Fremantle Signs First-Look Producing Deal With Nicholas Weinstock's Invention Studios

Acclaimed producer Nicholas Weinstock's Invention Studios signed a first-look deal with powerhouse production company Fremantle, it was announced by Dante Di Loreto Fremantle's President of Scripted Programming.

Under this agreement, Invention Studios will develop and produce projects, including television, new media, and podcasts. Lorenzo De Maio of De Maio Entertainment was instrumental in bringing the deal together. De Maio Entertainment will be a strategic advisor and partner across the slate, using their extensive experience to optimize strategy and maximize each project's impact and success.

Weinstock is building Invention Studios to be a next-generation creative company: independent, international, equally geared toward television and movies, and capable of plugging into any and all business models in the fast-evolving entertainment marketplace. Invention is currently producing several dozen premium series and feature films with a focus on diversity, originality, and boldness.

Weinstock, most recently partnered with Ben Stiller as the creative head of Red Hour Films since 2015, developed and executive produced the limited series "Escape At Dannemora" at Showtime (nominated for 12 Emmy Awards); executive produced the movie Plus One, currently streaming on Hulu; produced THE MOVIES Alex Strangelove and The Package for Netflix and Queenpins for Paramount+; developed and executive produced the series "Severance" on Apple+; and executive produced the upcoming series "High Desert," starring Patricia Arquette, for Apple+. Weinstock is also the executive producer of the series "In The Dark," currently in its fourth season on the CW and Netflix.

Fremantle will also support the continued expansion of Weinstock's other creative venture, Craft Services, an online network and support system for emerging writers and directors worldwide. Founded during the pandemic to provide resources, real-time information, and peer-to-peer networking to aspiring creatives far from Hollywood, Craft Services now has hundreds of members across the U.S. and in Mexico, England, Europe, Australia, and Africa, with Invention Studios producing several of its participants' projects.

CEO of Invention Studios, Nicholas Weinstock, said: "I'm thrilled to partner with a company as progressive and expansive as Fremantle on a wide range of television series for both the American and international markets, given their vast global reach and our shared excitement about championing brave voices and authentic storytelling from all over the world. CEO Jennifer Mullin and her excellent teams, including Dante and my friend Lorenzo, are ideal partners in Invention's mission to support groundbreaking writers, directors, and narratives of all kinds."

President of Scripted Programming, Fremantle, Dante Di Loreto, said: "Nicky embodies the independent spirit we champion at Fremantle. His creative passion is an inspiration to us and to the artists who work with him. Invention Studios is a welcome addition to THE FAMILY of leading producers from around the globe who call Fremantle home."

Jennifer Mullin, Global CEO, Fremantle, said: "Invention Studio's creative and global ambition truly aligns with Fremantle's, and I am so pleased to welcome them to our family. I am looking forward to working with Nicky on the expansion of Craft Services to champion unique voices and stories from every corner of the world."

The deal further underlines Fremantle's ongoing and growing commitment to producing high-quality original series and films working with the very best talent from across the globe, including "The Mosquito Coast" from Neil Cross, Paolo Sorrentino's critically acclaimed and Academy Award nominated film "The Hand of God," "Without Blood" produced and directed by Angelina Jolie and the recently announced musical drama project from Richard Mason and Julie Ann Robinson "The History of a Pleasure Seeker."

Creative Artists Agency (CAA) brokered the deal. Weinstock is represented by CAA and by Aron Baumel and Will Jacobson of Goodman Genow Schenkman Smelkinson + Christopher, LLP.

Nicholas Weinstock is the founder and president of Invention Studios, an independent production company currently developing and producing a wide range of features and television shows.

Weinstock began his career in New York City as an editor at Random House and Riverhead Books, and then as the author of a nonfiction book and two novels, before moving to Los Angeles to work at 20th Century Fox Television. Upon leaving Fox, he ran Apatow Productions with writer/director Judd Apatow, where he produced movies including Forgetting Sarah Marshall, Step Brothers, Pineapple Express, Get Him to the Greek and Bridesmaids.

He went on to help launch the production company Chernin Entertainment; to found the Fox Writers Studio, an innovative division of 20th Century Fox Film devoted to original screenplays by next-generation writers; to partner with actor/director Ben Stiller and serve as the creative head of their company Red Hour Films; and most recently to shift full-time to running his own company, Invention Studios.

In the past few years Weinstock has produced the hit Netflix movies Alex Strangelove and The Package; the Showtime limited series Escape at Dannemora, which was nominated for 12 Emmy Awards; and THE MOVIES Plus One starring Maya Erskine and Queenpins starring Kristen Bell. He currently serves as Executive Producer of the CW/Netflix series In the Dark, which he developed with showrunner Corinne Kingsbury; of the Apple drama series Severance, starring Adam Scott, John Turturro, Patricia Arquette and Christopher Walken; and of the upcoming Apple comedy series High Desert, starring Patricia Arquette.

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