Potential bidders weigh up the Heartstopper label
See-Saw Films, the Anglo-Australian indie behind streamer hits Slow Horses and Heartstopper, is exploring investment or a sale.
Broadcast has learned the premium scripted label has appointed M&A specialist investment bank ACF to assess its options for the future.
Super-indies and other potential bidders have been made aware of the chance to acquire or invest in the business, though it is understood the process is at an early stage.
See-Saw had a turnover of £122.3m in 2023 according to documents filed at Companies House although this is not thought to represent all the elements of the business.
Sources indicated that the label is seeking investment to capitalise on a strong recent run and there is expected to be a significant level of interest, albeit at a premium price. The feeling in the market is that a potential buyer would have to find more than £100m to strike an outright deal.
See-Saw was founded by joint chief execs Emile Sherman and Iain Canning in 2008.
The 16-year-old business is headquartered in London and Sydney and is viewed as one of the premier scripted labels, with creative footprint across TV and film.
Helen Gregory and Simon Gillis are its joint managing directors and it has nine executive producer-led slates focusing on returning TV, limited TV, and film. In 2022, Broadcast revealed it had made a triple hire of Pulse, Artists Studio and Ray Pictures alums Moss Barclay, Julian Stevens, Ann Phillips.
See-Saw recently set up sub-label Fanboy, led by Patrick Walters, the executive producer who was the driving force behind See-Saw’s hit Netflix young adult series Heartstopper.
Fanboy produced recent Sky dark dramedy Sweetpea, while See-Saw is currently producing Australian drama series Apple Cider Vinegar with its Samantha Strauss led joint-venture Picking Scabs, which will land on Netflix in 2025.
It has just signed a first-look creative deal with A Gentleman In Moscow showrunner Ben Vanstone and his label Vanity Film & TV and other recent IP deals include the option of hit West End play Shifters by Benedict Lombe and a number of novels: Dandelion is Dead, the dark romance debut by Rosie Storey; Welcome to Glorious Tuga by Francesca Segal; and comedian and The Outlaws actor Harry Trevaldwyn’s debut Romantic Tragedies of a Drama King.
See-Saw is currently enjoying a high-profile run on Apple TV+ with smash espionage comedy-drama Slow Horses, which has been renewed by the streamer for a sixth series.
Its other TV credits include Apple TV+’s The Essex Serpent, BBC2’s The North Water and Jane Campion’s Top of the Lake.
On the feature side, See-Saw has produced acclaimed titles such as Oscar-winning The Power of the Dog, directed by Campion, Francis Lee’s Ammonite, John Madden-directed Operation Mincemeat, Florian Zweller’s The Son, Garth Davis-helmed Foe and James Hawes-directed One Life.
Jamie Laurenson and Hakan Kousetta, who helped drive the expansion of its TV division, exited in 2021 to set up their own label.
Broadcast has reached out to See-Saw for comment.
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