Fremantle takes over Beach House Pictures from Blue Ant Media

L-R: Jennifer Mullin, Ganesh Rajaram, Donovan Chan and Jocelyn Little

RTL Group-owned Fremantle has taken a majority stake in Singapore-based prodco Beach House Pictures (BHP) from Canada’s Blue Ant Media.

Founded in 2005 by producers Donovan Chan and Jocelyn Little, BHP specialises in creating and co-financing original IP in a variety of areas, including non-scripted, scripted, entertainment and brand-funded programming for regional and international platforms.

As part of the deal, financial details of which were not disclosed, Blue Ant Media has sold its stake in Beach House Pictures, which it acquired through its 2017 deal for David Haslingden’s Racat Group.

BHP has been behind shows including the Emmy-nominated Netflix lifestyle series Mind Your Manners and Evolve, a documentary series for Amazon-owned Prime Video and streamer Curiosity.

Its most recent productions include Netflix Indonesia’s documentary feature Ice Cold: Murder, Coffee & Jessica Wongso; Netflix true crime documentary Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case; Netflix scripted children’s series Mr Midnight; 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).

BHP is currently in production on IMAX documentary feature The Elephant Odyssey; the Sung Kang (Fast & Furious)-led car culture series The Ride Life for Insight TV; and wildlife/survival documentary series Survival of the Beast for Blue Ant-owned 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 as well as A Useful Ghost and Don’t Cry, Butterfly.

Jennifer Mullin, group CEO at Fremantle, said: “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 for Asia and Lat Am at 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.”

Little and Chan said in a joint statement that Fremantle’s “immense scale and reach, incredible quality and deep library of formats is second to none.”

Fremantle’s investment in BHP follows various acquisitions and investments made by the production and distribution group over the past few years.

These include Belgium-based A Team Productions, UK prodco Dancing Ledge Productions, scripted Italian prodco Lux Vide, development and production company Fabel, Australian-US television prodco Eureka Productions, Irish prodco Element Pictures, 72 Films, Wildstar Films and Silvio Productions.

“Donovan Chan, Jocelyn Little and the team at Beach House Pictures have been great colleagues and collaborators for many years now. We wish them well in their next chapter with Fremantle, which we are certain will be a great success,” said Sam Sniderman, chief commercial officer at Blue Ant Media.