Firecrest taps Mentorn pair

Glasgow-based Firecrest Films has made two senior appointments following its recent investment from UK broadcaster Channel 4’s Indie Growth Fund.

L to R: Iain Scollay, Nicole Kleeman
and Mark Roberts

Iain Scollay and Mark Roberts are joining the firm as joint creative directors to expand into new genres with programming for a wider range of broadcasters.

The pair have worked together for three years in their previous roles at Mentorn, including jointly exec-producing Channel 4’s The Jihadis Next Door.

Last week, Firecrest, led by Nicole Kleeman, became the first company outside of England to be backed by C4’s Growth Fund.

Scollay was previously creative director at Mentorn Scotland and head of documentaries for Mentorn Media, while Roberts was creative director of Mentorn Media.

Mentorn is behind series such as Question Time for BBC1, Robot Wars for BBC2 and Chicken Shop for Channel 4.

“As the company grows and diversifies we will attract the very best talent in all genres – in Glasgow and in London – into the Firecrest fold,” said Roberts.

During the past 18 months Firecrest has expanded into features, documentaries and specialist factual. It produced the Supershoppers format for C4, The Secret Life of Your Clothes for BBC2 and a number of films for the BBC’s Panorama series.

Channel 4 set up its indie fund with £20m (US$33m) in March and appointed former Nutopia MD and Vice exec Laura Franses to run it soon after. It has since invested in firms including True North Productions, which was this week acquired by European satcaster Sky.