After a year to remember in 2020, whether we wanted to or not, 2021 might have offered more of the same in some areas as an evolving pandemic, complete with new variants, continued to wreak havoc upon the world. Still, glimmers of hope also poked their way through the clouds.

The lessons learned by production companies around the world during the tumult of 2020, incorporating everything from shifting vital aspects of the process to remote work to sharing intel on how to develop effective protocols, helped the industry weather further disruption. Indeed, when nominating companies for the Global 100 this year, one of the key considerations cited by network and streaming executives about their production partners was the ability to collaborate and brainstorm through the challenges still being wrought by the uncertainty of COVID-19.

As with every year, the 16th edition of our Global 100 features an array of veteran production companies that continue to set the bar of excellence through a combination of creativity and practical production (and partnership) smarts. You’ll also see some new names making the cut for the first time, including emerging prodcos that might be starting multi-year runs within this list.

And as always, the list has been compiled with the input of broadcast and streaming executives, agents, distributors, production peers and other stakeholders in the industry. Such input is invaluable, and as more global buyers enter the ecosystem and bring more companies from around the world into their orbit, the number of companies vying for a place in the Global 100 will exponentially increase. Who knows, perhaps by the close of the decade we will have a Global 200, if not sooner.

Barry Walsh
Content director and editor-in-chief
Realscreen

For Global 100 companies from Canada, click here.

For Global 100 companies from the U.S., click here.

For Global 100 companies from the UK, click here.

For Global 100 companies from the rest of the world, click here.

Illustration: Matthew Daley