SPEAKERS
Rory Aitken
Founder,
42
Rory Aitken is a producer, and a founding partner of London and LA based Management and Production Company 42. 42’s TV shows in production include WATERSHIP DOWN, a 4 x 1 hour animated drama for BBC and Netflix, adapted from the global best-selling book by Richard Adams, written by Tom Bidwell and starring James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, John Boyega, Sir Ben Kingsley, Gemma Arterton, Rosamund Pike, Tom Wilkinson, and Olivia Colman; and JERUSALEM, a 6-part drama series commissioned by Channel 4, written by Bathsheba Doran. 42 has numerous other series in development with UK and US broadcasters.
Films currently in post-production include André Øvredal’s MORTAL, a fantasy adventure based on ancient Norwegian mythology; THE TITAN starring Sam Worthington and Taylor Schilling; and IN DARKNESS, directed by Anthony Byrne and starring Natalie Dormer and Ed Skrein.
Previous film credits include Øvredal’s THE AUTOPSY OF JANE DOE starring Emile Hirsch and Brian Cox; Eran Creevy’s COLLIDE, starring Nicholas Hoult, Felicity Jones, Sir Anthony Hopkins and Sir Ben Kingsley; and Netflix Original war drama SAND CASTLE, directed by Fernando Coimbra, starring Nicholas Hoult and Henry Cavill; THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR, directed by Johannes Roberts and financed by 20th Century Fox; London-based crime thriller WELCOME TO THE PUNCH, exec produced by Ridley Scott; and the BAFTA- nominated feature film SHIFTY.
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Hossein Amini
Screen writer,
Hossein Amini is a film writer who was nominated for an Oscar for his adaptation of Henry James’ classic novel Wings of a Dove, which starred Helena Bonham Carter, Linus Roach and Alison Elliott.
He has also written Jude, starring Kate Winslet and Christopher Ecclestone, which won the Edinburgh Film festival prize for Best British Film, and has worked on Gangs of New York, starring Daniel Day Lewis and Leonardo di Caprio, as well as The Four Feathers with Heath Ledger.
In 2011 he wrote the screenplay for Drive starring Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan, which was nominated for the Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for Best Film at the BAFTAs 2012.
In 2014 Hossein made his directorial debut with his own adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Two Faces of January, starring Vigo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst and Oscar Isaac.
He is currently working on The Alienist for Paramount and McMafia for Cuba Pictures
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Eleonora Andreatta
Director,
Rai Fiction
Eleonora Andreatta is the director of Rai Fiction, the department of the Italian public broadcaster RAI in charge of producing and co-producing TV drama and docudrama, with a yearly output of some 500 hours. She is also an executive director of Rai Com.
After a degree in Italian Literature at Bologna University, she began her career with Academy Pictures, a movie distribution company.
She joined RAI in 1995, working as producer, then as responsible for Cinema and Drama programming in Rai 1, and later as head of co-productions and TV series at Rai Fiction.
Since September 2012, Eleonora Andreatta is the director of Rai Fiction, pursuing a policy of product innovation and differentiation. Along the successful production of prime-time domestic drama, where Rai is undisputed leader in Italy, she opened new production lines of series for younger viewers, web series, and high profile projects for an international audience.
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Alon Aranya
Partner and executive producer,
Scripted World
Writer- Producer Alon Aranya launched Scripted World, his TV production company in 2011. The company has since set up close to 40 scripted shows at studios and networks in the US, most of them based on foreign scripted formats and original developments.
Past projects include: RED WIDOW (based on the Dutch format PENOZA) ABC / ABC Studios, BETRAYAL (based on THE Dutch format OVERSPEL) ABC / ABC Studios and HOSTAGES (adapted by Alon Aranya from Bnei Aruba Israel) Warner Bros TV, Bruckheimer TV and CBS. Current projects include: YOUR HONOR (based on the Israeli format KVODO) ordered to series at SHOWTIME with Kingsize Prods (THE GOOD WIFE) and Peter Moffat (CRIMINAL JUSTICE) writing. ADAM & EVA (baed on the Dutch format) in development at FOX with Marc Platt (LALA LAND) attached to produce and Steven Levinsen (DEAR EVAN HANSON) writing as well as KILROY COUNTY based on the Dutch format HOLLAND’S HOPE with Alexander Payne, Jim Taylor and Miguel Arteta.
Prior to launching Scripted World Alon worked as a creative executive developing films like VARSITY BLUES and THE CIRCLE. He got his BFA at Tel Aviv University in Film and Television and later became a faculty member at NYU Tisch School of the Arts where he got his MFA in Dramatic Writing.
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Karen Bailey
Senior vice president, original programming,
Starz
Based in the company’s Santa Monica office, Bailey oversees creative development and production on a number of programs for the network including the critically-acclaimed Outlander which is currently in production in Glasgow, Scotland; The Spanish Princess, the third in the series of adaptations based on the popular Philippa Gregory novels now filming in Bristol, UK; American Gods, the popular fantasy series based on Neil Gaiman’s best-selling novel of the same name currently filming in Toronto, Canada; and the newly announced Dangerous Liaisons, which is slated to begin filing in the EU the Spring of 2020.
Bailey joined Starz in 2006 as an executive producer, overseeing development, production and post-production for the company’s studio slate of television movies and mini-series. She was promoted to vice president of production in 2007, overseeing the physical production for the company’s newly launched original programming department. Bailey spent the next few years building the internal production department and focusing on the networks’ new slate of original series, including fan favorite Party Down, Crash, Boss and Starz’s first international series Spartacus & Camelot.
In 2011 she transitioned to creative development and was promoted to SVP of original programming in 2012. Since then she has worked on a number of international co-productions including Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated STARZ Original Miniseries The White Queen and the critically acclaimed STARZ Original Limited Series, The White Princess. Golden Globe and Emmy-nominated limited series The Missing and its sequel; Howard’s End, a 4-part TV adaptation written by Academy Award® winner Kenneth Lonergan and Starz’ first movie for television, The Dresser starring Ian McKellen and Anthony Hopkins.
Bailey has been invited to speak at several events and conferences including BAFTA Women Director’s Panel in London, Create and Cultivate Panel in Los Angeles and the College TV Summit at the TV Academy of Arts and Science in North Hollywood. Among her honors and awards, Bailey has been recognized as one of Cablefax’s “Most Powerful Women” and “Top Women in Cable” many times over.
Diane Banks
Literary agent,
Diane Banks Associates
Diane founded literary agency Diane Banks Associates in 2006 following a career in publishing at Penguin, Hodder & Stoughton and the British Museum Press. The agency represents commercial fiction, children’s and young adult books and thought leading non-fiction, with five agents looking after in excess of 100 clients. Diane also serves as a non-executive director of the think tank Bright Blue, as a development board member at the Ovalhouse Theatre and as an ambassador for ex offenders’ charity Tempus Novo.
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Rola Bauer
Managing director,
Studiocanal TV GmbH
Rola Bauer’s responsibilities as managing director, StudioCanal TV include leading the television activities for the studio’s production and partnership companies’ scripted formats and co-productions in the U.S. market, as well as exploring synergies with Universal Music Group which is also part of Vivendi.
A Golden Globe and two-time Emmy nominated producer, Bauer is responsible for strategic alliances with writing/show-running talent in the U.S. for the studio’s television division; overseeing the company’s extensive line-up of European co-productions and all third party acquisitions such as The Last Panthers and Midnight Sun. StudioCanal offers a full studio service including international co-production strategy, business affairs, finance and worldwide sales to support its growing roster of production companies across the global market.
Through her U.S./European co-production mandate, Bauer has most recently been instrumental in shaping numerous co-production deals, including The Child in Time (1 x 90’) which is currently in production and stars Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Parade’s End). In their first television commission, Pinewood Television and SunnyMarch TV, a StudioCanal partner, will produce The Child in Time for BBC One, in co-production with Masterpiece. Adapted by Stephen Butchard (The Last Kingdom) from Ian McEwan’s Whitbread Prize winning novel, and directed by Julian Farino (Entourage), The Child in Time is a lyrical and heart-breaking exploration of love, loss and the power of things unseen.
Bauer also arranged the co-production alliance between Netflix, ITV Studios and Red Production Company for conspiracy thriller series Paranoid; and brought in Netflix as a co-producer for the six-part comedy Crazyhead with Urban Myth Films. Additionally, Bauer strategized with Sam on a co-production deal with ZDFneo for Discovery Network’s action thriller Below the Surface and has brought together two European network partners to develop Tandem Productions’ new procedural series Take Two.
In 2016 Bauer was presented with the prestigious Medaille d’Honneur for her outstanding contributions to the international television business and the development of the global TV community. She was named by The Hollywood Reporter in October 2016 as one of the 20 Most Powerful Women in Global Television – innovators who are amplifying a world of rich creative cultures.
StudioCanal’s parent company, Canal+ Group, is fully-owned by Vivendi, a global media and content production and distribution group.
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Caroline Benjo
Managing director,
Haut et Court TV
HAUT ET COURT is an independent production and distribution company dedicated to creating cinema and television of the highest quality.
Films produced by Haut et Court have been selected and awarded in many international film festivals – among them: Laurent Cantet’s The Class (Palme d’Or 2008); Alain Berliner’s My Life in Pink (Golden Globe Best Foreign Film 1998); Coco before Chanel by Anne Fontaine (the most successful French film on the international market in 2009). Haut et Court also coproduces ambitious and festival winners European feature films such as The Lobster by Yorgos Lanthimos (Cannes 2015 Jury Prize).
In 2007, the company created a television department and went on producing critically acclaimed series’: Xanadu for ARTE (8×52′ broadcast in Spring 2011); Silex and the City (The Darwiners) a satirical animation series for ARTE (5 seasons and highest rated animated series on French Television); Les Revenants (The Returned) for Canal + (8×52’ Season 1 aired in 2012, Season 2 aired in 2015) its highest-rated original drama ever, winner of the International Emmy Awards for Best TV Series in 2013, nominated for the International TV Series BAFTA Awards and sold to more than 70 territories; The Last Panthers, nominated for Best Drama Series BAFTA Awards, in co-production with Warp Films, for Canal + and Sky Atlantic written by Jack Thorne and Jérôme Pierrat; Sanctuary, a 90 minutes drama for Canal + directed by Olivier Masset-Depasse, co-produced by Versus Production (Belgium) and Mod Produccionnes (Spain). The company also co-produced The Young Pope by Paolo Sorrentino with Wildside for Sky Italy/Germany/UK, Canal + and HBO (Best Production Prize for Haut and Court et Canal + at the ACS 2017).
Haut et Court TV is currently developing several French series, among them Possessions, a legal drama with supernatural elements for Canal+ created by Shachar Magen and co-written by Valérie Zenatti, Frontières, a series set in the world of ethnopsychiatric therapy written by Tobie Nathan and Pierre Linhart and directed by Laurent Cantet, The Mosque, a social crime series set in the South of France created by Arnaud Louvet, and Au Croisement, le Diable, a supernatural thriller series written by Jeremy Fel, Fabien Adda and Claire Barré.
Haut et Court TV is also developing a slate of international series such as Cosmonauts, a supernatural psychological thriller in co-production with Rainmark Films for Channel 4 written by Peter Harness, Fertile Crescent, a war thriller drama in coproduction with Maria Feldman and Eitan Mansuri (Israel) which won the Series’ Mania co-production Forum 2017, and Love and Capital, a period drama about Marx and Engels written by Alice Birch in coproduction with Symbolic Exchange (James Schamus – USA), X-Filme (Germany) and Potboiler (UK).
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Luca Bernabei
Executive producer & CEO,
Lux Vide
Luca Bernabei was born in Rome and he graduated in Political Science at La Sapienza University in Rome.
He got married with Paola Lucantoni in 1995. They now have six children. He started off his career working in advertising.
In 1994, he was hired by Lux Vide as associate producer, where he produced the first miniseries of the Bible Series. In 2002, he was appointed head of production. As such, he became responsible for the entire cycle of production, from development to post-production.
In 2013, after twenty-five years of experience in international co-productions, he was promoted to managing director and then to chief executive officer of the company.
TV series such as “War and Peace”, “Coco Chanel” (with Shirley McLaine who was nominated for Best Actress at the Emmys), and the latest “Medici: Masters of Florence” (starring Richard Madden and Dustin Hoffman) were produced under his supervision.
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Francesco Bernabei
Digital director,
Think | Cattleya
Francesco professionally grew up in the field of image and digital communication, first as a photographer and then as interactive director, in London where he spent three years working in one of the most important digital production houses on the international scene.
For several years in the advertising industry he specializes in the creation of hybrid film / interactive projects and in the construction of international working teams specializing in the development of interactive experiences.
In recent years he has also specialized in creating and producing experiences and film in VR and AR.
He is currently responsible for the digital department of ThinkCattleya, adv production company part of the Cattleya Group. In 2005 he founded, together with 3 other partners, MONOGRID, a creative and digital production studio, which is CEO and Creative Director. MONOGRID since 2016 is also part of the Cattleya group.
Piv Bernth
Head of drama,
DR
Piv Bernth was appointed head of drama at DR Fiction in 2012. She joined DR as a director in 1986 and has worked as a producer since 1998. As well as producing the internationally acclaimed The Killing I-III, she was the executive producer on The Bridge produced by Nimbus Film for DR and produced the iEmmy award winning series Nikolaj and Julie. Latest productions at DR Fiction have included; Borgen I-III, The Legacy and Follow the Money.
Piv has a Bachelor’s degree from University of Copenhagen and trained in both Stockholm and London as a director at The Royal National Theatre. She started her career as a stage director in 1981 and has since then directed plays, musicals and theatrical revues at theatres in both Denmark and Sweden. Piv was knighted by Her Majesty the Queen of Denmark in Copenhagen on August, 2015 and has picked up awards including the international Emmy for Nikolaj and Julie 2003, The Golden Nymph in Monte Carlo for the production of The Killing II 2010, a BAFTA for The Killing I 2011 and three iEmmy nominations for The Killing I and II 2007, 2008 and 2010.
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Ruth Berry
Managing director,
ITV Studios Global Entertainment
Ruth was appointed managing director, ITV Studios Global Entertainment (ITVS GE) in 2016. She oversees a portfolio of over 40,000 of content across almost all genres. She was previously executive vice president, content strategy and investment in a role that saw her lead ITVS GE’s global content strategy across all genres, growing and strengthening the distributor’s relationship with a wide pool of world-leading content producers. Ruth joined ITV Studios in 2012 as director of acquisitions and co-productions from Shine International where she was senior vice president, head of EMEA. Before this Clarke held a variety of senior position at The Walt Disney Company including head of branded services, digital media distribution, EMEA.
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Nick Betts
Director of scripted,
BBC Studios
Nick Betts is the director of scripted for BBC Studios, the BBC’s commercial production arm that creates many of the UK’s most successful shows, including Doctor Who, Strictly Come Dancing, EastEnders and Planet Earth II.
Nick leads BBC Studios’ Scripted teams, working with the creative leads, production management and business teams to deliver and grow its world-class drama and comedy content. From big global brands like Doctor Who and Silent Witness and highly acclaimed reputational dramas like War and Peace, Rillington Place and Three Girls to hugely popular comedies and radio comedies like Mrs Brown’s Boys, W1A, News Quiz and Just A Minute, BBC Studios drama and comedy are renowned for their quality and loved by audiences in the UK and around the globe.
Its award-winning continuing dramas like EastEnders, Casualty and Holby City bring together audiences of more than 8 million daily and play an important role in developing new diverse creative talent and the next generation of writers, directors and actors. Nick has a wealth of commercial and business experience in the TV sector.
He was previously the BBC’s controller of business for drama, films and acquisitions, managing director, responsible for all business activities across drama, films and acquisitions from production management through to business affairs and commercial strategy, working with both independent production companies and BBC production.
Prior to this, he was managing director of NBC Universal Global Channels, UK and Northern Europe and commercial director and head of channel management at UKTV. Nick started his BBC career in News and Current Affairs before heading up UK and Ireland Television for BBC Worldwide. BBC Studios is a £400 million business with around 1600 staff.
It launched as a commercial business in April 2017, able to make programmes for other UK and international broadcasters as well as the BBC, to support the BBC’s public service mission and generate financial returns for licence fee payers.
With bases across the nations and regions of the UK, BBC Studios reflects and represents diverse voices and creative talent from all around the country. Nick reports directly to Mark Linsey, the director of BBC Studios and is a member of the BBC’s wider Leadership Group.
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Avril Blondelot
Director of content insight,
Eurodata TV Worldwide
The Content Insight direction has been entrusted to Avril Blondelot, who is tasked with defining and implementing the strategic positioning of content analysis. Her mission is to ensure the coherence and the relevance of content trend analysis taken from the NoTa monitoring service that looks at programme trends around the world, as well as from audience data analysis. Avril will also lead the Research department’s collaboration with Tape Consultancy – the UK-based company of content experts and audio-visual programming and production consultants in which Eurodata TV Worldwide has held a stake since 2016.
Avril was international research manager at Eurodata TV Worldwide, having joined in 2010 as a sales manager. From 2008-10, she was a contract manager at Eurosport. Avril is a graduate of the ESC Lille School of Management (2007) and holds a Master’s degree in the Management of Cultural Organizations from Paris Dauphine University (2008).
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David Bouchier
Chief digital entertainment officer,
Virgin Media
David joined Virgin Media in August 2014 as Virgin Media’s first chief digital entertainment officer following a successful career in pay TV as part of the leadership team for platforms in the UK and Europe. Prior to joining Virgin Media he has held senior positions with BSkyB and News Corporation, helping to set up Sky Italia and then run programming and channels on the platform. By the time he left, the business it had doubled its subscribers and he was particularly pleased that the film channels he was responsible for had a higher premium penetration than Sport.
More recently he has set up and run his own channel and production businesses. First JimJam – a preschool channel for the under 5s and subsequently a number of other thematic channels (such as Japanese manga, cross-over popular music, and reality TV). David has also created and co-written four series of Jarmies, a pre-school show introducing non-English language speaking kids to English words and phrases.
Prior to working in the pay TV industry, David was a partner at media law firm Olswang and specialised in film and TV finance, production and regulation.
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Gavin James Bower
Author, journalist, senior lecturer ,
Gavin was born in Lancashire in 1982. He graduated from the University of Sheffield, before working as a model for John Galliano and Hermes in Paris. He is the author of two novels and one non-fiction work, and has contributed as a journalist to the Guardian, Independent and Independent on Sunday, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, and the Sunday Telegraph. He joined the writing team for EASTENDERS in 2014. He currently lectures in Creative Writing at Bath Spa University.
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Elizabeth Bradley
Vice president of content,
Netflix
Elizabeth Bradley is vice president, content at Netflix, the world’s leading internet entertainment service. Bradley has been at Netflix since 2006, and currently leads the team focused on finding and commissioning international English language television series, both co-productions and direct commissions, for Netflix globally. Series recently launched include the acclaimed Anne With An E (with Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC)), the heartfelt romantic comedy Lovesick which originated from the U.K. and the upcoming Alias Grace, the highly-anticipated adaptation of the Margaret Atwood novel from Sarah Polley and director Mary Harron. Multiple new series will launch in 2018. In her more than 11 years at Netflix, Bradley has worked in a variety of roles, including leading international launch teams, while assembling broad and diverse movie and TV offerings as Netflix expanded globally. Prior to Netflix, Bradley worked in strategy roles in home entertainment at DreamWorks, Fox and Warner Bros. Bradley began her career trading bonds, but quickly learned it wasn’t nearly as fun as entertainment.
Netflix is the world’s leading internet entertainment service with over 109 million members in over 190 countries enjoying more than 125 million hours of TV shows and movies per day, including original series, documentaries and feature films. Members can watch as much as they want, anytime, anywhere, on nearly any internet-connected screen. Members can play, pause and resume watching, all without commercials or commitments.
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Lina Brounéus
COO content,
Viaplay
Lina Brounéus is leading MTG’s content acquisition, co-production and international distribution strategy for Viasat (pay-TV) and Viaplay (SVOD). During her years with MTG, she has been part in delivering two Olympics (Sotji 2014 and Rio 2016) as well as managing Viaplay’s first original production ‘Swedish Dicks’, which premiered on Viaplay in September 2016. ‘Swedish Dicks’ was later picked up by Lionsgate for international distribution and premiered in August 2017 on US network Pop TV, reaching over 80 million households. Lina and her team has during the last years also made significant acquisitions such as FOX+ as well as developing a pipeline of more than 50 original productions for Viaplay.
