Sony Buys into Safe House Producer Eleventh Hour

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has acquired a minority stake in the production company Eleventh Hour Films (EHF).

EHF has produced such series as Foyle’s War for ITV, New Blood for BBC One, Vexed for BBC Two and, most recently, two seasons of ITV’s Safe House. The news of the investment follows a recent greenlight of the eight-episode adaptation of Anthony Horowitz’s best-selling teen spy novel series Alex Rider, with SPT’s international distribution and production units collaborating to fully fund the series produced by EHF.

Wayne Garvie, president of international production at Sony Pictures Television, said: “We are thrilled to be deepening our relationship with the passionate and visionary women of EHF, who are among the sharpest and most motivated producers we’ve met. We look forward to seeing their strong roster of projects develop further and helping them achieve their future vision for the business.”

Nicole Finnan, EHF’s managing director, said: “This is an exciting and natural extension of our already strong relationship with Wayne and his team. It will help fulfill EHF’s ambition for our content to have a truly global reach and adds greater strategic muscle worldwide.”

Jill Green, chief executive of EHF, added: “This is an exciting growth phase, driven out of a dynamic team and great talent relationships.”