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Barefaced TV becomes part of STV

Scotland’s STV Studios has added factual entertainment company Barefaced TV, previously part of Argonon Group, to its portfolio.

Barefaced’s Lucy Golding and Rosie Bray

Founded by Rosie Bray and Lucy Golding in 2017, Barefaced TV’s most recent production is Channel 4’s Naked Beach, a reality format that has sold well internationally, including a US option and a German remake from Sat.1.

Bray and Golding’s working relationship began with their BBC3 format Snog Marry Avoid. Prior to forming Barefaced TV, they created BBC2’s Restaurant Wars and Channel 4’s The Millionaire Party Planner.

They then became joint heads of factual entertainment at NBCUniversal (NBCU)’s development unit, where they worked with current STV Studios MD David Mortimer, who at that time was senior VP in charge of NBCU’s international unscripted group of companies.

Today’s announcement follows the rebranding of Glasgow-based STV Studios from STV Productions last month. It is now home to seven production labels.

Earlier this year, STV took a minority share in drama company Two Cities, while in 2019 it acquired a majority stake in entertainment specialist Primal Media. STV also has a creative partnership with drama producer Elaine Collins and her company Tod Productions.

These talent partnerships complement STV Studios’ in-house labels STV Studios Drama, led by creative director Sarah Brown; STV Studios Factual, helmed by creative director Craig Hunter; and STV Studios Entertainment, run by creative director Gary Chippington.

Parent Scottish broadcaster STV announced the Barefaced TV deal today as part of its latest set of financial results, which saw a £4.9m (US$6.59m) half-year loss, attributed to the coronavirus lockdown and ad market decline. That was significantly down from a £9.1m profit for the previous six months.

Mortimer said: “Rosie and Lucy are hugely talented, with a real flair for creating funny, warm and uplifting TV formats with huge international appeal. They share our values and ambitions, and the work they do complements our other labels perfectly. I’m very excited about the future for Barefaced TV and I look forward to working with them.”

Bray added: “The wealth of talent and experience within the group opens up huge opportunities for our small but ambitious label and we cannot wait to begin our new partnership.”

Golding said: “We’re hugely passionate about creating entertaining formats with universal themes and international appeal. Joining the incredible stable of talent at STV Studios will give us the scope to broaden our offering and draw on their wide-ranging scale and expertise.”

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