Access Entertainment has taken a 24.9% stake in Bad Wolf – the production company behind the forthcoming adaptation of Philip Pullman’s epic His Dark Materials.
Launched by Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner in July 2015 in association with Welsh Government, Bad Wolf is co-sited in South Wales and Los Angeles, producing high- end television drama for the international market.
Access Entertainment was launched in May 2016 as a division of investor Len Blavatnik’s Access Industries. Access Entertainment is run by former BBC TV director of television Danny Cohen.
As well as His Dark Materials, Bad Wolf is also producing A Discovery of Witches, based on the best-selling novels by Deborah Harkness, and an adaptation of Bernard Cornwell’s Warlord Chronicles.
Chief Executive of Bad Wolf, Jane Tranter, said: “This investment is a fantastic endorsement of our vision for Bad Wolf and Welsh Government’s strategy for the industry. Access Entertainment is a bold and ambitious company who shares our appetite for drama of scale. Joining forces with Len Blavatnik and Danny Cohen was absolutely central to our decision. We have had a long and productive relationship with Danny over the years and Len is a true visionary who immediately understood
what Bad Wolf stands for. With this partnership, we are supremely well positioned to take Bad Wolf to the next stage of its expansion.”
The architect of the partnership with Access Entertainment was Chief Operating Officer Miles Ketley, who has been with the company since its early days. On completion of the deal and the first phase of Bad Wolf, he will step down to become a partner in a new media investment firm.
Staff Reporter
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