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FMNA buys Random House Studio

FremantleMedia North America (FMNA) has acquired Random House Studio and has partnered with China’s Meridian Entertainment to produce shows based on its literary works.

Peter Gethers

Peter Gethers

FMNA will oversee all television adaptations from the studio – formerly part of book publisher Penguin Random House – while prodco Meridian will operate and grow its theatrical slate.

The Random House Studio team will be bi-coastal, with the LA-based executives housed in FMNA’s offices and New York-based executives in the Penguin Random House headquarters, close to the author and publishing community.

Peter Gethers will continue to lead the Random House Studio division as exec VP and general manager, reporting to Craig Cegielski, co-CEO of FMNA, and working with Jennifer Dong, founder and chairman of Meridian Entertainment, on the theatrical slate.

Gethers will also continue his role as editor-at-large at Penguin Random House.

Craig Cegielski

Craig Cegielski

“Our collective ambitions enable us to further harness the voice of the authors, engaging them in all stages of their adaptation and bringing their vision to every media platform worldwide,” said Cegielski.

Ongoing scripted projects in development and production at Random House Studio include Loving Day, sold as a half-hour series to Showtime, and a television movie about the life of Rachel Carson that sold to HBO. Others include What Remains, an original script by Ryan Scott, and Team Life, a script by Tracey Jackson.

On the children’s programming side, the team is developing the Junie B. Jones book series, written by the late Barbara Park and being adapted by Allison Gregory.

All projects currently in development or production with Random House Studio will move over with the company to FMNA, including Random House Studio’s ongoing relationship with Jupiter Entertainment in unscripted television. Current projects with Jupiter include No god but God by Reza Aslan, The Knowledge and God Made Me Do It.

 DA2016 

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