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Ryan Brown
The After,
Mentored by: Chris Lunt, Screenwriter
The After-
A domestic horror story in which a school teacher from a remote Yorkshire town is drawn into a deep-rooted conspiracy, after learning she was a child subject in shadowy government experiments. A thoroughly domestic setting with a very real, complex and empowered female anti-heroine, who is an unreliable narrator going on a transformative journey from small town teacher to powerful telekinetic badass.
In 1983, a blood-soaked, 7-year-old girl was found alone at sea. Nobody has ever known where she came from, until now. Present day… Amanda, a school teacher and expectant mother, lives in a small, coastal town with her childhood sweetheart. The couple live an unremarkable life until Amanda has a chance encounter that provokes nightmarish memories and she is confronted by a life she knew nothing about. Her broken subconscious unravels, memories are exhumed and she is drawn into a terrifying mystery of inconceivable depths.
Think Happy Valley meets Carrie with a heavy splash of Fargo and Twin Peaks
Myar Craig Brown
Executive producer, drama,
Wall to Wall
Myar joined Wall to Wall in July 2016 in the new role of Executive Producer, Drama, from Headstrong where she had most recently been Executive Producer of long-running BBC One drama New Tricks. Previous to that Myar was at ITV Studios, where she developed and produced their first Sky drama commission, The Psychopath Next Door, and was Executive Producer on Just Henry, A Mother’s Son and long-running crime series, Vera. She was also a key member of the team on the BBC One BAFTA award-winning Holby City for more than 10 years, becoming the show’s Series Producer and steering its expansion from twenty episodes a year to fifty.
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Randel Bryan
Managing director,
Gunpowder & Sky International
Randel Bryan will join as the managing director, Gunpowder & Sky International, overseeing the expansion of the global studio dedicated to creating, marketing and distributing video content independent of form, genre or platform.
Gunpowder & Sky collaborates with both emerging and established talent to generate premium video content ranging from 90-second to 90-minute stories on various platforms. With in-house development, production, marketing and distribution capabilities, the company operates as a full 360-studio and oversees a library of over 1500 titles.
Randel joins from Endemol Beyond UK, where he oversaw the development of the divisions first YouTube Red Series, DanTDM Creates a Big Scene, whilst also founding various O&O channels, including Legends of Gaming, Rule’M Sports and ICON UK – collectively boasting over 2.4 million subscribers
During his time, Randel also managed Beyond’s Branded Entertainment division, which partnered with the likes of Coca Cola, L’Oreal and Sony PlayStation, in order to authentically connect them with cord-cutting audiences online.
Remarking on his vision for Gunpowder & Sky International, Randel cited that “modern audiences continue to diversify and I’m looking forward to further developing a dynamic and innovative studio that is able to deliver the best content regardless of platform or device”.
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Iris Bucher
Producer,
German-born, Iris Bucher arrived in 1994 in France where she started her career as a production assistant at Marathon International Production. One year later she created The CEEA (European Writing School) with old fellows before joining PM Holding Production as a literary editor. There, she produced several notable programs for the leading French TV channels.
In 2011 she went into partnership with feature film producers Nicolas Duval, Yann Zenou and Laurent Zeitoun (international hits Heartbreaker and Intouchables) to create a television department at QUAD Group.
Quad Television started out strong with TV Movie of the Week Murders in Saint-Malo and Murders in Rocamadour, aired on public channel France 3. Success on French Television was such that it opened the way for Channel 3 to a full collection of “Murders in…” which has become a highly popular series.
In 2015, The Disappearance, a 8 x 52′ series, was again a tremendous hit both in terms of viewers rates and rave press reviews. Zodiak Rights has already the series to several territories, meeting with great international success.
With her last acclaimed and award-winning TV series The Secret of Elise (2016), Iris Bucher cemented her expertise in producing gripping, ambitious dramas with high production value.
Believing in universal stories and great characters, Iris Bucher now means to develop more international coproduction projects.
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Kathryn Busby
SVP of development,
Sony Pictures TV Networks
Busby initiates, drives and oversees the sourcing, development and early production of the Networks’ original series slate. She also collaborates with Network Programming heads around the world on all creative development aspects of key originals for Sony’s principal brands. Most recently, Busby spearheaded the development and production of Sony AXN’s first straight to series drama, ABSENTIA, starring Stana Katic, which was released internationally this fall in a number of territories including Spain, Portugal, Central Europe and Latin America, among others. Additionally, she oversaw the development of the local original series ULTRAVIOLET, created by Wendy West (DEXTER, THE BLACKLIST) and executive produced by Barry Josephson (BONES) which recently launched on AXN in Poland, and the global crime procedural CARTER, starring Jerry O’Connell and Sydney Tamiia Poitier, slated for 2018.
Previously, Busby was the vice president of original programming for TNT & TBS, where she worked with writers and producers to develop and produce original scripted programming for the cabler, including BLACK BOX starring Deon Cole, WEDDING BAND, starring Brian Austin Greene, and Sullivan & Son, produced by Vince Vaughn. Busby also oversaw TBS’s newly revamped unscripted department, which resulted in Turner’s most successful reality series: King of the Nerds, produced by Ben Silverman.
While at Turner, Busby partnered with Franklin Leonard (creator of The Black List) to create a joint initiative between Turner and The Black List to identify diverse new writing talent for blind script deals and staffing consideration.
Before landing at Turner, Busby was senior vice president of production at New Line Cinema, where she was executive producer on the SEX AND THE CITY movie. Prior to that, Busby was the Senior Vice President and Head of Development at Carsey Werner, overseeing the development of GROUNDED FOR LIFE and was part of the production team for 3RD ROCK FROM THE SUN and THAT 70’S SHOW. Busby began her television career as Director of Comedy Development at Universal Television.
As a filmmaker, Busby directed, produced and co-wrote the short film MAX AND JOSH, which premiered at The Sundance Film Festival. Her original screenplay HER GAL FRIDAY, co-written with Neena Beber, was optioned at ABC’s Freeform.
Busby is on the board of directors for the British Academy of Film and Television (BAFTA).
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Ismael Calleja
Head of business affairs,
Movistar+
Ismael Calleja is head of business affairs at Movistar+, Pay TV unit of Telefónica in Spain. He joined Telefónica in 2004 to be essentially involved in the Pay TV unit at the telco giant. Previously he worked at Canal+ Spain for 3 years as new services & business development. Through these last 13 years at Movistar he played different roles such as Pay TV services manager, Pay TV offer & content strategy senior manager or content acquisition senior manager. Calleja is currently responsible for business & international affairs of Movistar+ Originals, an area dedicated to produce exclusive series and films for Movistar customer base.
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Jon Cassar
Director and executive producer,
Jon Cassar is a Canadian director and producer, originally from Malta, who gained international renown working on the first seven seasons of the acclaimed TV series 24. He has directed numerous other successful series such as Criminal Minds, Fringe, and Person of Interest. In 2011, he produced and directed the miniseries The Kennedys, for which he won the Directors Guild of America Award for Outstanding Directing in the category of Television Film.
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Chris Castallo
Head of development,
go90
Chris Castallo was named head of development at Verizon’s go90 in August 2017. He began his career at super indie Tollin/Robbins Productions where he produced and developed SMALLVILLE, ONE TREE HILL, and WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU for The WB. From there Chris went to NBC to oversee drama development during a prosperous time at the network and saw FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHT, HEROES, and STUDIO 60 make it to the fall schedule. He joined the alternative department at CBS in 2007 and was named executive vice president in 2004, after overseeing multiple seasons of Emmy award winning shows such as SURVIVOR, AMAZING RACE, UNDERCOVER BOSS, and BIG BROTHER.
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Sally Catto
General manager, programming,
CBC
Sally Catto is the general manager, programming for CBC English Television. She oversees the strategic direction and programming of original & acquired scripted, digital original and unscripted programming for the network such as Schitt’s Creek, Workin’ Moms, Kim’s Convenience, Baroness Von Sketch Show, Anne, Alias Grace and The Great Canadian Baking Show.
In her role she has also overseen the re-branding of the documentary strategy and the revitalization of Arts programming.
Sally has a long history at the CBC from her earliest days in 2001 as an executive in charge of production, drama to her subsequent positions including creative head, drama and executive director, commissioned & scripted programming. During her tenure she has overseen such programming as Heartland, Murdoch Mysteries, Book of Negroes, Being Erica and Mr. D.
Sally has been recognized for her outstanding contribution to Canadian Programming, being named Playback’s 2015 Programmer of the Year, WIFT-T’s 2014 Crystal Award Winner for Creative Excellence and recently CBC was named Playback’s 2016 Media Company of the Year.
Sally started her career as a lawyer at Stikeman Elliott and Goodmans. She has also worked as a literary agent for film & television and at production companies including Accent Entertainment. She spent a year overseas at Australian broadcaster SBS working in scripted & business affairs.
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Antoine Cayrol
Co-founder,
Atlas 5
After a Masters in communication and Media in Assas and another in PLA at the Sorbonne, Antoine Cayrol created his production company Fatcat Films in 2005. He has produced four short films, dozens of music videos and commercials in the world of luxury and entertainment and three transmedia documentaries (web / TV / cinema / radio). In November 2013, Fatcat Films incorporated the audio-visual group Première Heure and became its digital label. In January 2014, Antoine created a second production company, Okio Studio, specializing in the production of VR content by partnering with Pierre Zandrowicz. He has since produced many commercials for a wide range of brands and two fictions I PHILIP and ALTERATION that have already won numerous awards internationally.
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Sabine Chemaly
EVP of int’l sales and coproductions,
TF1 Studio
Sabine Chemaly is the EVP of Int’l Sales and Coproductions at TF1 STUDIO. TF1 Studio is a front runner in the domains of acquisition, development, co-production and multi-mandate distribution of films (theatrical, e-CINEMA, video, VOD, TV and international sales) and scripted programming, building on a catalogue of more than 2,000 programs and films.
The int’l successes of TF1 STUDIO on the film side includes LA VIE EN ROSE starring Marion Cotillard, the Oscar winning actress, the Int’l Box Office French Comedy Hit SERIAL (BAD) WEDDINGS, Philippe Claudel’s I’VE LOVED YOU SO LONG, Sarah Polley’s TAKE THIS WALTZ, Saul Dibb’s SUITE FRANCAISE starring Michelle Williams; and on the TV side, Luc Besson first TV series NO LIMIT, successful procedural drama PROFILING (84×52’) sold in 88 countries as well as brand new series such as JUST ONE LOOK and NO SECOND CHANCE based on Harlan Coben’s best sellers, CALL MY AGENT directed by Cedric Klapish, the hottest and trendiest French comedy series about agents and their talents. TF1 Studio also owns a library of 800 films, including THE PIANO, MURIEL’S WEDDING, the ALMODOVAR library as well as French legendary titles such as : LES DIABLOLIQUES, L’HOMME DE RIO, LE SALAIRE DE LA PEUR
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David Chidlow
Dark Lanes,
Mentored by: Simon Mirren, Showrunner
Dark Lanes –
Swathes of our country, little more than an hour from its glittering, wealthy capital lie untouched by the 21st century. Endless, nameless dark lanes with no mobile phone coverage, virtually no internet access and CCTV is simply unheard of. In an era of both biting austerity and extraordinary wealth, surely the perfect environment for the return of a quintessentially English criminal? The Highwayman.
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David Cormican
President,
DC TV
David Cormican is an Emmy®-nominated producer. He is partner and president of Don Carmody Television (DCTV) and a member of the producers Guild of America. DCTV projects include the Rogers-Netflix original series Between, the Emmy®-nominated The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe for Lifetime, ShadowHunters for Freeform, the Emmy®-nominated mini-series Tokyo Trial for Netflix & NHK. The Dutch-Italian-Canadian co-production from two-time Academy Award® winning director, Mike van Diem, Tulipani, recently premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival.
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Simon Cornwell
Co-founder & co-CEO,
The Ink Factory
At The Ink Factory, Simon was an executive producer on The Night Manager, and producer of Anton Corbijn’s 2014 adaption of A Most Wanted Man; Our Kind of Traitor, directed by Susanna White and starring Ewan McGregor, Damian Lewis, Stellan Skarsgård and Naomie Harris; and Message from the King, directed by Fabrice du Welz and starring Chadwick Boseman, Luke Evans, Teresa Palmer and Alfred Molina. Additional Ink Factory titles include Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, directed by Ang Lee and starring Joe Alwyn, Kristen Stewart, Chris Tucker, Garrett Hedlund, with Vin Diesel, and Steve Martin; and a television adaptation of John le Carré’s best-selling novel The Spy Who Came in From the Cold.
Simon came to The Ink Factory from top European venture capital firm Amadeus Capital Partners, where he was a senior partner. Prior to that he was founder and CEO of a pioneering company in the field of interactive television. His early career included stints at Granada in the UK, at the Boston Consulting Group in the US, and running refugee relief programs for the UN in Thailand.
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Anna Croneman
Head of drama,
SVT Sweden
Anna Croneman has over 30 productions to her production credit. The International Emmy award nominated mini series Kronprinsessan (The Crown) led her way into TV drama in 2005. Anna has also held various industry positions such as vice chairman of the Swedish Film Institute’s Board of Directors and president of the Swedish Film & TV Producers Association’s film section. She is currently head of drama at Sveriges Televison/SVT.
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Neil Cross
Writer & showrunner,
Hard Sun
Ross Crowley
Director of content,
Foxtel
Ross is director of content for Foxtel. In his role, Ross oversees Foxtel movie, on-demand and store products along with Foxtel’s strategy for investing in series, drama, entertainment and original content. Ross holds a business degree in finance, statistics and human behaviour and has worked at both the Nine Network Australia and the former Star Group in Asia.
Roberto D’Ávila
Producer,
Moonshot Pictures
Has worked since 1984 in television, video and cinema. Conceives, develops and produces products for TV and cinema. His main feature films produced are:“Rá-Tim-Bum Island” with Cultura Televison and Warner Bros., “Eliana, with the Secret of Dolphins” with Fox Films, “Carmo”, a co-production with Spain and Poland, “The Mysteryof Sintra Road”, a co-production with Portugal, and“Last Stop 174”.
For TV, he produced the following series: “9MM São Paulo” (Fox Latin American Channels), “Sessãode Terapia” (GNT) - brazilian version of “In Treatment” (Israel), “The Fare” (Canal AXN) and “171 – Family Business” (Universal Channel).
Produced TV shows: “Brazil ́s Next Top Model” (Sony Entertainment Television), “Cooks in action”(GNT), “Porum Fio” (GNT) – brazilian version of “Shear Genius” (USA); “TheTaste Brazil” (GNT); “Airport-Restricted Area” (DiscoveryChannel).
Conceived and formatted the co-productions of the Teleimage/Casablanca Group, having fostered andnegotiated the company’s participation in over 50 co-productions of feature films.
Helena Danielsson
Operating executive producer,
Brain Academy
Helena Danielsson co-founded Brain Academy in 2014 after 15 years of running her first company Hepp Film where she produced over 30 successful feature films and tv-dramas. Brain Academy is an international production company that creates high quality scripted entertainment. Danielsson is an outstanding and dedicated producer and has received multiple awards and nominations for her work, such as the American Independent Spirit Awards, Prix Eurimages – European Film Academy Award, the International Emmy Awards and shortlisted for an Oscar amongst other accolades. Her focus in Brain Academy is international co-productions with award winning talent and global outreach, where she acts as executive producer for TV-dramas as well as producer of feature films.
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Nicky Davies Williams
CEO,
DCD Rights
Nicky, as CEO of DCD Rights, has led the expansion of the catalogue through the use of third party investment funds towards its currently successful and broad range of programming; featuring a drama slate of quality and variety.
Starting her career in the music industry, she moved into film and TV sales at Island Pictures, subsequently establishing her own company, NBD Pictures, an international TV sales agency. NBD Pictures grew to represent a broad range of programming from independent production companies on the international stage. She was appointed CEO of DCD Rights in 2005 when she sold NBD TV, a company she founded and ran successfully for more than 22 years, to the Group.
Her background includes non-executive directorships on the board of The Channel Television Group and she was one of the founding directors of Women in Film and Television, UK. She was appointed to the Board of DCD Media plc as an executive director in 2014.
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Jack Davison
Managing consultant,
3vision
Leading on many of 3Vision’s strategy, marketing and VOD projects, Jack has a unique understanding of the factors that make Pay TV and new product launches successful.
Jack is well suited to lead on such products having previously been Head of VOD Product at Virgin Media, and a pioneer of IPTV and VOD whilst VP of Content at Yes Television. Prior to this Jack worked for IMG Media, the world’s largest independent producer and distributor of sports programming.
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Atar Dekel
Head of scripted global coproductions,
Keshet International
Atar Dekel is co-head of global scripted co-productions and acquisitions at Keshet International (KI), overseeing a slate of more than 20 cross-border projects with partners in all corners of the world, from Brazil, Germany, Italy, France, Canada, Belgium and Argentina.
In 2015, Atar seconded to LA in order to help set up KI’s US production arm Keshet Studios with CEO Alon Shtruzman. There she handled business development for all US scripted projects prior to the appointment of the current President of Scripted, Peter Traugott.
Before joining Keshet International, Atar served as the Israeli cultural attaché in Los Angeles, covering all cultural exchanges between Israel and the Southwestern region of the US, specifically overseeing business opportunities within the Hollywood community. Prior to that, she headed the international department at Kneller Artists Agency, Israel’s largest literary agency, representing a some of the country’s most internationally renowned screenwriters, directors and authors.
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Agyness Deyn
Actress,
Hard Sun
Jan Diedrichsen
Co-president,
SundanceTV and Sundance Now
Sarah Doole
Director of global drama,
FremantleMedia
As director of Global Drama, Sarah seeks to invest and bring the very best drama to the international marketplace. She is responsible for the acquisition of scripted content, from in-house producers and third party drama partners, through development investment, distribution deals and co-production partnerships.
Sarah works with in-house producers, indie producers, writers, directors and owners of IP, to create and develop drama and comedy that will rate in its domestic market and provide an on-going revenue stream through commercial exploitation internationally, whether tape sales, digital activity or scripted remakes.
Before joining FremantleMedia, Sarah worked at BBC Worldwide as creative director for drama /head of indie drama and as director of drama, comedy and childrens, collaborating with independent producers to finance, distribute and export British fiction and comedy including Sherlock, Misfits, Call the Midwife, Gavin and Stacey, and The Royle Family.
Sarah began her career at Yorkshire Television as a researcher, producer and head of development, and as director of enterprises at Yorkshire Tyne Tees she oversaw the worldwide exploitation of shows like Heartbeat, Darling Buds of May. She set up the international operations for The Family Channel (US) and returned to the UK as creative director for commercial ventures. She joined BBCW DVD arm 2Entertain, as head of independents, before moving to BBCW in 2007.
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Stephen Driscoll
Executive vice president EMEA ,
all3media international
Stephen Driscoll holds the position of EVP EMEA at ALL3MEDIA International with responsibility for all programme sales across EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)
Stephen joined ALL3MEDIA in 2004 from Carlton International (now ITV), where he was Senior Sales Executive for Asia from 1999 to 2004.
Stephen started his career in programme distribution at Minotaur International, prior to that he worked at Christie’s Fine Art Auctioneers, having achieved a degree in Philosophy from Manchester University.
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Julia Dufvenius
Executive producer and co-creator,
Heder
Julia Dufvenius got her breakthrough in the TV –series “Glappet” and she joined the Royal Dramatic Theater in 2000 where she made her debut in Ingmar Bergman’s “Maria Stuart”. The role of Karin in Bergman’s TV production “Saraband” was written for her. In 2016, Julia was among the creators and writers of comedy series “Mammor” for Sweden’s TV3, alongside her Heder colleague Anja Lundqvist. Julia has worked on a number of important plays at the theater and we have also seen her in numerous TV series such as “Modus”, “Oskyldigt dömd”, “Gynekologen in Askim” etc.
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John Edwards
Producer,
John Edwards has produced more than 600 hours of television drama. His productions have won 29 Logie Awards, 40 AFI and AACTA Awards, 8 ASTRA Awards, and a number of international awards, as well as being the only Australian television producer nominated for the Golden Globe Awards.
His television credits include Blue Murder: Killer Cop, The Beautiful Lie, Gallipoli, Puberty Blues, Offspring, Tangle, Dangerous, Howzat! Kerry Packer’s War, Rush, Paper Giants: The Birth of Cleo, Spirited, Beaconsfield, Love My Way, Marking Time, The Surgeon, The Secret Life of Us, On The Beach and Police Rescue.
