SPEAKERS

The pioneer of the Israeli formats industry internationally, and the Founder and CEO of Armoza Formats, Avi Armoza is one of Israel’s leading film and television producers.

Avi has been working in television and film business for more than 20 years. He began his tenure when he founded JCS Productions, which has grown to be Israel largest independent production house. Prior to Armoza, Avi was the VP of Content and Business Development at Israel’s leading Media Company, the Jerusalem Capital Studios.

In 2005, he founded Armoza Formats, and under his leadership it has become a key player in the international formats market, successfully establishing it as a leading independent format development and distribution company that aims to innovate in distribution methods and format creation. In addition to driving the company forward, Avi has served as Executive Producer on several of Armoza’s hit shows, including prime-time entertainment show I Can Do That!, which has become a well-known brand aired in over 85 territories, including in the US on NBC and the recently-launched prime time singing competition The Four, which has now had two hit seasons on FOX.

Axel Arno has been commissioning editor at Sveriges Television (SVT) since 1998. He was previousy a newspaper reporter, working in news, feature and current affairs. Since his move to national television, Axel has been reporter, editor and editoral excecutive. After a short break for music studies in London, Axel was appointed as the managing editor of SVT:s flagship current affairs magazine Striptease. Later he created and managed the investigative documentary strand Dokument inifrån.

Axel has been a commission editor at SVT since 1998. At SVT’s documentary department he deals with international current affairs, special series and creative documentaries. He has commissioned numerous award winning international co-productions.

In 2006, Axel was elected chairman of the EBU Documentary Group. He is a regular at the big documentary festivals and forums where he is frequently seen as moderator.

Axel is 55, married, has three kids, two cats, six bikes and lives just outside Stockholm.

Rachel has worked in BBC Entertainment Commissioning for four years. In 2017 she commissioned a pilot of All Together Now and continues work closely with the team who deliver the show.

Her other current projects include the BAFTA Nominated Michael McIntyre’s Big Show for BBC1 a one-off celebrating Ken Dodd for BBC2 and an entertainment documentary for BBC1 looking back on 30 years of Take That. Previous commissions include Let It Shine for BBC1, Junior Doctors for BBC3 and Love In the Countryside for BBC2 which will return in 2019

Prior to joining the BBC Rachel was a freelance Executive Producer. Rachel is one of a number of commissioners who work to Controller of Entertainment Kate Philips.

Attwood is EVP of Blue Ant Media’s global distribution group, Blue Ant International, headquartered in Toronto, with hubs in New York, London and Miami. Drawing on her expertise as a leader in the world of international content financing, Attwood oversees the strategic direction and operation of the business, while also spearheading and managing co-productions, pre-sales and worldwide sales activities. Since launching the division in 2014, Attwood has built Blue Ant International from the ground up into a leading global distributor of high-quality content that engages audiences worldwide, across multiple platforms. The company continues to adapt to global market trends by expanding its support to producers with a wide range of financing models that include commissioning, co-productions, pre-sales and gap financing.

Attwood is on the board of directors of The Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television and serves on the board of the Canadian Association of Content Exporters. She was formerly VP at Si Entertainment where she headed up development and launch of the company’s global distribution arm. Prior to that, she held numerous producing and directing roles and subsequently joined the International sales and acquisitions team at Tricon Films & Television.

Kate Beal is Chief Executive Officer of Woodcut Media, a member of the Anthology group of businesses and one of the fastest growing Indies in the UK, producing a broad range of unscripted programming.

A leading true crime producer in the UK (How I Caught the Killer, Jo Frost on Killer Kids, World’s Most Evil Killers, Britain’s Most Evil Killers, The Krays: The Prison Years), Woodcut’s growing catalogue also includes specialist factual series ( Royals on the Frontline, Wings of War, Combat Machines, Football: A Brief History by Alfie Allen), premium documentaries (Fiennes: Return to the Nile, The Ivy, Cut From A Different Cloth and Mandela, My Dad and Me featuring Idris Elba) factual entertainment shows (How Hacks Work, Around the World in 80 Tricks, World’s Scariest Hauntings).

