When Communication Matters: How Amberscript Helps Fremantle With Their Subtitling Challenges

About Fremantle

Fremantle is one of the world’s foremost content production and distribution companies, known for creating and licensing iconic television formats such as Got Talent, Idol, The X Factor, and Farmer Wants a Wife. With operations in over 30 countries and content distributed to more than 180 territories, Fremantle delivers thousands of hours of programming annually across unscripted formats, high-end dramas, documentaries, and digital-first content. Its global catalog, spanning over 30,000 hours, positions the company at the center of international entertainment.

As one of Fremantle’s most dynamic regional divisions, Fremantle Italy plays a vital role in adapting global formats for the Italian market while also producing original scripted and factual content with international appeal. Its dual focus on local relevance and global distribution requires precision in every stage of production, including subtitling and localization. With increasing demand from broadcasters and streaming platforms, Fremantle Italy’s content must meet the highest standards of linguistic accuracy, speed, and accessibility across multiple languages and formats.

Challenge: fragmented subtitle workflows and time-consuming communication

“The demand for creating subtitles for Italian productions has grown significantly over the past two years,” shared Alessandro Murgante, Post Production Manager at Fremantle. “Initially, only international streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon, and Disney required Italian-to-English subtitles. But the industry has shifted, now also the Italian national broadcasters and streaming platforms, like RAI, are requesting subtitles and translated subtitles as well, making it essential for us to find a reliable partner.”

Before partnering with Amberscript, Fremantle Italy lacked a consistent, reliable subtitling solution. Each production was handled on a case-by-case basis, requiring the team to outsource to different subtitle vendors and build new workflows from scratch every time. This fragmented approach wasn’t very efficient or scalable.

Communication problems and misaligned workflows were frequent challenges with previous providers. Given Fremantle’s demanding post-production timelines, often requiring fully finished subtitles for a 50-minute episode within just four days, the company needed a subtitling partner who could deliver fast, high-quality results, while remaining flexible and responsive to shifting production needs.

Solution: new subtitling approach with Amberscript

After an initial conversation, Alessandro Murgante decided to try out Amberscript’s services through a trial, where he could test the quality of delivered subtitles, before committing to a full production cycle. This test provided Fremantle Italy with a low-risk opportunity to assess the quality, speed, and reliability of Amberscript’s subtitles solutions. Pleased with the results, Fremantle decided to start working with Amberscript on “Rhythm and Flow,” an underground rap talent show, streamed on Netflix.

Amberscript provided Italian-to-English translation services that aligned with Fremantle’s production schedule. The subtitling work typically starts when episodes are about 90% complete, with room for adjustments before the content goes to broadcasters for weekly airing.

A crucial part of making this work was setting up clear communication with a dedicated contact person at Amberscript. This relationship made it possible to get quick responses to urgent requests and allowed both companies to adjust their processes as they learned to work together effectively.

Results: better workflow, flexibility and communication

The results of Fremantle’s switch to Amberscript became clear within the first few projects. As both teams adjusted to the new partnership, Alessandro shared three important changes that have made his team’s work significantly easier:

1. Smoother workflow: Fremantle used to start from scratch with subtitling for each new show. Now they have one reliable process that works with their editing schedule. This has put an end to the hassle of juggling different vendors and methods and made quality and delivery times more predictable for all their productions.
2. Flexibility: “Sometimes we need flexibility in time, we can ask to deliver within three days instead of five, for example… and flexibility is one of the best things that I find in Amberscript”, Alessandro noted. This helps Fremantle meet all their broadcaster deadlines, even when timelines get tight or last-minute changes pop up.
3. Better and faster communication: “With other companies that I tried before, it’s a bit difficult to find a workflow that works for both sides,” Murgante emphasized. Amberscript has adapted to how Fremantle already works, reducing delays caused by misunderstandings. As a result, Fremantle’s team spends less time troubleshooting subtitling issues, and more time focused on the creative aspects of production.
   

Conclusion: reliable partnership

For Fremantle, finding a subtitling partner that could consistently deliver quality work while fitting into their production schedule has made a real difference. The relationship with Amberscript has eliminated the need to reinvent subtitling workflows for each project, reduced stress around tight deadlines, and solved previous communication problems. When asked to sum up the relationship in one phrase, Murgante simply called Amberscript “a good partner.”

Looking for a subtitle partner that delivers without the constant back-and-forth? Get in touch with Amberscript to discover how we can streamline your next project.