Jens Richter Latest Celebrity News & Gossip

Welcome to the International Insider, Max Goldbart here. We’ve been all over the proverbial shop this week with Mel and Jesse in sunny Rome and Zac racing round London at the speed of light to cover LFF. Read on for the biggest news in international TV and film.

Series Mania was Warner Bros. Discovery’s European roll-out timeline for Max, announced Thursday at the climax of the Series Mania’s Lille Dialogues. The most keenly anticipated session was nearly Series Mania’ Forum first: a Netflix showcase hosted by a confident Larry Tanz who significantly proved the only goal streamer exec to drill down on volume commitment.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor On Wednesday, Fremantle revealed that it had secured worldwide distribution rights, outside of German-speaking territories, to the premium fantasy drama “Hagen” — a working title — from Constantin Film. Variety spoke to Jan Ehlert, one of the producers on the show, and Jens Richter, CEO commercial and international at Fremantle, about why they backed the ambitious production, which is budgeted at around Euros 45 million ($48.8 million) and will be produced as a six-part series and a feature film for theatrical release.

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Fremantle revealed Wednesday that it has secured worldwide distribution rights, outside of German-speaking territories, to the premium fantasy drama “Hagen” — a working title — from Constantin Film. The deal includes rights to a six-part series and a feature film for theatrical release. RTL Group holds German streaming and free TV rights.

Marta Balaga Enough with the winter gloom: Feel-good shows are about to take over TV market London Screenings, as distributors echo Russell Crowe’s Maximus iconic words: “Are you not entertained?” “Most platforms are looking for entertaining shows. Escapism is a big thing,” says Fremantle International CEO Jens Richter. “You want to take the audience somewhere else and make sure they forget about their reality for a minute.

Beef and The Bear, the shows that joined Succession in a three-way domination of Monday night’s Emmy Awards, have a surprising amount of shared DNA.

Naman Ramachandran An in conversation event with Paramount Global executives Pam Kaufman, president and CEO of international markets and global consumer products and experiences, and Lisa Kramer, president of international TV licensing, Paramount Global Content Distribution, has been added to the NATPE Global conference. Jens Richter, Fremantle’s CEO of commercial and international and Paulo Koelle, head of Prime Video Latin America, Amazon Studios have also joined the speaker lineup. Other executives who have recently been confirmed include Jeff Sagansky, Sky’s group director of acquisitions, Katie Keenan, ACF Investment Bank’s Richard Gray, Satmohan Panesar, commissioner, factual, ITV Studios, Michael Schmidt, president, Sipur and Ilan Arboleda, co-founder and producer, CreativeChaos vmg.

Naman Ramachandran Fremantle has launched dedicated free ad-supported streaming television (FAST) channel, The Jamie Oliver Channel, for U.S. audiences on free streaming television service Pluto TV.

Marta Balaga ITVX thriller “Platform 7,” produced by Fremantle’s Dancing Ledge, has debuted first-look images ahead of MipCom. Adapted from Louise Doughty’s novel, it sees young teacher Lisa wandering around a small railway station. Lisa has a secret – she is a ghost and she died right there.

Naman Ramachandran Coverage of the iconic Wimbledon tennis tournament has led to record-breaking numbers for U.K. broadcaster BBC. There were 54.3 million streams of the BBC’s coverage on streamer iPlayer and BBC Sport online during the two-week long competition – up from 53.8 million in 2022. On BBC One, there was a peak audience of 11.3 million to watch Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz beat Serbia’s Novak Djokovic in five sets in the men’s singles finals, the highest since the U.K.’s Andy Murray won in 2016. The match was also streamed live 4.1 million times on BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online, an increase of 58% from 2022.      During the women’s singles final, where Czech player Markéta Vondroušová triumphed over Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, there was a peak audience of 4.5 million on BBC One – an increase from 2022’s 3.1 million. The match was streamed 1.3 million times on BBC iPlayer, an 85% increase from 2022. Across the tournament, 25.6 million watched Wimbledon on BBC TV.   

Manori Ravindran Executive Editor of International Fremantle has promoted its long-time distribution boss Jens Richter to CEO of Commercial and International. Under his expanded remit, alongside leading Fremantle’s distribution business, Richter will oversee all commercial activity, including Fremantle’s digital and social business and FAST channels. As CEO International — a role he has held since joining Fremantle in 2014 — Richter oversees the global distribution of Fremantle’s finished programs, international content and acquisitions, and co-production strategy models. As CEO Commercial and International, he now also takes responsibility for Fremantle’s digital business.

Jens Richter has added commercial duties to his Fremantle International CEO role.