With Kate at the helm, Woodcut has also recently concluded a deal with National Geographic to co-produce (alongside The Development Partnership), Fiennes: Return to the Nile, a documentary series featuring Sir Ranulph Fiennes and his cousin, actor Joseph Fiennes. This follows on from an on-going relationship with talent agency TDP, as the two companies continue to jointly develop and produce a broad range of unscripted talent-led content with global appeal. Kate Beal entered the TV industry at just 15 years old, and her impressive list of achievements and expertise spans 23 years.

Her foray into the business began when she joined UK broadcaster ITV as a runner in 1995, and worked her way up the ladder, learning all aspects of the production business. Her talent and ambition took her from researcher, to producer/director, culminating in the shooting of her first ever show as series producer Firefighters for ITV, when she was just 25 years old. Over the years, she worked on a variety of productions, with credits for popular programmes such as The Real London’s Burning’ (for Channel Five), and ITV’s ‘That’s Esther’ and ‘Faith and the City’ (which is still used within schools today as a top-rated educational tool).

In her role at BBC Studios, Connock has responsibility for an extensive formats catalogue of more than 300 titles, including popular entertainment brands such as Dancing with the Stars, The Great Bake Off and Top Gear, alongside scripted formats Luther, Doctor Foster and The Office. Prior to joining BBC Studios, Connock worked as Head of entertainment at ITV Studios in Manchester, where she was responsible for multiple formats including Countdown, University Challenge and You’ve Been Framed!, as well as creating and developing new formats including the hidden-camera magic show and Broadcast Digital Award winning Tricked (ITV2), returning daytime cookery format, Yes Chef and children’s quiz, Top Class (CBBC).

Connock has an extensive background in Entertainment, having previously spent three years as commissioning editor for Entertainment at BBC Daytime, where she oversaw output including Eggheads, Are You an Egghead?, Strictly It Takes Two and Through the Keyhole; and also as an Executive Producer in BBC Entertainment with credits including Just the Two of Us, The Big Finish with Graham Norton and Dear Father Christmas. Further credits include: Streetmate, The Big Breakfast, MTV Europe Music Awards, Dirty Sanchez, An Audience with the Spice Girls, Animals Do The Funniest Things and Blind Date.

Degroote currently serves as EVP, content development for French leading network TF1 Group.

He is responsible for commissioning, developing or creating and overseeing the new shows for the three TF1 Group national channels: TF1, TMC and TFX and the digital platform MyTF1. His credits include: The Masked Singer, Ninja Warrior, Star Academy, The Wheel, Tattoo Fixers, 1,000+ daily shows including docu-soap Large Families.

Degroote is also in charge of spotting the best ideas and trends around the world as head of scouting (scripted and alternative).

Prior to joining TF1 in 2014, Degroote has been a TV producer for 12 years. As head of programs in the French independent TV production company Coyote, he managed 200 hours of TV shows produced each year and multi-million budget for TF1 in different genres: Family Feud, Four in a Bed, People’s Quiz, 30 plus live entertainment prime time shows.

Previously, Degroote served as creative senior executive of Endemol France working on Big Brother, Star Academy and overseeing the adaptation of The Celebrities’ Farm.

Mary  E. Donahue is senior vice president, development and programming, History.  She is responsible for managing all production of History’s non-fiction series, specials, and megadocs, including the new hit competition formats Knife or Death and Truck Night in America; History’s record breaking Evel Live special; and megadoc series, including Men Who Built America: Frontiersmen and the recently announced project, Grant.

Donahue also  oversees the network’s returning series including The Curse of Oak Island,  Forged in Fire, and American Pickers, as well as Pawn Stars and Swamp People, two definitive hits which Donahue developed and launched during a previous stint at History as VP of Development and Programming .

Donahue also served as SVP Non-Fiction Programming at Lifetime, where she helped to develop new projects like True Tori, Bring It and Rap Game and oversaw returning series including Dance Moms.

