Cardiff’s Bad Wolf Production House Sold to Sony
By Marta Markes
When Jane Tranter and Julie Gardner announced plans to establish a brand new production company with its own studio space in Cardiff in 2015, everyone expected it to be a game-changer.
Six years on, that’s exactly what it has become. Their production company, Bad Wolf, is now reportedly being sold to Sony Pictures Television (SPT) in a deal thought to be worth close to £60m.
Existing minority shareholders Access Entertainment and Sky / HBO are expected to have their respective 24.9% and 10% stakes bought out as part of the agreement, leaving Sony as sole majority shareholder in the Cardiff-based production company.
Founders of Bad Wolf Julie Gardner, left, and Jane Tranter (Image credit: Wales Online)
Since the start of the twenty-first century, Cardiff has significantly changed, both the cityscape and the business distribution. Recent data suggests that the Welsh capital is the third largest Film & TV hub in the UK, with figures reaching £606m in Gross Value Added (GVA).
One of the first shows to be permanently based in Cardiff has been Doctor Who, revived in 2005 by Bad Wolf’s Julie Gardner and screenwriter Russell T. Davies. The BBC production has likely kicked off the trend that now is visible in its full glory.
Then, with the BBC flagship show continuously filmed in Wales, along with hits such as ‘Sherlock’ and ‘Torchwood’, Bad Wolf entered the stage, borrowing the name from the Doctor Who lore as a cheeky wink towards the fans.
In announcing the launch of their company, Gardner and Tranter were hoping to attract £100m to the Welsh economy over ten years with the studio established directly in the city and the plans to develop local talent. With multiple internships and opportunities open to the young creatives aiding their foray into the sector, Bad Wolf has achieved what it had set out to do.
Creatively, it has opened Cardiff, and Wales in general, onto the world of big-budget drama shot in the city, making it a pop culture tourism destination and a place to be in terms of the growing film sector. With the most notable titles from recent years including Bad Wolf’s ‘A Discovery of Witches’ and ‘His Dark Materials’, the hub is expanding to become one of the most sought after areas that are attracting increasing amounts of workforce and interest.
Grants, such as the media.cymru fund, which is hoping to bring 2,000 jobs to the sector and further develop the production hub while offering to continue the cultivation of the local talent and the resources, are giving hope to the evolution of Cardiff’s film and TV production. With the programme aiming to add £236m to the GVA, the impact could be monumental and influential, setting the goal for further evolution of the hub and its resources.
In April, news came of Bad Wolf Production being on sale with the company valued at about £50m and employing around 500 people. The information had triggered uncertainty concerning the future of the Welsh sector with the new ownership of the studios.
With doubts of this kind building up and causing a certain degree of anxiety around the topic, the recent news of Sony’s willingness to support the Welsh presence of the Cardiff-headquartered producer might come as a relief.
And supporting the Welsh presence makes sense for a myriad of reasons but also because in late September it was announced that Russell T. Davies is returning to Cardiff as the ‘Doctor Who’ showrunner, and Bad Wolf will be producing the all-new series of Doctor Who.
Bad Wolf is a frequent feature of multiple lists proclaiming the fastest growing companies in Wales, or the companies in the film/TV sector that ought to be watched. With both ‘A Discovery of Witches’ and ‘His Dark Materials’ gaining critical acclaim and public recognition, Bad Wolf is a production company that has perhaps earned the most out of the Welsh hub development.
The investment paid off and it looks as if Bad Wolf’s future is set with Sony.