Content giant Fremantle is making a major boost to the feature film business as it expands its horizons, says group COO Andrea Scrosati, who is also a multi-faceted firm in the company.Head of ntinental europe.
At last year’s Venice Festival, Fremantle, known for talent shows “X-Factor” and “American Idol” and TV series like “The Mosquito Coast,” was raising the flag with several images including award-winning Paolo Sorrentino and the Academy Award-winning film The Hand. God.” And most recently at Cannes, Fremantle’s “The Eight Mountains” took home the jury prize. It’s all, as Scrosati brags, too good for just the past nine months. And while it’s still muted, expect more from Fremantle movies in venice in september.
Importantly, there are currently a total of 33 films that are expected to be made by Fremantle’s many companies in 2022, although some are co-produced with other teams. That’s a huge leap, given that in 2018, when Scrosati joined the company, Fremantle only produced eight films.
Fremantle’s business model is to invest in brands and companies that they own or are invested in. As part of its merger and acquisition spree, German media conglomerate RTL recently acquired Irish production company Element Pictures, producers of “Normal People”, “Conversations With Friends” and “The Favourite” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos, who is currently wrapping up a new drama, Emma Stone -starrer “Poor Things”, also under the Element banner – and now Fremantle.
“It’s clear that the Element acquisition has strengthened our presence in the feature film industry,” says Scrosati, given that Element is a prolific producer of high-profile images. They just wrapped “The Immortal Daughter” of Joanna Hogg with Tilda Swinton playing a double, among other high profile pictures in the pipeline. (See Fremantle movie list below.)
But now film production is also being increased within the previously owned Fremantle labels, and there are many of them The rationale behind this payment.
“One is a creative logic that focuses on talent,” Schrosati says. In the same way that there are stories that have to be told through high drama – because they take multiple hours – there are stories that are best told in 90 or 100 minutes. “With the kind of talent we work with, we want to be the place and the home where they know they can tell the story, no matter what the format,” he notes.
For Fremantle, securing major talent deals is the name of the game. It’s what propelled Sorrentino – whose “Hand of God” selfie has been sponsored by Italian firm Fremantle The Apartment – into the Fremantle fold in several forms, including as an executive producer on Apple’s upcoming Stefano Sollima series “Ferrari.” Angelina Jolie recently signed a three-year contract with Fremantle, as she is currently working in Rome filming her love project “No Blood” starring Salma Hayek.
Scrosati . was cited “Without blood” is a good example. “We are now partners with Angelina Jolie in the production and exploration of projects. “But I think the fact that we were willing to support her on this film project is one of the key elements that brought us together: Films are a fundamental component of our talent relationships,” Scorosati points out.
Then there is another aspect, which is that the market demand for movies has increased exponentially because all the streaming platforms are looking for movies.
“The platforms eventually realize that if you want to provide a shared experience, the drama is going to be more difficult because people are going to watch different episodes at different times, and committing the time the viewer needs to put it together is more difficult,” says Scrosati.
The president of Fremantle Europe emphasizes that “movies are more than a shared experience and an illusion [the streamers] They’re looking for it.”
also, From a marketing point of view, he notes that films can involve a higher level of talent because shooting a movie takes less time in the talent schedules. “almost “This aspect has a market value,” Skrosati says.
Fremantle now works with a roster of high-profile directors, many of whom are Academy Award nominees or winners including Luca Guadagnino, Sebastian Lelio, Michael Winterbottom, Kirill Serebrenkov and Rangano Nyoni, to name a few.
Interestingly, Scrosati says MMore than 50% of the films in Fremantle’s pipeline will be raw in cinemas and only about 15% will bend globally directly to a streaming device.
Regarding the business model in which these images are funded, it is on a title-by-title basis. But he says, “The biggest commissioner for these films is Fremantle, which means we’re going to be taking a lot of risks with all of these projects.” These risks range from the studio to funding a large portion of the budget to not having to fund it at all because it was pre-sold or prepackaged.
Several films are being produced in Fremantle’s pipeline as a joint project with Pathè – among these are “Limonov” by Serebrennikov and L’Immensità by Emmanuel Criales. Others are with FilmNation and others, like “Bones and All” in Guadagnino, are with MGM.
“There are a huge variety of ways you can monetize today’s film across theater, television, platforms, and video-on-demand operations,” notes Scrosati. “And local tax credit systems in some countries, notably Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic and Malta, make film financing in Europe more feasible” than in the United States, he adds.
Having said that, Scrosati is quick to point out “unscripted shows like “X Factor” and “Idol” are still the main component of Fremantle’s revenue and always will be. “
“The reason we’re able to make movies and TV is because we’re doing this kind of show,” says Scrosati.
An overview of the selected films to be delivered this year by Fremantle-owned groups:
Wildside (Italy)
L’Immensità, directed by Emmanuel Crialese. spit: Penelope Cruz
“Dehydration” output Paolo Virtue. Cast: Monica Bellucci, Silvio Orlando
“Limonov” directed by Kirill Serebrenkov. Cast: Ben Wishaw
New Saverio Costanzo movie
apartment (Italy)
“Bone and All” directed by Luca Guadagnino. Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Taylor Russell
The new Paolo Sorrentino movie
“Without Blood” directed by Angelina Jolie. Cast: Salma Hayak and Damian Bashir
Stefano Solima’s new movie
UFA (Germany)
“Thousand Lines” directed by Michael “Bully” Herbig
an item (UK/Ireland)
“Immortal Daughter” directed by Joanna Hogg. Cast: Tilda Swinton (plays two characters – mother and daughter)
Chevalier dDirected by Stephen Williams. Cast: Kelvin Harrison, Samara Weaving, Lucy Boynton
“Wonders” directed by Sebastian Lelio. Cast: Florence Pugh
“Poor Things” directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. Cast: Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo, Willem Defoe
“On Becoming a Guinea Bird”, directed by Rangano Nyoni
Miso Film (Norway)
“Blasted” directed by MArtin Sovedal
Fantasy Valley (Netherlands)
“Grab”, directed by Anne Marie Van de Mond
migrant (Mexico)
Adolfo, directed by Sophia Oza
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