We are honoured and proud to announce that Fremantle has received a record number of mentions in Variety’s sixth annual Variety500 list.
The list highlights the 500 most influential business leaders shaping the global media industry and their impact over the last 12 months.
Here’s an excerpt of the prestigious Variety500 list:
Jennifer Mullin – Global CEO, Fremantle
In 2022, Mullin accelerated M&A activity, taking majority stakes in top producers Dancing Ledge Productions, Element Pictures, Label 1, Eureka and Lux Vide, plus minority stakes in Bosch producer Fabel Entertainment. Mullin also signed creative partnerships with marquee talent including Angelina Jolie, who agreed to a three-year deal to produce films, TV series and documentaries, and Nicholas Weinstock’s Invention Studios. She has pledged Fremantle to be a net-zero-emissions business by 2030.
Andrea Scrosati – CEO Continental Europe and Group COO, Fremantle
Scrosati aided Fremantle’s growth in 2022 by taking majority stakes in Dancing Ledge Productions (The Salisbury Poisonings), Element Pictures (Normal People) and Lux Vide (Medici) – in 2022 alone, Fremantle has delivered over 100 drama series, produced in 18 countries, with labels are also delivering or in production on 33 movies, up from eight in 2018. Under Scrosati’s leadership, Fremantle has established itself as a key contender in the sphere of premium storytelling, with multiple titles appearing in competition at Cannes and Venice Film Festival.
Ed Guiney – Company Director, Element Pictures Group
Guiney co-founded Element with Andrew Lowe in 2001 and has since etched it as one of Europe’s preeminent film and TV producers. Element’s credits include the globally acclaimed film The Wonder from Sebastián Lelio, hit series Normal People, and Oscar-nominated films Room, The Favourite, and The Eternal Daughter. Fremantle acquired a majority stake in the company May of 2022.
Luca Bernabei – CEO, Lux Vide
Bernabei built the Rome-based producer into an Italian production and development powerhouse with series like Medici and Leonardo. Lux Vide has deals with Netflix, Amazon and Sky and ranks as Italian broadcaster Rai’s top scripted provider for the past five years. This year’s scripted output includes season two of Sky Italia Patrick Dempsey-led thriller Devils and Rai medical drama Doc. Lux Vide manages in-house production through its ownership of five state-of-the-art studios. Fremantle acquired a 70% stake in the European studio in March of 2022.
Nico Hofmann – CEO, UFA GmbH
Hofmann is the CEO of Germany’s leading television production company UFA, which produces local ratings successes such as Ku’damm 56 and sequel Ku’damm 59, as well as International Emmy Award-winning critical hits Generation War and Deutschland 83. Although scripted titles make up 70 percent of UFA’s revenue, it also does unscripted, such as the German adaptations of American Idol and America’s Got Talent.
Thomas Rabe – CEO, RTL and CEO & Chairman, Bertelsmann
Rabe has run Bertelsmann – home to 145,000 employees – parent company of Penguin Random House, broadcaster RTL Group and music company BMG, since 2012 and has headed RTL itself since 2019, and generated €18.7 billion in revenues in the most recent financial year. Under his watch, Bertelsmann has been driving the consolidation of European TV markets with the planned merger of Groupe M6 and Groupe TF1 in France and RTL Nederland and Talpa Network in the Netherlands. Streaming is a big focus as well, as RTL+ in Germany and Videoland in the Netherlands now have a combined 3.8 million paying subscribers.
Jonas Allen – Producer/Partner, Miso Film
Allen co-founded the Danish production company Miso Film with business partner Peter Bose in 2004 and the two have been driving the Nordic-noir TV trend ever since; with Allen in charge of the creative side and delivering high-end Scandinavian dramas such as Wallander, Dicte and Those Who Kill. The company, which has been majority owned by Fremantle since 2013, also has outposts in Sweden and Norway. More recently, it scored a commission for Netflix’s first Danish original, the post-apocalyptic series The Rain, for which season two has been greenlit.
Juan de Dios Larraín – Co-founder, Fabula Productions
As co-founder of his production company, Larraín is best known for producing films helmed by his brother Pablo Larraín (see below), most notably 2016’s Jackie and 2021’s Spencer, which earned Natalie Portman and Kristen Stewart Oscar nominations for playing Jacqueline Kennedy and Princess Diana, respectively. In 2022, Fabula and Fremantle collaborated on Spanish-language projects such as the miniseries El Refugio (Pantaya), the series La Jauría (HBO Max), and Señorita 89 (Lionsgate+).
Pablo Larraín – Co-founder, Fabula Productions
Larraín earned widespread international acclaim for his 2021 film Spencer. In 2022, he produced a myriad of Spanish-language content for streamers, including the Pantaya miniseries El Refugio, a second season of the HBO Max crime drama La Jauría, plus new series 42 Days of Darkness for Netflix and Lionsgate+’s Señorita 89. In June 2022, Pablo and brother Juan began production on their next directorial effort El Conde; a film portraying Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet as a 250-year-old vampire.
With a multitude of incredible projects in the pipeline for the upcoming year, we are incredibly excited to share even more in 2023, and grateful to end 2022 on such a wonderful note.
Congratulations to all those selected!
See the full 2022 Variety500 list here.
