‘Fauda’ creators sell production company to former Disney executives

“Fauda” creators Avi Issacharoff and Lior Raz announced a partnership with Candle Media, a media company run by two former Disney executives, backed by investment firm Blackstone.

According to Variety, the deal inked between Raz and Issacharoff’s Faraway Road and Tom Staggs and Kevin Mayer has come in “under $50 million.”

“We’re really excited and thrilled,” said Avi Issacharoff. “Partnering with Kevin, Tom, Blackstone and the unbelievable creators that are part of the Candle family will allow us to significantly accelerate that, while
participating in creating the next-generation media company that puts creators first.”

Season four of Issacharoff and Raz’s award-winning “Fauda” is set to premiere later this year on Israel’s YES TV and will stream worldwide on
Netflix.

Their latest show, “Hit & Run,” the Netflix series starring Lior Raz as a man seeking revenge after his wife is killed in a mysterious accident, was canceled after just one season. Reports were that the show, which was filmed in Israel and the United States, was too expensive to produce.

The pair’s other upcoming development projects include the film “Siege of Bethlehem,” to be directed by Antoine Fuqua, and a non-scripted spy thriller for Showtime with director Greg Barker.

Mayer and Staggs called Raz and Issacharoff “world-class storytellers who produce exhilarating content that strikes a chord globally with audiences across cultures and languages.”

Mayer and Staff’s Candle has also acquired Hello Sunshine, the media company with women at the center of every story it creates, founded by Reese Witherspoon, as well as Moonbug Entertainment Ltd., the global children’s entertainment company behind “CoComelon,” “Blippi” and “Little Baby Bum.”

The company also invested in Westbrook Inc., the media company founded by Jada Pinkett Smith, Will Smith, Miguel Melendez and Ko Yada.