Eureka disrupters launch another TV production business

Chris Culvenor and Paul Franklin’s latest company, Eureka Studios, will be focusing on new IP – devising and developing new content to be sold and produced by Fremantle and its companies.

From left: Eureka Productions and Eureka Studios team Chris Culvenor, Paul Franklin and Rikkie Proost. Picture: Fremantle

Nine years ago reality TV producers Chris Culvenor and Paul Franklin left Endemol Shine to launch their own business. They were disrupters in that they started as an Australian production business with global ambitions.

That new business was in partnership with Fremantle, part of the global RTL Group, which itself sits inside the parent company Bertelsmann. Fremantle is best known locally as the home of Neighbours, the Netflix hit series Heartbreak High and the Australian episodes of the global franchise Grand Designs.

Fremantle eventually bought out the shareholding of the two Australians, who had built and worked on a considerable arsenal of reality TV formats.

Now Mr Culvenor and Mr Franklin are doing it again. This time the new company is called Eureka Studios which will be focusing on new IP – devising and developing new content to be sold and produced by Fremantle and its companies, including their old business Eureka Productions.

Fremantle says Eureka Studios will focus on global unscripted formats, developing original ideas in gaming, sports-adjacent content and scripted content.

The initial Fremantle contract with the Eureka partners is for three years. They don’t have equity in Eureka Studios in the same way they did first time around, though.

In a joint statement, Mr Culvenor and Mr Franklin said: “Founding and growing Eureka Productions has been an incredible journey. Together with Fremantle and our exceptionally talented teams and partners, we have built a leading force in unscripted entertainment. As we expand our focus to this exciting new initiative, we remain fully connected to our production business, which will thrive under Rikkie’s brilliant leadership.”

With dual headquarters in Los Angeles and Sydney, Eureka Productions produced over 600 hours of content spanning more than 50 seasons.

Original formats included Holey Moley (ABC), Dating Around (Netflix), The Parent Test (ABC) and Full Bloom (HBO Max).

Eureka also delivered franchises and adaptations for broadcasters, including The Floor (Fox), The Quiz with Balls (Fox), Farmer Wants a Wife (Fox, Seven Network) and Australian Idol (Seven Network).

With the producers launching a new company, their former head of content at Eureka Productions, Rikkie Proost has been promoted to CEO.

Although Eureka Productions successfully produced programming in the US and Australia, it seems the new business will double down on that strategy and look to exploit developed IP ­globally.

The growth of international streaming platforms has made that strategy viable, with producers now able to close one deal with a streamer for access to as many as 200 markets.

The more traditional approach for video content had been to sell a produced format or format rights market by market.

Rikkie Proost has over two decades of leadership in content creation, joining Eureka as chief content officer in 2019. Formats he has overseen at Eureka Productions include Farmer Wants a Wife (Seven Network), Parental Guidance (Nine Network), The Amazing Race Australia (Network Ten) The Mole (Netflix) and Luxe Listings (Amazon Prime). Before joining Eureka, Proost worked at Seven Network for many years and was key to the decade-long ratings dominance of My Kitchen Rules.