[press release from The Lantern Group]
Chris O’Mara, one of the three founding partners of Freehand Productions alongside Peter Abbott and John Gregory has decided to leave the company after five years.
“The opportunity presents itself for me to consider other options or stay on board for another five years. The timing is right for me to move on from the partnership we established five years ago and in terms of Freehand it couldn’t be in better shape to continue its growth and impact on the Australian production industry,” said Chris today.
“Freehand Productions was established between the three of us to provide successful content to Australia and the international market, we always felt it would take five years to build and we all agreed that was the best initial partnership timeframe. The five years have been more successful than we could have imagined and while Peter and I are excited by the opportunities with the company going forward we wish Chris all the best as he moves in other directions.” said John Gregory today.
Freehand Productions began as a three way partnership in February 2004 and then in 2007 BBC Worldwide announced it was taking a 25% equity interest in the company. It has grown in that time to be a significant industry producer dealing with all the commercial networks and PAY TV on a wide range of projects.
In 2008 Freehand produced 80 hours of Australian programming for the free to air networks. In 2009 the slate looks equally impressive with a confirmed production line-up including:
• Dancing With The Stars series 9 (Seven Network)
• Top Gear series 2 ( SBS)
• The Nest series 2 (SBS)
• Missing Persons Unit series 5 (Nine Network)
• Bush Slam (ABC)
Chris will continue to manage Kate Ritchie.