Top International execs from ZDF Studios, Fremantle, All3Media and Banijay have said the potential U.S. writers strike and changing market economics can create opportunities to strike new business.

Ganesh Rajaram and Haryaty Rahman are rising at American Idol and Got Talent producer Fremantle.

Premium documentaries, co-productions and the changing streamer landscape are set to dominate next week’s Mipcom Cannes as thousands of buyers descend on the Croisette after three years off, according to a wealth of senior sales bosses.

Holly Jones As “Virgin River” Season 4 launched on July 18 to become Netflix’s No. 1 most watched TV series in the world, its producer, Vancouver’s Reel World Management and literary source, New York Times best selling novelist Robyn Carr, are re-teaming, to launch another big bold broad global audience play, “Sullivan’s Crossing,”This time they partner with Canada’s CTV and Fremantle, which is handling international distribution. Fremantle has shared in exclusivity with Variety first look behind-the-scenes photos of the series’ shoot.“Sullivan’s Crossing” forms part of RTL Group-owned Fremantle’s drive into English-language production both in the U.K., –  where it triumphed this year with BBC One’s “The Responder,” starring Martin Freeman – and beyond, in Australia and now Canada.

Naman Ramachandran Fremantle has scored a raft of sales on “The Trip” director Michael Winterbottom’s drama on outgoing U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, “This England.”The 88 territories closed for “This England” include Movistar+ (Spain), Viaplay (Nordics and Baltics, Poland and the Netherlands), Cosmote (Greece), OSN TV and OSN+ (MENA), M-Net (South Africa), BBC First (Australia) and TVNZ (New Zealand).

Sky’s Kenneth Branagh-starring Boris Johnson drama This England has been sold to 88 territories worldwide by distributor Fremantle.

Nick Vivarelli International CorrespondentAs the U.S. streamers become a bigger part of the European industry landscape, production companies are starting to intensify collaborations across EU borders to make high-end shows, which is vital to keeping the ecosystem healthy.That was the main takeaway of a Series Mania panel on collaborating across borders that also looked at the ongoing battle between European TV producers and the streaming giants over terms of trade that is prompting more co-productions as an alternative model.Jens Richter, Fremantle’s international CEO, pointed out that the streamers coming to Europe is “a threat on the one hand” –– because they tend to impose a Hollywood studio model where they get perpetual rights in return for full-financing plus a fee, leaving no IP with the producer –– “and also it’s a huge opportunity.” On the positive side Richter cited how streamers are allowing European dramas to make major inroads into the U.S., even when they are not in English, citing Fremantle’s Danish drama “The Investigation,” which plays on HBO.

Fremantle has acquired a 25% stake in Henrik Bastin’s Fabel Entertainment, the international development and production outfit behind Prime Video’s cop drama series Bosch.

Fremantle International Bolsters Scripted

Marta Balaga As global consumers turn towards series produced in their own countries and other non-US content, developing authentic stories for local markets might be the key to global success, pointed out participants of the Berlinale Series Market opening on Monday.“Great successes can come from anywhere. That’s the biggest learning,” said Jens Richter, CEO at Fremantle Media International, calling South Korean surprise smash “Squid Game” – repeatedly mentioned throughout the event – another “steppingstone towards creating more openness,” – also when it comes to the European market.As pointed out by executive director at Ampere Analysis Guy Bisson, kicking off the “Mission: Europe.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentFremantle has sold out most major territories worldwide on the Martin Freeman-led BBC One smash hit “The Responder,” consolidating the acclaimed crime drama’s contention, even at this early stage, to become one of Europe’s top series of 2022. Banner deals take in France (Canal Plus), Italy (Disney Plus), Germany’s (Magenta TV). Spain (Movistar Plus) and Russia & CIS (Viasat), all leading pay/SVOD operators.

John Hopewell Chief International CorrespondentUnderscoring the robustness of a fast evolving Latin American TV market, U.K. production-distribution giant Fremantle and the Larraín brothers’ Fabula have in development a third season of gender abuse thriller “La Jauría” and second season of “Señorita 89.”The moves comes as Fremantle is firing up both its premium scripted series and entertainment format business in Latin America, which is fast emerging as a key growth market for platforms and heavyweight independent production-distribution companies such as Fremantle.Total Fremantle revenues from Latin America increased by 25% from 2019 to 2021 with production revenues in the region rising by nearly a third in the same period, said Jens Richter, Fremantle CEO, international.

Lead produced by Working Title Television, distributed internationally by Fremantle and coming soon to BBC Two, period thriller “The Luminaries” has initiated a global roll-out, closing pre-sales to Australia, France, Russia, Poland and Greece.