Moon&Back’s Nigel Hall, Dawn Airey and Russ Lindsay join unscripted line-up at Content London 2024
UK veterans Nigel Hall, Dawn Airey and Russ Lindsay have joined the line-up for the Unscripted strand at Content London to outline their plans for new prodco Moon&Back Media and share thinking on how to build a new entertainment brand in a challenging market.
The three-day event, which runs from December 3-5, with registration and the opening-night screenings taking place on December 2, will focus on How To Navigate The New Content Economy, with unscripted playing a central role in the agenda.
You can register for Content London 2024 with a 45% discount until May 31 by CLICKING HERE.
Based in London, Moon&Back Media, an Asylum Entertainment Group-backed production company, was founded by multi-BAFTA-winning producer Nigel Hall (Britain’s Got Talent, The X Factor, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!), seasoned broadcast leader Dawn Airey (Channel 4, Channel 5, ITV, Sky) and premier talent manager Russ Lindsay (Ant & Dec, Simon Cowell). Longtime collaborators with rich and varied experience, skills and relationships, the three reunited to launch the company to create talent-driven international formats.
Hall, Airey and Lindsay will be at Content London to detail their first year out of the gate and how they’ve set up Moon&Back to attract top-tier talent, generate and develop innovative ideas and attract international investment and partners.
The three-day Unscripted strand, combining keynote thought-leadership interviews, commissioning and content strategies sessions from broadcasters, channels and platforms around the world, and informative and thought-provoking panels, will bring together the global unscripted business to create fresh partnerships and fund new programming.
Speaking at Content London:
Nigel Hall
Founder, Moon&Back
Hall is an icon in the world of television broadcast, having created and produced some of the biggest shows in television history. Starting off in the BBC newsroom, his career really took off when he persuaded Granada Television to invest in two little-known formats – You’ve Been Framed and Stars in Their Eyes – which continue to play on television networks around the world today.
He also has the honour of heading the original creative teams on shows as diverse as This Morning, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, Red or Black, Saturday Night Takeaway and Greatest Dancer. Hall was promoted to head of light entertainment for ITV in 2002, and the legacy programmes he created during that time are still the lifeblood of that department 20 years later.
Dawn Airey
Founder, Moon&Back
Airey previously served as CEO of Getty Images, is on the boards of Channel 4, Grosvenor Estates and Blackbird and is chair of the FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship Board, The National Youth Theatre and Digital Theatre. Airey was also a member of the government’s expert panel for a fan-led review of football.
A veteran with over 30 years of experience, Airey has held senior positions at ITV as its first network controller of kids and daytime and latterly MD of global content. She was also the first director of programmes and subsequently CEO and chair of Channel 5, worked at BSkyB as MD of channels and services, and spent three years as Yahoo’s senior VP in EMEA.
In 2017, Airey was News International’s visiting professor of media studies at Brasenose College, Oxford University. In 2018, she was given an honorary doctorate of arts by Edge Hill University for her outstanding contributions to the media industry, and took on the role of chancellor in July 2023. She is a fellow and a vice president of the Royal Television Society.
Russ Lindsay
Founder, Moon&Back
Lindsay co-founded and built James Grant Media Group (now YMU), the UK’s largest independent media, music and sports talent agency. With over 25 years at the helm, he discovered, nurtured and managed many of the UK’s top television personalities, including Ant & Dec and Simon Cowell. During his time at the firm, he produced the majority of its productions in music, theatre and television.
Lindsay stepped away from management in 2015 to create Infinity Creative Media, a television production business that quickly established itself as a leading independent creative studio producing the highest-quality content and IP. The company successfully launched over 75 hours of global television with The All-Star Cup, The Wine Show, The Classic Car Show, Art Show for Sky Arts and The Best FIFA Football Awards at the London Palladium 2017 and Royal Festival Hall 2018, with many of the shows selling in over 100 countries worldwide.
Lindsay also co-founded Talent Bank, which bridges the entertainment industry’s preeminent talent with a sophisticated network of digital broadcast platforms. Talent Bank created content for Rob Brydon’s Brydon& podcast/YouTube series and Perfect 10 with Carol Vorderman, and more.
More speakers for the Unscripted strand will be announced soon.
Hall, Airey and Lindsay join previously announced speakers:
The Building Blocks of Content London 2024 are designed to help you adapt and thrive in The New Content Economy:
