Here's a Switch: Reality Show Producer Wants to Do More Scripted Fare THR

Audiences like reality series but the shows don’t have much shelf life beyond format sales so Canadian-based Fremantle Corp. is trying to move away from them and concentrate on international co-production of dramas, reports The Hollywood Reporter.

Fremantle principal Irv Holender said his company is seeing a market for dramas and thrillers. Fremantle has two action series in the works with an Italian partner DeAngelis Production & Distribution (DAP). One is a Western, to be shot in Vancouver; the other is based on a best-selling book whose name the company has yet to reveal.

The company is also co-producing 26 episodes of "The Further Adventures of Black Beauty."

--Elizabeth Jensen