Prior to joining A&E Networks, Donahue worked from 2004 to 2008 at Discovery Channel, serving as Executive Producer, Senior Executive Producer and Vice President. While there, she developed and launched a broad slate of shows, including Man vs. Wild, Storm Chasers, Cash Cab, Alaska Experiment and Future Weapons, as well as the Emmy nominated Expedition series with the BBC Natural History Unit. Donahue also oversaw Mythbusters and Dirty Jobs, growing ratings on both high-profile series. Donahue also worked at The Oprah Winfrey Show, where she was a producer/field director for six years and for ABC News, NBC News, USA Today and CNN.  In addition, Donahue also worked as a show runner on TLC’s A Wedding Story, guiding that long-running series to its first live event and first Emmy nomination and win.

She is a cum laude graduate of Williams College and holds MA degrees in American Studies with a specialty in film studies from both Boston University and The University of Sussex in Brighton, England, where she was a Rotary scholar. Donahue has been nominated for ten Emmys and won four times.  Programs she developed have earned 20 Emmy nominations in various categories.

Sarah has a wealth of unscripted knowledge, keeping a head of the trends to spot and acquire the next big format hit for Sony Pictures Television (SPT) as part of her role, heading up the newly formed Future Formats Team. Sarah also works extremely closely with all of SPT’s indies to develop new unscripted formats (SPT formats include Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, The Dating Game, Dragons Den/Shark Tank, Joker’s Wild, The Gong Show). Prior to joining SPT, Sarah was the Head of Development at Talkback Thames, the BBC and ITV Studios-owned 12 Yard. Sarah helped develop a number of key International hits including The Weakest Link, Hole In The Wall and Take Me Out. Most recently, the Future Formats Team acquired the Worldwide rights to Canada’s hit singing show The Launch.

David Flynn is a co-founder of Youngest Media, a global entertainment studio creating, producing and distributing formats across TV, digital video and apps and games. Youngest productions have included innovative dating reality series Game of Clones for E4, which has been picked up as a series by NRJ12 in France, RTL2 in Germany and 3C in China,  BBC daytime gameshow Hardball, Keshet gameshow The Search and Date or Dump, Unilad’s first dating show.

James Fox was appointed Joint Managing Director of Remarkable in 2015, overseeing the company’s entertainment output. His remit includes expanding Remarkable’s line-up of primetime series, creating and producing new UK formats with international potential.

James is the co-creator and Executive Producer of All Together Now, which has become Endemol Shine Group’s latest travelling hit. Following its launch on BBC One in January, the format has sold to eight markets and counting including Brazil, Germany, Australia and more.

His other credits include BBC One smash hits game show Pointless and Pointless Celebrities, the recently rebooted £100K Drop for Channel 4 as well as other entertainment series The Million Pound Drop, Richard Osman’s House of Games, The Bank Job, Two Tribes and The Big Spell.

James started his career at BBC Entertainment working in development and production across a wide-range of Saturday night entertainment including Strictly Come Dancing. After a stint at Fever Media, he moved to Los Angeles to join BBC Worldwide Productions as Creative Director, securing a number of commissions for broadcast and cable network. On returning to the UK in 2010, James worked as an Executive and Series Producer for Initial, TwoFour and RDF before joining Remarkable as Head of Entertainment in 2012.

Lucas Green joined Banijay Group in January 2018. As Head of Content across the Group’s footprint of 16 production territories, he is responsible for creativity and championing new and existing formats. Hits in the group’s catalogue include enduring global formats such as Survivor, Temptation Island, Secret Life of 4 Year Olds and Wife Swap, as well as long-running hits Crystal Maze, Tipping Point and Eat Well for Less in the UK.

Prior to joining Banijay Group, Lucas was Head of Development at Thames, the Fremantle UK label behind The X Factor and Britain’s Got Talent. With 20 years’ experience behind him, Lucas rose through the ranks of Princess Productions and So Television and in 2011 launched his own successful start-up, Superhero Television, which sold and produced formats for all the major UK networks.

