Random House Studio is a

production company A production company, production house, production studio, or a production team is a studio that creates works in the fields of performing arts, new media art, film, television, radio, comics, interactive arts, video games, websites, music, and v ...

responsible for adapting books published by

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertelsmann announced the completion of its purchase ...

to film and TV. The company, originally owned by Penguin Random House, was transferred to

Bertelsmann Bertelsmann SE & Co. KGaA () is a German private multinational conglomerate corporation based in Gütersloh, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of the world's largest media conglomerates, and is also active in the service sector and ...

sister company Fremantle North America in 2016.

Background

Random House Random House is an American book publisher and the largest general-interest paperback publisher in the world. The company has several independently managed subsidiaries around the world. It is part of Penguin Random House, which is owned by Germ ...

became involved in the home video market in the mid-1980s. Random House Home Video's first project was the acquirement of rights to seventeen years' worth of ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Workshop until June 2000 ...

'' and ''

Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg (; born December 18, 1946) is an American director, writer, and producer. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, he is the most commercially successful director of all time. Sp ...

'' shows. This branch of Random House lasted until the 2000s.

History

Random House established a book-to-film unit, Random House Films, in 2005. A

Focus Features Focus Features LLC is an American film production and distribution company, owned by Comcast as part of Universal Pictures, a division of its wholly owned subsidiary NBCUniversal. Focus Features distributes independent and foreign films in the U ...

deal and a co-finance plan for reasonably budgeted, adult-oriented movies were under development at the same time. Random House Films soon acquired the book and film rights to ''One Day'' from writer David Nicholls, allowing for simplified parallel development with an editor/producer. The

book A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this physical ...

debuted in 2009, at the same time the film had begun production, and the film reached the screens in 2011. The film had a budget of $15 million and grossed $13.8 million domestically and $56.7 million globally; the book sold 1.5 million copies (with an additional 750 thousand copies of the movie edition). ''One Day'' was the film unit's most successful production''.'' The unit made a deal in October 2011 to create a movie franchise of

Ross Macdonald Ross Macdonald was the main pseudonym used by the American-Canadian writer of crime fiction Kenneth Millar (; December 13, 1915 – July 11, 1983). He is best known for his series of hardboiled novels set in Southern California and featur ...

's detective Lew Archer, with

Joel Silver Joel Silver (born July 14, 1952) is an American film producer. Life and career Silver was born and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, the son of a writer and a public relations executive. His family is Jewish. He attended Columbia High School i ...

and Warner Bros. In July 2012, Random House announced the creation of the Random House Studio (RHS) and Random House Television (RH TV). Random House Studio would contain both the TV and film divisions, and would work with affiliate

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for ...

on the TV series developments. RH TV headquarters in Fremantle's Los Angeles offices and its Head of Television is Jeffrey Levine. On July 1, 2013, RHS's parent company merged with Penguin to form

. In February 2013,

and Random House Studio teamed up for film rights, production, and co-financing of Jo Baker's novel ''

Longbourn ''Longbourn'' is a 2013 novel by the British author Jo Baker. It gives an alternative view of the events in Jane Austen's 1813 novel '' Pride and Prejudice'', telling the story from the perspective of the servants at Longbourn, the Bennet fami ...

'', with the book to be published in the fall by Transworld Publishers in the U.K.,

Alfred A. Knopf Alfred A. Knopf, Inc. () is an American publishing house that was founded by Alfred A. Knopf Sr. and Blanche Knopf in 1915. Blanche and Alfred traveled abroad regularly and were known for publishing European, Asian, and Latin American writers i ...

in the U.S., and Random House in Canada. In September 2014, Random House Studio signed a first look production deal with

Universal Pictures Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...

, under which Random House would be producer on the projects developed and filmed based on Penguin Random House books. This buttresses the existing deal between Random House Films and Focus Features, a Universal subsidiary. ''Heartland Table,'' starring chef

Amy Thielen Amy Thielen is a chef, food writer, and television personality who focuses on Midwestern cooking and food culture. She is the author of the James Beard award-winning cookbook ''The New Midwestern Table'' (Clarkson Potter, 2013) and ''Give a Girl a ...

'','' was RH TV's first co-production (with Tavola Productions), and premiered September 14, 2014 on the

Food Network Food Network is an American basic cable channel owned by Television Food Network, G.P., a joint venture and general partnership between Warner Bros. Discovery Networks (which holds a 69% ownership stake of the network) and Nexstar Media Group ( ...

. Thielen's companion book, ''The New Midwestern Table'', was issued by

Clarkson Potter Clarkson Potter (September 19, 1880 – October 4, 1953) was an American golfer. He competed in the men's individual event at the 1904 Summer Olympics The 1904 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the III Olympiad and also known as ...

, a Penguin Random House imprint, on September 24. The studio and Jupiter Entertainment entered a deal for several unscripted programs, and Jupiter was developing three shows by July 2016. In July 2016,

took over the company from Penguin Random House. Fremantle signed Random House Studios with Chinese Meridian Entertainment for theatrical productions while handling TV productions internally. The unscripted programs subsequently moved from Jupiter to Fremantle.

Filmography

*'' Reservation Road'' (2007) *'' One Day'' (book 2009, film 2011) writer David Nicholls *'' Lay the Favorite'' (2012) Likely Story and Emmett/Furla Films,

The Weinstein Company The Weinstein Company (usually credited or abbreviated as TWC) was an American independent film studio, founded in New York City by Bob and Harvey Weinstein in March 2005. TWC was one of the largest mini-major film studios in North America pri ...

; Meridian Entertainment co-productions * '' The Silent Land'', based on a novel by Graham Joyce * ''Longbourn'', an adaptation of a Jo Baker novel * ''City Of Light'', based on the nonfiction book ''Death In The City Of Light'' by David King

Television

* ''Heartland Table'' (

2014–present) Tavola Productions,

* '' Loving Day'' (Showtime) * Rachel Carson TV movie (HBO) * '' No God But God'' - unscripted series in development original by Jupiter Entertainment * ''The Knowledge'' (based on a book by Lewis Dartnell, currently an unscripted series in development originally by Jupiter Entertainment) * ''God Made Me Do It'' (author Jonathan Merritt, currently an unscripted series in development originally by Jupiter Entertainment)

References

External links

imdbRandom House Films logo animation
{{Film Studio Random House Entertainment companies based in New York City 2005 establishments in New York City Mass media companies established in 2005 RTL Group