LuckyChap, the producer of “Barbie” and “Saltburn,” is launching LuckyChap International, a film and television company headquartered in London. Established as a joint venture with Mediawan Group, whose portfolio includes Plan B and See-Saw Films, the new entity will be led by Mona Qureshi and Tanya Qureshi. The company will officially operate across the U.K. and Europe, producing international film and television projects. It opens its doors in January.
LuckyChap’s European move follows the footsteps of Plan B which also partnered with Mediawan earlier this year to establish a base in London and tapped “Baby Reindeer” producer Ed Macdonald to run the banner.
Mona Qureshi joins LuckyChap after serving as a director of scripted series at Netflix UK. Tanya Qureshi most recently acted as commissioning editor in drama at the BBC. The sisters will be co-managing directors, international and bring an extensive network of relationships with creative talents having worked on such acclaimed shows as “I May Destroy You,” “The Night Manager,” “Adolescence,” and “Too Much,” among many others. The duo will oversee creative and day-to-day operations for the new company, with a primary focus on television. LuckyChap will build out a broader team across film and television in the coming months. The UK organization will work in partnership with LuckyChap’s US team. The company is run by Margot Robbie, Tom Ackerley, Josey McNamara and Milan Popelka.
“We’ve always shared a deep love of storytelling, so getting to build something together at LuckyChap feels like a dream,” Mona Qureshi and Tanya Qureshi said in a joint statement. “As sisters, we’ve cheered each other on through our individual careers, and now we get to combine everything we’ve learned to grow this next chapter – literally and figuratively – side by side. The team at LuckyChap are passionate champions of distinctive voices and bold ideas, and we are thrilled to be part of expanding that mission internationally. It’s rare to find a company that leads with such heart and mischief – we can’t wait to join their ranks and continue to build in that spirit.”
LuckyChap has established itself as a home for leading creative talents. Its films also include such award winners as “I, Tonya” and “Promising Young Woman,” and on the television side, produced the Emmy-nominated limited series “Maid” and “Sirens.” It recently wrapped production on Megan Park’s upcoming drama “Sterling Point” and reunited with “Saltburn” and “Promising Young Woman” auteur Emerald Fennell on her next film, “Wuthering Heights.” The company said that the films produced by the new venture will “reflect LuckyChap’s signature DNA” and “will be geared towards both tapping into the unique voices working in the UK / Europe.” The move also comes as the UK has become a major production hub for movies and shows, as well as the source of buzzy hits such as “Adolescence.”
“Launching LuckyChap into the UK and Europe has been a goal of ours for a long time and we feel we’ve landed upon the perfect alchemy with this team,” LuckyChap’s partners said in a statement. “To combine Mediawan’s passion for nurturing great storytelling and their far-reaching strategic capabilities, with the incredible creative leadership of Mona and Tanya Qureshi, instinctively feels like an undeniable way to catapult this journey. Every aspect of this international partnership feels aligned creatively, culturally, and operationally, driving forward LuckyChap’s core mission of empowering storytellers in both creative and strategic ways. Mona and Tanya’s rich and storied experience in this industry speaks for itself and we couldn’t be more excited to work with them, and our friends at Mediawan, in building something special.”
Launched in 2015 by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel, and Matthieu Pigasse, Mediawan is based and France and has established itself as one of Europe’s biggest independent studios. It produces more than 400 titles each year across drama, unscripted, documentary, cinema and animated original content through 80 production labels operating in 14 countries. These include Miraculous Corp., Palomar, Leonine Studios, Chapter 2 and Chi-Fou-Mi.
“We are thrilled to support LuckyChap’s talented teams in this new and pivotal step of their development. At Mediawan’s, since our creation, our mission has always been to champion creative excellence and outstanding stories from the best talents around the world,” Capton said in a statement on behalf of Mediawan. “This partnership perfectly embodies our ambitions for global growth, especially through the creation of strategic and innovative collaborations. Their presence in the UK, which is a true bridge between the creative industries of America and Europe, under the leadership of the acclaimed duo Mona Qureshi and Tanya Qureshi, will open up new opportunities for us to keep producing premium content and sharing it with a wide audience. As a leading studio in Europe, we are excited to be able to offer LuckyChap our expertise and know-how in order to support their growth and creativity.”
The strategic partnership and investment emerged from ongoing conversations between LuckyChap and Mediawan Group. The venture is LuckyChap majority-owned and controlled with Mediawan having a minority stake.
Mona Qureshi started her career as an assistant at BBC Films in the late ’90s, where she remained as a development executive through several titles. She continued to work in development and production for Ruby Films and The Ink Factory. Her credits included feature films “Brick Lane” for FilmFour, “The Other Boleyn Girl” for Sony/BBC, “Small Island” for BBC Drama, and Susanne Bier’s Emmy award winning adaptation of John le Carre’s “The Night Manager”, in 2015. Returning to BBC Drama as Commissioning Editor for England in 2017, she was responsible for a diverse portfolio of shows including: Chan Wook Park’s “The Little Drummer Girl,” “Les Misérables,” BAFTA award-winning “Sitting In Limbo”, Mira Nair’s “A Suitable Boy”, “This Is Going To Hurt”, starring Ben Whishaw, “The Responder”, starring Martin Freeman and Hugo Blick’s “The English.”. In 2022, she moved to Netflix UK’s original series team to lead the partner-led drama slate. She has seen a great range of titles through to their debut on Netflix including “Adolescence,” “Dept Q” from writer-director Scott Frank, Lena Dunham’s “Too Much”, and films “Joy” and “Steve.”
Tanya Qureshi is currently at the BBC as a commissioning editor in drama, where she is working across a slate including the recently released “Riot Women” from Sally Wainwright and the upcoming “Waiting for the Out” from Dennis Kelly, as well as the comedies “Ludwig”, “Amandaland” and upcoming “Can You Keep A Secret?” with Dawn French. Prior to this Tanya Qureshi was the head of comedy at the BBC for four years where she was across department strategy, shaping the slate and managing budgets. Before Tanya Qureshi joined the BBC, she worked at the BAFTA Award-winning production company Various Artists managing an extensive slate of both new and experienced writers and performers, as well as producing such series as Jon Brown’s “Dead Pixels” and most notably Michaela Coel’s “I May Destroy You.”