Zinc Media grows premium factual operations with new label Atomic Television
Trevor Manning (left) and Stephen McQuillan
UK factual producer Zinc Media Group is launching a new label called Atomic Television, spearheaded by premium factual exec Stephen McQuillan.
The Bristol-based label will target specialist factual content within the genres of history, science, adventure and documentary. It sees Zinc establishing a Bristol base for the first time, further expanding its footprint in the UK’s nations and regions.
McQuillan comes to Zinc from Bristol-based wildlife producer Humble Bee Films, where he was creative director.
Before that, he was creative director at Icon Films, where he helped grow a slate of programming including Unknown Amazon With Pedro Andrade for Vice Media Group; Malawi Wildlife Rescue for Blue Ant Media; Mysteries of the Deep for Science Channel; and the Secrets of the Mega… for Channel 5.
Prior to his stint at Icon Films, McQuillan held a number of senior producer roles at Twofour Group and the BBC, including as a Panorama producer.
At Atomic, McQuillan will support Zinc’s engagement with SVoD services and broadcasters worldwide, as well as building upon existing projects with UK networks.
Tanya Shaw
Tanya Shaw, MD of Zinc Television, said: “As one of the market leaders in factual, Zinc has a fantastic portfolio of production labels across the nations and regions. The launch of Atomic allows us to tap into the wonderful heritage the South West has for making premium history, adventure and science programming and also helps meet the demand from streamers for natural history programming from the region.
“Stephen is an incredibly well-respected figure in the industry with established relationships with key commissioning figures both nationally and internationally, and a strong track record of winning commissions from all the major broadcasters. We are delighted that he will be heading up the newest addition to Zinc Television’s family of labels and supporting our continued growth in premium specialist factual.”
McQuillan is joined by his former Icon Films colleague Trevor Manning at the new label. Manning is a development producer and worked with McQuillan to create series for Discovery, Vice and the Travel Channel before producing multiple series for Icon in recent years.
“The Zinc stable of labels is renowned for producing high-quality content across the full spectrum of factual and I am delighted to be joining Tanya and the other brilliant teams at Zinc,” McQuillan said. “I think there is a huge opportunity in specialist factual and I am excited to explore exciting new projects with my contacts at the US, UK and international broadcasters and streamers.”
