Sony Pictures Television has launched Hot Sauce, a Belfast-based production company run by Blue Lights creators, Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson.
The backing from SPT will see Hot Sauce launch as a full production company, led by Patterson and Lawn and based in Belfast. As a majority-owned company, Hot Sauce joins the SPT International Production group portfolio, alongside fellow scripted companies Left Bank Pictures, Eleven, Eleventh Hour Films, and Cardiff-based Bad Wolf, and will be SPT’s second production company in Belfast, alongside non-scripted and formats specialist, Stellify Media.
Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson met whilst working for Panorama. They went on to co-write hit BBC drama The Salisbury Poisonings. Their first feature film, Rogue Agent, starring James Norton and Gemma Arterton, was released on Netflix UK and IFC Cinemas in the US in 2022.
Their original series Blue Lights, about policing in contemporary Belfast, has been a huge hit for the BBC. Lawn and Patterson will continue with their writing commitments on Blue Lights.
They will continue to be represented by United Agents (UK) and WME (US).
Matthew Justice, EVP Head of UK & Europe, Sony Pictures Television, says: “This deal was a yes on multiple levels for us at SPT. First, it’s an investment in Declan and Adam. We are massive admirers of their work. Finding creative talent that have got the chops, ability, and ambition to grow a business around their creativity is always an enticing proposition. They have a unique, analytical approach to crafting drama and have had everyone knocking on their door thanks to the success of Blue Lights, so to have this opportunity to bring them into the SPT family and build the next chapter of Hot Sauce with them, is tremendously exciting.
“This is also an investment in the industry in Belfast. We have long had presence in the Northern Ireland creative community through Stellify, but we know that the scripted industry there is brimming with talent and potential. This deal further builds out our national portfolio and, alongside Bad Wolf’s base in Wales and Left Bank’s production work in Scotland on Outlander and Department Q, highlights the creative brilliance across our entire national production landscape”.
Declan Lawn and Adam Patterson, Hot Sauce, say: “This investment by SPT shows how much faith this global media powerhouse has in the future of Belfast as a creative hub in Television and Film. With their ambition and expertise, they are the perfect partners for us and we could not be more excited to build Hot Sauce with them in the years ahead. The fact that we will be doing all of this in our hometown makes it even more special.”
Jon Creamer
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