Fremantle CEO Christian Vesper outlined the company’s evolving vision during a session at ATF 2024, reflecting on company’s diversification into drama, international films, and specialty cinema. Known globally for its reality TV hits like Idol and Got Talent, the company has broadened its portfolio significantly in the past decade.
‘We’ve gone from producing 30 drama series a year to over 100, and from making a few local films to delivering 30 films last year’, said Vesper. Among these are projects that garnered Academy Award nominations, showcasing Fremantle’s growing footprint in high-end storytelling.
Vesper emphasized that this expansion has required adaptability, particularly as the content market has fragmented. While Fremantle remains a key supplier to major platforms like Netflix and Amazon, he also noted that the emergence of new players like Roku and Tubi has diversified the landscape. ‘We’ve had to adjust to a more commercial structure and create content tailored for local platforms, which often have distinct restrictions’, explained.
The CEO also highlighted a significant shift in the industry: a renewed interest in feature films, even amid the rise of streaming. Vesper remarked, ‘a lot of content that might have been a movie 10 or 15 years ago became a series because of streaming, but that’s starting to reverse. Telling stories in the right format—whether as a movie or a TV show—is crucial, and financing a film is no harder than funding a series’.
However, navigating the market’s economic challenges has not been without difficulty. Vesper described how U.S. buyers have grown more selective, particularly regarding international talent, which complicates financing ambitious projects. He cited the example of Fremantle’s Scandinavian partner, Miso Film, whose budgets must now align more closely with marketplace expectations. ‘American buyers are less interested in talent that’s not immediately recognizable to their audience, so we’ve had to become more disciplined in how we build budgets’, he said.
Despite these challenges, Vesper remains optimistic about opportunities in Asia. This was his first time attending ATF, and he acknowledged the region’s diversity and vibrancy. ‘It’s a bit ridiculous to describe Asia as a unified market—it’s as different as the German and English markets in Europe. But the energy here is palpable, and the region is ahead of the curve in trends like youth content’, he concluded.
