Company Launches & Partnerships
After a competitive auction, Harper Collins will be the home of Michael Mann Books with worldwide rights to multiple books in a multi-million-dollar deal. Harper Collins executive editor David Highfill will edit the books under the deal. The first novel will be a collaboration between Mann and The Cartel author Don Winslow, about the complex relationship between two organized crime giants, Tony Accardo and Sam Giancana. The second will be a prequel to the film Heat.
Nielsen and Dish Network have inked a multiyear agreement to integrate Dish’s aggregated set-top-box data initially into Nielsen’s Local TV Measurement service across all 210 designated market areas. This is the first nationwide dataset to be regulated with Nielsen’s panel to provide deeper detail and demographic descriptions. Nielsen will also utilize Dish’s set-top-box data to complement many of its local and national products.
Ride Television Network and CenturyLink have signed a deal to distribute the equestrian lifestyle channel to CenturyLink customers. Ride TV, which launched in 2014, will join the Prism Sports Plus package on April 19.
Vivendi has officially closed the deal to acquire the pay TV business of Italian media conglom Mediaset in a strategic alliance. The deal paves the way for Vivendi to create a pan-Euro free-to-air, pay TV and over-the-top platform that can compete with Netflix and Sky. Under the deal, the two companies swap 3.5% of each other’s stock, with Vivendi also acquiring control over Mediaset Premium, in which Mediaset owned 89%. Vivendi will also take over the remaining 11% owned by Spain’s Telefonica.
Australians in Film and Screen Australia has launched the inaugural Mentor LA program. The program will pair established talent with four up-and-comers in an effort to help build their careers. The first mentors are producer Bruna Papandrea (Wild); writer-director Stuart Beattie (Collateral); Game of Thrones production designer Deborah Riley; and Eden Gaha, President of Unscripted Television at Endemol Shine USA.
BBC Worldwide is increasing its stake in Baby Cow from 25% to 73%. Co-Founder Steve Coogan will take on a broader role as part of the transition. Henry Normal, Co-Founder and CEO of Baby Cow Productions will be leaving his post but will remain with Baby Cow as a consultant over the next year until the appointment of a new CEO. Coogan will head creative endeavors until a new CEO joins, and after that will continue to play a leading role in future development.
Film
After 26 years at the company, Thomas Staggs is leaving his post as COO of The Walt Disney Company to pursue other opportunities (as of May 6th, 2016). He will remain in the role of special adviser to chair/CEO Robert Iger through this fiscal year. As Staggs was expected to take over for Bob Iger, after Iger steps down in two years, the Disney board will now begin a broad search for Iger’s replacement.
Gabrielle Carteris was elected President of SAG-AFTRA by the union’s national board of directors. She has been the union’s acting president since Ken Howard’s death on March 23 and was the union’s EVP since the merger of SAG and AFTRA in 2012, which she helped plan. Prior she was the President of AFTRA’s Los Angeles Local and was a member of SAG’s national board of directors.
Daniel Battsek will be the new Director of Film4, following David Kosse’s departure to STX Entertainment. Kosse will consult for Film4 during the transition period through fall. Battsek was previously the President of Cohen Media Group and will leave that post in July. In Battsek’s new post, he will maintain the relationships with Fox Searchlight and FP Films and seek out new partnerships.
Jenny Tartikoff has been hired as the SVP of Global Communications at Universal and will be responsible for executive communications, managing filmmaker relationships, and guiding day-to-day studio strategy. She was previously a SVP at Rubenstein in New York. Angela Emery will sign on as VP Communications for the Brand Development group. She was previously the Senior Director of Global Brand Communications at Mattel. Evan Langweiler has been promoted to VP Global Communications. He will continue to serve as the liaison with Universal Pictures International.
Elissa Federoff has been named the VP of Theatrical Distribution at The Orchard. She was previously the VP of Distribution at Radius-TWC.
Matthew Gledhill has been named the SVP of International Production at STUDIOCANAL (Paris). He was formerly the Producer at One World Films.
Eric Min has been named the Head of International Sales at XYZ Films. He was formerly the EVP of Film & TV at Aldamisa Entertainment.
Mark O’Connor has been named the EVP of Production at Sidney Kimmel Entertainment. He was formerly a Senior Executive at Green Hat Films.
Christoph Pachler will be the new EVP and Chief Financial Officer at Critical Content. In his new role, Pachler will handle all financial and accounting, strategic planning and functional support areas for the company. He recently served as EVP/CFO at Playboy Enterprises.
TV
Ben Silverman is now the co-CEO of Propagate Content, alongside co-CEO Howard T. Owens. The company received an additional round of investments form A+E Networks and has partnered with Will.i.am and Apple on an unscripted series about app developers. Silverman previously founded Reveille and Electus.