In 2011, he was conferred an Honorary Masters degree by the Australian Film Television and Radio School. In 2016, he joined forces with Dan Edwards and Roadshow Films to form the production entity Roadshow Rough Diamond; responsible for the latest TV series of Romper Stomper (to premiere in early 2018).
John was appointed as a member of the Order of Australia in 2017. He was recognised for his vast contribution to the Australian TV Industry through developing and telling great Australian stories.
Michael Ellenberg
Founder,
Media Res
Michael Ellenberg is the founder and chairman of Media Res, a motion picture and television production and finance company. He is the former executive vice president of HBO Programming.
Ellenberg graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government, and received his Juris Doctor degree New York University School of Law.
Early in his career from 2007-2011, Ellenberg was a senior vice president at Scott Free Productions, working closing with directors Ridley and Tony Scott. There he produced such films as “Prometheus,” “Robin Hood,” “Cyrus” and “Stoker.” Before that, Ellenberg served as vice president of Development at Scott Rudin Productions.
From 2011, Ellenberg served as executive vice president of Programming at HBO, overseeing development and production of dramatic series for the network. During his tenure, he developed and oversaw the production of such acclaimed series as “Westworld,” “The Leftovers,” “Big Little Lies,” “True Detective,” “The Young Pope” and upcoming “The Deuce” from David Simon and George Pelecanos, starring James Franco and Maggie Gyllenhaal. Ellenberg also oversaw “Game of Thrones,” “Boardwalk Empire” and “True Blood,” including “Game of Thrones” two Emmy Award-winning seasons for Best Drama. He also co-executive produced the third and final season of “The Leftovers,” which received wide acclaim.
Ellenberg has now launched Media Res, a new television and film studio that develops, produces and finances premium content for global markets. Bron Studios (“Fences,” “The Birth of a Nation,” upcoming “Tully” starring Charlize Theron) is a partner in the new company. Media Res is a full-service television studio that will employ a fund to finance series production, in addition to raising a development fund to commission scripts and option material. Media Res finances production on both the in-house slate as well as top-tier projects from outside producers and suppliers.
Ellenberg serves on the Board of Ikar, a leading progressive Jewish community in Los Angeles named one of the 50 Most Innovative Jewish Organizations in America by Slingshot. He is also on the board of Bet Tzedek, a legal organization providing legal services to low-income individuals and families in Los Angeles, focusing on Immigration, Elder Law, Employment Rights and Holocaust Survivor Services.
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Marc Evans
Director,
Luke Eve
Writer/ director & executive producer,
More Sauce
Luke Eve began his career as a freelance photographer. He graduated from the Australian Film Television and Radio School in 2005 and in the same year won Tropfest with his short film Australian Summer.
He later established his own production company, More Sauce and went on to direct five short films including Cockroach, a 14-minute visual effects loaded film that has gone on to screen at over 40 International Film Festivals and win over a dozen awards. In 2010 he began directing television shows such as Dave in The Life, SEX: An Unnatural History and the landmark documentary series Great Southern Land which landed him an ADG nomination for best direction in a documentary TV series.
In 2014 Luke created, produced and directed the online series, Low Life: A Black Comedy About Depression. It has gone on to win over 20 major festival awards and has recently sold to Amazon Prime and CanalPlay. He has just completed directing and producing the follow up series, High Life which was executive produced by Stephen Fry. The series has already sold to Channel 9 in Australia, CanalPlay in Europe and Fullscreen in the USA and has already won over 20 major film festival awards including 6 Best Director Awards. It was recently nominated for the prestigious AACTA Awards for Best Online Series. It also took out the Web Series World Cup for 2017 for being the most awarded and successful web series on the festival circuit.
Earlier in the year he directed a pilot for another online series which he also co-created and co wrote, Mourners, Inc produced by New Form Digital. The pilot is currently being pitched around Hollywood to cable and digital platforms.
In between TV projects, he also directs high-end commercials and music videos and has a number of feature film projects in development.
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Jane Featherstone
Founder,
Sister Pictures
Jane founded Sister Pictures in November 2015 as an independent television production company specialising in authored, bold and distinctive stories for UK and international audiences.
As the former chief executive of Kudos and co-chairman of Shine UK, Jane oversaw the production of some of the UK’s most ground-breaking and best-loved dramas. From BAFTA-winning television series Broadchurch, Humans, Life on Mars and Flowers, through to Hustle, Spooks, The Hour and River, Featherstone’s pioneering vision brought quality drama to the mainstream whilst growing Kudos into one of the UK’s most recognisable and formidable indies.
In November 2015 Featherstone launched Sister Pictures and since then has secured a raft of new commissions across a host of UK and global broadcasters and platforms. Brimming with scope, ambition and imagination, Sister’s slate currently boasts the BBC/Sundance relationship drama The Split, ITV series Clean Break, Chernobyl for HBO/Sky and Giri Haji for BBC/ Netflix. In addition, Naomi de Pear’s in-house label, Hootenanny is producing Flowers and The Bisexual both for Channel 4.
Jane believes in nurturing new writing and directing talent alongside her relationships with established practitioners, as shown in the current slate which has 4 projects by new authors. A passionate believer in equal opportunities, Jane endeavours to give access to creating work to as many different voices as possible.
She was made a Fellow of the Royal Television Society in 2011 and in 2007 received the Contribution to the Medium Award at the Women in Film and TV awards. Jane is a trustee of the arts charity, the Freelands Foundation.
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Nick Forward
Chief content officer ,
STAN
Nick is Stan’s chief content officer. He joined the company as employee no. 3 in January 2014, and built the content and product strategy for the service. Nick oversees all aspects of content, including acquisition, commissioning, and programming, as well as customer service and product management.
Nick left his hometown of Melbourne to spend over a decade working in media/entertainment in London prior to joining Stan. He spent five years at Virgin Media in a variety of roles, including editor in chief for the business’s suite of content products, and director of TV Product. Previously Nick worked in the Entertainment and Marketing divisions at BSkyB.
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Jeremy Fox
Founder and CEO,
Atrium TV
Jeremy Fox is the founder and CEO of Atrium TV and also chairman of DRG, the London based distribution company and part of Modern Times Group of Sweden.
Jeremy founded DRG in 2007 and was responsible for the acquisition of Portman Films, Zeal and Channel 4 International. Through acquisition and organic growth DRG has become one of the leading TV distribution operations.
Jeremy has created, written, developed produced or distributed some of the most iconic TV brands such as The Krypton Factor, Game For A Laugh and Doc Martin. He has worked in all genres of the business: news and documentary; reality and game shows; comedy and drama. He has also worked as a broadcaster, an independent producer and a distributor in the UK, US and Australia.
Robert Franke
Vice president, ZDFE.drama,
ZDF Enterprises GmbH
After graduating from the University of Management and Communication (FH) in Potsdam Robert Franke was initially production manager and director at Suburban Productions in Nauen and thereafter co-founder and executive producer of Cmate Entertainment GmbH & Co KG in Potsdam. From July 2007 onwards, he was head of content of Viewster Digital Video Access AG in Zurich before joining MyVideo (Pro7Sat1 – Magic Internet GmbH) in November 2011 as head of content.
In August 2013 Robert Franke became chief content officer and managing director of Viewster Germany GmbH in Berlin. Since November 2015 Franke heads the department responsible for the commercialization of ZDF’s drama program output as well as for international coproductions and own program developments.
Sydney Gallonde
Executive producer & CEO,
Make It Happen Studio
Sydney Gallonde began his career by working on branded content programmes with agencies such as TBWA, Carat, Omnicom Fuse, and Havas. A key player in the audiovisual market since 2006, he has worked in various fields and within diverse partnerships, including Elephant & Cie, Canal +, Andetcetera, 39 Productions, and JLA for broadcasters like TF1, M6, Canal +, and France 3. In 2014, he took on the huge challenge of adapting Harlan Coben’s international best-seller “No Second Chance” for TF1, generating the best audience ratings for the channel in over 10 years. It also won the coveted ‘Best Serie’ Award at the 2015 TV Festival in La Rochelle and the Magnolia Award for ‘Best Foreign TV Miniseries’ at the Shanghai Television Festival. To date it got sold to more than 64 countries and to Netflix worldwide. The series’ international success has paved to way to him working on other productions and international co-productions. In 2016, he produced a second thriller adapted from the best-selling novel by Harlan Coben, “Just One Look” for TF1.
Sydney Gallonde launched then his own Paris based independent production company “Make it Happen Studio”. With the backing of heavy weight financial partner Alliance Entreprendre, a Private Equity subsidiary of Natixis group, Make It Happen Studio works with global broadcasters, partners and talent to produce an eclectic raft of premium drama for both the French and international marketplaces. The company collaborate today with many best-seller talents like Paula Daly, Guillaume Musso, Douglas Kennedy, Riad Sattouf and Harlan Coben.
Gilles Galud
Managing director,
Studio Plus Vivendi
Gilles Galud studied political science at La Sorbonne before creating Gédéon in 1984 with two associates. The company’s worldwide work ranged from documentary programs to broadcast design. In 1998, Gilles Galud became director of programs for the themed channels at Canal + Group network. In 2003 he created an independent production company, La Parisienne d’Images, which released award-winning movies and series as well as successful programs for French television. In 2015, Gilles become the director of Studio+, an international studio for premium digital series created by Vivendi and Canal+. In two years, the studio gathered more than 35 prizes around the world.
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Sophie Gardiner
Head of drama,
Playground Entertainment
Sophie Gardiner is head of drama at Playground Entertainment. Since joining the company in late 2014, Sophie has executive produced HOWARDS END, Kenneth Lonergan’s four-part adaptation of the Forster classic for the BBC and Starz, directed by Hettie Macdonald and starring Hayley Attwell and Matthew Macfadyen. She is also executive producer on LITTLE WOMEN, a three-part adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s beloved novel from Heidi Thomas for the BBC and PBS, directed by Vanessa Caswill and starring Michael Gambon, Emily Watson and Angela Lansbury. Additionally, Sophie oversees Playground’s diverse development slate, working with many of the leading writers today across numerous channels. Prior to joining Playground, Sophie was commissioning editor at Channel 4 where she commissioned some of the most exciting and distinctive dramas from the last few years including SOUTHCLIFFE, MY MAD FAT DIARY, RUN, THE MILL and DATES amongst others.
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Wayne Garvie
President, international production,
Sony Pictures Television
Wayne Garvie is president, international production at Sony Pictures Television (SPT) and oversees SPT’s global network of production companies outside the US, covering Europe, Asia, Latin America and Australia. The 18 production companies within the business deliver both original and formatted content for local broadcasters in their markets, and create nearly 1,300 hours of entertainment around the world each year. He is also responsible for driving creative development within international production, steering the business to develop locally created properties into global formats and fostering co-developments across the group.
Garvie joined SPT in June 2012 and reports to Tony Vinciquerra, chairman and CEO of Sony Pictures. He joined SPT from All3MEDIA, where he was managing director, international production with special responsibility for the company’s growth in the US. Previously, Garvie was managing director for content & production at BBC Worldwide, responsible for establishing the corporation’s global network of production companies and overseeing its international formats business. Prior to that role, he was head of Entertainment Group for the BBC, where his teams were behind shows like Strictly Come Dancing and Dragons’ Den. Garvie also held senior positions in UK broadcasting, including Director of Broadcasting for Granada. Wayne holds a First Class Honours degree and Honorary PhD from the University of Kent and a PhD in Economic History from the University of Sheffield.
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Michele Giannusa
Ripple,
Mentored by: Michael Perry, Writer
Ripple-
Four strangers attempt to navigate their lives after they each experience a significant life shift. Through a series of everyday moments, they unknowingly generate a ripple effect, ultimately causing their stories to interconnect.
Ripple is about the power of four strangers and what it means to let go of what life is supposed to look like. Set in New York City, Nate, Kris, Walter, and Aria have probably crossed paths hundreds of times, but they’ve never actually met. The hustle of this city can often normalize disconnection, people need to get where they need to go and brushing shoulders is often the extent of their interaction. We follow their individual storylines and find out how seemingly minuscule moments lead them to one another.
Rachel Glaister
EVP brands and press,
all3media international
Following success at Carlton International Media Group as Head of Press and Marketing, where she covered distribution, licensing and corporate activity, Rachel Glaister joined all3media international in 2004 to create a press and marketing department. The company has since doubled in size annually for many years and is now a top 3 distributor/studio, which regularly wins peer polls for its work in the industry and has twice been winner of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise & International Trade.
In addition to the company’s growth in profile stature, key campaigns that Glaister has worked on during this time include the launch of Skins, the launch of Welsh Noir in the form of Hinterland, and the promoting of Midsomer Murders as the biggest UK drama export and taking on the role of its global brand manager. Now EVP International Brands & Press, Glaister manages the global brands and creative sign off of various other thriller dramas, including The Missing and National Treasure, award-winning formats such as Gogglebox and Undercover Boss, and contemporary comedies such as Fleabag and Gameface.
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Jill Green
Chief executive,
Eleventh Hour Films
Jill established Eleventh Hour Films in 2010. As chief executive, she is responsible for overseeing the strategic and creative direction of the business and implementing the company’s long term growth plan to increase its global footprint.
Since starting the company, Jill has executive produced New Blood, Foyle’s War, Vexed, and two series of atmospheric thriller Safe House.
Previously she set up and ran Greenlit Productions for 12 years where Foyle’s War was first generated alongside Collision and the feature film The American starring George Clooney.
Alongside her work with Eleventh Hour Films, Jill is also on the board of Chichester Theatre and Aldeburgh Cinema. This year, she was appointed artistic director of the Aldeburgh Documentary Festival.
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Tony Grisoni
Screenwriter and director,
Tony Grisoni worked in many different areas of film making before turning to screenwriting. Queen of Hearts (1989) directed by Jon Amiel was his award winning first feature. He has worked closely with a number of other directors including Michael Winterbottom (In This World, Golden Bear at the 2002 Berlinale), John Boorman, Julian Jarrold, James Marsh, Anand Tucker, and Terry Gilliam (Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Tideland & The Man Who Killed Don Quixote). In 2008 he directed his first short film nominated for a BAFTA, Kingsland #1: The Dreamer. 2009 saw Tony’s adaptation of David Peace’s epic tale of murder, corruption and obsession, Red Riding and Samantha Morton’s directorial debut on The Unloved, in 2013, he created Southcliffe , an original 4-part drama for Channel 4 directed by Sean Durkin, and in 2016 he co-wrote and executive produced THE YOUNG POPE, which Paolo Sorrentino directed for Sky Italia/Sky Atlantic/Canal Plus and HBO, with Jude Law in the title role.
His current projects include his original DREAM HOME for Potboiler, the standalone episode CRAZY DIAMOND for Channel 4/Amazon’s anthology series of Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams, and two projects now in production: his four part adaptation of China Mieville’s THE CITY & THE CITY for Mammoth/BBC, which Tom Shankland is directing, and his co-written screenplay THE MAN WHO KILLED DON QUIXOTE, which Terry Gilliam is directing.
Tony has also collaborated with a various artists including Oona Grimes and Dryden Goodwin as well as performance artist and poet Brian Catling with whom he co-created VANISHED – A VIDEO SÉANCE, 1999.
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Martin Haines
Chief operating officer,
Kudos
Martin joined Kudos in 2016 as chief operating officer from Warner Bros. Television where he was commercial director of the UK television production group. At Kudos Martin oversees all production, finance, commercial, business affairs and operational functions of the company as well as the Kudos business strategy. He is expert in the financing and structuring of premium drama series with shows such as Tin Star (Sky Atlantic/Amazon), Troy (BBC/Netflix), Humans (C4/AMC) and Gunpowder (BBC/HBO) having been delivered under his stewardship.
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Jocelyn Hamilton
President - Canada, television,
Entertainment One
Jocelyn Hamilton leads all Canadian operations for Entertainment One’s television business which includes the strategic planning and day-to-day management of eOne’s television development and production activities in Canada. In her role, she focuses on building and broadening strong relationships with creative talent and Canadian broadcasters, while overseeing all aspects of the studio’s original slate across all genres.
As Executive Producer, Jocelyn has helped bring to life such high profile projects as Mary Kills People (Lifetime/Global); You Me Her (DirecTV/HBO Canada); Cardinal (CTV), Canada’s most-watched original Canadian drama for Winter 2017); Private Eyes (Canada’s highest-rated new series for Spring/Summer 2016); and Gord Downie’s JUNO-Award winning project Secret Path.
Jocelyn has over 25 years of creative and business experience in the entertainment industry. Prior to eOne, she served as Vice President, Programming & Original Productions for Corus Kids where she was responsible for all content strategies, programming and original productions, both affiliated and independent. She held a number of other key roles over many years at Corus Entertainment, which included overseeing Comedy and Drama original programming for all Corus specialty networks as well as Movie Central and HBO Canada.
Jocelyn is currently Chair of the board for Women in Film and Television (WIFT) – Toronto and is featured on Ryerson’s School of Media Wall of Fame.
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Brian Hamilton
Principal and executive producer,
Omni
Brian Hamilton has executive produced more than 50 television projects in both scripted and non-scripted genres, representing over 300 hours of broadcast programming for Omnifilm Entertainment since he joined Omnifilm in 1994. Brian is responsible for Omnifilm’s scripted development and production. Brian is an Executive Producer on Mech-X4, currently in production for Disney XD. Recent programs which Brian executive produced include: Primeval: New World for Space, ProSeiben and UKTV; CBC’s Arctic Air; Defying Gravity, for CTV, BBC, ProSeiben, and ABC, Pure Design for HGTV Canada, Word Travels for OLN, Robson Arms for CTV and Make Some Noise for CBC, which won the Gemini for Best Youth Non-Fiction series, as well as the Shaw Rocket Prize, and the prestigious Japan Prize for Youth Programming. Brian oversees Omnifilm Post, a busy facility which handles end-to-end post production for Omnifilm projects. Brian is a past Chair of the BC Branch of the Canadian Media Production Association, and he currently chairs the BC Branch Government Relations Committee. He serves on the Executive Committee of CMPA’s National Board. Brian holds a First Class Honours Bachelor of Applied Science degree in Systems Design Engineering from the University of Waterloo, and received his television training from the Banff Centre for the Arts.
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Andy Harries
Chief Executive and co-founder,
Left Bank Pictures
Andy Harries is Chief Executive and co-founder of Left Bank Pictures, a multi award-winning, UK-based film and television production company. Established in 2007, and a majority stake acquired by Sony in 2012, Left Bank Pictures has produced a huge range of award-winning TV and film including Wallander, Mad Dogs and Strike Back and the first ever Netflix Original series in the UK, The Crown, written by Peter Morgan and directed by Stephen Daldry.
Prior to establishing Left Bank Pictures, Harries was Controller of Drama, Comedy and Film for Granada Productions. During this period he produced countless British classics including Prime Suspect, Cold Feet and The Royle Family, winning Golden Globes, Emmys and BAFTAs and receiving an Academy Award nomination as a producer of The Queen, which saw a run of six Academy Award nominations. In 2007, Andy was awarded the Special Achievement award by BAFTA and, in May 2011, he was made a Fellow of the Royal Television Society for outstanding contribution to the broadcasting industry.
Harries is also a theatre producer whose credits include the Tony and Olivier award-winning play The Audience, which starred both Helen Mirren and Kristin Scott Thomas.
Kate Harwood
Managing director,
Euston Films
Kate Harwood is Managing Director of FremantleMedia UK drama label Euston Films. Kate was previously Head of Drama (England) at BBC. Her early career began in in-house BBC drama production starting as script editor and then producer and executive producer. Her career includes BAFTA-winning shows such as Holding On and Charles II and she was producer and executive producer on titles such as Twenty Thousand Streets, Cranford amongst many others.
In 2014 she started up the rebooted Euston Films and their first commission, Neil Cross’s Hard Sun is currently in post-production and due for transmission on BBC1 in early 2018 . Two further commissions, Baghdad Central written by Stephen Butchard for Channel 4 and The Dublin Murders written by Sarah Phelps and based on the novels of Tana French for BBC 1, will film in 2018.
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Tom Hastings
Director, drama, original programming,
Bell Media
As the director of drama in the original programming Unit, Tom Hastings supervises the commissioning, development and production of original dramatic series across Bell Media’s family of channels including CTV, Space, Bravo, MUCH, The Movie Network, and HBO Canada.
