Company Launches, Partnerships & Deals
Peter Chernin has inked a two-year overall deal for his Chernin Television at NBCUniversal to develop and produce projects for NBC through Universal Television. Under the deal Chernin has the option to produce independently through cable and digital/streaming platforms. In concurrence, Jenno Topping has been upped to President of Film and Television.
Access Hollywood’s longtime co-anchor Shaun Robinson has left the show and inked a development deal with NBCUniversal Domestic TV Distribution to develop and/or produce scripted and unscripted TV projects across all platforms via her RobinHood Prods banner.
Huffington Post will launch HuffPost 24 later this year, a news network to be available through the website and apps. It will feature live programming, short-form video, original series, creator partners from YouTube and documentaries. They will also have corresponding film and television divisions that will produce content for HuffPost 24. The new initiatives will be overseen by video General Manager Nathan Brown.
ITV has acquired Boom Supervisory Limited, the holding company of Brit TV production banner Twofour Group. The group contains Twofour, Indus Films and Boomerang, which combined with their other production companies, have produced over 1,200 hours of programs. The company also owns Twofour Rights, and in-house distribution arm.
Liberty Global, the largest cable company in the world at 27 million customers, is in talks to acquire Ireland’s TV3, valued at $110 million in a bid to diversify their offerings.
Mr. Robot Showrunner Sam Esmail has inked a seven-figure overall deal with Universal Cable Prods. He will continue as EP/showrunner on the USA series while also developing and producing scripted programming via UCP with Anonymous Content to executive produce projects for NBCUniversal’s networks and other external channels.
Transparent series creator Jill Soloway has inked an overall deal with Amazon Studios to exclusively develop television projects for Amazon Prime through Soloway’s production company with partner Andrea Sperling. This comes on the heels of Amazon’s renewal of Transparent. With the deal, Sperling has been upped from co-EP to EP.
Writer Paul Downs Colaizzo has inked a two year overall deal with CBS TV Studios. The studio ordered his pilot LFE this past season. Under the deal, Colaizzo will create projects for broadcast and cable. He is repped by ICM Partners.
Kevin Spacey and Dana Brunetti’s Trigger Street have signed a two year first look deal with Fox 21. The studio recently acquired the rights to the book The Residence for a cable drama to be produced by Trigger Street. The deal was negotiated for Trigger Street through Hansen Jacobson and CAA.
Veteran SVP for Fox David Hill is leaving and will form his own production company to be backed by 21st Century Fox. The move coincides with Rupert Murdoch’s departure from Fox who he worked closely with.
Entertainment One (eOne) and Creative England are partnering on a new TV venture to develop, finance and produce drama content intended for global consumption leveraging regional UK producers and creators. Creative England has invested over $22m into the UK creative industries across media and content platforms.
Its official, Verizon has acquired AOL in a $4.4 billion purchase agreement. CEO Tim Armstrong will continue to oversee his former company’s properties, reporting to Verizon Product Innovation and New Businesses President Mami Walden. Verizon Digital Media Services President Bob Toohey will report to Armstrong.
Brian Kavanaugh-Jones’ Automatik has inked a first look deal with Studio 8. Kavanaugh was behind Insidious: Chapter 3 and Autobahn with Nicholas Hoult and Felicity Jones. This is Studio 8’s third first-look deal after LBI and previous BFI Film Fund chief Tanya Seghatchian. Studio 8 has secured $1 billion in financing, funded in partnership with Chinese investment management firm Fosun Group and Sony Pictures, which will distribute up to six films worldwide annually.
Duplass Brothers Productions, hot off their exclusive two-year deal at HBO, where they have two series, have inked another deal, this time with indie film distributor The Orchard to handle worldwide theatrical and other rights to a slate of seven upcoming feature films produced by the duo. The films will be a part of the exclusive SVOD deal the Duplasses inked with Netflix in which the streaming service will finance four movies that will have limited theatrical releases before offered to Netflix subscribers.
EuropaCorp has snagged development executive Chris Coggins as their new VP Production and Development at EuropaCorp USA. She was previously at Rock Paper Scissors Entertainment, where she served as Head of Development and helped lead the company’s new-media projects for the Oscars, HBO and Amazon.
Shutterstock is partnering with Penske Media Corporation to create and license images and videos of events in entertainment and fashion. The alliance will join Shuttershock’s extensive stock-image tech with PMC’s photography from its events through their brands like Variety, WWD and Deadline.
The Nielsen Co. has hired banker Jordan Edmiston to analyze a possible sale of its National Research Group, Inc., one of the largest companies in entertainment which provides market research to film studios.
Film
Matt Kaplan has been tapped to be the President for Awesomeness Films and will oversee building the company’s film division. He was previously the SVP of Development and Production at Lionsgate. Awesomeness Films is on track to release 12-15 films for theatrical and digital film distribution focused on YA material and is in production on the film Shovel Buddies starring Bella Thorne. Robyn Marshall has been hired as a Film Executive there. She was previously the EVP of Development and Production at Chapter One Films. Max Siemers has likewise been tapped as a Film Executive. He was previously VP of Development and Production at Chapter One Films as well.
