Random House Studio

Last updated
Random House Studio
FoundedNovember 2005;18 years ago (2005-11)
Headquarters
New York [1]
Number of locations
2 [2]
Key people
Peter Gethers (president) [1]
Jeffrey Levine (Head of Television) [2]
Owner Bertelsmann
Number of employees
10 (2013) [3]
Parent Fremantle North America
Divisions Random House Films
Random House Television

Random House Studio is a production company responsible for adapting books published by Penguin Random House to film and television. The company, originally owned by Penguin Random House, was transferred to Bertelsmann sister company Fremantle North America in 2016. [4]

Contents

History

Random House became involved in the home video market in the early 1980s. Random House Home Video's first project was the acquirement of rights to seventeen years' worth of Sesame Street shows. [5] This branch of Random House lasted until the late 2000s. [6]

Random House established a book-to-film unit, Random House Films, in 2005. A Focus Features deal and a co-finance plan for reasonably budgeted, adult-oriented movies were under development at the same time. [7]

Random House Films soon acquired the book and film rights to One Day from writer David Nicholls, allowing for simplified parallel development with an editor/producer. The book debuted in 2009, at the same time the film had begun production, and the film reached the screens in 2011. The film had a budget of $15 million and grossed $13.8 million domestically and $56.7 million globally; the book sold 1.5 million copies (with an additional 750 thousand copies of the movie edition). One Day was the film unit's most successful production. [7]

The unit made a deal in October 2011 to create a movie franchise of Ross Macdonald's detective Lew Archer, with Joel Silver and Warner Bros. [8]

In July 2012, Random House announced the creation of the Random House Studio (RHS) and Random House Television (RH TV). Random House Studio would contain both the TV and film divisions, and would work with affiliate Fremantle on the TV series developments. [9] RH TV headquarters in Fremantle's Los Angeles offices and its Head of Television is Jeffrey Levine. [2]

On July 1, 2013, RHS's parent company merged with Penguin to form Penguin Random House. [10]

In February 2013, Focus Features and Random House Studio teamed up for film rights, production, and co-financing of Jo Baker's novel Longbourn , with the book to be published in the fall by Transworld Publishers in the U.K., Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S., and Random House in Canada. [11]

In September 2014, Random House Studio signed a first look production deal with Universal Pictures, under which Random House would be producer on the projects developed and filmed based on Penguin Random House books. This buttresses the existing deal between Random House Films and Focus Features, a Universal subsidiary. [12]

Heartland Table, starring chef Amy Thielen , was RH TV's first co-production (with Tavola Productions), and premiered September 14, 2014 on the Food Network. Thielen's companion book, The New Midwestern Table, was issued by Clarkson Potter, a Penguin Random House imprint, on September 24. [3]

The studio and Jupiter Entertainment entered a deal for several unscripted programs, and Jupiter was developing three shows by July 2016. [4]

In July 2016, Fremantle took over the company from Penguin Random House. Fremantle signed Random House Studios with Chinese Meridian Entertainment for theatrical productions while handling TV productions internally. The unscripted programs subsequently moved from Jupiter to Fremantle. [4]

Filmography

Meridian Entertainment co-productions [4]

Television

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Netflix</span> American video streaming service

Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple languages.

Fremantle Limited is a British multinational television production and distribution company based in London. Fremantle takes its name from Fremantle International, acquired by predecessor company All American Television in 1994. Pearson Television was renamed FremantleMedia on 20 August 2001, following the 2000 merger of Pearson Television and Bertelsmann's CLT-UFA to form the RTL Group.

A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and video. These groups consist of technical staff to produce the media, and are often incorporated as a commercial publisher. Generally the term refers to all individuals responsible for the technical aspects of creating a particular product, regardless of where in the process their expertise is required, or how long they are involved in the project. For example, in a theatrical performance, the production team has not only the running crew, but also the theatrical producer, designers and theatrical direction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MGM Television</span> Television studio arm of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television, previously known as MGM/UA Television, is the television studio arm of American media company Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer specializing in broadcast syndication and the production and distribution of television shows and miniseries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ITV Studios</span> Television production company

ITV Studios Limited is a British multinational television production and distribution company owned by the British television broadcaster ITV plc. It handles production and distribution of programmes broadcast on the ITV network and third-party broadcasters, and is based in 12 countries across 60 production labels, with local production offices in the UK, US, Belgium, Australia, Germany, The Netherlands, Italy, Israel, France, Spain and Scandinavia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">BBC Studios</span> British production company

BBC Studios Ltd. is a British content company. It is a commercial subsidiary of the BBC that was formed in April 2018 through the merger of the BBC's commercial production arm and the BBC's commercial international distribution arm, BBC Worldwide. BBC Studios creates, develops, produces, distributes, broadcasts, finances and sells content around the world, returning around £200 million to the BBC annually in dividends and content investment.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">All3Media</span> British content production and distribution company

All3Media Limited is a British worldwide independent television, film, and digital production and distribution company based in London, England. The All3Media group comprises more than 50 production and distribution companies and labels from across the United Kingdom and all other parts of Europe, New Zealand and the United States.

IM Global was an American independent film and TV production company, The company was founded by Stuart Ford in April 2007 and operating in international film, television and music production, as well as sales and international distribution. The company financed or produced over 30 Hollywood feature films and controlled a library of over 300 films.