Proud to be part of a team that has consecutively won the coveted Best Dramatic Series award at the Canadian Screen Awards for five years in a row, Tom’s team’s successes include the Emmy award-winning series, ORPHAN BLACK, the International Emmy award nominated series, 19-2 and CARDINAL, recently lauded in the national press as “so good it is landmark Canadian TV.”
Additional critically-acclaimed original series in production include KILLJOYS and WYNONNA EARP. New drama series for the 2017 and 2018 include THE DETAIL and THE DISAPPEARANCE on CTV and CARTER on Bravo.
An industry leader especially known for his respectful relationships with Canadian writers and producers, Tom also holds a doctorate degree, having obtained his Ph.D. in English Literature.
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Sofia Helin
Executive producer and co-creator,
Heder
Sofia Helin was awarded the Swedish TV award Kristallen and the Danish TV award Robert for her critically acclaimed role as Saga Norén in the worldwide hit series “Bron” (The original version of the Bridge). In the UK, the Times thought Sofia was “outstanding” and the Guardian concluded that she was “in a class of her own.” As well as leading the cast, Sofia was a producer on the final season of Bron which will air in 2018. Sofia made her breakthrough in the Guldbagge nominated movie “Masjävlar.” On the stage, her most recent role was in Eirik Stubös’ stage version of Arne Lygrens play “Ingenting av mig” at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern in Stockholm. The reviews were very positive with the Guardian concluding “one of the best performances that we will see in the foreseeable future.”
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Jarkko Hentula
Head of feature films,
Yellow Film & TV
Jarkko Hentula is a Finnish film producer and executive producer. Hentula has worked in over 40 features. Hentula is the Head of Feature Films in Yellow Film & TV production company. Hentula studied at the University of Tampere, Journalism and Mass Communications, History and International Relations and producing in the Film and Television department at Helsinki’s University of Art and Design.
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Hannes Heyelmann
Senior VP and managing director, central & eastern europe,
TNT
Hannes Heyelmann is senior vice president and managing director, Central & Eastern Europe and international original programming strategy.
He is responsible for Turner in the German-speaking territories, the Benelux countries, Central and Eastern Europe, and Russia, where Turner runs 12 channel feeds, including TNT Serie, TNT Film, TNT, TNT Comedy, Cartoon Network, Boomerang and CNN International. Additionally, Heyelmann represents Turner International as its liaison executive with the general entertainment production teams in the United States and forms part of the senior management team of Turner for Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA region).
Heyelmann has been working in different positions for Turner Broadcasting System since 2001, including three years in the corporate strategic planning group at the Turner headquarters in Atlanta, USA, the business development department in London, and most recently as general manager for the German-speaking market in Munich. Prior to his work with Turner, Heyelmann was in the business development group of AOL’s German branch.
Additionally, Heyelmann is credited as executive producer of 4 Blocks, a new TNT Series which premiered in Germany on 8 May. Not only did it premiere in February to huge success at the prestigious Berlinale, it is already winning prestigious industry awards: it scooped one at the 2017 Series Mania festival and is finalist of C21’s International Drama Awards in three categories. Hannes is also an Executive Producer on the upcoming original series Arthur’s Law which will broadcast on TNT Comedy in Germany in 2018.
Thao Hoang
Head of distribution & partnerships,
DEFY Media
As head of distribution and partnerships for DEFY Media, home to top digital brands that create regularly scheduled and award-winning programming for Millennial and Gen Z audiences, Thao Hoang leads content licensing, partnership and international efforts for SMOSH, Clevver, Screen Junkies and AWE me. These brands have forged deep connections with an audience of more than 110MM YouTube and social media followers combined, with content that can be seen across more than twenty steaming video platforms and TV networks.
Prior to DEFY, Thao was vice president of content distribution at Viacom Media Networks, where she negotiated distribution agreements on behalf of Viacom’s cable networks such as MTV, Nickelodeon, BET, Spike and Comedy Central. Thao also held various strategy positions at Viacom, NBC Universal and Primedia. She began her career as an investment banker with DLJ and Credit Suisse focusing on Media & Telecom and was an analyst for a Southeast-Asian private equity fund.
Thao is an accomplished sales and business development professional with deep understanding of the media landscape, consumer and distributor needs, emerging technologies and business models. She has a demonstrated ability to source and execute strategic partnerships and distribution deals in the digital and traditional media space.
Thao received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and her B.A. from the University of Texas at Austin. She lives in New York City with her husband and their two daughters.
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Jens Hulten
Actor,
Jens Hultén, Actor, Conspiracy of Silence
Jens Hultén is a Swedish actor, celebrated in Sweden for his parts in various TV crime dramas, including the long-running Johan Falk series. He has also starred in a number of international hit movies, including Skyfall, Mission:Impossible – Rogue Nation and The Hundred-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out Of the Window and Disappeared.
Patrick Irwin
Executive producer,
87 Films
Patrick Irwin is an executive producer with 25 years’ experience in the media sector and unrivalled expertise in international co-production. He has overseen over £150m of production. Originally trained as an accountant, he swiftly decided that the best sort of accounting was always creative.
Patrick is a partner in 87 Films with writers Dudi Appleton and Jim Keeble (Thorne, Silent Witness, George Gently, Most Fertile Man in Ireland). 87 recently delivered 40 scripts for the Chinese language market based on the iconic detective Judge Dee created by Robert van Gulik and is currently creating a series for Mediaset in Italy. As an Executive Producer, Patrick’s most recent work has been on multiple award-nominated series The Fall , Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell, and Combat Hospital, a 13 part series for ABC in the US/Global/Shaw in Canada.
Patrick specialises in the structuring and administering of international co-productions to access subsidy deals and tax credits and oversee any UK production activity. In that capacity he has also produced or co-produced a number of feature films. He has been responsible for over 16 international co-productions to date.
Dan Isaacs
COO,
Sister Pictures
Dan is chief operating officer and a director of Sister Pictures, an independent television production company set up in early 2016 by Jane Featherstone, specialising in scripted drama and comedy. He looks after all the commercial, production, finance, legal, business and operational bits of the company. Sister Pictures co-produced Broadchurch Season 3 and its upcoming production slate also includes, Flowers season 2 (C4/Seeso), The Bisexual (C4/Hulu), Clean Break (ITV), Chernobyl (HBO/Sky), Giri / Haji (BBC1/Netflix), and Abi Morgan’s The Split (BBC1/Sundance).
Dan has expertise in financing high end television and international co-productions, and in addition to financing the series above he also worked on; Humans (C4/AMC), River (BBC1/Netflix), Grantchester (ITV/Masterpiece), Broadchurch (ITV/BBC America), The Tunnel (Sky Atlantic/Canal Plus), and Hunted (BBC/Cinemax).
Prior to joining Sister Pictures in June 2016, Dan spent 13 years at Kudos as managing director, COO and then latterly as CEO.
He is an elected member of BAFTA’s Television committee, and served on the DCMS working group that set the terms for the UK high-end television drama tax credit.
Before he started in television Dan worked as a dentist and actor.
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Walter Iuzzolino
Chief creative officer,
Walter Presents / Global Series Network
Born in Genoa, Italy, Walter Iuzzolino grew up in a household which loved film and he spent most of his childhood squirreled away in his local cinema, bingeing on a diet of Fellini and Bergman. This fuelled his passion and he soon immersed himself in foreign-language drama, indulging in everything from German cop shows to badly-dubbed Latin American sagas. He studied English Literature at Genoa University completing a PhD in American Literature, specialising in Henry James. He moved to London in 1995, where he got his first job as a script reader at Pathe and British Screen.
Walter is a former commissioner and TV executive responsible for generating a wide range of primetime factual entertainment hit series. As a commissioning editor for features at Channel 4, Walter developed a string of factual hit formats before leaving to become creative director at Betty, where he spearheaded a quick growth trajectory of turnover and output which led to the company sale to Discovery Networks International in 2011. In 2014 Walter left Betty to pursue his dream of launching a foreign language drama channel. Since then he’s spent hundreds of hours locked in a dark room, handpicking the best drama from around the world. He is the eponymous face behind the Walter Presents brand and contrary to some rumours, Walter is a real person, not an actor or a machine.
Walter Presents launched January 2016 in the UK as a FREE video-on-demand service and is a joint venture between Channel 4 and Global Series Network, founded by Jason Thorp, Walter Iuzzolino and Jo McGrath. Dedicated to showcasing award winning foreign language drama, the service is named after its curator Walter Iuzzolino, a passionate drama fan. In March 2017 Walter Present launched as an SVOD platform in the US with the New York Times hailing it as a ‘chic TV boutique with a foreign accent.’ The US launch is the first stage in a planned global rollout.
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Helen Jackson
Chief content officer,
BBC Worldwide
Helen is the Chief content officer at BBC Worldwide. She drives the creative and commercial vision for BBC Worldwide’s content strategy covering partnerships, development, co-production and acquisition activity. At the heart of this strategy is championing the best of British production and writing talent combined with innovative funding models and partnerships. Through a culture of strong business support, speed of response and creative freedom the company has deepened partnerships with some of the UK’s best independent producers including Baby Cow, Clerkenwell, Drama Republic, Lookout Point, Greenbird, 72 Films, House Productions, Original Talent (Cuba and Curtis Brown), Two Cities, Various Artists and Expectation Entertainment. Over the last three years, BBC Worldwide’s annual investment into Content has averaged £180m.
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Kristin Jones
Senior vice president, international programming,
AMC and SundanceTV
As Senior Vice President, International Programming for AMC and Sundance, Kristin Jones has played an integral role in bringing notable titles to AMC, such as The Night Manager miniseries, which recently received 12 Emmy nominations; critically praised Humans, which is returning for Season 2 next year; and Cleverman, the ground-breaking series based on Aboriginal mythology, also returning for Season 2.
Since joining AMC, Jones, who is based in New York, has been focused on international scripted projects. Prior to joining AMC, Jones served as chief creative officer for Vuguru. Before that, she served as senior vice president of international development, production and acquisitions for Miramax Films in New York, and prior to that, she was vice president of production and European acquisitions for Buena Vista International, based in London. She began her career as a film literary agent at ICM.
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Mark Joseph
Managing director ,
Awesomeness
Mark Joseph joined Awesomeness in March 2017 as managing director for Europe. In his role, Mark is responsible for the international growth and development of the AwesomenessTV brand by localizing the digital studio for Gen Z audiences across Europe. This includes developing original content for social video platforms, such as YouTube, Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram, and developing commercial brand partnerships to reach this highly influential youth audience.
Prior to joining Awesomeness, Mark spent almost six years at Red Bull Media House where he was instrumental in the creation and development of the commercial distribution and partnerships business internationally.
Mark was also previously at Ericsson where he was responsible for repositioning the global Telco infrastructure leader towards the media sector. He successfully secured new clients such as the BBC. Earlier in his career, Mark served as director of products and services for Three Mobile network and Vodafone, pioneering the development of mobile data products and services including the launch of mobile music services, gaming, television and mobile advertising.
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Liam Keelan
Global editorial director,
BBC Worldwide
Liam Keelan is the director of scripted at BBC Worldwide. He leads the team responsible for securing and developing drama, comedy and children’s content from BBC Television, UK and overseas indies, BBC Worldwide Productions and original commissions.
War and Peace, Doctor Who, Luther, Wolf Hall, Doctor Foster and Sherlock are just some of the dramas Liam oversees investment into with content partners in the UK. Liam is also responsible for leading BBC Worldwide’s scripted coproduction activities and opportunities as well as directing investment into international productions for BBC Worldwide with recent series including Jane Campion’s Top of The Lake: China Girl, Hossein Amini and James Watkins’ McMafia and Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett’s Good Omens.
Keelan has also been pivotal in the development of BBC Worldwide’s relationships with indies like Lookout Point, Baby Cow and Cuba Pictures and in creating Benchmark Television – an initiative to fast-track production of premium quality scripted drama.
He was previously was global editorial director for BBC Worldwide, responsible for developing a strong editorial and creative vision across Worldwide’s entire global channels and branded services portfolio.
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Elizabeth Kilgarriff
Senior commissioning editor for BBC Drama,
BBC England & Scotland
Liz Kilgarriff is a Senior commissioning editor for BBC Drama in England and Scotland.
Liz joined the BBC as a Commissioning Editor in August 2015 and has been responsible for work across the breadth and range of BBC Drama including the adaptation of BBC One’s Strike series based on the novels by J.K. Rowling writing as Robert Galbraith, BBC One Sunday night fan favourites Call The Midwife and Poldark, Mike Bartlett’s Doctor Foster (series 2), The Last Kingdom, Death in Paradise and BBC3’s innovative new short form drama series, Overshadowed.
Liz’s upcoming dramas include epic new BBC One drama McMafia, an adaptation of Jessie Burton’s The Miniaturist, Hard Sun from Luther creator Neil Cross, Age Before Beauty from Debbie Horsfield, Kay Mellor’s Love, Lies and Records, Peter Straughan’s adaptation of The Three, Richard Warlow and Tom Shankland’s The Serpent, 6-part thriller series Informer from upcoming writers Rory Haines and Sohrab Noshirvani – and a new 4-part series of award-winning Luther. Also recently announced from her Scottish slate is psychological drama The Cry, adapted from the Helen FitzGerald novel – and a contemporary legal thriller, The Victim.
Liz was previously Executive Producer for BBC in-house Drama working on titles including Luther, BBC3’s Thirteen, Cranford, Tess of the D’Urbervilles and Upstairs Downstairs. She was promoted to Senior Commissioning Editor for England and Scotland in May 2017.
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Richard Kilgarriff
Editorial director & founder,
Bookomi
Richard Kilgarriff is the editorial director and founder of Bookomi clubs and literary events, introducing the worlds’ most influential non-fiction authors to audiences in clubs and companies such as Soho House, AKQA, HSBC and Edelman PR. He is also a book columnist for Harpers’ Bazaar, an award-winning radio/podcast producer, short-film producer and former television executive, latterly as Senior Vice President and General Manager for Turner Broadcasting in the UK and Germany.
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Julie Lacey
VP, creative,
Shaftesbury
As VP, Creative, Julie has produced 11 seasons of Canada’s #1 drama Murdoch Mysteries for CBC, UKTV and ITV Studios Global Entertainment; Frankie Drake Mysteries for CBC and UKTV and the psychological thriller series Slasher on Netflix, among others. An award-winning television screenwriter and showrunner, Julie oversees Shaftesbury’s extensive development slate with an eye to expanding the company’s international partnerships.
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Jarmo Lampela
Head of drama,
YLE Finland
Head of drama, YLE, 5/2015. Head of department of Film and scenography, Aalto University, 1/2013-4/2015 Head of Elo Film school Helsinki, Aalto University, 8/2018-12/2012
Lasihelmi Filmi production company, director, producer, owner, 1994-2011 ELO film school Helsinki, 1987-1992, MA
Finnish Theater academy, discipline of acting 1986-87
Alma de Sant Pere, feature, director & writer, 2016 Whatever, TV series, YLE, 2014
Kilimanjaro, feature, director & co-writer, 2013
How we became friends, feature, director & co-writer, 2013 The Gig, feature, director & co-writer, 2013. In the footsteps of young Werther, feature, director & co-writer, 2013 Converstaions between men, feature, director & co-writer, 2012 more than 40 productions in film, television and theater as director, writer or producer since 1991.
Karoline Leth
Producer,
Liberty
LIBERTY (drama in production – 2018) Created by Asger Leth & Mikael Marcimain Producer
THE LEGACY I, II & III (drama – 2014, 2015 & 2017) Created by Maya Ilsøe
Producer
RITA season 1 & 2 (drama 2012 & 2013) Created by Christian Torpe
Producer
NORSKOV (drama/crime – 2015) Created by Dunja Gry Jensen Developing producer 2011—13
ARN (miniseries 2010)
Based on novels by Jan Guillou, written by Hans Gunnarsson, directed by Peter Flinth Co—producer
Sophie Leveaux
Director of acquisitions,
TF1
Aron Levitz
Head of Wattpad Studios,
As head of Wattpad Studios, Aron Levitz connects the entertainment and publishing industries with new voices and original content created by Wattpad Stars, the biggest influencers on the platform. Leveraging data and community insights, Aron works with the industry to co-produce Wattpad stories for film, television, print and digital formats.
Previously, as head of business development, Aron helped establish the company’s monetization strategy and launched Wattpad Brand Stories, a native advertising solution. He was also instrumental in launching the Wattpad Stars program that gives top influencers access to a variety of opportunities.
Throughout his career, Aron has connected the entertainment industry with emerging technology and mobile platforms. As senior director of Strategic Alliances at Xtreme Labs, Aron developed business and mobile strategies for the world’s top media brands including MTV. Prior to Xtreme Labs, he was director of entertainment and Global Content Acquisition at BlackBerry where he worked with artists and other talent, as well as launched innovative music, movie, TV, and gaming services.
Aron received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Waterloo.
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Anja Lundqvist
Executive producer and actor,
Heder
Anja Lundqvists first role was in Lukas Moodyssons blockbuster movie “Tillsammans” for which she was cast straight out of theatre school. Since then, she has played in the TV series “Gåsmamman”, the “Sune” movies, “Våra vänners liv”, “De halvt dolda”, “Oskyldigt dömd”, “Offside”, “Stormen” and “Tusenbröder.” In 2016, Anja was among the creators and writers of comedy series “Mammor” for Sweden’s TV3, alongside her Heder colleague Julia Dufvenius. She currently works both at the Swedish Royal Dramatic Theater and Kulturhuset Stadsteatern where she has played a number of important roles in recent years.
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Jamie Lynn
EVP, head of EMEA distribution,
FremantleMedia
Jamie Lynn serves as head of sales & distribution, EMEA at Fremantlemedia International, where he leads the company’s sales and distribution teams across Europe, Middle East and Africa, overseeing offices in London, Berlin and Dubai. Lynn also leads the sales and pre-sale strategies for FremantleMedia International’s programming for pan-regional and SVOD partners on global content deals.
With a career spanning nearly 20 years in the international television distribution business, including over 10 years at FemantleMedia International, Lynn is a specialist in all linear and non-linear content distribution and has completed numerous worldwide deals for successful dramas, including the recent American Gods with Amazon. He has also been responsible for establishing local versions of globally renown formats Idols, The X Factor and Got Talent in regions such as Africa and the Middle East. Lynn began his a career as a journalist, followed by senior roles in publicity for the international television industry, as well as children’s animation distribution.
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David Maher
Founder,
Playmaker Media
David Maher began his career in development and production with Tiger Aspect Productions in the UK. Prior to launching Playmaker, he and fellow Playmaker principal David Taylor, headed Fox’s Australian TV production arm, Fox Television Studios Australia. Here they produced a diverse range of programming including drama series, telemovies, sitcoms and international unscripted formats.
Since its inception in 2009, Playmaker has established a track record of delivering high quality, ratings-winning primetime series in Australia.
Playmaker’s credits include The Wrong Girl for Network Ten, the TV Week Logie Award winning House Husbands and Love Child for the Nine Network, the AACTA and AWGIE winning political thriller The Code and Hiding for the ABC, the Emmy nominated SLiDE for Foxtel, and the telemovies Wicked Love and Blood Brothers.
2017 has been a busy year for Playmaker. Along with filming returning series of The Wrong Girl and Love Child, it produced the iconic story of Australia’s original rock group in Friday On My Mind for the ABC, as well as Chosen, a Mandarin language action thriller for Chinese streaming platform iQIYI.
In December 2014, Playmaker was awarded the media super production business of the year at the screen producers Australia awards. David Maher and David Taylor now work with Sony to develop and produce content for both the local and international markets.
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Lorenzo De Maio
Agent,
Endeavor Content
Lorenzo De Maio is an agent at Endeavor Content, a division of global entertainment leader Endeavor (formerly WME | IMG). In his role, De Maio focuses on packaging, financing and selling global television shows.
De Maio works with content creators, US and international networks, as well as third-party financiers to create optimal ownership and distribution solutions for projects. Endeavor Content’s television series include the Emmy and Golden-Globe Award winning drama “The Night Manager,” the Emmy-nominated programs “Chef’s Table” and “The Young Pope,” the critically acclaimed “Top of the Lake: China Girl,” global hit “The Grand Tour,” Beau Willimon’s new series “The First,” and Damien Chazelle’s upcoming project “The Eddy.”
