House Productions, the leading film and TV production company founded by Tessa Ross (Four Lions, Under the Skin, 12 Years a Slave) and Juliette Howell (Slumdog Millionaire, Hillsborough) has expanded its operations with a permanent base in Manchester.
The production company is no stranger to the North – recent BAFTA-nominated hit series Sherwood, starring David Morrissey and Lesley Manville, filmed in and around Nottingham and Manchester. Forthcoming feature Starve Acre from director Daniel Kokotajlo, which stars Matt Smith and Morfydd Clark and will have its World Premiere in October at the London Film Festival, shot in Yorkshire meanwhile.
Another of House’s biggest recent successes, the Emmy-nominated Brexit: The Uncivil War, may have largely shot in London, but its main protagonist Dominic Cummings is certainly a well-known face up North. Particularly in Barnard Castle, the County Durham town he chose as the ideal location for his lockdown eyecare.
House North will be the home for the company’s productions based out of northern England and act as a hub for creative talent from outside of London to bring and develop ideas, as well as developing a slate that will complement that of the wider company.
Established in 2016, House quickly built a reputation for innovative and exciting high-end drama and bringing the best of film and television together to create quality storytelling.
The company was acquired by the BBC’s commercial arm, BBC Studios, in 2021 and already has Sherwood Series 2 based out of the new office, as well a number of development projects that are close to commission.
In addition to the drama slate, the team has also been developing scripted comedy and comedy-drama projects with a particular interest in comedic talent from the Edinburgh Fringe and working with them on developing specific writing and starring vehicles for film and TV.
With the opening of the Manchester office, the company will now be pushing further into scripted comedy, working with new and established talent to bring their unique voices to the screen with the House Productions trademark premium look and feel.
The Manchester office is led by double BAFTA, RTS and Emmy award-winning Louise Sutton who joins the production company in an executive producer role from Broke & Bones where, alongside her comedy and drama development work for Netflix, she developed season seven of Black Mirror. Additional credits include Home Fires and Butterfly.
Reporting to both Howell and Ross, she will be overseeing the indie’s drama output in the North and will also be leading the charge on expanding the company’s burgeoning comedy slate, as well as building up a roster of half-hour dramas and younger skewing shows.
Sutton said: “Tessa and Juliette have built an incredible brand at House Productions over the past seven years and I am so honoured to be a part of their wonderful company. House has a well-deserved reputation as being a great home for talent and House in Manchester will be our home-from-home in the North.”
Howell and Ross added: “This is an exciting time for us at House – with an expanding television and film slate, working across the UK and internationally, it’s a great moment to announce the wonderful Louise Sutton’s new position, heading up our operations in the North. She’s a renowned producer with particularly deep roots in the region.
“We’re looking forward to growing House’s relationships with creative talent even further, and to finding more of those great storytellers and stories that are truly rooted and yet entirely universal.”
