Film from Norway, Razor Film from Denmark, Spiro from Israel, Unité from France, Masha from the U.S. and Good Chaos from the U.K.
Each banner is strong across film and TV, and have a total of 100 films and series in various stages of development or production. The idea behind the alliance is to allow these independent companies to benefit from collaborating without having to get further backing elsewhere. The current TV landscape has become increasingly concentrated within the last few years and the launch of global streamers has accelerated this trend.
The Creatives will work in collaboration with Christian Vesper, president of global drama at Fremantle, and Fremantle’s global drama team. The films and series produced by the group will be signed under the newly formed label The Creatives.
The group will work closely together in co-production and strategic partnerships, information sharing, combining each other’s talent and networks.
“Nine companies, nine different identities, who want to keep their individuality and their cultures as well as that of the talent they work with,” said The Creatives in a joint statement.
“We cooperate, we exchange ideas, we develop, we produce, and we maintain our idiosyncrasies. In return, as a response to an exponential growth of the market, we offer writers and directors a home of a significant scale where they will benefit from a global approach,” they added.
The Creatives said that “they retain control of their stories and keep hold of rights, as much as possible.”
“In this hugely competitive world, we all believe it is the only way to swim upstream and stay ahead of our competitors,” pointed out The Creatives.
Carole Scotta, Haut Et Court’s co founder, said, “We have pioneered this unique deal structure, with the valued support and backing of Fremantle.”
“The Creatives will protect the independent development process that has been the backbone of storytelling in Europe for decades. We unite in order to stay as free and creatively interesting as possible, and supply films and series which audiences will respond to,” said Scotta.
She said the alliance was “committed to offer fair conditions to the talent we work with and to strengthen the long-term relationships with our writers, showrunners, and directors as well as with new talent.”
Vesper, meanwhile, said, “At Fremantle we proudly support the independent production community and the array of exceptional talent that it represents.”
“At Fremantle we believe passionately in providing our valued partners and our brilliant talent with the right level of support, whilst also fully embracing their independence, creativity, and complete freedom to work unencumbered with the network or platform that is best suited for each project,” said Vesper.
“This successful formula is in the Fremantle DNA and represents a perfect fit for this ground-break and innovative new label. We believe The Creatives will deliver a consistent slate of high-quality, authentic and sophisticated productions, each of which will have creative freedom at its very heart, and we are extremely proud to be partnering with them,” added the veteran executive.