Normal People indie Element Pictures sold to Fremantle

Helion is pleased to announce it has provided specialist transaction advice to Element Pictures on its sale to Fremantle

 

Fremantle has acquired a majority stake in award-winning film and drama production company Element Pictures – the hit making independent production company behind the global phenomenon Normal People, Academy Award winning films The Favourite and Room, and the highly anticipated new TV series, Conversations With Friends.

Working across production, distribution, and exhibition, Element Pictures is managed by Co-founders Ed Guiney and Andrew Lowe, with offices in Dublin, London, and Belfast.

Element Pictures upcoming television productions include Conversations With Friends, based on Sally Rooney’s debut literary sensation which is set be amongst the hottest TV releases of 2022. The 12-part series was developed and produced by Element Pictures, directed by Lenny Abrahamson and Leanne Welham, co-written by Alice Birch and will premiere on BBC and Hulu on May 15th 2022, and will roll out globally soon after.

This follows on from Element Pictures award-winning adaptation of Sally Rooney’s best-selling novel Normal People, released in 2020, which achieved huge acclaim and record audience numbers worldwide.

Recent Element Pictures film credits include Lenny Abrahamson’s Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning Room, and The Little Stranger; Yorgos Lanthimos’ Academy Award, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning The Favourite starring Olivia Colman, The Killing Of A Sacred Deer and The Lobster (Jury Prize, Cannes), and Sebastián Lelio’s Disobedience; and Sean Durkin’s The Nest.

Last August, RTL Group announced its aim to increase Fremantle’s full-year revenue target to €3 billion by 2025. The acquisition of Element Pictures forms part of Fremantle’s wider growth strategy to invest in production companies, content, and talent around the world to source the best creative ideas, develop and create strong and unmissable IP.

Element Pictures current television in production includes The Gallows Pole (BBC/A24), the star-studded BBC period drama from critically acclaimed director Shane Meadows and Nancy Harris’ eight-part comedy drama The Dry (BritBox/RTE/ITV Studios/Screen Ireland). Previous television includes the co-production of The Dublin Murders with the Fremantle backed Euston Films.

Current films in post-production include Sebastián Lelio’s The Wonder (Netflix), with Florence Pugh; Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things (Searchlight Pictures), starring Emma Stone, Mark Ruffalo and Willem Dafoe; Stephen William’s historical biopic Chevalier (Searchlight Pictures), starring Kelvin Harrison Jr and Joanna Hogg’s The Eternal Daughter (BBC Films/A24) starring Tilda Swinton.

Recent Element Pictures film releases include Phyllida Lloyd’s Herself, and Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir Part II (BBC Films/A24) which enjoyed its world premiere at Directors’ Fortnight 2021.