Skydance Media, LLC is an American production company based in Santa Monica, California. Founded by David Ellison in 2006, the company entered a five-year partnership to co-produce and co-finance films with Paramount Pictures starting in 2009, and renewed the agreement twice extending to 2021. The company specializes in films, animation, television, video games, and sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entertainment One</span> Canadian entertainment company

Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is a Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition and production of films and television series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Allspark (company)</span> American production and distribution company

Allspark was an American production and distribution company located in Burbank, California. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of the American toy and multimedia company Hasbro. Originally just a TV production division, many of its TV shows were based on Hasbro properties and were broadcast on multiple media platforms, including Discovery Family.

Banijay S.A. is a French multinational television production and distribution company which is the world's largest international content producer and distributor with over 130 production companies across 21 territories, and a multi-genre catalogue containing over 180,000 hours of original programming. Headquartered in Paris, the company was founded in January 2008 by Stéphane Courbit, former president of Endemol France, and has risen since its inception, to become a €3.2bn turnover business. It is currently a subsidiary of FL Entertainment N.V., based in Amsterdam.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eureka Productions</span> Australian-American unscripted television production company

Eureka Productions is an Australian-American television production company majority-owned by Fremantle. Launched in 2016 by former Endemol Shine Australia executives Chris Culvenor and Paul Franklin with backing from Fremantle, the company primarily develops and produces non-scripted and reality programming in Australia and the United States. Since 2022, Eureka has been responsible for all of Fremantle's non-scripted output in Australia.

Amy Thielen is a chef, food writer, and television personality who focuses on Midwestern cooking and food culture. She is the author of the James Beard award-winning cookbook The New Midwestern Table ISBN 978-0307954879 and Give a Girl a Knife ISBN 978-0307954909. She was also the host of Heartland Table, which debuted in September 2013 on Food Network; season two premiered in March 2014.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">STX Entertainment</span> American media company

STX Entertainment is an American entertainment and media company. Founded in March 2014 by film producer Robert Simonds, the studio produces film, television, and digital media projects.

Amblin Partners American entertainment company

Storyteller Distribution Co., LLC, doing business as Amblin Partners, LLC., is an American entertainment production company. It develops and produces films under the Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks Pictures banners, as well as television series through Amblin Television. The company's investment partners include Reliance Group's Reliance Entertainment, Lionsgate's Entertainment One, Alibaba Group's Alibaba Pictures, and NBCUniversal/Comcast's Universal Pictures. Films produced by Amblin Partners are primarily distributed by Universal in North America and select international territories, and by third-party distributors through Mister Smith Entertainment or Good Universe in other countries.

Viaplay Group AB, formerly known as Nordic Entertainment Group AB, is a Swedish media and entertainment company headquartered in Stockholm.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boat Rocker Media</span> Canadian media company

Boat Rocker Media is a Canadian entertainment company based in Toronto, Ontario. The company owns Boat Rocker Studios, which incorporates Temple Street Productions. Its majority shareholder is Fairfax Financial. Boat Rocker is led by co-executive chairs David Fortier and Ivan Schneeberg and CEO John Young.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fox Entertainment</span> Production company

Fox Entertainment is an American film and television production company owned by Fox Corporation. The company was formed in 2019 after The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of 21st Century Fox. Fox Entertainment programming is created for the Fox Broadcasting Company, MyNetworkTV, and Tubi; Fox First Run serves as the syndication arm of the former, as well as a television distribution company for Fox Television Stations.

Sky Studios is a production company founded by Sky in June 2019 with assets from the now defunct Sky Vision. It develops, produces and funds original drama, comedy and documentary, and has investments in a number of production businesses in the UK and US: Love Productions, Blast Films!, Sugar Films, True North Productions, Chrysalis Vision, True to Nature, Longboat Pictures and The Lighthouse in the United Kingdom; Jupiter Entertainment, Talos Films, Znak & Co. and Catalina Content in the United States.

References

  1. 1 2 Smith, Lynn (November 4, 2005). "Random House, Focus Features teaming up". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 Andreeva, Nellie (July 25, 2012). "Random House Signs First-Look Deal With Fremantle, Starts Random House TV". Deadline. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 Trachtenberg, Jeffrey A. (August 18, 2013). "Publisher Makes TV Play". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Lieberman, David (July 18, 2016). "Fremantle Buys Random House Studio With New TV-Movie Alliance". Deadline. Penske Business Media. Retrieved August 4, 2016.
  5. "'Sesame' Videos Coming Soon". Sun Sentinel. Chicago Tribune. January 17, 1986. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  6. "RANDOM HOUSE HOME VIDEO". TradeMarkia. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Lewis, Andy (February 23, 2012). "How Publishers Bolster Their Bottom Line by Retaining Film Rights". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  8. Fleming, Mike Jr. (October 31, 2011). "Warner Bros, Joel Silver Revive Ross Macdonald's Lew Archer Novel Series With 'The Galton Case'". Deadline. Penske Business Media, LLC. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  9. 1 2 Deahl, Rachel (July 25, 2012). "Random House Launches TV Division". publishersweekly.com. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  10. Bosman, Julie (July 1, 2013). "Penguin and Random House Merge, Saying Change Will Come Slowly". New York Times. Retrieved February 27, 2014.
  11. Siegel, Tatiana (February 7, 2013). "Focus Features, Random House Studio Snap Up Big-Screen Rights to New Spin on 'Pride and Prejudice'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved February 28, 2014.
  12. Gerard, Jeremy (September 24, 2014). "Universal, Penguin Random House In 2-Year First-Look Pact". Deadline. Retrieved February 8, 2016.
  13. Shayon, Sheila (August 19, 2013). "Penguin Random House Expands Diversification Effort with TV Series". Brand Channel. Retrieved February 27, 2014.