The North Road Company

The North Road Company, also known as North Road, is an American global content production & distribution studio founded in 2022 by Chernin Entertainment's founder & president and founder of The Chernin Group, Peter Chernin, and since 2026 it's owned by French media entertainment production company Mediawan, that produces scripted, unscripted, and documentary film and television content. It serves as a, multi-genre powerhouse studio housing entities like Chernin Entertainment, Kinetic Content, and Words + Pictures, with notable projects including Love is Blind, Ford v Ferrari, and The Last Dance.

The company was formed in July 2022 when Peter Chernin, founder & CEO Chernin Entertainment and founder of the former's parent The Chernin Group, had depatured the latter parent and announced that he had taken his film & television production company Chernin Entertainment & its unscripted production studio Words + Pictures to establish a global independent and production content studio that entitled, The North Road Company, as the two subsidiaries became part of his new company as labels, while the new global company had acquired the US assets of German entertainment & international distribution company Red Arrow Studios from ProSiebenSat.1 Media (which were Kinetic Content, Left/Right Productions, Half Yard Productions, Dorsey Pictures and 44 Blue Productions) and the remaining 50% stake in unscripted documentary production company Words + Pictures with Peter Chernin became CEO & chairman of the new company with Chernin Entertainment veteran Jenno Topping retained his role president of The North Road Company's division Chernin Entertainment and started overseeing The North Road Company's scripted film and television operations alongside Words + Pictures founder Connor Schell who had continued running the unscripted production company under North Road and would assume The North Road Company's unscripted operations as head of unscripted. The new global content studio had also established its international division based in London, England, named North Road International, as Jan Frouman (who joined Chernin Entertainment three months prior back in April of that year) became The North Road Company's president as former AMC Networks executive Kirstin Jones joined The North Road Company and became the global studio's president of international film & television and the two would run North Road's new international division with their international office being based in London, England.^[1][2][3][4]

In June 2023 following North Road's establishment a year prior in July 2022, The North Road Company had its first acquistion when they had brought Istanbul and LA-based Turkish/American film & television drama production company Karga Seven Pictures to expand North Road's scripted operations, the acqusition of Turkish/American film & television drama production outfit Karga Seven Pictures had marked The North Road Company's first international acquisition & their first international expansion along with their expansion of their international operations into Turkey and reunited Karga Seven Pictures with Red Arrow's former American unscripted production subsidiaries (which were Kinetic Content, Left/Right Productions, Half Yard Productions, Dorsey Pictures, and 44 Blue Productions that North Road acquired a year prior in 2022), with Karga Seven Pictures co-founders & producers Sarah Wetherbee, Emre Sahin and Kelly McPherson continued to lead the acquired Turkish/American production company under The North Road Company with Sarah Wetherbee and Emre Sahin becoming global CEOs and Ömer Müjdat Özgüner was hired by Karga Seven Pictures and became the new CEO of the company.^[5][6][7]

Five months later in November of that year, The North Road Company had acquired a majority stake in Los Angeles-based production company Two One Five Entertainment, lead & co-foundeed by the founders of the hip hop band The Roots, Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter and Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson as Two One Five Entertainment became a subsidiary of The North Road Company, with them would financing Two One Five Entertainment's future film and television projects along with North Road expanding Two One Five into the scripted business.^[8][9][10]

In January 2025, The North Road Company expanded into the Latin American production business with the acquisition of Mexican television production company Perro Azul, marking North Road's second international production studio acquisition and its first entry into Latin America since their acquisition of Turkish/American drama television studio Karga Seven Pictures two years prior in June 2023 as Mexican television production studio Perro Azul became a subaidiary of The North Road Company with Perro Azul's founders Alexis Fridman and Juan Uruchurtu continued leadering the acquired Mexican production company under North Road.^[11] Most recently, the company signed a film deal with Apple TV+.^[12]

In January 2026, French media entertainment studio Mediawan had entered advanced talks to acquire American global entertainment & production content studio The North Road Company alongside its international division North Road International, including its scripted entertainment production arm Chernin Entertainment, its minorty stake in Omaha Productions, Turkish/American drama production company Karga Seven Pictures, Mexican scripted television studio Perro Azul and its unscripted production operations which were Words + Pictures (alongside its subsidiary Little Room Films), Left/Right, Kinetic Content and 44 Blue Productions from its founder Peter Chernin that would expand Mediawan's American production operations and the planned acquisition of North Road would lead Mediawan's entry into the Turkish and Latin American production operations.^[13][14] A week later on the 30th in that same month, Mediawan confirmed that they had acquired American global entertainment production & distribution studio The North Road Company including its intetnational distirbution arm North Road International, alongside its scripted & entertainment production arm Chernin Entertainment, its minorty stake in Omaha Productions and Two One Five Entertainment, Turkish/American drama production company Karga Seven Pictures, Mexican scripted television studio Perro Azul and its unscripted production operations which were Words + Pictures (alongside its subsidiary Little Room Films), Kinetic Content and 44 Blue Productions from its founder Peter Chernin, the acqusition of The North Road Company had gained Mediawan access to the Mexican & Turkish film & television production activites and expanding its American production operations with North Road became Mediawan's American production subsidiary alongside Chernin Entertainment whilst the latter's founder Peter Chernin joined Mediawan's board and continued leading North Road as non-executive chairman under Mediawan.^[15][16]

44 Blue Productions is a Burbank-based reality production studio founded in 1984 by Rasha Drachkovitch and Stephanie Noonan Drachkovitch, with the Drachkovitchs leading the company as co-CEOs and Creative Directors.^[17]

• Chernin Entertainment
• Karga Seven Pictures - An American/Turkish scripted production subsiidiary that was founded in 2008 by Sarah Wetherbee, Emre Sahin, and Kelly McPherson.
• Kinetic Content
  • Kinetic UK - A British production division of Kinetic Content that is producing adaptations of Kinetic Content's programming for the UK market.^[18]
• Words + Pictures

• Official website