Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures, Archery Pictures Ink Joint Venture For Future Projects

Variety I January 11 2021

British star and producer Idris Elba’s Green Door Pictures and BAFTA-nominated producer Kris Thykier’s Archery Pictures are entering a multi-year joint venture to work together on select future film and TV projects.

Thykier was BAFTA-nominated for “The State” and “Trash.” Archery recently completed production on fantasy series “Fate: The Winx Saga” for Netflix, the third season of Sky Atlantic’s top-rated “Riviera,” and John Madden’s feature “Operation Mincemeat,” starring Colin Firth, Matthew Macfadyen and Kelly Macdonald.

Green Door’s comedy series “In the Long Run” had a successful run on pay TV operator Sky, and the company’s Netflix-acquired feature film “Concrete Cowboy” is due a Spring 2021 premiere. Green Door is also due to begin production on the BBC non-scripted series “Fight School,” co-produced with WorkerBee. Through the partnership with Archery, Green Door intends to ramp up its development and production capabilities in keeping with its current growth trajectory.

“I’m excited to begin a partnership with Kris on upcoming film and television projects and to start this collaboration with his team at Archery,” Elba said. “Building Green Door has been a steep learning curve and a thrilling ride. I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved. Now I believe we are ready to take the next step in our growth as a company, and our alliance with Archery will facilitate and accelerate that process.”

“Idris Elba is a global superstar, one of the best actors of his generation, an acclaimed director and a genuine force of nature, I look forward to working closely with him through this next phase of his career,” Thykier said. “With Green Door Pictures, he has built a production company founded on the core values of ‘paying it backwards,’ providing support and opportunities for creative talent from diverse backgrounds, whom might otherwise fall outside of established industry norms and practices. All of us at Archery look forward to working with Idris and his colleagues on developing new projects that build on his talents as well as helping underpin his company’s goals.”

Elba founded Green Door Pictures in 2013 with the mission of developing new and established talent to champion inclusion, representation and diversity. The company’s credits also include Netflix’s “Turn Up Charlie,” a co-production with Brown Eyed Boy, co-created by and starring Elba.

Kris Thykier founded Archery Pictures in 2014, encompassing his existing film company PeaPie Films. In November 2020, Archery Pictures, in partnership with Danny Perkins’s Elysian Film Group, launched Mews Films, a production label focused on the development of a slate of comedy movies for the U.K. theatrical market.