SPT, Andreae set up UK prodco

Sony Pictures Television (SPT) has tapped Discovery executive Simon Andreae to launch a London-based production company.

Scarlet Media is backed by SPT, which will hold a majority stake and distribute its programming internationally. The company will develop original factual and factual entertainment formats, with series and one-off specials, for UK and international broadcasters.

Andreae is leaving his current role as senior VP of development and production on the West Coast for Discovery Communications in the US to become the company’s MD, reporting to president of international production at SPT Andrea Wong.

Before joining Discovery three years ago, Andreae moved to the US in 2005 to set up independent production company The Incubator. The firm made factual shows for Spike, USA, VH1, Discovery, History and TLC, among others, including Through the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, which is now in its fifth season.

Previously he was head of science and education at the UK’s Channel 4, commissioning series such as The Autopsy, Anatomy for Beginners and BodyShock. He was also a founding partner of UK indie Optomen Television.

Scarlet Media is the fifth UK production company in SPT’s international production portfolio, which now includes 19 companies across 14 countries.

Andreae said: “SPT is the perfect fit because the scale is so global but the structure so personal. Scarlet Media will combine the best of British and American non-fiction sensibilities, producing the sort of smart, spicy content at which the Brits excel but on a scale and with the sheen for which US producers are rightly celebrated.”