Prior to joining Endeavor Content, De Maio was President of Production at the Dino De Laurentiis Company where he was an executive on the NBC series “Hannibal”and a producer across the film slate. De Maio sits on the board of the PGA International Committee and has worked with the Los Angeles Mayor’s Office on the campaign to launch and support the California Film and Television Initiative program.
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Nick Marston
CEO and executive producer,
Cuba Pictures
Nick Marston joined Curtis Brown in 1997 and throughout his years of being an agent has built a list comprising of some of the UKs biggest talent. In 2008 he became the CEO and executive producer at Cuba Pictures, the aim of the company being to utilise the strength of Curtis Brown’s talent to create high quality film and television.
Since its inception Nick has produced Boy A starring Andrew Garfield, adapted by Mark O’Rowe and directed by John Crowley and Broken, Rufus Norris’ directorial debut, also written by Mark O’Rowe, featuring Tim Roth, Rory Kinnear and Cillian Murphy.
2015 saw the release of Coalition written by James Graham and directed by Alex Holmes for Channel 4, Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell for BBC One, adapted by Peter Harness from the Susanna Clarke novel and directed by Toby Haynes, London Road the film adaptation of the National Theatre showdirected by Rufus Norris, which opened with 5 star reviews from both The Guardian and Time Out, and David Farr’s directorial debut with his script The Ones Below. Nick was an executive producer on all these projects.
Cuba Pictures also produced with a 3-part thriller, Paula, for BBC2 written by Conor McPherson, directed by Alex Holmes. The show starred Denise Gough and Tom Hughes and aired in May 2017. The company are currently in post-production with McMafia, a major 8-part series for BBC One following a Russian family in Britain and their connection to organised crime. It is has been showrun by Hossein Amini and James Watkins with James Norton, David Strathairn, Juliet Rylance and Faye Marsay starring. It is based on the book by Misha Glenny and stars James Norton. Nick is an acted as an executive producer on both projects.
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Graeme Mason
CEO,
Screen Australia
With over 20 years of international experience in film, television and multimedia businesses, Mr Mason has an intimate knowledge of the full spectrum of the screen sector, having worked with large US studios, a UK television network, independent producers and government agencies.
Graeme commenced as CEO of Screen Australia in 2013 and during his tenure has steered the agency through some of the industry’s most significant changes, including the rise of digital originals, the growth of free-to-air multichannels and catch-up services, plus the advent of commercial streaming.
Screen Australia has also proved to be a pioneer in funding digital original content, with online talent supported by the agency achieving over 2.5 billion views on YouTube alone. The agency has also championed gender equity and inclusivity in the screen sector.
Graeme has previously worked in both factual and entertainment TV programming in his native Australia before moving to the UK. In Britain he worked across all aspects of film production, sales and acquisitions, and distribution for companies such as Polygram Filmed Entertainment. From 1998 to 2002 he was president of worldwide acquisitions for Universal Studios. He then joined Channel 4 Television UK as Head of Media Projects and later as Managing Director of Rights before moving to New Zealand to lead the New Zealand Film Commission from 2009 to 2013.
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Sue Masters
Head of scripted,
SBS Australia
Sue Masters is one of Australia’s most acclaimed producers and executive producers and has won all Australia’s film and television awards as well as a multiplicity of international honours. She has been head of drama for ABC TV and was responsible for several series of Seachange, Something in the Air, Grass Roots and Changi during the 1990s, and in 2000 to 2009 was head of drama for Network Ten during the production of Secret Life of Us, White Collar Blue, Mary Bryant, Tripping Over and many high end mini-series and series.
Most recently Sue has executive produced Serangoon Road, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries and The Secret River for the ABC, and in 2010 executive produced The Circuit Series 2 for SBS.
Before producing Prisoner, Brides of Christ, Paper Man and multiple seasons of G.P. Sue was a writer on the US series The Loveboat after a Specialist Traineeship at the BBC. As a writer, script and story editor, Sue has worked on hundreds of hours of Australia’s finest dramas and in 2011 wrote and produced the documentary feature, Fighting Fear. Sue joined SBS as executive producer for drama in August 2014. Her first drama for SBS The Principal, aired in October 2015, with Benjamin Law’s comedy The Family Law previewing in January 2016. Blackfella Films Deep Water 4×1 hour drama TX in October 2016.
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Tendeka Matatu
CEO / producer,
Ten10 Films
Tendeka Matatu began his producing career in the mid-90’s working on high-end commercials and music videos with renowned director, Tony Kaye.
In 2001 Tendeka moved to South Africa to join Dv8 Films, where oversaw the successful financing of a slate of local features and numerous co-productions, including Richard E Grant’s Wah Wah.
Tendeka’s individual producer credits include the multi award-winning Max&Mona; the South African box office hit Material and, the action-drama epic Gangster’s Paradise, Jerusalema, which was South Africa’s official entry for the Academy Awards Foreign Language category in 2008.
In 2011 Tendeka moved back to London to set up his production company Ten10 Films.
The company’s main focus is to collaborate with black filmmaking talent to create diversity driven film & TV content for a global market. The current slate includes two major dramas in development, Imperium with AMC/ and, The Trade with Canal+ International. Other recent credits include Cold Harbour, Tiger House with Kaya Scodelario, and Ralph Ziman’s He Who is Without Sin.
In 2016 Tendeka was selected and graduated from the prestigious film industry business and leadership course, INSIDE PICTURES.
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Preethi Mavahalli
Executive producer,
The City and The City
Preethi joined Mammoth in 2011. During that time, she has executive produced Tripped for E4 and NW for BBC2. NW was recently nominated for two 2017 BAFTA British Academy Television Awards in the Leading Actress and Single Drama categories.
Upcoming shows include The City & The City written by Tony Grisoni and directed by Tom Shankland for BBC2 and Next of Kin written by Paul Rutman and Natasha Narayan for ITV.
Also coming soon are adaptations of The War of the Worlds and Noughts & Crosses for BBC One and The Serpent, the true story of Charles Sobhraj and how he was brought to justice by Herman Knippenberg.
Prior to joining Mammoth, Preethi worked in development at Film4, and at Film London on the micro-budget feature film scheme Microwave, where she worked across the slate of films from development through to exhibition – including the BAFTA-nominated Shifty and Ben Drew’s directorial debut Ill Manors.
She also made a number of short films including a Random Act for Channel 4 directed by The Streets’ Mike Skinner. She read history at the University of Oxford.
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Simon Maxwell
Head of international drama,
Channel 4
Simon is head of international drama at Channel 4 where he’s spearheaded the channel’s new co-production strategy and launched Humans, the channel’s first major co-pro with AMC, which achieved record ratings. He has since overseen a range of new commissions including the upcoming 10-part anthology series Electric Dreams: The World of Philip K Dick, penned by Ron D. Moore and a team of A-list writers and produced by Sony Pictures Television, with Bryan Cranston. As Head of Scripted at Red Arrow Entertainment, Simon launched the Red Arrow Group’s UK scripted operation where he specialised in developing and producing drama for the international market including Executive Producing 13-part international thriller Odyssey for NBC. Previously Simon was Head of Film & TV at Greenroom Entertainment where produced a number of film and TV projects including feature film Killing Bono, for which he co-wrote the screenplay.
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Javier Mendez
Head of content,
Mediapro
With a degree in Economics and Business Studies from Universidad San Pablo CEU, MBA from Instituto de Empresa in Madrid and master’s degree in Audiovisual Production from Universidad Complutense, Javier Mendez began his professional career in Sogecable where he became head of acquisitions (Canal +, Box Office, Cinemanía and other channels). Later he worked as acquisitions, sales and materials director at Antena 3TV to join MEDIAPRO in 2002, where he is currently head of content of the group.
His extensive professional career has led him to the executive production of more than 30 films by prestigious directors, including Woody Allen (Midnight in Paris, Meet the man of your dreams, Vicky Cristina Barcelona ), Roman Polanski (A Wild God, Her Majesty Minor), Fernando León de Aranoa (Policy, Instruction Manual, A Perfect Day, Princesses), Isabel Coixet (Nobody wants the night , Map of the sounds of Tokyo) or Álex de la Iglesia (Messi). In the field of television content, his name appears behind a multitude of titles, both fiction and entertainment, highlighting his work as executive producer in the series The Young Pope directed by Paolo Sorrentino.
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Jan Mocka
Producer, director, writer,
Mocka Monitor
Jan Mocka is a producer / director / writer from Berlin, Germany. He worked as Junior Producer producing commercials, music videos as well as TV content, short film projects and studied “Film Production” at the renowned “Film University Babelsberg KONRAD WOLF” in Potsdam-Babelsberg. When he was 21 years old in 2011, he produced the short film “Average” by Isabel Prahl which premiered at the Hofer Film Tage the same year. Among others, it was also shown at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2012 and the Festival International du Court Métrage à Clermont-Ferrand 2012. It went on to win the German newcomer’s award “First Steps” in 2012 and was also nominated for “Best Editing” at the “Deutscher Kamerapreis”. His graduation feature film “Meteorstrasse” by Aline Fischer opened the section “Perspektive Deutscher Film” at the 66th Berlinale 2016. Jan holds a bachelor degree in “Film Production” since 2016.
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Jan Mojto
CEO,
Beta Film (World Sales)
Jan Mojto, born in 1948, is an international film producer and distributor. The core of his corporate group is Beta Film, which, in addition to producing and coproducing national and international film and TV productions, handles more than 15,000 hours of program, making it one of the world’s largest distributors for television, HV and new media. The corporate group, which includes Beta Cinema, Kineos and the classical music label Unitel, also has stakes in many national and international production companies as well as special interest channels. Born in Slovakia, Mojto left for the West in the 70s and started his career at the KirchGroup, where he was responsible for the program sector for 14 years until 2001. He was member of numerous supervisory boards such as Mediaset/Italy, Gestevisión Telecinco/Spain and ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG and from 1994 – 2002 president of the ACT – Association of Commercial Television in Europe.
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Ingo Monitor
Director, producer, writer,
Mocka Monitor
Ingo Monitor is a director / producer / writer from Cologne, Germany. In 2000, Ingo attended the “New York Film Academy” in Los Angeles to study acting for film. When he returned to Germany in 2001, he started working as a photographer while studying “New Artistic Media” at the “Academy of Arts and Design Saar” and went on to study “Directing for Film” at the “Academy of Media Arts” in Cologne from 2003 to 2008. He graduated with his short film “Eni” (2009) which received a grant from the “Film- und Medienstiftung NRW”. It was screened at several international festivals in Europe and overseas between 2009 and 2010. In 2009, “Eni” received an Honorary Mention at the 56th International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and won the Audience Award at the 7th Filmfest Düsseldorf.
He worked as a producer and editor for productions of almost every major German TV station and, alongside his co-workers, received the “German Television Award” in 2010. Ingo holds a degree in “Directing for Film” since 2008.
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John Morayniss
Co-president, film, television and digital ,
Entertainment One
John Morayniss (Co-president, film, television and digital, Entertainment One) oversees all aspects of eOne’s film, television and digital activities on a global basis. In television, the company’s current lineup of original and acquired content now consists of over 40 series and long-form programs commissioned by over 20 different broadcast and cable networks, including the mega-hit The Walking Dead and its companion series Fear The Walking Dead, Designated Survivor from The Mark Gordon Company; ICE, You Met Her and Rogue for DIRECTV, and the upcoming Sharp Objects, starring Amy Adams for HBO; Mary Kills People for LIFETIME/CORUS; Ransom from executive producer Frank Spotnitz for CBS/CORUS/TF1/RTL; FOREIGN BODIES for E4/HULU; CARDINAL starring Billy Campbell for CTV/HULU; and Havana starring Antonio Banderas for STARZ, among many others.
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David Morrissey
Actor, director,
Hakon Moslet
Head of TV & executive producer,
NRK's Youth Department & Skame/Shame
Håkon Moslet is the head of television at NRKs Youth Department. For the last couple of years, he´s been the executive producer for several innovative and award-winning TV concepts in Norway, both factual and fiction. The drama series SKAM became a massive hit among Scandinavian teenagers during 2016. It has also become quite an international cult phenomenon, with fans across the globe, and now remakes being produced for several European territories. In the United States, Facebook will publish the American remake next year.
Håkon is focused on cost-effective drama productions for a young target group. In order to achieve innovation, he is convinced you must break some written rules.
Stephen Mowbray
Head of international,
SVT
Rachel Nelson
Director of original content,
Corus Entertainment
Rachel Nelson is director of original content for drama, kids and factual at Corus Entertainment. In this role, Rachel leads a multi-platform strategy of the company’s scripted drama, kids and factual programming in both production and development. Rachel manages a team overseeing 250 hours of content for several of the company’s national cable channels including History, Showcase, W, YTV, Teletoon and Treehouse as well as the main conventional network Global Television. With deep relationships in television and digital content, Rachel has left an indelible mark on dozens of award-winning, top-rated shows in Canada, the U.S. and abroad.
With two decades of experience in the Media industry, Rachel has also held the position of director, original scripted content, at Shaw Media. As executive in charge of production for the prime time series, Rookie Blue, she brought in top ratings for Global and ABC. After six successful seasons Rookie Blue is, to date, the longest running Canadian show with a U.S. network partner. In addition to being a long-time broadcast executive, Rachel spent several years in the independent production sector. She has experience both in production on the studio floor as well as in development, working closely with creators overseeing concepts to bring to market.
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Nadine Nonn
R.,
Mentored by: Anna Winger, Screenwriter and novelist
R. –
Scrambling for change, stolen credit cards, forgotten passports – all of those things have become part of the past, thanks to the globally implanted microchip, which contains all your personal and financial information.
JADE, our protagonist, works for the company that so kindly brought us this invention: ID. She is troubled by a recurring nightmare, in which a man begs her to remember. When not much later her best friend goes missing as well, Jade starts to follow clues that lead her down a dark rabbit hole, till she arrives at an underground group named R., whose every member has lost someone during a suicide bombing that was covered up by the government. It did so by “deleting” the event from peoples’ memories (using the microchip).
Jade lost her husband MARC. This realization leads her to get increasingly involved with the group. She starts to spy on her own company and uses ID’s resources to help unveil what the government is doing. Her growing involvement and the returning memory of her past, however, start to influence her personal life, as she struggles to hold on to her current relationship, and reality in general.
Jeff Norton
Founder ,
Awesome
Jeff Norton is an author, writer-producer, and founder of Awesome, a creative incubator and above-the-line production company. He is the author of the award-winning ‘MetaWars’ novels (Hachette) and ‘Keeping The Beat.’ (KCP Loft/Hachette) and the upcoming period thriller, ‘Looking Glass.’ Jeff is also the creator of the super-natural thriller ‘Woodland’, in development with Fiction Factory Films for UK broadcaster S4C. He’s also the writer/creator of contemporary drama ‘Expat’ for Monumental Television.
Before writing full time, Jeff was Senior Vice President at Chorion Ltd where he managed literary estates and acquired and developed new IP. Previously, Jeff held various positions in Hollywood, including Silver Pictures, Regent Entertainment, The Jim Henson Company, and lean forward media where he produced the award-winning ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ interactive movie featuring William H. Macy & Frankie Muniz. Jeff started his entertainment career by pushing a mail cart at ICM. Jeff studied Film at Queen’s University in Canada and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.
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Steve November
Creative director,
Lionsgate, UK TV
Steve began his career as a runner, production assistant and assistant director across a variety of music promos and commercials before making the move into drama on the first series of Sky 1’s Dream Team in 1997. After two series of Dream Team and spells on Hollyoaks and Brookside, he graduated to script and story editor of Dream Team Series 3.
Leaving Dream Team in 2000, Steve joined Yorkshire Television as story editor of Emmerdale. He became series producer in 2001, leading the BAFTA winning soap for four years and producing over 1100 episodes. After Emmerdale, Steve stayed with Yorkshire TV to produce ratings-winning hospital drama The Royal before joining Granada TV in 2005 as series producer of Coronation Street. He lead the show from 2005-2008, producing over 550 episodes.
In 2008 Steve moved from production to network, becoming head of continuing drama for ITV Channels with responsibility for a slate of up to twenty shows in production and development of new shows. In 2013 he became director of drama, ITV Channels, where he oversaw the full slate of drama production and development and commissioned hit shows including Victoria, The Durrells, Cold Feet, Marcella, Grantchester, Unforgotten, Good Karma Hospital, Cilla, Little Boy Blue, Prey and The Lost Honour of Christopher Jeffries.
Leaving ITV in 2016, Steve returned to production as creative director, Lionsgate UK TV.
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Katie O’Connell Marsh
CEO,
Platform One Media
For the past 20 years, Katie O’Connell Marsh has held senior management positions covering all aspects of entertainment television programming. Katie is currently CEO of Platform One Media – a television production and distribution studio backed by TPG and Liberty Global. Prior to Platform One Media, Katie was CEO at Gaumont Television, where she was responsible for launching the studio operation from the ground up in 2010. While there, she developed/produced leading series, including the Golden Globe nominated series Narcos, as well as Hannibal, Hemlock Grove, and F is For Family.
In 2015, Katie was recognized in Variety’s Women’s Impact Report, and in 2014, she was recognized in The Hollywood Reporter’s Top 100 Power Women in Entertainment.
Prior to 2010, Katie spent four years at NBC Entertainment where opened the NBC NYC development office and was tapped as Senior Vice President, New York Development. Among the projects Katie developed were the Emmy Award-winning comedy series 30 Rock and Lipstick Jungle. In 2008, Katie was promoted to Executive Vice President, Drama Programming. Katie’s team oversaw series including Heroes, Law & Order: SVU, ER, and Friday Night Lights.
Katie came to NBC from Imagine Television where she was Executive Vice President of Development and Current Programming where developed numerous comedy and drama projects, including the Emmy Award-winning Arrested Development, which was named Outstanding Comedy Series in 2005.
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Francesca Orsi
EVP, co-head of drama programming,
HBO
Francesca Orsi is co-head, HBO drama series, for Home Box Office, responsible for developing and overseeing the production of original drama series. She was named to this position in June 2016. Orsi currently oversees the series Vinyl and The Leftovers along with the upcoming HBO miniseries Big Little Lies. Her recent projects include Terence Winter’s Emmy®-winning Boardwalk Empire, Emmy® and Golden Globe® nominated drama Big Love and the acclaimed comedy Getting On. In the past, she was involved with the Emmy® and Golden Globe®-winning dramas True Blood, In Treatment and Tell Me You Love Me. Orsi joined HBO in 2003 as an executive assistant to the head of drama. She was named a creative associative in 2005 and rose through the ranks from manager, HBO Entertainment (now HBO Programming) and later director, development, HBO Entertainment in 2008 to vice president, HBO Entertainment, in 2011 and most recently senior vice president, HBO Programming in 2014. Prior to HBO, she worked as an agent trainee at Paradigm, and the then William Morris Agency. She earned a M.F.A. in Film & Teleplay Writing at the University of Southern California.
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Henrik Pabst
Managing director,
Red Arrow International
Henrik leads Red Arrow International, the Group’s TV distribution division across scripted, factual and formatted shows. The company is also a major co-producer of global entertainment.
Henrik previously led the company’s international format acquisitions, before becoming Deputy MD, and then Joint MD of the company responsible for Global Format & Factual Distribution. He took over sole responsibility for the company in November 2014.
Prior to joining Red Arrow in 2011, Henrik worked for IMG Media as Vice President of Entertainment and Business Development for the German, Austrian, Swiss, and Benelux markets. He has also worked in TV production and development, particularly within the areas of sports, formats and non-fiction, including Head of Production and Editorial at Tonix Pictures and a producer at H5B5 Media in Munich.
Henrik is on the board of Red Arrow Entertainment Group.
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Charlie Pattinson
CEO,
New Pictures
Charlie Pattinson set up New Pictures in April 2013 and is the CEO of the company. New Pictures has produced Golden Globe and BAFTA nominated series The Missing, an 8 hour Thriller Series (BBC1 and Starz) starring Tcheky Karyo, Jimmy Nesbitt and Frances O’Connor. The Missing 2, starring David Morrisey and Keeley Hawes aired in 2016 to critical acclaim. New Pictures has also produced two series of Indian Summers, a 10 hour returning series (Channel 4 and WGBH) starring Julie Waters. Indian Summers was Channel 4’s highest rating drama launch for 20 years. In the last year, New Pictures productions have included crime thriller series Rellik (6 x 60’) for BBC One and Cinemax, supernatural drama Requiem (6 x 60’) for BBC One and Netflix, and The Innocents (8 x 60’); a shape-shifting love story for Netflix Originals.
