Fremantle has taken full control of Richard Brown’s production company, Passenger (This England).
Brown launched Passenger with Fremantle’s backing in May 2019 and signed an exclusive multi-year deal with the production giant, a subsidiary of Germany’s RTL Group.
Following the takeover, announced Tuesday, Passenger will be part of Fremantle’s Global Drama division, led by Christian Vesper. Brown will continue to run the company but will also take over a new creative role across Fremantle’s Global Drama division, helping to link up talent and projects across the company’s rapidly expanding international network of production labels. Brown’s pre-Passenger production credits include on HBO’s True Detective, Netflix period epic Outlaw King with Chris Pine, and Hulu’s limited series Catch-22 starring George Clooney.
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Passenger plans to expand its team in New York, Los Angeles and London, with Caitlin Bruner, formerly head of development at Noah Hawley’s 26 Keys, coming onboard as vp development, and Elise Swift getting promoted to the role of creative executive. Additional hires are expected to be announced soon.
Passenger’s most high-profile project to date has been the Michael Winterbottom-directed This England, a limited series for Sky starring Kenneth Branagh as the former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson. The series was Sky Atlantic’s number one original drama launch of the year and Fremantle sold the project to more than 90 territories worldwide.
Most recently, Fremantle and Passenger have optioned Tess Gunty’s 2022 National Book Award winning debut novel, The Rabbit Hutch, and have teamed up to produce a premium documentary series on the new Basketball Africa League (BAL).
