Sydney – Sony Pictures Television (SPT) announced the expansion of its international production business into Australia with the acquisition of Playmaker Media, an independent scripted television production company.
“Playmaker is having fantastic success creating the next generation of distinctive, high quality Australian television drama. They are a great addition to our international production group and we look forward to working with David and David to continue to build their award-winning company,” said Andrea Wong, president, international production for SPT.
Playmaker’s popular drama House Husbands has been renewed for a fourth season by The Nine Network and is soon to be adapted in France and Italy. In 2015, The Nine Network will also broadcast the second season of the production company’s coming-of-age drama Love Child, which has been acquired by a number of international broadcasters. Playmaker’s most recent hit, The Code, for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), has been acquired by the BBC for the UK and DirecTV in the U.S. In addition, Hiding, a new family drama set in the world of witness protection, will premiere on ABC in 2015.
In November, Playmaker Media was named the Media Super Production Business of the Year at the 14th annual Screen Producers Australia Awards.
“We love producing authored drama with the best Australian writers and creatives. This next step with Andrea Wong, Wayne Garvie and the team at Sony Pictures Television presents new opportunities to increase the quality and reach of our content both locally and in the international marketplace,” said David Maher and David Taylor, co-founders and joint managing directors of Playmaker Media.
As part of this agreement, SPT’s distribution arm will now sell Playmaker programmes and formats throughout the rest of the world.
Reporting to Wong, Maher and Taylor will continue to lead Playmaker from its existing office in Sydney. Playmaker joins SPT’s other scripted-focused production businesses around the world, including Left Bank Pictures in the UK, SPT Germany, SPT Russia and SPT Latin America.