New Pictures was acquired by All3Media in December 2015.Prior to his work at New Pictures Charlie set up Company Pictures with George Faber in 1998 and grew it into one of the UK’s largest Independent Television and Film Drama production companies.
Charlie’s Producer and Executive Producer credits include Our Friends In The North (BAFTA and RTS awards), The Lakes (BAFTA award), Elizabeth 1 (Three Golden Globes), ten series of Shameless (C4 – numerous BAFTA and RTS awards), seven series of Wild At Heart (ITV), seven series of Skins (BAFTA and RTS awards), seven series of George Gently Films (BBC1), The Life and Death of Peter Sellers for HBO (2 Golden Globes, 15 Emmys), The Devils Whore (RTS awards), The Take (Sky) starring Tom Hardy, The Runaway (Sky), The Shadow Line (BBC1),The Village (BBC1) and The White Queen (BBC1 and Starz).
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Cathy Payne
CEO,
Endemol Shine International
Cathy has held the position of chief executive of Endemol Shine International since March 2015. Prior to the merger of Endemol Group and Shine Group, Cathy was the chief executive of Endemol Worldwide Distribution since June 2009.
Formerly Cathy was chief executive of Southern Star International for nine years and grew the division to become one of the largest distributors of English language programming outside of the Hollywood Studios. Cathy worked with Southern Star for over 20 years, having sold television programming in all major international markets and in the process has established an invaluable network of global contacts within the industry.
Cathy is responsible for the overall management of the Endemol Shine International business which operates from London, Los Angeles, Miami, Sydney, Moscow, Mumbai and Singapore.
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Jamie Payne
Co-executive producer,
The Alienist
Before becoming a Director and Producer, Jamie trained as an actor and worked with a number of leading experimental theatre companies. Jamie’s work as a director in television has seen him direct some of the UK’s most popular drama series including Ashes to Ashes, Doctor Who and a number of critically acclaimed, award winning series including The Hour, The White Queen, Suspicion and The Driver. Jamie has recently been working as a Producing Director and Executive Producer on Legends for Fox21 and TNT and The White Princess for Starz. Jamie is a Co Executive producer and Director on Paramount//Anonymous Content/ TNTs drama series ‘The Alienist’ which will be aired in January 2018.
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James Payne
Creator,
The Window
James Payne is an experienced screenwriter who has written for some of the best known and well-loved dramas of the last decade. His credits include MR SELFRIDGE, THE MUSKETEERS, DEATH IN PARADISE, ASHES TO ASHES and HUSTLE. In 2016 he co-created and wrote Sky 1 adventure series HOOTEN & THE LADY, which also aired in the US on The CW Network. In 2015 he wrote the showpiece live episode for EASTENDERS 30th Anniversary week, which won audiences in excess of 20m as well as the 2016 BAFTA.
In 2011, James travelled to Beirut, Lebanon to create the world’s first Arabic webdrama. SHANKABOOT ran for five series and won both Reflet D’or at the Geneva Film Festival and the International Digital EMMY® for fiction.
Louise Pedersen
CEO,
all3media international
Louise Pedersen returned to lead all3media international as CEO in 2016 after spending 18 months as managing director of drama production company Playground Television. Prior to this she spent 11 years at all3media international as Managing Director, having started her career as Assistant Sales Executive (Scandinavia) in international programme sales at Central TV. During her time in the distribution industry Louise has sat on PACT Council, mentored for Nesta and been part of Skillset’s industry training programmes.
all3media international distributes over 9,500 hours of programming. It is one of the UK’s leading independent distributors and works closely with the production industry to develop, finance and distribute programmes across a wide range of scripted and unscripted titles. The company is twice winner of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise: International Trade in 2009 and 2014.
In 2016 all3media international opened overseas offices in Singapore and New York and under Louise’s leadership the company has continued to expand its investment into programming, particularly in the premium content scripted space. Recent US co-production deals include Liar with AMC Sundance, National Treasure with Hulu and upcoming new titles Collateral with Netflix and White Dragon with Amazon. 2017 has also seen all3media international expanding its non-scripted business, relaunching the successful format Cash Cab, investing in upcoming BBC entertainment show Wedding Day Winners and launching award-winning formats such as Gogglebox and Undercover Boss in new markets in Asia
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Pilar Perez Roel
Head of acquisitions ,
DCD Rights
Pilar Perez Roel is head of acquisitions at DCD Rights and is responsible for all acquisitions with a particular focus on drama.
Pilar works with producers and broadcast partners to find, develop and invest in drama programming that has international appeal. Recent examples are Deep Water, Striking Out, Jack Irish, Rake, Romper Stomper, The Slap and the thriller Acceptable Risk, currently premiering on RTE. She is responsible for a new slate of projects at various stages of development, finance and production.
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Greg Phillips
President of distribution,
Kew Media Group
Charged with heading up Kew Media Group’s distribution arm, Greg is responsible for driving the growth of the company globally. Overseeing all programme development, acquisitions, sales, and marketing strategies across all media and genres, Greg directs the distribution of a diverse library of programming approaching 10,000 hours.
Prior to joining Kew Media Group in 1999 [then called Fireworks Entertainment, and subsequently Content Media Corporation], Greg headed up Worldwide TV Distribution for Southern Star, Australia’s leading producer and distributor of television programming. Greg started his career at the former EMI Films Ltd, selling movies and TV shows including Murder On The Orient Express, The Deerhunter, and The Avengers. He has also held senior positions including President, Worldwide Distribution at MTM International; Managing Director, Europe at CBS Broadcast International, and Director of International Theatrical Sales at Goldcrest Film and TV.
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Eduardo Piagge
Executive producer and cinematographer,
Boutique Filmes
A graduate of the Universidade de São Paulo, with a BA in journalism, he began his career as a DP shooting short and feature documentaries, among which Marcelo Machado’s Tropicália stands out. He started working in TV shooting Dr. Drauzio Varella’s documentary series for Rede Globo. Since then, he has worked in several projects for the main FTA and pay television channels, such as Discovery Channel, Universal Channel, Cartoon Network, GNT, FOX. For HBO, he created and shot the documentary series A Grande Luta. He was recently the DP and executive producer of the series Gigantes do Brasil (History Channel), the biggest original production in the history of the channel. He is the cinematographer of the first Netflix original series in Brazil, 3%.
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Moritz Polter
Executive producer international TV series,
Bavaria Fiction
As Executive Producer International Television Series, Moritz Polter is responsible for Bavaria Fiction’s international co-production slate. Recently named among Variety’s Top 10 Global Creatives to Watch, Moritz leads the creation, development and funding for series such as “Das Boot” (Sky/Sonar Entertainment), “Deutsch-Les-Landes” (Deutsche Telekom/Amazon Prime Video France), Freud (Netflix/ORF), and “Arctic Circle” (Elisa Viihde/YLE).
Previously Moritz Polter spent nine years with Tandem Productions (formerly Tandem Communications), ultimately as Vice President of Production. In this capacity he supervised numerous outstanding productions, including the internationally successful TV series Crossing Lines, starring Donald Sutherland and William Fichtner, and the critically acclaimed Spotless, a CANAL+ Création Originale series.
Moritz Polter graduated from King Alfred’s College in Winchester, England in Business, Media and Film Studies.
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Michael Prupas
Executive producer & CEO ,
Muse Entertainment Enterprises
Emmy Award-nominated Michael Prupas is a 35-year veteran of the Canadian and international film and television industries. A former entertainment attorney, Prupas launched Muse Entertainment Enterprises in 1998 and Muse Distribution International in 2000. Muse Entertainment has become a major production house with facilities in Montreal, Los Angeles, Toronto and Vancouver and is known around the world for its high-quality, award-winning television programs.
Michael Prupas is best known for executive producing The Kennedys and The Pillars of the Earth, both multiple Emmy Award-winning, event miniseries. He is also known as an expert in international co-productions and has executive produced the award-winning miniseries Answered by Fire, Human Trafficking, Ben Hur and The Flood.
He most recently executive produced the dramatic series Bellevue, starring Anna Paquin and Allen Leech; the 4-hour event miniseries The Kennedys: After Camelot; the 6-hour event series Tut, starring Ben Kingsley for Spike TV; and several Hallmark TV movie wheels including The Gourmet Detective Mysteries, The Aurora Teagarden Mysteries, Lost Letter Mysteries (also known as Signed, Sealed Delivered), Fixer Upper Mysteries and Emma Fielding Mysteries.
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Frédérik Rangé
Director of acquisitions,
Lagardère Studios Distribution
Frédérik Rangé is Director of Acquisitions of Lagardère Studios Distribution. He is working closely with independent producers around the world, to develop and finance new projects through co-development, co-production or distribution deals.
Before joining Lagardère Studios, he founded and was CEO of The Box Distribution from 2006 to 2014 and was Managing Director of AB International Distribution from 1996 to 2006.
Virginia Rankin
Executive producer,
Sphere Media Plus
Virginia Rankin is the executive producer on English-language productions for SPHÈRE MÉDIA PLUS. For Sphere, Virginia has executive produced two seasons of THIS LIFE, the English adaptation of Nouvelle Adresse, which was nominated for Best Series at the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards. As well, she has completed four seasons of Bell/Bravo’s original drama series 19-2, winner of the 2016 Canadian Screen Award for Best Dramatic Series and nominated for an International Emmy for Best Drama Series. Most recently Virginia was EP on Bad Blood, for Rogers/CityTV, based on the life of notorious Montreal mafia boss, Vito Rizutto. Previously, Virginia was Executive Creative Consultant on Flashpoint (CTV/CBS/ION), and Consulting Producer on Hard Rock Medical (TVO/APTN). Virginia has developed projects with CBC, CTV/Bell Media, Shaw Media, Rogers/CityTV, APTN, Fox Television Studios and EntertainmentOne. She has supervised over 300 hours of broadcast television as a producer and production executive.
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Alexandra Rapaport
Executive producer and co-creator,
Heder
Alexandra has in recent years played the lead role in successful TV series such as “The Sandhamn Murders” and “Gåsmamman,” her role in the latter winning her the Best Actress prize at Sweden’s most prestigious television awards ceremony, Kristallen, in September 2017. As Executive Producer she was fully involved in the creative process on each season of Gåsmamman, from shaping the scripts, to casting, to editing. She has starred in international co-productions such as “The Team” and in Thomas Winterberg’s critically acclaimed and award-winning feature film “Jakten”, the family movie “Lassemajas detektivbyrå – Stella Nostra” and in the TV movie version of Hanne Vibeke Holsts novels “Kronprinsessan”, “Kungamordet” and “Drottningoffret”. Alexandra has also acted in a number of successful plays at the Royal Dramatical Theather (where she made her debut in 2002) and at Kulturhuset Stadsteatern and Uppsala Stadsteater.
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Lila Rawlings
Executive producer,
Left Bank Pictures
Lila is an executive producer at Left Bank Pictures. In 2017 she Exec’d the 5 UK episodes of Philip K Dick’s Electric Dreams for Channel 4, Sony Pictures and Channel 4. In 2016/2017 Lila also Exec’d Oasis, a pilot for Amazon Studios based on Michel Faber’s The Book of Strange New Things. and Dark River, a feature film written and directed by Clio Barnard. Previously she was part of the creative team at Film4 where she worked on a number of films including The Selfish Giant, Shame and The Deep Blue Sea. Lila is a guest tutor at London International Film School and for the Arvon Foundation.
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Chris Rice
Co-president,
Endeavor Content
Chris Rice is co-president of Endeavor Content, a division of global entertainment leader Endeavor (formerly WME | IMG).
Rice and his partner Graham Taylor oversee strategy and operations for Endeavor Content which finances, packages and sells over 100 feature films and television series a year. In film recent projects include five of the nine films nominated for Best Picture at the 2017 Academy Awards: “Arrival,” “Fences,” “Hell or High Water,” “La La Land” and “Manchester by the Sea.” In television they include Emmy and Golden-Globe winning drama “The Night Manager,” the Emmy-nominated programs “Chef’s Table” and “The Young Pope,” the critically acclaimed “Top of the Lake: China Girl,” global hit “The Grand Tour,” Beau Willimon’s new series “The First,” and Damien Chazelle’s upcoming project “The Eddy.”
Prior to the formation of Endeavor Content, Rice was a partner at WME | IMG where he helped build WME’s international television group and oversaw entertainment financing and sales for IMG.
Before joining WME | IMG Rice was Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Cinnamon Entertainment a financing, production and sales company for television series including the “Ironman” television spin-off with Marvel Entertainment. Rice also acted as an advisor to multiple media and distribution businesses and was part of the investment team at Creative Capital Fund, a venture capital fund focused on media investments.
Rice is currently a board member of BAFTA in Los Angeles and is Co-Chairman of its Television Committee. Rice received an MBA with distinction from London Business School.
Chris earned his MBA (with distinction) from the London Business School.
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Jens Richter
CEO,
FremantleMedia International
Jens Richter is chief executive officer, FremantleMedia International (FMI). He oversees the global distribution of FremantleMedia’s finished programming and home entertainment catalogue, manage the sales and acquisitions teams across the US, UK, EMEA, Asia and Australia and to drive FMI’s content acquisition strategy.
Since joining the business, Richter has built and strengthened FMI’s slate, particularly in drama, and has driven activity in the co-financing and co-production space. He oversaw the deal for US network, Sundance, to become co-production partner for UFA Fiction’s Deutschland ’83, which doubled the slot on the channel, and secured the global roll out of FremantleMedia North America’s first scripted title The Returned, a co-production with A&E Studios, through an international distribution deal with Netflix.
Richter joined the business from Red Arrow where he was group director and MD of Red Arrow Entertainment Group (RAEG). He was instrumental in building RAEG into a global production and distribution group, packaging, co-financing and facilitating Red Arrow’s UK and US scripted slate for the international market, including the global rollout of formats The Taste and Off Their Rockers, which became hits on US networks ABC and NBC respectively. Richter was also MD of Red Arrow International (RAI), a business he built from scratch and turned into an international distribution house. He was responsible for packaging and co-financing drama series, overall representation deals and extended the business into the digital space.
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Sally Riley
Head of scripted production,
ABC TV
Prior to her current role, Sally was the Manager of ABC’s Indigenous Department for 6 years. Over that period she has been integral to the development of Indigenous Australian content. Sally has been responsible for developing and commissioning ground breaking prime-time drama series including, Cleverman, Redfern Now, Gods of Wheat Street, 8MMM Aboriginal Radio and sketch comedy series Black Comedy. Sally was also responsible for developing and overseeing the production of a significant body of short films, documentaries and feature films, as she fostered the development of a new generation of exciting new Indigenous filmmakers as Head of Indigenous at Screen Australia. An experienced filmmaker, Sally’s film, Confessions of a Headhunter, won the AFI Award for Best Short Film in 2000. A member of the Wiradjuri nation, Sally was awarded the Australian Public Service Medal in 2008 for her services to the development of initiatives that have increased the participation of Indigenous Australians in the film and television industry. In February 2011, Sally was awarded the Cecil Holmes Award from the Australian Directors Guild (ADG) for her ongoing career support and facilitation of Indigenous film and television directors.
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Paul Roberts
The Bloody North,
Mentored by: Bryan Elsley, MD & writer, Balloon Entertainment
The Bloody North-
Roberta returns to her childhood home to reconnect with her estranged daughter, police the crime-ridden valleys, and seek revenge on those responsible for the murder of her father thirty years ago.
Tracey Robertson
CEO,
Hoodlum
Tracey Robertson is the chief executive officer of Hoodlum, an Emmy® and BAFTA Award winning Entertainment Company she co-founded with Nathan Mayfield. As CEO, Tracey oversees Hoodlum Television, connecting with networks and studios to produce scripted content in Australia, the United States, and the UK. Tracey currently resides in Los Angeles where she’s been the head of Hoodlum’s US office for the past four years. Tracey manages Hoodlum’s US and International slate and has completed production of Seasons 1 and 2 of SECRETS AND LIES, a 10 part series for ABC Network starring Juliette Lewis, based on the Australian 6-part series created by Stephen M Irwin, as well as the FOX pilot STRANGE CALLS, a remake of Hoodlum’s 2012 series THE STRANGE CALLS. Hoodlum is currently in production on Harrow, a 10 part series for the ABC Australia and ABC Studios International and is due to go into production on Tidelands for Netflix, a 10 part series which is Netflix’s first Australian original. Robertson is a member of BAFTA, the International Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). She was recently recognised as an outstanding alumni and made an adjunct professor of creative industries at the Queensland University of Technology.
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Fanny Rondeau
Director of fiction,
France 2
Since 1997 Fanny Rondeau has devoted herself to TV fiction and became an artistic manager at Tanais Films, then from 1999 to 2003 an artistic producer at Pathé TV and from 2003 to 2005 at Gema Productions. She joins France 2 in 2005 as a program advisor within the fiction department. Furthermore, from 2005 to 2007 she is responsible for international coproductions and represents France Télévisions in the EBU and other institutions. She is in charge of many series, mini-series, TV movies including Fais fais pas ci, Fais pas ça , Les petits meurtres d’Agatha Christie and, most recently, Dix pour cent. Since late August 2016, she is Director of Fiction at France 2.
From 1994 to 1996, she worked in an audiovisual consulting firm Initiative Film, specialized in artistic and production support of TV projects, film and animation.
Fanny graduated in communication and human resources section of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris (1992) and obtained a Master of Political Science in Political Sociology at the Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne University (1993).
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Kim Rossi Stuart
Actor,
Andy Ryan
Co-head of drama,
Nine Network Australia
Andy Ryan is Co-head of drama for the Nine Network where he oversees the development, commissioning and production of the network’s Australian drama output.
Since his appointment in 2011, Andy has commissioned over 190 hours of prime-time drama across 25 titles, as well as more than 200 hours of original children’s drama. He was also Executive producer for the original drama series Wolf Creek and No Activity on Australian SVOD platform STAN.
Recent commissions include the top-rating series Doctor Doctor (series 1-2), Love Child (series 1-4), House Husbands (series 1-5) as well telemovies, narrative comedy and three seasons of the critically acclaimed Underbelly franchise. In children’s drama, Andy has commissioned over twelve series including Dennis & Gnasher, The Day My Butt Went Psycho, Skinner Boys, Heidi and Pirate Express.
Prior to joining Nine as Script Executive in 2006, Andy was a script producer and writer with extensive credits including Home & Away, All Saints and McLeod’s Daughters.
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Hilary Salmon
Executive producer,
BBC Studios
Hilary became an executive producer for the BBC in 1998 and has been responsible for titles as diverse as To the Ends of the Earth starring Benedict Cumberbatch, The Long Firm starring Mark Strong and Byron starring Johnny Lee Miller. Her shows Shoot the Messenger, Eroica and Criminal Justice all won the prestigious Prix Italia. Hilary’s iconic show Criminal Justice (now reworked by HBO as the hit series The Night of) also won both the Bafta and the Broadcast Award for Best Mini-Series, the International Emmy and RTS for Best Actor for Ben Wishaw and the Bafta Writer’s Award for Peter Moffat.
Hilary has co-produced shows with American network HBO: Five Days and House of Saddam, which won the Grierson Award. Since her HBO success, Hilary has been responsible for the thrillers Inside Men, Undercover and One Child and three series of the hugely popular legal series Silk starring Maxine Peake and Rupert Penry-Jones. Recently Hilary was Executive Producer of the highly acclaimed BBC1 drama THREE GIRLS about the victims of the Rochdale grooming scandal. She is currently Executive Producer on Tom Rob Smith’s ambitious new thriller for BBC2, MotherFatherSon.
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Miguel Salvat
Commissioning editor of original programming,
HBO España
Miguel Salvat is Commissioning editor of original programming for HBO España, with responsibility for HBO Europe’s local original production activities in Spain.
Salvat started his television career at WBZ-TV Boston, returning to Spain to join Canal+, where he was a producer and part of the team that successfully launched pay television in Spain in 1990.
After a period as General manager of the Paramount Comedy Channel he returned to Canal+ as director of content. In 2010 he was appointed director of premium channels and services for Movistar+.
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Luis Santamaría
Executive producer and director,
Boomerang TV
Luis Santamaría is a Spanish executive producer and director. He has directed many shows for different companies since 2005. In BoomerangTV he has worked as executive producer and director for shows such as The Secret of Old Bridge, Física o Química, Toledo or Acacias 38. Luis is currently developing a new prime time tv series that will air in 2018 on TVE.