Brad Holcman joined A+E Networks in 2012 as senior director, non-fiction and alternative programming. In this role, Holcman oversees the development and production of many of U.S. channel A&E’s unscripted critically acclaimed projects “60 Days In,” “Intervention (Emmy Nominee – 2014, 2015, 2016), “Undercover High” and the recently announced series “Employable Me” and “The Accused”. He has also overseen some of A&E’s past hits including “Duck Dynasty,” “Behind Bars: Rookie Year,” “Gangland Undercover,” and “Panic 9-1-1” to name a few. His passion is to build relationships with the world’s producers and broadcasters to develop and produce for A&E. Holcman came to A&E from fox21 where he served as Director of Creative Affairs, and was responsible for overseeing the development of all reality and alternative programming including “Countdown,” “Beauty and the Geek,” “Saved,” “Untitled Jamie Kennedy Project” and “Game Show in My Head,” as well as numerous pilots for broadcast and cable networks.  He also assisted with fox21’s slate of scripted projects, including “Homeland”, “Sons of Anarchy” and “Brickleberry.” Prior to fox21, Holcman worked in Drama Development at 20th Century Fox Television.  Brad received his Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management and Communication from the University of Michigan.

Michael Iskas is the president of The Story Lab, a global entertainment company that launched in 2015, which funds, develops and distributes innovative TV formats, drama and feature films.

Working with forward thinking production and media companies, The Story Lab has accrued a varied slate of TV formats including Ninja Warrior (TBS), Game of Clones (youngest Media), Evil Monkeys (Renegade) and All Star Driving School (Rumpus Media) among others.  Recently, The Story Lab has been investing in a variety of UK scripted projects set to launch in 2019, while also distributing Hollywood feature films in European territories, including John Wick, Sicario and Mechanic.

The Story Lab, which is part of Dentsu Aegis Network, operates in 25 territories, including the UK, France, Spain, Germany, US, Canada, Russia, Netherlands, China, India and Australia, and distributes content globally.

Michael is on the board of digital-first talent management company Gleam Futures. In his previous role, he was the Chief Innovation Officer at Dentsu Aegis Network.

Marc Juris is a uniquely talented creative executive with a proven track record of creating and developing brands and compelling original content for television and digital platforms across numerous networks. As president and general manager of WE tv, Juris oversees all aspects of the network’s creative and business functions, including original program development and production, scheduling and acquisitions, all marketing, advertising and promotional efforts and long and short-term planning and strategy.

Juris joined WE tv in 2013, and since then has increased the network’s viewership, its slate of original unscripted programming and led a network rebrand that reflects a broader focus on the communal power of “WE” in a digitally connected and social media driven world. WE tv’s unscripted shows are some of the most buzzed about in pop culture, from the Thursday night phenomenon “Braxton Family Values,” its popular franchise series “Marriage Boot Camp: Reality Stars,” and its newest hit series “Growing Up Hip Hop.”  In a highly competitive environment, the network just had its best year, growing its primetime audience for the third year in a row. Today, WE tv continues to deliver high-quality unscripted programming with heavy social engagement, featuring diverse characters and voices that resonate with viewers. WE tv is the #1 cable network for African-American adults and women on Thursday nights and is continuing to establish Friday nights as a destination for compelling and addicting reality TV.

Prior to joining WE tv, Juris engineered the radical reinvention of CourtTV to truTV, creating a top-ten cable network in less than four years. Under his leadership, truTV experienced unprecedented momentum. Propelled by over 300 hours of original programming every year, with 30 unique series like “Hardcore Pawn,” “Impractical Jokers,” “Storage Hunters,” “Operation Repo,” “Full Throttle Saloon,” and “South Beach Tow,” truTV finished 2012 with its best-ever primetime deliveries of key demos.

Alison Kirkham became Controller of Factual Commissioning in 2015. Since then, the Factual department has garnered immense critical acclaim and many awards, including BAFTAs for Blue Planet II, Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad and Murdered for Being Different; RTS Programme Awards for Hospital; Exodus, Elizabeth I’s Secret Agents and World War One Remembered: Passchendale – For the Fallen; and Grierson Awards for Muslims Like Us and Forces of Nature with Brian Cox.

