Beach House Pictures Buys into Vesuvius Pictures

Beach House Pictures (BHP), a Blue Ant Media company, has acquired a majority stake in the Tokyo-based production company Vesuvius Pictures.

Vesuvius Pictures Co-Founders Hyoe Yamamoto and Deborah Barillas will maintain a minority stake in the production company and their roles as creative director and managing director, respectively. Additionally, Felix Feng has been named general manager of Beach House Pictures China, which supports the company’s slate of China-based productions for Chinese audiences.

Yamamoto and Barillas will report to Jocelyn Little, managing director, and Donovan Chan, creative director of Beach House Pictures. Feng will be based in Beijing and also reports to Chan and Little.

Chan said: “China and Japan are two of the world’s fastest-growing TV markets and if you take the future of premium content seriously, you would want to be there. With this latest expansion, Beach House Pictures is poised for significant growth in 2021 and beyond.”

Sam Sniderman, co-president of global production at Blue Ant Media, said: “These investments in Japan and China reflect our excitement about these two markets, as well as the creative and economic dynamism of the Asia-Pacific region in general. We are honored to welcome Hyoe, Deborah and Felix to our company.”