Jessica K. Scott
Director, content development,
Hulu
Jessica Kumai Scott is a development executive on the Hulu Originals team, where she oversees the development of original series with a specific focus on all of Hulu’s co-productions. Since starting at Hulu over four years ago, Jessica has led the development efforts for a slate of original series that includes the Emmy Amward-winning drama series The Handmaid’s Tale; Harlots, a co-production with Monumental Pictures; The Path, a drama series from Universal Television and Jason Katims’ True Jack Productions starring Aaron Paul, Michelle Monaghan and Hugh Dancy; 11.22.63, an event series executive produced by J.J. Abrams based on the best-selling book by Stephen King starring James Franco; and the Peabody Award winning National Treasure. She is also the development lead for Hulu on Hard Sun, a one-hour drama series in association with the BBC starring Jim Sturgess (One Day, Cloud Atlas) and Agyness Deyn (Sunset Song).
Before branching into digital television, Jessica worked in feature films for production companies with projects including No Strings Attached and World War Z. Originally from Seattle, Washington, Jessica received her BA from Stanford University, followed by an MFA in film from University of Southern California.
Nicola Shindler
Executive producer,
RED Production Company
Nicola Shindler set up RED Production Company in 1998 to work with the best writers on original television drama.
The Manchester-based indie, with Nicola at its helm, has since produced some of the UK’s most popular and award-winning series, working with esteemed writers including Russell T Davies, Harlan Coben, Bill Gallagher, Danny Brocklehurst and Sally Wainwright.
Nicola’s credits include multi BAFTA award-winning and critically acclaimed Happy Valley and Last Tango In Halifax, Lenny Henry’s first screenplay Danny and the Human Zoo, Dan Sefton’s Trust Me, Danny Brocklehurst’s ratings-winning dramas Ordinary Lies and The Driver, Bill Gallagher’s Paranoid and Russell T Davies ambitious and acclaimed trilogy Cucumber, Banana and Tofu.
Most recently Nicola has set up a US production company, Final Twist, with international bestselling author Harlan Coben having worked together on the acclaimed original Sky1 drama The Five.
Projects currently in production include Harlan Coben’s Safe which stars Michael C Hall and Amanda Abbington and Come Home, a three part series for the BBC, written by Danny Brocklehurst.
RED Production Company became part of STUDIOCANAL’s international production network.
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Mikko Silvennoinen
Independent media entrepreneur,
Lover
Mikko Silvennoinen is an independent media entrepreneur and a story consultant on ‘Lover.’ During his career as a journalist, producer and television executive he has worked for every major commercial broadcaster in Finland. His commissions include original drama Villa Helena (Zodiak/Nelonen Finland), scripted format Easy Living (Moskito-DRG/TV3 Estonia) and the revamp of popular daily soap ”Kodu reset Linna” for MTG’s TV3. Mikko’s current projects include the launch of Viafree, a standalone Finnish AVOD, producing YouTubers’ event Tubecon and content marketing projects for media agency Dagmar (Starcom). He is also Finland’s commentator at Eurovision Song Contest annually.
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Kari Skogland
Director & showrunner,
Award-winning director and showrunner Kari Skogland is CEO of Mad Rabbit, a joint venture between her and Red Arrow Entertainment Group. As CEO, Skogland is committed to producing high-end one-hour dramas for the international market for the company, which launched in Spring 2016.
Named by Hollywood Reporter as one of its “Ten Directors to Watch” for her debut as writer-director of Liberty Stands Still, Skogland has since become one of the world’s most prolific female directors of one-hour dramas and feature films.
Skogland’s television credits include The Handmaid’s Tale (Hulu), The Borgia’s and Penny Dreadful (Showtime), Boardwalk Empire (HBO), The Killing, The Walking Dead and Fear of the Walking Dead (AMC), Under the Dome (CBS), Vikings (History), Power-Starring 50 Cent (Starz), The Americans (FX), House of Cards and The Punisher (Netflix), and the upcoming Condor (Audience) and many more. Most recently, Skogland directed Sons of Liberty, a 6-part event miniseries for which she won the Directors Guild of Canada (DCG) award for best director of a television miniseries.
As a feature film writer, director and producer, Skogland’s film Fifty Dead Men Walking, starring Sir Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess and Rose McGowan, premiered at a gala at Toronto International Film Festival. The film won the Canadian Screen Award for Best Adapted Screenplay and was nominated for an additional six awards including Best Film. It also won Best Feature Drama at the Leo Awards. Additionally, Skogland was recognized by the DCG for Best Director. Her previous film as director, writer and producer was the Stone Angel, starring Ellen Burstyn and Ellen Page, which was nominated for Best Director, best writer by WGC and Best Film by the DCG, Best Screenplay by WGC and Best Actress.
For her body of work, Skogland was honored at the BIRKS-TELEFIM 2015 Diamond Tribute to Women in Film. She has also worked for many years advocating with the DGA and DGC on behalf of women directors.
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Bruce M. Smith
Producer and writer,
Bruce M. Smith was most recently Showrunner of CTV’s award winning 19-2 for it’s four season run. Prior to that he was showrunner for CRACKED (CBC). Bruce has worked as a
writer/producer on numerous dramas, including DURHAM COUNTY
(HBO CANADA). Bruce has also penned multiple award-winning MOWs and Mini-Series including JOHN A: BIRTH OF A COUNTRY, THE SLEEP ROOM, PRAIRIE GIANT: THE TOMMY DOUGLAS STORY (all CBC) and THE INVESTIGATION (CTV). The first three seasons
of 19-2 have earned more than 30 CSA nominations, including wins for Best Leading Actor (for both leads) and Best Dramatic Series (2016), when it was also nominated for an International Emmy Award in the same category. As a writer Bruce also won a CSA for JOHN A: BIRTH OF A COUNTRY (2013) and is a three time WGC Award winner. He was the 2015 WGC Showrunner of the Year.
Richard Speer
President,
Attraction Média
With a business (B.A.A.) and a law degree (LL.B) in hand, Richard Speer founded Attraction in 2002. Today the head of a leading Canadian company with recognized expertise in storytelling (television, film, digital), advertising, distribution, radio stations and web publishing – Richard Speer undeniably possesses the qualities of inspirational leaders who surround themselves with passionate talents to build visionary companies.
He made his entry into the Quebec media and entertainment industry in 1999 by joining Jet Films, a prodco specialized in producing 30 second spots for ad agencies. Richard Speer quickly demonstrated his considerable abilities as a president and as a producer with an innovative vision that allowed him to unite talent and content from various disciplines under one roof eventually leading to the creation of Attraction Media in 2002.
Having produced over 3000 advertising campaigns for such major companies as Nike, Coca-Cola, Volkswagen and Bell Canada; over 6,000 hours of television content; over 20 feature films; over 50 digital projects, operating 15 radio stations in Quebec and having a digital reach of over 160M pages viewed per month, Attraction Media occupies a unique positioning in Canada’s media and entertainment landscape.
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Frank Spotnitz
Executive producer and CEO,
Big Light Productions
Award-winning writer and producer Spotnitz founded Big Light Productions, a London-based production company, in 2013. Their high-end drama productions include Amazon’s Emmy award-winning The Man in the High Castle and three seasons of Medici for Netflix and Rai. Their latest drama series Leonardo was co-created and written by Spotnitz, and co-produced by Big Light Productions and Lux Vide, for Rai and Amazon Prime.
Big Light is currently co-producing series 2 of Patrick Dempsey drama Devils for Sky and is in production on a series of scripted podcasts with Audible UK, including Mask of Sanity, starring Nikolaj Coster-Waldau.
Spotnitz has over 25 years’ experience in television as a writer and producer. Serving as EP, he wrote or co-wrote more than 40 episodes of The X-Files, and on both feature films. He shares three Golden Globes for Best Dramatic Series and a Peabody Award for his work on the seminal science-fiction series, and was Emmy-nominated both for writing and three times for Outstanding Drama Series.
In 2013 Spotnitz helped establish and began teaching at Serial Eyes, a postgraduate training programme in Berlin which prepares for the next generation of European TV writer-producers.
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Boris Starling
Award-winning novelist, screenwriter & journalist,
Boris Starling has written seven crime novels, and his books have reached the Sunday Times and New York Times bestseller lists. His non-fiction books include UNCONQUERABLE: THE INVICTUS SPIRIT, about the extraordinary men and women who compete in the Invictus Games, and the popular HAYNES EXPLAINS series, which have sold more than 200,000 copies.
He is currently writing the screenplay for an animated sci-fi reimagining of Charlie Chaplin’s THE KID. He has also written MESSIAH, a prime time BBC1 series which was based on his own debut novel of the same name and which ran for five seasons, and BLOOD OVER WATER for Tideway Productions.
He is a regular contributor to several national newspapers and has written long-form projects for corporations and think tanks. He was the National Trust writer-in-residence at Max Gate, Thomas Hardy’s house. Before becoming a full-time writer Boris worked for an international consultancy specialising in political risk assessment, confidential investigations, crisis response and kidnap negotiation. He has a first-class degree in history from Cambridge and now lives in Dorset with his wife, children, rescue greyhounds and a constantly fluctuating number of chickens and ducks.
Philipp Steffens
Head of fiction,
RTL Television GmbH
Philipp Steffens has been head of fiction at RTL Television since March 2014 and is responsible for productions including “Starfighter”, “Der Lehrer”, “Duell der Brüder” and the series “Deutschland 83”, which won a Grimme Award in 2016. Immediately following his graduation from the Filmakademie Baden-Wuerttemberg in 2006, Steffens started his own production company (greenskyFILMS) with several fellow students, with which he also produced the international co-production “8” with renowned directors such as Gus Van Sant, Jane Campion, Wim Wenders and many others. The film won the “Cinema for Peace Award” in 2009 and was shown at festivals around the world. This was followed by the successful television series “Der letzte Bulle” (The last cop), which won both the Bavarian Television Award in 2011 and the German Television Award in 2012, and was successfully adapted in France, Russia and Japan. Steffens then started another company (Twenty Four 9 Films) and produced international cinema co-productions and series including the TNT production “Weinberg”, for which he received a Grimme Award in 2016.
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Melanie Stokes
Joint managing director,
Kindle Entertainment
Melanie started producing plays when she was about nine – selling tickets to the parents of the local kids in the suburbs of South London. Her first grown-up producing jobs included a number of awarding-winning Channel 4 education shows: an improvised drama, Wilkommen (BAFTA nom, 95), Ourselves (RTS winner 1995) and Write Away (RTS winner 99 & BAFTA nom, 2000) featuring a young Jamie Oliver. Melanie also directed comedy-drama series for CiTV, including Snap and Magic with Everything, starring Amanda Abbington and produced Bill’s New Frock, for Channel 4, adapted by Andrew Davies. It won the RTS and Broadcast Children’s Drama Awards in 98 and 99, was nominated for a BAFTA and a variety of prizes at international film festivals. United, Melanie’s film for the European Broadcasting Union, written by Dan Zeff, directed by Julian Holmes and narrated by Andrew Sachs, won the Special Prize for Fiction at the Chicago Children’s Film in 2002.
Melanie is co-founder and joint-managing director of BAFTA award-winning, Kindle Entertainment, now in its eleventh year of production with Lionsgate becoming a much welcome stakeholder last year. Melanie is currently exec-producing Kiss Me First with Bryan Elsley (Skins) for Channel 4 and Netflix. A returning cyber-thriller for today’s digital generation, it tells the story of two young women fighting a shadowy cult in a virtual world. Melanie has also exec-produced Dustbin Baby, an International Emmy-winning drama for BBC One; Some Dogs Bite a feature-length drama for BBC Three, directed by Marc Munden and starring Thomas Brodie-Sangster – and mini-series, Treasure Island for Sky One starring Eddie Izzard, Donald Sutherland and Elijah Wood. Melanie also exec-produced Leonardo, an action-adventure series that she co-created with Pia Ashberry for CBBC with Jonny Bailey (Broadchurch) as the young Renaissance hero. Mini-series, The Life & Adventures of Nick Nickleby for BBC One, a contemporary updating of Charles Dickens’ novel marked the bicentenary of Dickens’ birth and was the first modern adaptation of Dickens to play on BBC TV. Award-winning Dixi, an interactive, cyber-mystery for tweens, plays both online and on TV, is now in its fourth series. The first series won a BAFTA for Best Original Digital Content 2014, the second series won C21 Best International Digital Drama 2015 and the third won the Digital TV Most Innovative Content Award 2016. Here’s hoping the fourth series isn’t left out in the cold!
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Jim Sturgess
Actor,
Hard Sun
Cathryn Summerhayes
Literary agent,
Curtis Brown
Cathryn joined Curtis Brown in September 2016 having started her literary agency career there as an intern in 2004. She established an eclectic list of clients at WME, where she worked for ten years. Prior to that she worked at DGA, DHA and Colman Getty PR – where she worked on a number of high profile book events including the Man Booker Prize and Samuel Johnson Prize. She also works in the production office at Port Eliot Literary Festival and is actively involved in both Hay and Edinburgh International Festivals.
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Peter A. Sussman
Founder & chairman,
Kew Media Group
Peter was Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of Aver Media, a film and television lender/financier. Aver Media has completed more than 1500 financings primarily in North America, the UK and Australia, and was sold in 2013 to Bank of Montreal (BMO.) Peter continues as a consultant to BMO for Aver Media.
Prior, Peter was Co-Controlling Voting Shareholder of Alliance Atlantis Communications and CEO of its Entertainment Group. Alliance Atlantis was sold in 2007 to Goldman Sachs and Canwest.
For 30 years, Peter has participated in the worldwide development, financing, production and distribution of motion pictures and television shows, amounting to thousands of hours of content. Peter was nominated for 3 Golden Globe Awards and 4 Emmy Awards and is often best known for assembling Alliance Atlantis’ CSI television franchise, including the drama series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, CSI: Miami and CSI: NY.
Through his holding company, Tricycle Media, Peter participates in about a dozen film and television companies in North America and the UK, and sits as a Board Director (and often Non-Executive Chairman,) on many of them.
Most recently, Peter co-founded Kew Media Group (TSX: KEW.A,) a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange that is a Special Purpose Acquisition Company. Peter serves as the Executive Chairman of Kew Media.
Peter began his media career in Toronto in the mid-1980’s, but moved to Los Angeles in 1991 after 2 years in Amsterdam and London. He returned to Toronto in 2005 but also concentrates his time in other places, particularly London and Los Angeles.
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Rosalie Swedlin
Producer and literary manager,
Anonymous Content
Rosalie Swedlin is a producer and literary manager at Anonymous Content. Swedlin began her career in New York book publishing, followed by six years handling publicity and marketing for various UK book publishers. Her transition to client representation began at Anthony Sheil Associates, a London literary agency, where she was hired to build a film and TV list. Some of her early client discoveries included Richard Curtis and Neil Jordan.
Prior to joining Anonymous Content, she was a literary manager, producer, and partner at Industry Entertainment for twelve years after having served as a senior vice president at International Creative Management (ICM). Swedlin was an agent at Creative Artists Agency (CAA) from 1981 – 1991 and was named co-head of the agency’s motion picture department during that time.
Swedlin is currently in post-production on THE ALIENIST, a TV series for TNT based on Caleb Carr’s bestselling novel. It stars Daniel Bruhl, Luke Evans, and Dakota Fanning. Other upcoming television projects include a limited series based on the bestselling novel DEFENDING JACOB, adapted by Mark Bomback and to be directed by Morten Tyldum, and a TV series based on Diksha Basu’s novel THE WINDFALL to be written and directed by Shonali Bose. Swedlin is also developing a pilot for ABC Network and Twentieth Century Fox TV based on the acclaimed Japanese film AFTERLIFE; and LOST EDEN is a series being written by Stuart Carolan for Studio Canal.
THE WIFE, Swedlin’s most recent feature film, debuted at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Starring Glenn Close, Jonathan Pryce, and Christian Slater, THE WIFE received a five-star review from The Guardian which called it “perhaps Close’s career-best – unnervingly subtle, unreadably calm, simmering with self-control… a smart, supremely watchable and entertaining film.” Additional feature credits include RED CORNER starring Richard Gere; the Emmy and Golden Globe nominated HBO film LIVE FROM BAGHDAD; commercial director Jordan Scott’s feature debut CRACKS; and Spike Lee’s CLOCKERS, which she executive produced. Her upcoming film projects include Jane Anderson’s adaptation of the bestselling novel THE WOMEN IN THE CASTLE, a film by Cherien Dabis about the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, and Haifaa Al Mansour’s adaptation of the Cara Hoffman novel BE SAFE I LOVE YOU. Swedlin also manages a distinguished list of film and TV writers and directors.
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Chris Symes
Executive producer,
The Alienist
In 1985, versatile producer Chris Symes left Bath Academy of Art with first class honors to pursue a career in film and television. In 1990, he became a music video producer and joined the European arm of Hollywood based Propaganda Films, which was part of Polygram Filmed Entertainment.
In 1994, Symes was made head of european production for Propaganda Films, being responsible for the management of all music videos, commercials, long forms and documentaries shooting in Europe, including those visiting from the company head office in Los Angeles.
In 1995, Symes became managing director of Propaganda Films Europe, being responsible for the entire European budget, all aspects of production plus the all important development of new projects and creative talent. Symes then returned to the freelance market in 1997 to work on individual feature film projects.
Since then, Symes’ talent has helped drive box office hits such as Resident Evil, AVP: Alien vs. Predator, Eragon, Hellboy II: The Golden Army, and critically acclaimed shows such as Starz’s Black Sails. He has worked in the capacity of co-producer, producer or executive producer on motion pictures and TV drama for 20th Century Fox, Universal, Relativity Media, Constantin Film Produktion, New Regency and Polygram Filmed Entertainment amongst others.
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Colton Tanner
Night House,
Mentored by: Lloyd Segan, Piller Segan
Night House –
In the not-too-distant future exists a world where almost nobody still sleeps as a result of generations of genetic manipulation. Struggling through a broken economy in search of greater meaning, a young man named Mads faces the challenges of existing in a society that doesn’t stop for anyone. When his grandmother dies and leaves him behind a large collection of old art and literature, Mads finds himself obsessed with the notion of dreams and what they might mean to him. After getting his hands on a new drug that pacifies its user, Mads starts searching for answers in his own subconscious. Secrets of his past unfold before him, and it isn’t long before Mads and those closest to him find themselves at the centre of a pharmaceutical scandal far more dangerous than they could have ever dreamed.
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David Taylor
Founder,
Playmaker Media
David Taylor started his television career at the Seven Network before working with various independent production companies. Prior to launching Playmaker, he and fellow Playmaker principal David Maher, headed Fox’s Australian TV production arm, Fox Television Studios Australia. Here they produced a diverse range of programming including drama series, telemovies, sitcoms and international unscripted formats.
Since its inception in 2009, Playmaker has established a track record of delivering high-quality, writer-driven, ratings-winning primetime series in Australia.
Playmaker’s credits include the AACTA and AWGIE winning political thriller The Code for the ABC, The Wrong Girl for Network Ten, the Logie Award winning House Husbands and Love Child for the Nine Network, plus the Emmy nominated SLiDE for Foxtel.
2017 has been a busy year for Playmaker. Along with producing returning series of The Wrong Girl and Love Child, it recently finished the iconic story of Australia’s original rock group in Friday On My Mind for the ABC, as well as Chosen, a Mandarin language action thriller for Chinese streaming platform iQIYI.
In 2014, Playmaker was awarded the Media Super Production Business of the Year at the Screen Producers Australia Awards. Also, that year Playmaker joined Sony Pictures Television to develop and produce content for both the local and international markets.
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Justin Thomson
Co-founder,
Artists Studio
Justin is the co-founder of Artists Studio and the former CEO of Far Moor Media and Box TV. Justin was a film and television lawyer who now specializes in co-production, pre-sales and the structuring of deals. His most recent success was executive producing the award winning and critically acclaimed The Fall for BBC/Netflix.
Justin has been instrumental in the packaging and production of several high-profile projects including executive producing on the ITV Encore series The Frankenstein Chronicles starring Sean Bean, the BBC 1 fantasy serial Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell starring Eddie Marsan, Bertie Carvill and Marc Warren, the Canadian ratings hit Combat Hospital for ABC, Death Comes to Pemberley for BBC 1 (Mathew Rhys and Jenna Coleman) and BBC 2/TMN serial Crimson Petal and the White (Chris O’Dowd and Romola Garai).