Alison’s commissions include the the BAFTA award winning documentary, Rio Ferdinand: Being Mum and Dad, and she was the Commissioning Executive Producer on the BBC’s coverage of the recent Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, and secured their exclusive engagement interview.

Prior to her current role, Alison was Head of Commissioning, Formats and Features for BBC One and BBC Two for five years. In that role her commissions included Back in Time for Dinner, Eat Well for Less; Countryfile; DIY SOS; Antiques Roadshow.
Alison joined the BBC in 2005 as an executive producer of daytime programming and spent six months as acting Controller of BBC Daytime in 2006.

Before 2005 Alison worked in ITV Current Affairs on Tonight With Trevor McDonald. While there she worked as a producer/director on ITV’s 9/11 and Iraq war coverage. As well as working in current affairs at ITV she worked as a producer on I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here and This Morning. Her first job in broadcasting was on Radio 4’s Today.

Dan Korn joined A+E UK in November 2016, from STV Productions, where was creative director, overseeing projects ranging from BBC and Channel 4 documentaries, to the Channel 5 entertainment series, Tour de Celeb.

Prior to that, he spent 10 years as senior vice president and head of programming for Discovery Channel UK and EMEA, which he joined, in 2005, from leading independent production company, 3BM Television Ltd. At 3BM, Korn was Managing Director and Executive Producer, winning a BAFTA for the film, Nuremberg: Goering’s Last Stand for Channel 4, a Broadcast Award for the series Age of Terror for Discovery, as well as producing the Emmy Award-nominated Holocaust on Trial and RTS-nominated Boy With a Tumour for a Face.

As vice president, programming, and head of history and crime+investigation, he heads up a team responsible for all the Pay TV brands for the A+E UKJV, sourcing, acquiring and commissioning over 3000 hours of content a year. Recent commissions include James Nesbitt: Disasters That Changed Britain, World War 2 Treasure Hunters, and Murdertown with Katherine Kelly.

Jonathan Levi was the executive producer on celebrity game show Evil Monkeys. A highly experienced EP, he has spent the last four years with Warner Brother’s Renegade Pictures where his credits include the 2019 ITV factual drama series Hatton Garden, Ross Kemp and the Armed Police for ITV, the critically acclaimed Transformation Street for ITV and CBBC show School of Rock.

Previous roles include Head of Arts and Popular Culture at ITV Studios and executive producer of The South Bank Show. Some career highlights include Broadmoor for ITV, Tulisa: The Price of Fame for BBC3, Ewan McGreggor: Cold Chain Mission for BBC2, Ronnie Corbett’s Comedy Britain for ITV and the BAFTA nominated 28 Up South Africa for Al Jazeera and ITV. Jonathan has a passion for access documentaries, celebrity fronted series and youth skewed factual formats and created several ITV2 returning strands including ‘Fearne And’, ‘The Parent Trip’ and ‘Utterly Outrageous’.

Jonathan began his career at BBC Radio 4 as researcher for Jeremy Paxman and Melvyn Bragg. Jonathan is also the author of Hatton Garden: The Inside Story and a forthcoming book about Broadmoor hospital, both published by Blink.

Since establishing eOne’s U.S. Alternative Programming division in 2012, Tara Long has built from the ground up a highly successful division that has had almost a dozen projects go straight to series and a packed slate of long-running shows that continue to receive new season orders.

Many of Long’s projects involve partnering with celebrity talent on an extremely intimate level: whether it’s for docu-series centered on the private lives of stars who agree expose their most personal moments to a public audience, or for original ideas and passion projects that need to be developed in close concert with celebrity creators and/or hosts.

In her role, Long oversees all aspects of the division, with a focus on further developing, growing and diversifying its burgeoning pipeline, relationships and scope. Long is responsible for managing all TV development and productions in the alternative space on behalf of eOne and selling shows to a diverse list of US network partners including A&E, E!, Lifetime, BET, FUSE, MTV, truTV, FYI, WEtv, OWN etc. Long leads the newly acquired Whizz Kid Entertainment in London, UK, following eOne’s recent acquisition of a majority stake in the company.

