Random House became involved in the home video market in the early 1980s. Random House Home Video's first project was the acquirement of rights to seventeen years' worth ofSesame Street shows.[5] This branch of Random House lasted until the late 2000s.[6]
Random House established abook-to-film unit, Random House Films, in 2005. AFocus Features deal and a co-finance plan for reasonably budgeted, adult-oriented movies were under development at the same time.[7]
Random House Films soon acquired the book and film rights toOne Day from writerDavid Nicholls, allowing for simplified parallel development with an editor/producer. Thebook debuted in 2009, at the same time the film had begun production, and the film reached the screens in 2011. The film had a budget of $15 million and grossed $13.8 million domestically and $56.7 million globally; the book sold 1.5 million copies (with an additional 750 thousand copies of themovie edition).One Day was the film unit's most successful production.[7]
In July 2012, Random House announced the creation of the Random House Studio (RHS) and Random House Television (RH TV). Random House Studio would contain both the TV and film divisions, and would work with affiliateFremantle on the TV series developments.[9] RH TV headquarters in Fremantle's Los Angeles offices and its Head of Television is Jeffrey Levine.[2]
In February 2013,Focus Features and Random House Studio teamed up for film rights, production, and co-financing of Jo Baker's novelLongbourn, with the book to be published in the fall byTransworld Publishers in the U.K.,Alfred A. Knopf in the U.S., and Random House in Canada.[11]
In September 2014, Random House Studio signed afirst look production deal withUniversal Pictures, under which Random House would be producer on the projects developed and filmed based on Penguin Random House books. This buttresses the existing deal between Random House Films and Focus Features, a Universal subsidiary.[12]
Heartland Table, starring chefAmy Thielen, was RH TV's first co-production (with Tavola Productions), and premiered September 14, 2014 on theFood Network. Thielen's companion book,The New Midwestern Table, was issued byClarkson Potter, a Penguin Random House imprint, on September 24.[3]
The studio and Jupiter Entertainment entered a deal for several unscripted programs, and Jupiter was developing three shows by July 2016.[4]
In July 2016,Fremantle took over the company from Penguin Random House. Fremantle signed Random House Studios with ChineseMeridian Entertainment for theatrical productions while handling TV productions internally. The unscripted programs subsequently moved from Jupiter to Fremantle.[4]
^abjoint venture with Amperwelle Studio München Programmanbietergesellschaft,Axel Springer AG, Burda, Studio Gong, m.b.t. Mediengesellschaft der bayerischen Tageszeitungen für Kabelkommunikation, Medienpool and Radio Bavaria Rundfunkprogrammgesellschaft.
^joint venture with Verlagsgesellschaft Madsack, Studio Gong Niedersachsen and Brune-Rieck-Beteiligungs.
^joint venture with Axel Springer, Heinrich Bauer Verlag, Lühmanndruck Harburger Zeitungsgesellschaft and Morgenpost Verlag.
