EXCLUSIVE: Fremantle is laying of all employees at storied drama indie Euston Films and docs label Undeniable, with senior execs Mandy Chang and Kate Harwood exiting.
Round 10 employees have been laid off as nasty financial headwinds and the worldwide contraction chew at Ingredient Photos and 72 Movies-owner Fremantle.
Former BBC in-house drama boss Harwood is leaving Euston together with fellow MD Noemi Spanos and quite a lot of others. All employees are leaving however the Euston model and IP stay with Fremantle, so the label is technically not closing, we perceive.
Euston is a fabled British drama indie that was based in 1971 and made hits together with The Sweeney and Van der Valk in its early years. It was revived below Harwood’s management in 2014 and went on to make seven exhibits, with the most recent, Nightsleeper, launching on the BBC in simply 10 days’ time. Different Euston exhibits embody Channel 4’s Baghdad Central, the BBC’s Dublin Murders and ITV’s The Sister starring Russell Tovey. “We wish to thank the groups, the expertise and the broadcasters we’ve labored with over the past 10 years of Euston Movies and likewise Fremantle for the religion they’ve proven in us,” stated Harwood and Spanos. “We’re very pleased with the seven daring authored exhibits now we have made on this time and are wanting ahead to future initiatives and challenges.”
Kate Harwood (left) and Mandy Chang. Picture: Dimitrios Kambouris / Michael Tullberg by way of Getty
Chang, who used to run storied BBC docs strand Storyville, arrived at Fremantle as World Head of Docs in 2021, backing the likes of Mrs. America and Kim’s Video. Two and a half years later she stepped back from that function to run docs label Plain, with Mark Reynolds replacing her. Plain IP additionally stays with Fremantle. The corporate had been engaged on a doc based mostly on Ruth Wilson’s one-woman play The Second Lady.
Chang stated she is leaving to “transfer on and focus by myself slate of movies within the unbiased documentary area.” “The range of movies and those that I’ve been lucky to work with – my very own group included – has been a pleasure,” she stated. “It has been a privilege working with Fremantle’s international documentary labels and I want all of them success sooner or later.”
The information comes a couple of days after UK TV commerce Broadcast revealed that Fremantle was shutting down factual producer Label1, which made the likes of Hospital. Difficult financial headwinds have continued to chew and rivals resembling Banijay and All3Media have additionally shut down labels of late. ITV Studios has additionally made layoffs and the broadcasters have introduced in hundreds-wide redundancy packages.
A Fremantle spokeswoman stated the transfer comes “as a part of ongoing strategic planning.”
She added: “We’re repeatedly reviewing measures crucial for making a simpler, coordinated and streamlined method to our enterprise to make sure it’s in the most effective place for future success and progress, and to proceed to ship distinctive creativity and world class content material for our valued companions and shoppers world wide.”
The spokeswoman referred to as the adjustments a “troublesome choice,” and “thanked colleagues, who’ve been behind some unimaginable, award-winning programming, and want all of them the most effective for the long run.”
Fremantle additionally owns Regular Folks maker Ingredient Photos, The Responder producer Dancing Ledge and Crimson Planet Photos. It splashed masses of cash on new firms a few years in the past however has been quieter out there of late, with its last big deal being Asacha.