As director of content & channels, Arun is responsible for all Insight TV channels, the content that goes on them and the direction of original content.

Arun joined Insight TV in Amsterdam, Netherlands when the company started in 2015. He was instrumental in the launch of the first global complete 4K-Ultra HD channel in the world which broadcasts linear in the UK, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Russia, Switzerland and India and offers an SVOD version of the 4K-UHD channel. Commissions he has overseen include (but are not limited to): King of the Hammers: Ultra4Sagas, Around The World In 80 Tricks, Dracula; Escape The Castle, Extraordinary Humans, Power & …, MTB Heroes.

Arun is an experienced media professional and has held positions in renowned companies All3Media and Zodiak-Banijay.

Winona Meringolo is the senior vice president of development for Investigation Discovery where she develops original content for America’s leading true crime and mystery network. Currently the #1 network in the U.S. in total day for women and people, ages 25-54, ID is the preeminent true crime destination and is consistently a top 10 network in primetime. With suspense programming that fully immerses and engages audiences, ID’s content resonates worldwide and is currently available in 178 countries and territories.

Alongside the EVP of development, Jane Latman, Meringolo navigates the creative vision for ID and oversees the curation of more than 650 premiere hours of mystery and suspense programming each year. Meringolo provides leadership and creative direction for the network and is responsible for the conceptualization and development of several hit ID series, including but not limited to: Evil Lives Here, People Magazine Investigates, American Monster, Village of the Damned, See No Evil, Home Alone, Dark Waters, The Devil Speaks and Someone You Thought You Knew.

Daniel Pearl has been a commissioning editor at Channel 5 since February 2018 and is responsible for a wide variety of topical factual programmes including The Wright Stuff, The Dog Rescuers, Bad Tenants: Rogue Landlords and 5 News.

Forthcoming commissions for the channel include: Shop Smart Save Money, The Train that Saved Britain’s Railways and Supermarket Secrets Revealed.

Prior to joining Channel 5, Pearl produced, commissioned and edited some of the country’s highest profile television at Channel 4 and the BBC. Whilst at Channel 4, he was Editor of its current affairs strand Dispatches and oversaw the Channel 4 News. Prior to this, Pearl spent 15 years at the BBC and was Editor of the first ever Prime Ministerial Election Debate in 2010 as well as Deputy Editor of BBC’s Panorama, Newsnight and both the BBC Six O’Clock and Ten O’Clock News.

Lisa Perrin is CEO of Creative Networks, Endemol Shine Group, a role she was appointed to in March 2015. In this capacity she leads the International Creative Division, focusing on the co-ordination and acceleration of IP around the group, supporting a network of 120 companies across all the world’s major markets. Creative Networks provides both creative and commercial cross platform format support across non-scripted and scripted genres to companies within and partners of Endemol Shine Group.

Prior to the merger of Endemol and Shine Group, Lisa was appointed creative director of Shine TV in 2009 before joining the internal format division Shine Network where she was named MD in 2014. Prior to Shine, Lisa was Head of Entertainment Commissioning at UKTV notably overseeing the return of Red Dwarf; and was Director of Popular Factual at Tiger Aspect.

Earlier in her career, Lisa was an Executive Producer at the BBC’s in-house entertainment department and at Endemol. Lisa lives in North London with her husband and 13 year old son.

Simon joined National Geographic in May 2018 as commissioning executive producer. He oversees and commissions a broad range of singles and series for the US and international channels including hit returners Drain the Oceans, Car SOS, and Nazi Megastructures.

Before joining Nat Geo, Simon was Creative Director, Factual at Tony Jordan’s Red Planet Pictures, where he developed and delivered the hit series Secrets of the SAS: In Their Own Words and Inside Windsor Castle; before that, he spent 3 years as a factual Commissioning Editor at Channel 5 where he commissioned some of the channel’s most defining shows, including Can’t Pay – We’ll Take it Away, The Yorkshire Vet, Gangland, Britain’s Bloodiest Dynasty, 10,000BC, Body Donors and the Inside….and Year in the Wild strands.

