Fremantle Execs On Shifting Strategy To Make Cinema A “Major Part” Of Their Business & How They Attract Names Like Luca Guadagnino To Exclusive Deals — Iberseries & Platino Industria

deadline.com:

Super-indie Fremantle has made a strategic shift to center premium film productions within its global business model, global drama exec Seb Shorr said this morning during a keynote at Iberseries and Platino Industria in Madrid.

Shorr, joined by Fremantle’s Mexican Head of Scripted Manuel Martí, and Olivia Sleiter, Head of Production at Fremantle Italy, said the company has been on a “journey” from its traditional position as an “entertainment and nonscripted powerhouse” with formats like Idol, Got Talent and The X Factor. “The TV drama journey at Fremantle was really started seven or eight years ago,” Shorr said.  “And while we’ve always done a bit of film, over the last few years, we very much now want that to be a really important part of our portfolio and a major part of our business.” Key to this transition, Shorr said, is the company’s relationship with talent, which he said is based on the pitch of helping established names launch independent projects. “We have deals with Sorrentino and Guadagnino.

With Rachel Weisz’s company and Kristen Stewart’s company and Angelina Jolie. And the proposition that we make to them always is, come in and we will help you navigate this market,” he said. “We will help you control your projects. “We want to be a place that can help them find the right home for their projects.” Shorr added that “bringing in this talent with these projects is hugely important in a global market that is increasingly difficult.” Shorr used the production journey of the company’s Martin Freeman starring crime series The Responder to illustrate what he described as the tightening global market. “The Responder worked on the basis of quite a big U.S.