Brown’s Passenger boards Fremantle deal

Catch 22 and True Detective producer Richard Brown has launched his own production company and struck a multi-year deal with Fremantle.

Richard Brown

Passenger, which is based in New York and London, will focus on scripted projects, which Fremantle will coproduce and then distribute globally.

Brown is an exec producer on Hulu, Channel 4 and Sky Italia’s George Clooney-starring novel adaptation Catch 22 and has also worked on HBO drama True Detective. He also has credits on Netflix’s action movie Outlaw King, about Scottish hero Robert the Bruce.

He started his career at Island Records before moving into TV with Industry Entertainment, and subsequently striking a long-term overall producing deal with Anonymous Content.

The deal “further strengthens Fremantle’s commitment to working with the best minds in the business,” said Andrea Scrosati, chief operating officer at Fremantle.

“Richard has been a pioneer in the industry, with a unique understanding of global creative opportunities. In today’s competitive market, the difference is made by great ideas, outstanding talent and world-class execution capacity, and the partnership between Fremantle and Richard delivers exactly that.”

Brown added that Fremantle’s “expertise, exciting vision, creative culture, outstanding leadership and global reach” provided his prodco with “the ideal home for this new venture.”

Fremantle has been expanding its talent deals over recent months, partnering with The Jim Henson Company and author Neil Gaiman on a reboot of 1980s anthology series The Storyteller and forging links with Oscar-winning Chilean prodco Fabula on a Spanish-language psychological thriller.