Before Channel 5, Simon was co-founder and Creative Director of Wildfire TV, where he developed and delivered more than 100 hours of factual programming for international and UK broadcasters. Credits include: The Big Royal Dig Live, Who Downed Douglas Bader, Digging the Great Escape, Wild Things with Dominic Monaghan, Combat Cars, and Walking Through History with Tony Robinson.

Hilary Rosen is deputy director of commissioning and head of factual & factual entertainment at UKTV. She has commissioned and executive produced high profile and award-winning shows for the network, including Taskmaster, John Bishop: In Conversation With…, Unspun with Matt Forde, Monty Python Live and Inside the Ambulance.

Prior to joining UKTV Hilary was creative director at Silver River devising formats including The Town That Never Retired, BBC 1 and overseeing Inside Gatwick, Sky 1.

Her career has also encompassed ten years as a senior executive producer at Lion Television where credits include The Real Cherie, BBC1, Bad Behaviour, Channel 4, Mum’s on Strike, ITV1, Ann Robinson’s Travels With an Unfit Mother, BBC 1 and Going Straight, Channel 4. Hilary began her career with a decade in BBC News and Current Affairs, including stints on Panorama and Newsnight. Hilary has also acted as a consultant for BBC Academy, training the factual development teams and helping to launch idea portal iCreate.

The founder of the independent production company Evolution Media (acquired by MGM in 2017), Douglas Ross heads up the company’s varied slate of reality programs. Currently, Ross is Executive Producer of MTV’s reboot of The Hills, E!’s Botched and Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills and its spinoff Vanderpump Rules, as well as the franchise that started it all, The Real Housewives of Orange County.

Under Ross, Evolution has produced 60+ series, including ABC Family’s Beverly Hills Nannies, WE’s critically acclaimed High School Confidential, Disney’s hidden camera comedy, CODE: 9, MTV’s comedy Yo Momma, truTV’s action drama Ocean Force and TLC’s long-running Clean Sweep and 10 Years Younger.

Ross is considered an innovator in the “reality” television genre having created TV’s first teen docu-drama, Disney’s Bug Juice, and launching the first season of NBC’s alternative series Fear Factor, and the first season of CBS’s Big Brother. Ross is also known for challenging convention with Bravo’s controversial gay dating series Boy Meets Boy and the network’s docu-series Gay Weddings.

Tom Sänger is Head of Entertainment, Daytime and Daily Drama Series at leading German broadcaster RTL. He’s held this post since 2002 and is responsible for bringing some of television’s biggest entertainment brands to the German market including “Idols”, “Got Talent” and “Dancing with the Stars”.

Tom also launched the new physical game show ‘Big Bounce’, collaborating with Endemol Shine Group on the format which successfully premiered earlier this year, has been ordered for a second series and has sold to France. Other hit format adaptations include “Farmer wants a Wife” and “Who wants to be a Millionaire”.

Sänger has also successfully introduced prime time specials of daily drama series “Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten” – the German equivalent of “Coronation Street”.

He’s played an important role in spotting new talents, both on and off screen, re-developing and successfully establishing reality formats, quiz and game shows for RTL and RTLplus. Beside the work for the linear TV – channels, he also increasingly focuses on identifying and launching entertainment formats for SVOD channels.

Tom began his career at VOX before joining RTL2 in 1994, where he held numerous senior roles before moving to RTL in 2000.

Carlyn Staudt, EVP, Love Nature programming & development leads the global programming strategy of Love Nature’s linear platform internationally and commissions original content to grow the brand’s extensive library of 4K natural history programming. Prior to this, Staudt held numerous roles at National Geographic. As SVP, Global Programming and Managing Director for National Geographic Channels International’s operations in Washington DC, Staudt was responsible for spearheading co-production partnerships and global acquisitions across NGCI’s suite of channels. Staudt also served as Channel Manager for Nat Geo Wild internationally, charged with increasing the network’s footprint and managing all content, both commissioned and acquired.