Ron Massucci has been named VP of Human Resources at Broad Green Pictures. He was previously the manager of HR at Sony Pictures.
Lionsgate senior executive Tim Palen has been upped to Chief Brand Officer and President of Worldwide Marketing, handling a team of 40 employees across multiple divisions and will be responsible for developing, extending and marketing the company’s individual brands, franchises and corporate branding initiatives. He will report to Lionsgate CEO Jon Feltheimer and will continue to report to Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairs Patrick Wachsberger and Rob Friedman. Marketing and Research SVP Jean McDowell will oversee marketing and distribution to be handled by Adam Sorensen, who currently manages Western Sales.
Sahar Moridani has been upped from assistant to Associate Executive Director at the DGA.
Former COO of Warp Films, Alex Marshall, has been hired as chief operating officer of Archery Pictures, the film and TV shingle under producer Kris Thykier and previous Scott Free UK head Liza Marshall.
Fox Searchlight has hired Katie Goodson-Thomas as director of productions and acquisitions of its UK operations. She was previously at film financier Ingenious. In her new role she will report to Fox Searchlight Pictures president of production Claudia Lewis.
Bold Films has tapped Karen Barna as their SVP of Business and Legal Affairs. She was previously at Summit for a decade. They’ve also upped Pili Allen to Manager of Marketing and Kate Ritter to CE. Barna will report to Bold CEO Gary Michael Walters. Allen was previously at WME and Ritter was formerly at Mandalay Pictures.
TV
Former Chernin TV President Katherine Pope has been picked up to run Studio 8’s newly launched TV division. Studio 8 does have a deal with Sony on the film side, but not on the TV side. In her new role Pope will handle Studio 8’s TV development slate of comedy and drama projects for network and cable.
Entertainment One (eOne) is expanding its Alternative TV Programming Division through a series of executive appointments. Seasoned unscripted producer Mark Herwick has been appointed as Head of Current, U.S. Alternative Programming for the company. Ben Megargel joins the division as Senior Director of Development; Jesse Daniels has been hired to the role of Director of Development; and Elliot Schwartz has been promoted to the title of Manager of Development. Megargel, Daniels and Schwartz will collaborate with the VPs of Development to strategically increase the breadth eOne’s existing slate of unscripted series.
OWN has upped Maitee Cureva to SVP Programming and Development from her previous role as VP. She’s been at the company since 2010. In her new role she will handle programming and development for the network’s Saturday night programming as well as other content development initiatives.
Turner Broadcasting System has upped Rachelle Savoia to VP of communications. Savoia will oversee Turner Content Distribution, the unit with Turner’s 10 domestic cable networks, and Turner Classic Movies. She will report to SVP Sal Petruzzi. Previously, Savoia worked for NBCUniversal’s Bravo network, Oxygen, Court TV, and Goodman Media International.
Julie Pernworth has been upped from SVP to EVP of Comedy Development at CBS Ent.
Greg Sanderson has been named Brook Lapping’s Managing Director. He was previously a Commissioning Editor of Arts & Music at BBC in London.
AMC Studios is branching off with its own leadership under new co-heads Rick Olshansky (Head of Business Affairs) and Stefan Reinhardt (SVP of Finance and Studio Ops). They will oversee production and business affairs functions of AMC and SundanceTV and report to President Charlie Collier. In part, VP of Business Affairs Scott Stein has been upped to SVP and will lead the negotiation of development and production agreements for AMC Studios original productions.
Nick Lee has been promoted from head of development and executive producer at Good Clean Fun to President. The production company’s projects include VH1’s Barely Famous and TBS’ Meet The Smiths among others.
A+E Networks has named Edward Sabin Managing their Director, Americas, and Head of Commercial Operations, International. He will handle global strategic and operational initiatives and teams; manage commercial policy and coordination on global ad sales and distribution; and evaluate and enhance A+E’s global and local approaches to business functions. He was previously at Discovery, where he was their COO .
Producer Chris Provenzano has inked an overall deal with AMC. Under the deal, he is developing a drama series based on Elmore Leonard’s 1979 novel Gunsights. Previously he was the EP on the FX drama Justified, based on another Leonard book, Fire In The Hole.
Michele Buck is the new CEO of Company Pictures in London. Previously he co-founded the Joint Managing Director of Mammoth Screen.
Yue Zhuge has come on board as the new VP, research and development at Hulu’s Beijing office and will report to CTO Tiam Lim, Zhuge to play a key role in the development of software and technology initiatives. She previously held senior positions with Microsoft and Beijing Yahoo. Most recently, Zhuge founded and served as the CEO for Landscape Mobile, creator of the Sight app.
Donna Clark is now Acting Head of Formats & Features at BBC in London. She was previously Director of Factual for Lion TV.
