Fremantle Acquires Majority Stake In Production Company Beach House Pictures

Nancy Tartaglione

8 February 2024 at 3:53 am·3-min read

Fremantle has taken a majority stake in one of Asia’s largest independent TV and film production companies, Beach House Pictures.

Based in Singapore, Beach House’s credits include the Emmy-nominated Netflix lifestyle series Mind Your Manners and the Buzzies-winning documentary series for Amazon Prime & Curiosity, Evolve.

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Beach House was previously owned by Canada’s Blue Ant Media. Financial terms of the Fremantle deal were not disclosed.

Fremantle said today that the acquisition further underlines its strategic growth plans to invest in and partner with premium production companies and work with exceptional creative talent.

Founded in 2005 by producers Donovan Chan and Jocelyn Little, Beach House Pictures specializes in creating and co-financing original IP across non-scripted, scripted, entertainment and brand-funded programming for all major regional and international platforms.

Alongside those cited above, BHP’s most recent productions include Netflix Indonesia’s documentary feature Ice Cold: Murder, Coffee and Jessica Wongso; Netflix Global Top 5 true crime documentary Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case; Asian TV Award-winner scripted children’s series Mr Midnight (Netflix) and wildlife drama Otter Dynasty (Max/Discovery+, Love Nature).

BHP also produces long-running franchises including Masterchef Singapore (Mediacorp), Ed Stafford: First Man Out (Discovery+, Bilibili) and Wild City with David Attenborough (Netflix, Sky, BBC America).

The company is currently in production on the IMAX documentary feature The Elephant Odyssey, the Sung Kang-led car culture series The Ride Life for Insight TV and wildlife meets survival documentary series Survival of the Beast for Love Nature.

In 2021 BHP took a majority stake in Singapore-based Momo Film Co to further grow its scripted output and extend its reach across South-East Asia. Momo Film Co’s projects include Dreaming & Dying which won two awards at the 2023 Locarno Film Festival as well as A Useful Ghost and Don’t Cry, Butterfly.

Jennifer Mullin, Group CEO, Fremantle, commented, “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, and I am proud we have found a wonderful partner in Beach House Pictures to be part of our family.”

Ganesh Rajaram, CEO Asia and Latam, Fremantle, added, “We have been looking for the right partner in Asia to expand our output and footprint, and I can think of no one better than Jocelyn, Donovan and entire team at Beach House Pictures. They are a true powerhouse, with great synergies to our business, and we are lucky to welcome them into the Fremantle family.”

For BHP founders Jocelyn Little and Donovan Chan, “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. 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.”

The investment in Beach House follows a number of acquisitions and step-ups made by Fremantle in 2023 and 2022, including Belgium-based A Team Productions, UK production company Dancing Ledge Productions, scripted Italian production company Lux Vide, international development and production company Fabel, Australian-American television production company Eureka Productions, Irish production company Element Pictures, 72 Films, Wildstar Films and Silvio Productions.

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