Sony Pictures Television Invests in Hot Sauce

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has backed the launch of Hot Sauce, a new production company based in Belfast led by Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson.

Investigative journalists-turned-drama creatives, Lawn and Patterson met while working for the BBC’s Panorama. They went on to co-write the BBC drama The Salisbury Poisonings. Their original series Blue Lights, about policing in contemporary Belfast, has been a hit for the BBC.

As a majority-owned company, Hot Sauce joins the SPT International Production group portfolio alongside fellow scripted companies Left Bank Pictures, Eleven, Eleventh Hour Films and Bad Wolf, and will be SPT’s second production company in Belfast, alongside non-scripted and formats specialist Stellify Media.

Matthew Justice, executive VP, head of the U.K. and Europe at Sony Pictures Television, said: “This deal was a yes on multiple levels for us at SPT. First, it’s an investment in Declan and Adam. We are massive admirers of their work. Finding creative talent that have got the chops, ability, and ambition to grow a business around their creativity is always an enticing proposition. They have a unique, analytical approach to crafting drama and have had everyone knocking on their door thanks to the success of Blue Lights, so to have this opportunity to bring them into the SPT family and build the next chapter of Hot Sauce with them, is tremendously exciting.

“This is also an investment in the industry in Belfast. We have long had a presence in the Northern Ireland creative community through Stellify, but we know that the scripted industry there is brimming with talent and potential. This deal further builds out our national portfolio and, alongside Bad Wolf’s base in Wales and Left Bank’s production work in Scotland on Outlander and Department Q, highlights the creative brilliance across our entire national production landscape”.

Lawn and Patterson said: “This investment by SPT shows how much faith this global media powerhouse has in the future of Belfast as a creative hub in television and film. With their ambition and expertise, they are the perfect partners for us, and we could not be more excited to build Hot Sauce with them in the years ahead. The fact that we will be doing all of this in our hometown makes it even more special.”