Renowned Films is a London/LA based production company founded by Sony Gold award winning Duane Jones and Broadcast award winning creatives Max Welch and Tim Withers. Renowned is backed by leading US independent studio Critical Content and is fast establishing itself as a leader in factual and factual entertainment programming. Producing mainstream, cut-through, noisy factual, fact-ent, formats, documentaries and branded content with a twist. Renowned Films has produced hundreds of hours of factual, documentary, format and reality television alongside its branded content division that has worked with clients including Adidas, Selfridges, Apple and Beats by Dre. Renowned's recent projects include 'The Peng Life' with the Chicken Connoisseur for Channel 4, 'NYPD Biggest Gang in New York?' for the BBC, 'The Women Who Kill Lions', 'Top Dad with Ashley Walters' and series 3 of 'Random Acts' for Channel 4, as well as Pranksterz for ITV2 In 2015, Channel 4 took an equity stake in Renowned Films as part of its £20 million Growth Fund, which has seen the company grow and establish itself as one of the fastest growing indie production companies in the UK. David Abraham Channel 4’s Chief Executive said: “Renowned are a passionate and ambitious team with an appetite to create compelling formats across both new and traditional media platforms to inspire young audiences globally. We’re looking forward to working with this talented young indie to help push them to the next level.” In 2017 Critical Content acquired an undisclosed stake in Renowned with Channel 4 exiting the business. The transaction signalled the formation of a strategic partnership between Critical Content and Renowned to supercharge Critical Contents international expansion and foothold in the UK market, alongside boosting Renowned's UK growth and allowing the business to capitalise on its rapid US success. The partnership saw CEO of Critical Content Tom Forman and EVP / CFO Christoph Pachler joining the board. Tom Forman said "they’re a young, diverse company with a really fresh take on the space. It’s a good way to complement Critical. They are fact-ent guys in their DNA, and as we looked at new companies that might be able to get our IP away in the UK, and people who may create a format that we would be excited to bring into the U.S., I’d bet on them any day.”