Justin worked at FilmFour where he was senior business affairs executive where he negotiated deals on many projects including Charlotte Gray, starring Cate Blanchett, Sexy Beast with Ben Kingsley and Ray Winstone and Gangster Number one featuring Paul Bettany. Previously Justin worked at boutique film practice Marriott Harrison where he represented Lucas films, Working Title and Rocket Pictures.
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Kjartan Thor Thordarson
CEO,
Sagafilm Nordic
Co-owner of Sagafilm Iceland and CEO of Sagafilm Nordic in Stockholm. With over 25 films, shorts and scripted series on hist list of credits in the past 10 years, Kjartan is one of Iceland’s most prolific producers. Recent projects include Stella Blómkvist 6x45min a Viaplay Original Series, CASE 9x45min a Netflix Original Series, feature film Dead Snow 2: Red vs. Dead (Premiered Sundance 2014), Whale Valley (Cannes 2013), The Press III (2013) and Astridur II (2014) both nominated as best scripted series in Europe at Prix Europa.
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Caroline Torrance
Head of scripted,
Banijay Rights
Caroline plays an integral role in the senior management team at Banijay Rights and across Banijay Group. As head of scripted for Banijay Rights she spearheads the distributor’s ambitions in the international drama arena working with in-house and external producers around the world to develop and acquire scripted programming and comedy. Caroline has strengthened the Banijay Rights slate using a multi-faceted strategy including a number of first look and development agreements with third party producers and is actively continuing to expand its drama offering.
Her role extends further into the Banijay Group working with Takis Candilis to expand the network of drama producers – through acquisitions and joint ventures in the UK and worldwide. Recent announcements include Blacklight, Fearless Minds and the launch of Yellowbird UK. Caroline brings her expertise in financing and international co-production, which is essential to the progress of creative and ambitious projects.
With more than 20 years in the television business Caroline has a wealth of experience built in similar roles at BBC Worldwide, Endemol, and Granada.
Fluent in French and English, Caroline has overseen success stories such as lavish English-Franco drama Versailles, which has sold to more than 135 countries worldwide and won the TBFI Prix Export ¬– Fiction 2017; Occupied the tri-lingual political suspense thriller which became a ratings smash hit in Norway and the UK and Belgian drama Public Enemy which was the Winner of the Coup de Coeur Award at the inaugural MIPDrama Screenings.
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Jenni Tosi
CEO,
Film Victoria
Jenni Tosi is the CEO of Film Victoria, the Victorian Government’s screen agency based in Melbourne, Australia. Film Victoria provides development and investment funding for local content, including co-productions along with location incentives for international production and pdv work. Recently supported projects include Picnic At Hanging Rock, Romper Stomper, Sunshine, Wentworth, HBO’s The Leftovers S3 and Game of Thrones S6 & 7.
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Anand Tucker
Joint CEO,
7 Stories
Anand Tucker is an award winning director, producer and writer, whose films include:
HILARY AND JACKIE, which won him the BIFA Best Director Award and was called ‘one of the best British films of the decade’ by The Sunday Times.
GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING, which starred Scarlett Johansson and Colin Firth and was nominated for a BIFA for Best Achievement in Production, a BAFTA for Best British Film and a host of Academy Awards.
His film AND WHEN DID YOU LAST SEE YOUR FATHER? was released in 2007 and starred Jim Broadbent and Colin Firth. It was nominated for seven BIFAs including Best British Film and Best Director.
In 2009 Anand returned to television directing the critically acclaimed adaptation of David Peace’s novel, RED RIDING: NINETEEN EIGHTY THREE for Channel 4. As well as directing the 2013 ABC pilot GOTHICA.
Most recently, Anand directed the opening block of INDIAN SUMMERS, produced by New Pictures for Channel 4 and PBS. The opening episode drew 2.9 million viewers, making it the most successful Channel 4 drama launch in 20 years.
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Simon Vaughan
Chairman and joint CEO,
Lookout Point
Simon Vaughan has over 30 years’ experience in television, working in a variety of roles including actor, writer, producer, executive producer, distributor and financier. He is the chairman and joint CEO of Lookout Point.
His distinct creative-business skill set is the foundation behind the company which he established in 2009 to produce high-end drama.
Former BBC Wales head of drama Faith Penhale joined Lookout Point as joint CEO in 2016, solidifying the company’s strategic evolution as a major force in drama production. Simon and the team at Lookout Point work closely with BBC Worldwide, who are the largest shareholder in the company, to produce and distribute Lookout Point’s slate of global British Drama.
Lookout Point’s recent credits include Sally Wainwright’s landmark single film about the lives of the Brontë sisters, To Walk Invisible, for BBC One; Andrew Davies’ critically acclaimed adaptation of War and Peace for BBC One; Ripper Street for the BBC and Amazon; and The Collection, Oliver Goldstick’s sumptuous drama set in a post-war Paris fashion house, for Amazon and France Télévisions.
Lookout Point is currently producing a number of major upcoming series including Mike Bartlett’s bold and provocative newspaper drama, Press, with BBC Studios and Deep Indigo for BBC One and Masterpiece on PBS; Sally Wainwright’s period drama, Gentleman Jack, about the quest by a lesbian landowner to find a wife in 19th century Yorkshire, co-produced with HBO for BBC One; Andrew Davies’ adaptation of Victor Hugo’s classic novel, Les Misérables, with BBC Studios for BBC One; and Andrew Davies’ adaptation of Vikram Seth’s epic novel, A Suitable Boy, for BBC One.
Simon began his career as a child actor in BBC TV’s Grange Hill and more recently co-wrote and executive produced his first feature film, Goodbye Christopher Robin.
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Amelie Von Kienlin
SVP scripted acquisitions & co-productions,
Red Arrow International
Amelie von Kienlin leads all scripted acquisitions and co-productions activity at Red Arrow International, the TV distribution division of global producer Red Arrow Entertainment Group.
Before joining Red Arrow Amelie worked as Head of Co-production for Wild Bunch Germany, and as Head of Program Acquisition for International Sales at Telepool GmbH. She has also worked in TV and film production.
Birgitta Wannstrom
Producer,
Bigster
Birgitta Wannstrom is a producer with credits including the hit drama Gasmamman for C More/Kanal 5 in Sweden, and several films in the internationally popular Maria Wern series. In 2017 she co-founded production company Bigster whose project Heder is on the agenda at this year’s Content London.
James Watkins
Screenwriter,
James Watkins directed the box office sensation The Woman In Black, the most successful British horror film since records began.
He made his directing debut with the critically acclaimed thriller Eden Lake. Described by The Guardian as ‘the best British horror film in years’, it won the Empire Award for Best Horror, the Jury Prize at Sitges Fantasy Film Festival and Best Director at Fantasporto.
Between 2001-2007 James had a first-look writing deal with Working Title Films. Under this deal, he wrote several scripts including: My Little Eye, a dark satire on the world of reality television, which was released theatrically in the UK in 2002 to critical acclaim and commercial success. James has also written screenplays for Warner Bros, Pathe, Film Four, and BBC Films.
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Jon Wax
Head of drama series & movies,
YouTube Originals
As head of drama series & movies, Jon Wax is responsible for building YTO’s original drama slate as well as overseeing acquisition and production of YouTube’s movie roster.
Wax was previously executive vice president of programming at WGN America & Tribune Studios, where he oversaw WGNA’s foray into producing scripted series.
During his four years there, WGNA went from being a superstation with no original programming to a basic cable network that launched four successful dramas, garnering unprecedented ratings and notice with its popular series Salem, critical darling Manhattan (which earned the network its first-ever Emmy Award), and its lauded hit series “Underground” and “Outsiders.”
Prior to WGNA, Wax spent nearly 15 years on the Fox lot, where in various roles at both TCFTV and FBC he helped shepherd some of the most popular series on television, including Prison Break, Bones, 24, Malcolm in the Middle, and Firefly.
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Stefan Kreutzer
Business development manager,
Remote Control Productions
Stefan Kreutzer started in the music industry as a concert promoter and artist agent, working with as exciting and different artists such as Alice Cooper, Slash from GunsNRoses, Lil Kim, Cypress Hill, Destinys Child or German Rap-star Sido.
After a sabbatical earning a Master’s Degree in Contemporary History and writing a well received book on the German political strategy in the Near East during WWI, he became head of the Film & Games department at publisher piranha media and ran Burger King’s customer magazine KING and affiliated in-house TV Channel.
Having always been a passionate geek about movies, TV series, games and comics he found the perfect place to act out on it with Europe’s biggest and coolest games developer family remote control productions where he develops and produces interactive entertainment and 360° content with the TV and movie industry.
Piers Wenger
Controller of drama,
BBC
Piers Wenger is the controller of BBC Drama and currently responsible for commissioning across the whole of the BBC portfolio and overseeing more than 450 hours of drama a year on the BBC, the biggest broadcaster of drama in the UK.
Piers was appointed controller of BBC Drama in late 2016. Prior to this he was head of drama at Channel 4 from 2012, and head of drama at BBC Wales from 2008 where he was an executive producer on the hugely successful reboot of Doctor Who where he cast Matt Smith into the lead role.
As a producer, he closely collaborated with the late Victoria Wood over a decade on her dramatic projects. He produced her BAFTA and RTS award winning dramatization of Nella Last’s diary Housewife, 49, collaborated with her on Loving Miss Hatto, Wood’s dramatization of the life of the life of classical pianist Joyce Hatto and co-executive produced Eric and Eric, Peter Bowker’s biopic of the young Morecambe and Wise in which Wood also starred.
At Channel 4, he has spear-headed the launch of a number of popular and award-winning drama series. In February 2015, Indian Summers, a period drama chronicling the last years of British imperial rule in India launched and recorded the highest overnight drama audience for a C4 drama in 20 years. No Offence, Paul Abbott’s anarchic police procedural launched strongly later in the same year and won the Royal Television Society Award for best drama series. While Humans, Sam Vincent and Jonathan Brackley’s sci-fi series, a co-production with AMC, became a significant ratings hit breaking the record set by Indian Summers earlier in the year.
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Kristiina Werner
Head of international business development ,
Zodiak Finland
Kristiina Werner is in charge of international business development for Zodiak Finland. She is the executive producer of ”Lover.” With 20+ years of experience managing high-profile projects in Finland and abroad, she has a proven track record in drama acquisitions as the SVP, Programming at MTV3 Finland, and SVP of Television at Channel Four Finland / Sanoma ltd.
She commissioned Moskito Television’s Feel Good Inc. for MTV3, as well as their hit drama ”The Black Widows” for Channel Four Finland. The show has been picked up by Leonardo Di Caprio’s Appian Way and is currently in development at ABC. She also works at Filmlapland promoting Finland’s Lapland as the ideal location for arctic filming to the international movie and television industry.
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Ian Whitehead
Head of production and development,
Incendo
A hands-on producer and executive producer, Ian has produced over 100 hours of scripted TV and is as comfortable on set as he is in the writer’s room or post house. Keen collaborator, team builder, and always story-focused, Ian has worked on award-winning episodic series, miniseries, TV movies and feature films of varying budgets – from large-scale green screen shoots to international co-productions. His producing work has been recognized internationally, including BAFTA, CSA, DGC, C21 and Rockie Awards nominations. In his spare time, Ian likes to fly seaplanes and helicopters with his family.
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Harry Williams
Writer and MD,
Two Brothers Pictures
Harry and Jack began their writing partnership in 2007 with the BBC2 sitcom ROMAN’S EMPIRE, starring Mathew Horne and Chris O’Dowd. The show was subsequently piloted for American television, with Kelsey Grammer in the lead. After this, they pursued a career in comedy, writing shows for both in the UK and American markets, writing numerous pilots for Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, NBC Universal and CBS Television among others. For the UK they wrote and produced pilots and series including THE AMAZING DERMOT, BAMBOO, FULL ENGLISH and THE GUARDIANS (which they also directed).
In 2014 Harry and Jack wrote and executive produced BBC1’s Golden Globe and Emmy nominated drama THE MISSING. The series, which starred James Nesbitt, was also nominated for four BAFTAs, including Best Drama. This success led to a second series, starring Keeley Hawes and David Morrissey, which broadcast at the end of 2016 to critical and commercial acclaim.
Since setting up their independent production company Two Brothers Pictures in 2014, Harry and Jack have sought to nurture the best writing talent in the UK and internationally. In its short history, the company has already produced shows for Amazon, HBO, AMC, BBC, ITV and Sky, including the hit-comedy award-winning FLEABAG. The latest production is suspense thriller LIAR for ITV, with Ioan Gruffudd and Joanne Froggatt in the lead. Future productions include a new eight part thriller called WHITE DRAGON with new writers Mark Denton and Jonny Stockwood, as well as RELLIK, a six part thriller told in reverse which they are co-producing alongside New Pictures.
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Jack Williams
Writer and MD,
Two Brothers Pictures
Harry and Jack began their writing partnership in 2007 with the BBC2 sitcom ROMAN’S EMPIRE, starring Mathew Horne and Chris O’Dowd. The show was subsequently piloted for American television, with Kelsey Grammer in the lead. After this, they pursued a career in comedy, writing shows for both in the UK and American markets, writing numerous pilots for Warner Brothers, 20th Century Fox, NBC Universal and CBS Television among others. For the UK they wrote and produced pilots and series including THE AMAZING DERMOT, BAMBOO, FULL ENGLISH and THE GUARDIANS (which they also directed).
In 2014 Harry and Jack wrote and executive produced BBC1’s Golden Globe and Emmy nominated drama THE MISSING. The series, which starred James Nesbitt, was also nominated for four BAFTAs, including Best Drama. This success led to a second series, starring Keeley Hawes and David Morrissey, which broadcast at the end of 2016 to critical and commercial acclaim.
Since setting up their independent production company Two Brothers Pictures in 2014, Harry and Jack have sought to nurture the best writing talent in the UK and internationally. In its short history, the company has already produced shows for Amazon, HBO, AMC, BBC, ITV and Sky, including the hit-comedy award-winning FLEABAG. The latest production is suspense thriller LIAR for ITV, with Ioan Gruffudd and Joanne Froggatt in the lead. Future productions include a new eight part thriller called WHITE DRAGON with new writers Mark Denton and Jonny Stockwood, as well as RELLIK, a six part thriller told in reverse which they are co-producing alongside New Pictures.
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Polly Williams
VP, scripted development, television,
Entertainment One
As eOne’s UK-based vice president, scripted development, Polly Williams currently focuses on distinctive, original, commercial high-end television drama with global appeal. Working closely with independent producers and writers across the UK and alongside eOne’s television hubs in LA, Toronto and Sydney, she develops original content for the UK and international market. Polly is an experienced producer and began her career as a script editor and development producer.
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Beth Willis
Head of drama,
Channel 4
Appointed head of drama in June 2016, Beth Willis joined Channel 4 as deputy head of drama in 2012, working alongside Piers Wenger to commission bold and ambitious original drama for Channel 4 and E4. Recent hits during Beth’s time at the channel include two series of the BAFTA-nominated Humans, the launch of which was the highest performing series in over 20 years, the successful launch of Ackley Bridge, the first 8pm drama on Channel 4 for over 13 years, Channel 4’s biggest show of 2016 We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, the BAFTA and RTS award-winning Jack Thorne drama National Treasure, two series of Paul Abbott’s critically-lauded and RTS-winning police drama No Offence, Tracey Malone and Kate Ashfield’s Born to Kill and Shane Meadows’ iconic This is England 90. Recent E4 commissions include Howard Overman’s Crazyhead and Tom Basden’s Gap Year.
Forthcoming dramas on Channel 4 include Peter Kosminsky’s new four-part series The State, the epic and ambitious 10-part anthology series Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams and Beau Willimon’s space race drama The First. Forthcoming dramas for E4 include Charlie Covell’s The End of the F***ing World and Bryan Elsley’s Kiss Me First.
Previously, Beth produced the first two series of Ashes to Ashes for Kudos/BBC before moving to the BBC to become an Executive Producer on the new Doctor Who alongside Steven Moffat and Piers Wenger. While at the BBC she also co-executive produced the BAFTA and RTS award-winning, Eric and Ernie, written by Peter Bowker and starring Victoria Wood.
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Tony Wood
CEO,
Buccaneer Media
One of Britain’s most prolific creators of television and online content, Tony Wood is perhaps the only producer in British Television to have excelled in drama, reality, comedy and children’s programming. A former head of continuing drama for ITV Network, executive producer for BBC Drama Serials and as producer of Coronation Street was responsible for its complete dominance of the UK ratings chart for two years. His drama work has garnered over seventy awards.
As a reality producer, Tony Wood created and then redefined a genre as co-creator of the global phenomenon, ‘The Only Way Is Essex’ and was executive producer of MTV’s ‘Geordie Shore’ and co producer of Sky Living’s, landmark series ‘Desi Rascals’. His work has spawned countless imitators and created a new wave of TV across the world.
Tony founded Buccaneer Media in 2013. Headquartered in London, Buccaneer is committed to creating premium quality drama content. The company is currently working with some the world’s best writing talent including Irvine Welsh, Rose Tremain, Lars Lundstrom and Deborah Moggach to create memorable scripted series in partnership with a variety of content platforms across the world.
Current Buccaneer projects in production and development include a second season of Hans Rosenfeldt’s ‘Marcella’, the hit ITV/ Netflix drama series starring Anna Friel, and a TV series based in the UK Sci-Fi movie ‘Robot Overlords’.
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Adrian Wootton
CEO,
Film London
Adrian Wootton OBE, is the chief executive of Film London, the agency charged with developing the screen industries in the capital, and the British Film Commission, the unit responsible for promoting the UK as the best place to produce feature films and high end television.
Prior to becoming the chief executive of Film London in 2003, Adrian was acting director of the British Film Institute (BFI), in addition to having been the director of the London Film Festival (LFF), the National Film Theatre (NFT), Head of BFI Exhibition and director of the crime and mystery film festival, Crime Scene.
Before his appointment to the BFI, he was founding director of Broadway Media Centre in Nottingham and Director of the Bradford Playhouse & Film Theatre.
Adrian is a Programme Advisor to the BFI London Film Festival, Venice Film Festival and Noir in Fest, Milan.
Olivier Wotling
Director of fiction,
ARTE France
Holder of a PHD of philosophy and a Master of law and administration of audiovisual, Olivier Wotling was audiovisual attaché for the Embassies of France in Sofia, Budapest and Rome, he joined the National Film Center and the moving image (CNC) as adviser for European and multilateral Affairs, and then as the head of cinema in 2007. Since February 2015 he is the head of the drama department at ARTE France.
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Geoffrey Wright
Director and writer,
Melbourne filmmaker Geoffrey Wright is a director and writer of film and television. A graduate of Swinburne School of Film and Television, he came to the world’s attention with the 1992 feature film Romper Stomper starring Russell Crowe, winning several local and international awards. His credits include Macbeth starring Sam Worthington, the American-produced Cherry Falls starring Brittany Murphy, and Metal Skin starring Aden Young and Ben Mendelsohn.
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Paul Youngbluth
Director,
TAPE Services
Paul Youngbluth is a director of TAPE (Television Audience Programme Evaluation), a UK-based, specialist audience research company, providing consultancy services to a broad span of broadcasters and production companies around the world.
During his time with TAPE Paul has worked for many years on the analysis of audience preferences around the world, and turned this understanding into an evaluation tool, which can be applied to the development of treatments, concepts and scripts, in both television and theatrical environments.
With the emergence of the unscripted format business Paul also recognised the opportunity this represented for TAPE and enabled the company to develop an international monitoring and assessment service, designed to provide clients with the latest insights and information on new and emerging audience trends and programme types. His most recent venture is into the Chinese market – building working partnerships with key broadcasters and production companies – helping them enhance their content development systems and compete in an increasingly competitive market.
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Rachel do Valle
Executive manager,
Brazilian Content
Rachel do Valle is the executive manager of Brazilian Content, an audiovisual international project that has been enabling partnerships between Brazilian and foreign companies since 2004. The goals of Brazilian Content are to promote new co-production opportunities and develop international partnerships for TV and digital media producers. The project is promoted by BRAVI, Brasil Audiovisual Independente – the Brazilian association of producers that gathers more than 600 companies – in partnership with Apex-Brasil (Brazilian Trade and Investment Promotion Agency). Rachel is a journalist post graduated in audiovisual management with specialization in international relations. She’s part of BRAVI’s team since 2009,organization she joined after three years of experience in content distribution.
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