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Cohen’s Access bites into Bad Wolf

Danny Cohen’s Access Entertainment has taken a 24.9% stake in Bad Wolf, the production company launched by former BBC Worldwide (BBCWW) execs Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner.

Jane Tranter (left) and Julie Gardner

Bad Wolf, which is behind BBC1’s forthcoming adaptation of Philip Pullman’s book series His Dark Materials, will use the investment to “fast-track” its scripted productions and expand globally.

It’s the latest investment for Access Entertainment, which was launched in May and is part of billionaire Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries.

Access backed Tessa Ross and Juliette Howell’s London-based House Productions alongside BBCWW in 2016 and earlier this year partnered with the UK pubcaster’s commercial arm and prodco Lookout Point to form commissioning entity Benchmark Television.

Bad Wolf has offices in Wales and LA and launched in association with the Welsh government, which claimed the firm would attract around £100m (US$155m) to the Welsh economy over the next decade.

The company, launched in 2015, is also producing A Discovery of Witches, based on the best-selling novels by Deborah Harkness, as well as an adaptation of Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles.

Tranter, CEO at the prodco, described the investment as “a fantastic endorsement of our vision for Bad Wolf and Welsh Government’s strategy for the industry.”

Danny Cohen

“Access Entertainment is a bold and ambitious company who shares our appetite for drama of scale. Joining forces with Len Blavatnik and Danny Cohen was absolutely central to our decision. We have had a long and productive relationship with Danny over the years and Len is a true visionary who immediately understood what Bad Wolf stands for. With this partnership, we are supremely well positioned to take Bad Wolf to the next stage of its expansion.”

Blavatnik, founder and chairman of Access Industries, added: “We established Access Entertainment to work with the world’s best creative talent and support them in realising their ambitions. We are delighted to partner with the Bad Wolf team at this critical stage in their development.”

Cohen, president of Access Entertainment, said: “Jane and Julie are brilliant television executives, highly creative and with an appetite for projects of global scale and impact. I’m very confident that Bad Wolf will produce outstanding work in the coming years, and we are looking forward to going on this journey with them.”

The deal was forged by Bad Wolf’s chief operating officer Miles Ketley, who will step down to become a partner in a new undisclosed media investment firm.

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