New role for Neame in Carnival rejig

The MD of UK prodco Carnival Films has been made executive chairman as part of a wider reshuffle of the company.

Gareth Neame

Gareth Neame, who had been MD for 13 years, will continue to lead the NBCUniversal International Studios subsidiary’s production pipeline and creative vision in his new role.

David O’Donoghue and Nigel Marchant, previously chief operating officer and exec producer respectively, have taken over as joint MDs and will oversee the outfit’s day-to-day leadership.

Additionally, Aliboo Bradbury has moved from head of business affairs to commercial director as part of the rejig.

In his 30-year scripted production career, Neame has served as head of drama commissioning at the BBC and, alongside Marchant, has exec produced Carnival hits including ITV’s Downton Abbey, Netflix’s The Last Kingdom and Sky’s Jamestown.

Neame said he was pleased to have taken up his new role, which he said would allow him to “focus on Carnival’s content strategy and creative vision, allowing David and Nigel to excel in more expansive creative leadership roles.”

O’Donoghue had been Carnival’s COO since 2012, having previously held business affairs positions at Carnival and NBCUniversal International Studios.

Marchant, who has been at Carnival for six years, has more than two decades’ production experience and worked on series such as The Philanthropist, The Suspicions of Mr Whicher and Fanny Hill before joining the company.