Nutopia hires from Hillary, Chelsea Clinton’s HiddenLight, promotes Fernandes

Jane Root’s US- and UK-based factual production company Nutopia has hired Nicky Huggett from Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s HiddenLight, while promoting existing exec Samantha Fernandes.

Samantha Fernandes

Huggett has been appointed VP of factual development to help oversee Nutopia’s core development operation.

She will report to Fernandes, who in her new role as exec VP of development will turn her attention to expanding Nutopia’s development slate into more entertainment-focused genres alongside chief creative officer Simon Willgoss

Huggett joins from HiddenLight, which she helped launch with the former First Lady in 2020.

Nutopia’s unscripted credits include Limitless with Chris Hemsworth and Welcome to Earth with Will Smith, both National Geographic projects for Disney+.

The company has several other shows currently in production, including the upcoming WWII series with Tom Hanks for History, along with further series featuring Will Smith and Chris Hemsworth.

During her time at HiddenLight, Huggett led the development department, working on projects such as Gutsy, an Apple TV+ series presented by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton, as well as two yet-to-be-announced series for Sky Documentaries and the BBC.

She also oversaw the development of the Emmy Award-winning feature documentary In Her Hands for Netflix, The Cranes Call for Channel 4 and Zurawski vs Texas, which recently premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and was executive produced by Jennifer Lawrence.

Huggett said: “Nutopia feels like the perfect fit; they share my passion for marrying big name talent with compelling subjects to educate, and more importantly, entertain a global audience. I am so excited to embrace this opportunity to learn from their remarkable creative team who seem to have innovation baked into their DNA.”

In her new role as EVP Development, Fernandes will help drive Nutopia’s creative strategy alongside Willgoss. Fernandes will also manage relationships with key partners like National Geographic, Disney+, Netflix, and Apple.