Raymond Dooley has been named VP of Marketing of truTV. He held the same title previously at SundanceTV.
Producer Elizabeth Guber Stephen has signed an overall deal with Warner Bros. TV to develop and produce network and cable projects through her company Gables Media. She is already developing a limited series adaptation of the book They Wished They Were Honest: The Knapp Commission And New York City Police Corruption by Michael Armstrong. She previously had a first-look deal at Fox 21 Studios.
Bill Carter, the former New York Times television reporter and author, is joining CNN as a contributor. Carter will offer reporting, analysis and commentary on the top media stories across CNN’s television and digital platforms, reuniting with former New York Times beat colleague Brian Stelter. Previously, Carter was with the New York Times for more than 25 years as a media writer, covering the television industry.
Roy Ackerman has shifted from Managing Director of Fresh One Productions to Managing Director of Non-Scripted TV for Pulse Films in London. Emma Cooper is a new Creative Director of Non-Scripted TV at Pulse Films. She was previously a Commissioning Editor of Documentaries at Channel 4.
Adam Blumberg is the new VP of TV at Hyde Park Ent. He was previously Director of Development at eOne TV.
Cyrus Farrokh has expanded his role as VP of Asia Pacific at Electus to include North America. Raymond Galaviz is a new Manager of Creative Development & Talent at Electus. He was upped form the Coordinator position. Brad Jorgensen has been promoted from VP to SVP of Worldwide Operations. Sean Canino has been promoted to VP of Creative Development in Unscripted TV from Director at Electus. Montrel McKay has been upped from Director to VP of Creative Development. Max Levenson has been promoted from assistant to Manager of Current & Creative Development. Diego Piasek has been promoted from Executive Director to VP of International Distribution & Production. Julie Shapiro has made the leap from Senior Counsel to VP of Legal & Business Affairs. KC Walker has been promoted from Director to Executive Director of Marketing Solutions at the company.
Cindy Kain is the new VP of Current Production at The Studio. She was previously Director of Production for TLC.
Nick Lee has been promoted from Head of Development and EP to President and EP at Good Clean Fun.
Lauren Stein has been named SVP of Drama Development at Sony Pictures TV. She was previously Chernin Ent’s SVP of TV Drama Development.
Scott Stemmermann has been named vice president, digital marketing, NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution.
Management, PR, Agencies
Molly Barnett has been named VP of O&M Company’s Theatre Division, up from Sr. Press Agent there.
Jim Osborne has been named partner at APA. He is also the VP of Talent.
Gerilyn Shur is the new Director of National PR for Allied Integrated Marketing. She was previously the Director of National PR at Brigade Marketing.
Matt Gogal has been upped from Agent to President of Talent House LA.
David Lust has been named Integrated PR’s new VP. He was previously VP at Rogers & Cowan.
Maggi L. Simpson has been named the new VP for Integrated PR.
Music, Digital, Publishing, Misc.
Seth Laderman has been named EVP and GM of the new subscription streaming service from Lionsgate and Comic-Con International. The platform will debut in the first quarter of 2016. It will feature original short-form content created exclusively for the channel’s subscribers, as well as films and television series from Lionsgate and other studios targeting the Comic-Con fan base, and exclusive archived footage from Comic-Con’s 45-year history. Laderman was previously head of production for Legendary Digital and Nerdist Industries where he helped to spearhead the digital growth of YouTube content.
The Endemol Shine Group is launching a Commercial Partnerships Team, joining Shine 360° and Endemol international commercial teams to support their local commercial teams around the world to be overseen by Branco Scherer, upped from Managing Director. Lorraine Burgess has been named the Director of Commercial and Digital Development. Frances Adams will be the Director of Brand Development and focus on brand management for global properties. Ingrid Akkerman has been named Director of Brand Relations and Mark Rosenegk the Director of Brand Partnerships. Tom Jeans will be the Director of Commercial and Business Affairs and will handle the roll out of foreign licensing delas. Karen Maldoy will be the Senior Manager, Digital Products and Joe Pietroni has been named Director of App Development handling the development of in-house digital apps and games that can be adapted for entertainment brands around the world.
Josh Dammers has been named Director of Brand Partnerships at DigiTour. He was previously Executive Director of Data Driven Media at the Meredith Corporation. Linnea Stalberg has been hired on as SVP of Marketing at DigiTour. Linnea was previously VP of Marketing and Production at SpinMedia.
Anna Murray has been upped from Project Manager to Director, Brand Management & Special Projects at Ribbow Media in Nashville.
David O’Connor has left CAA to become the CEO of Madison Square Garden. He was behind the formation of CAA Sports and while at the agency his client list included Jerry Bruckheimer, Bruce Willis, David Koepp and director Gary Ross. No date of his leave from CAA has been set.
News organization IBT Media has named Mitchell Caplan CMO, to lead brand development and ad revenue. Caplan was most recently chief marketing officer at Olson.