About
GREAT ARTISTS, POWERFUL STORIES
Established by Dominic Cooke and Kate Horton, Fictionhouse is an independent producing company, developing and making drama for television, film and theatre.
Central to the idea of Fictionhouse is the Directors’ relationships with top writing, acting and directing talent, alongside their skill in developing and producing distinctive drama. Fictionhouse is developing projects with a range of artists, including Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA, Olivier and Tony award winning writers and actors across film, television and theatre projects.
Company directors Dominic Cooke and Kate Horton have a long, strong and fruitful working relationship, which began in 2001 at the Royal Shakespeare Company and developed into a celebrated partnership at the Royal Court Theatre.
While running the Royal Court, they produced over 100 new plays, which were nominated for 210 major awards, winning 59 and their partnership saw the discovery and launch of an exciting new generation of playwrights such as Mike Bartlett, Bola Agbaje, Anupama Chandrasekhar, DC Moore, Lucy Kirkwood and the UK launch of Bruce Norris
They developed the commercial arm of the Royal Court and transferred work to the West End and Broadway with great commercial and critical success, including Jez Butterworth’s JERUSALEM, Lucy Prebble’s ENRON, Bruce Norris’s CLYBOURNE PARK, Nick Payne’s CONSTELLATIONS, Laura Wade’s POSH, Mike Bartlett’s COCK, April de Angelis’s JUMPY and Polly Stenham’s THAT FACE. They also introduced Theatre Local, a ground-breaking initiative to take work direct to new audiences, firstly at Elephant and Castle shopping Centre and then converting the Bussey Building in Peckham, presenting work by Rachel De-lahay, debbie tucker green, Bola Agbaje, Hayley Squires.
Fictionhouse is in partnership with Ringside Media, the investment arm of television drama production company Ringside Studios. Ringside Studios was founded by award winning British producer and former commissioner Gub Neal and French media company and distributor Newen.
The Team
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Dominic Cooke
Co-Director
Dominic Cooke is a highly accomplished theatre, film, and television director based in London. Dominic was Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre from 2007 to 2013. During his tenure at the Royal Court he directed CLYBOURNE PARK by Bruce Norris, for which he was nominated as Best Director for the Evening Standard Awards. He won the 2018 Critic’s Circle Best Director Award for his National Theatre production of FOLLIES starring Imelda Staunton. The show was also nominated for ten Olivier Awards, winning two, including Best Musical Revival and returned for a second run in 2019. His previous production, August Wilson’s MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM, also at the National Theatre, won an Olivier Award for Best Revival. Dominic has successfully transitioned over to television and film. In 2015 he scripted and directed the BAFTA nominated series of Shakespeare history plays THE HOLLOW CROWN – WARS OF THE ROSES, which was produced by Sam Mendes and featured Benedict Cumberbatch, Dame Judi Dench, Hugh Bonneville, Andrew Scott, Michael Gambon, Sally Hawkins and Sophie Okonedo. Dominic's first feature film, based on Ian McEwan’s Booker Prize nominated novel ON CHESIL BEACH, starred Saoirse Ronan and Emily Watson. Variety’s review of the film said it “marks one of the most impressive debuts of a director since Tom Ford made “A Single Man.”. He is an Associate at the National Theatre, a lifelong Associate Artist at the Royal Shakespeare Company and a trustee of Kiln Theatre. He was awarded a CBE for services to Drama in 2015. His latest film, THE COURIER, starring Benedict Cumberbatch had its premiere at Sundance in January 2020.
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Kate Horton
Co-Director
Kate Horton was the Executive Director of the Royal Court Theatre, working alongside Dominic. She was previously Commercial Director of the RSC and subsequently the Deputy Executive Director of the National Theatre, producing across the NT’s theatres, from classic revivals to new work by James Graham, Stephen Beresford, Lucy Prebble and debbie tucker green. Kate launched the celebrated temporary performance space (formerly known as The Shed) and led the transfer of the multi award winning THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHTTIME to the West End. Recently she worked on the planning and development of LITTLE ISLAND, a unique cultural park in Lower Manhattan on the Hudson River which opened in May 2021. She is a trustee of Little Island in New York.
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Emily McLaughlin
Head of Development
In 2015 Emily was appointed as the first Head of New Work at the National Theatre where she commissioned and developed multiple ground breaking and award winning new plays including NINE NIGHT by Natasha Gordon, and DEATH OF ENGLAND by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams. Prior to this Emily was Artistic Associate at the Royal Court Theatre, working with three successive Artistic Directors to discover, champion and nurture new generations of playwrights, many of whom are now also the UK’s most successful screenwriters. Emily has been a Literary Agent’s assistant at the William Morris Agency, and a freelance script and novel reader for Miramax, Columbia and Film Four. After graduating from Leeds University, her first job in the industry was as a Dresser on STARLIGHT EXPRESS.
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Imogen Clare-Wood
Associate Producer and Senior Administrator
Imogen began working at Fictionhouse in Spring 2021. Previously she was Production Coordinator at Sonia Friedman Productions for shows including THE FERRYMAN, THE INHERITANCE and HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD, as well as a freelance producer on projects including A GIRL IN SCHOOL UNIFORM (WALKS INTO A BAR) and ANTIGONE, both written by Lulu Raczka for their company Holy What Theatre.
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Josephine Frankel
Office Assistant and Assistant to the Directors
Josephine began working at Fictionhouse in September 2023. She has previously covered as Development Executive at Calamity Films and worked as Script Editor on the upcoming feature MARAL’S TALE. She has worked as a Book & Script Reader for Carnival, Gaumont, Pulse Films, Ranga Bee and Birdie Pictures. Prior to this she worked as Assistant Director on Deli Segal (Channel 4 Screenwriting)’s show PICKLE at the Soho Theatre and Park Theatre, and before that as Producer’s Assistant and Production Assistant on the Netflix drama OBSESSION. She has directed at Theatre 503 and assisted at the National Theatre Studio, Cockpit Theatre and Bloomsbury Festival.