Fremantle Takes Majority Stake in Wildstar

Fremantle has signed a strategic partnership deal with Wildstar Films, in which it is acquiring a 51 percent interest.

The award-winning independent production company is at the forefront of innovation in natural history and premium factual content. Recent series launches include America the Beautiful, Epic Adventures with Bertie Gregory and America’s National Parks for Disney+ and National Geographic.

Wildstar is led by co-founders Mark Linfield and Vanessa Berlowitz, whose credits include Planet Earth, Frozen Planet and multiple feature-length films for Disney Studios. Wildstar recently bolstered its leadership team with the hires of former BBC Natural History Unit Head of Development Doug Mackay-Hope as senior VP of development and production and multi-award-winning editor Nigel Buck as executive editor.

Linfield and Berlowitz commented: “Fremantle is a fantastic fit as a partner. We share a similar culture and the same ambition of working with the best talent on and off screen to make genre-defining shows; we’re also really excited that their international teams will help us grow Wildstar and reach more viewers around the world.”

Simon Andreae, CEO of Fremantle UK, said: “Within four short years, Mark, Vanessa and their team have built Wildstar from a brand-new start-up to one of the fastest-growing, most dynamic and most imaginative brands in natural history. They bring creative excellence, technical innovation and a true sense of joy to all that they touch. We are thrilled to welcome them to the Fremantle family and to join them in the next exciting step on their journey.”

Mandy Chang, head of global documentaries at Fremantle, added: “Wildstar Films is an extraordinary company with strong core values, who take huge pride in their work, which delights, and importantly, inspires millions of people to think differently about natural history and being better citizens to our planet. We all value independence and creativity and look forward to providing them with the right level of support at an exciting time at Fremantle as we scale up our global non-scripted capabilities.”