‘Bosch’ Exec Producer Henrik Bastin Launches Fabel Entertainment After Exiting Red Arrow Studios JV
EXCLUSIVE: Henrik Bastin, the driving force behind Amazon’s cop drama series Bosch, is launching a new production company after exiting Red Arrow Studios joint venture Fabrik Entertainment.
Fabrik, which produced seven seasons of the Titus Welliver-fronted procedural, the streamer’s longest-running original, was a partnership between LA-based Swedish producer Bastin and the production arm of German broadcaster ProSiebeSat.1.
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The new company will retain its development slate, including a series based on neurologist Oliver Sacks at Fox and adaptations of Chuck Palahniuk’s Invisible Monsters and Stephen King’s The Ten O’Clock People, and will continue with Melissa Aouate as President.
Bastin told Deadline that he was excited to move into new genres, including sci-fi, as well as step back into comedy, a genre that Fabrik dabbled in with FX’s The Comedians starring Billy Crystal and Josh Gad and based on Swedish show Ulveson Och Herngren.
“I’m super excited. It will be different, but it’s still a production company and the devil will be in the detail,” he said.
The move comes as ProSieben refocuses its production strategy with Red Arrow. The company had been in advanced talks to sell the production division, with prospective buyers including All3Media, before the pandemic hit. A number of key executives have also left including Jan Frouman, Michael Schmidt and James Baker, while Henrik Pabst moved over to the broadcasting side of the business.
“I had a great run with Red Arrow, they were really great partners and that’s not just corporate bullshit,” added Bastin.
Fabrik also produced Interrogation at CBS All Access and My Generation at ABC.
Bastin (right) said that it was redeveloping its medical drama, inspired by Sacks, for Fox, which previously handed the project a put pilot commitment in 2019, and was now working with Berlanti Productions on it.
The new company is also soon to go out with a TV take on The Ten O’Clock People, Stephen King’s short story about a group of people in authority who are monsters disguised as people, and is in the early stages of talks about attaching talent to an adaptation of Palahniuk’s Invisible Monsters, a strange tale of a disfigured woman who goes by multiple pseudonyms. “It will be much easier to do something that is cutting edge and deals with a lot of social issues and is going to have a different way of storytelling if you have a big name as a star and big creator,” he added.
Bastin’s relationship with author Michael Connelly, creator of the Harry Bosch character, will continue, and he will also continue to search for European scripted formats.
“When I moved to the U.S., the format business was easier because shows came from the public broadcasters and it was easier to do deals. It became harder because many shows were being made by the streamers and they kept the format rights but it’s swinging around again and we have a couple of formats that we’re looking at it,” he said.
Book adaptations will also play a big part and working closely with authors. “I can’t compete with the biggest companies – there’s always going to be someone who has a bigger wallet than an independent company – but big writers that don’t necessarily need the money but want to ensure that someone adapts their book the right way, that’s where we are,” he said.
Finally, he is ramping up work with new writers and has a number of projects already in development with platforms. “The biggest positive change that has happened in the last year and a half is that networks and streamers have finally started putting their money where their mouth is in terms of new voices and are ok with taking risks and that’s where we can compete.”
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