Charlotte Thorp is now the SVP and Head of Television Sales for the European Market for Lionsgate UK. She was previously the SVP and Head of Film & TV Sales at eOne Film UK and eOne Television International.
Sergei Kuharsky is now the SVP Strategy and Business Development at BBC Worldwide North America. He was previously at Scripps Networks Interactive, where he served as General Manager for Food Network.
Tamaya Petteway has shifted from SVP, Brand Integrations and Partnerships to the SVP of the newly formed Brand and Licensing Partnerships Division at Endemol Shine North America. Kelly C. Hill has been named the VP of Licensing Partnerships.
Tara Long extended her time at Entertainment One Television with a new long-term deal to continue running its U.S. Alternative Programming department. Long’s credits include Fameless, David Spade’s comedy prank show for truTV, game show Race to Escape for Science Channel and the Big Surprise specials for E!.
Polly Hill has signed on to be the Head of Drama at ITV. She was previously the Head of Drama at BBC. This news comes as last week Head of Drama, Steve November left ITV after 16 years. Sue Murphy has been hired as the Commissioner for Factual Entertainment. She was previously the Managing Director at Optomen. Siobhan Greene will be the Commissioning Team’s Head of Entertainment. Angela Jain has been named the new managing director of ITV Studios Entertainment. Peter Davey has been upped to Head of Comedy.
Michelle Habel has been upped from VP to the SVP of Business & Legal Affairs at Pop. Hillary Povar has been upped from Director of Communications, Media & Talent Relations to the VP of Communications at Pop. Michael Rissetto has been upped from VP of Pricing, Strategy & Ad Sales Operations to the SVP of Ad Sales Pricing & Planning. Nicole Sabatini has been upped from SVP to the EVP of Marketing.
Mike Jackson has been named the Senior Director of International Sales & Acquisitions at Blue Ant International. He was formerly the Head of Global Sales at Banijay International.
Paul Lewis has been named the President at Great Pacific Media. He was formerly the President and General Manager at Discovery Networks Canada.
Angela Silak has been upped from Coordinator to the Manager of Original Movies at Nickelodeon.
Claire Abramowitz has been upped from Director of Development to the Executive Director of Development at The Cartel.
Mara Arakelian has been named the SVP of Talent Management at Telemundo (Miami/Mexico). She was previously the Management Director at Bobo Producciones.
Daija Arias has been named the VP of New Business Development at Z Living. She was previously the VP at NAMIC Inc. Concha Christian has been named the VP of National Media Sales at Z Living. She was formerly the Senior Director of West Coast Media Sales at BET. Lisabeth Hayes has been named the SVP of Sales & Marketing, Central & Western Regions at Z Living. She was previously the SVP of Advertising Sales at TV One. Rudy Balderama has been named the VP of Advertising Sales, Western Region at Z Living. He was formerly the West Coast Account Director at LATCOM.
Kendra Campbell-Milburn has been named the VP of Digital at UP TV. She was previously the Executive Director of Social at TVGLA.
Kristen Campolattaro has been named the VP of Brand Marketing at Sprout. She was previously the Founder, Brandavore and an Adjunct Professor of Strategic Communications at Columbia University. Amy Friedman has been named the SVP of Programming & Development at Sprout. She was previously the Senior Advisor, Scratch and President at Redhead Consulting.
Jane Gould has been named the SVP of Consumer Insights at Disney-ABC Television Group. She was previously the SVP of Research & Insights at MTV Group. Elizabeth Sloan has been upped from VP of Research & Brand Strategy to the SVP of Consumer Insights at Disney-ABC Television Group.
Management, PR, Agencies
Brandi Brice and Dana Gergely have both been hired as Agents in the Adult Television and Film Department at The Osbrink Agency. They were both previously Casting Directors at Brice/Gergely Casting.
Will Douglas has signed on to be a Talent Manager at Grandview. He was previously a Talent Manager at Paradigm. He had a strong roster to TV clients at Paradigm and his new client roster is yet to be determined.
Music, Digital, Publishing, Misc.
Peter Chernin, CEO of Chernin Entertainment and The Chernin Group, will leave Twitter’s board of directors. His term will expire at the company’s annual meeting this year. PepsiCo CFO Hugh Johnston and Lucky Voice Founder Martha Lane Fox were appointed to the board on April 6.
Jessica Buzzard has been named the Director of Marketing at Geffen Playhouse. She was previously the Director of Marketing at the Sundance Institute.
Deborah Henderson has been named the General Counsel and Head of Production at Insurrection Media, Inc. She was previously the General Counsel for Zodiak Americas.
Ronny Gutfreund has been named the Director of Alternative Promotion at Capitol Music Group. He was formerly the East Coast Director of Promotion at Wind-up Records in Atlanta.
Andrew Keller has been named the VP of A&R at Capitol Records. He was formerly the Director of A&R at Columbia Records.