Tutors

Morgenstern began his TV development career in the BBC Features department, building the brands of successful shows such as Holiday, Watchdog and Crimewatch UK.

He created and produced the BBC’s paranormal shows Against All Odds and Mysteries with Carol Vorderman, and also created and developed the BBC1 wildlife documentary strand Born To Be Wild for actor Martin Clunes and other celebrities.

After further spells of development in BBC Entertainment and Science, he joined Granada as a founding member of the pioneering Hot House development team. Within six months their reality format Boot Camp was commissioned by the Fox network in the US. It was the highest rating show in America on its debut and a breakthrough achievement for ITV’s format business. The show was recommissioned the following year as Celebrity Boot Camp.

Morgenstern rejoined the BBC as head of factual entertainment development and then head of format entertainment development. His team won important Saturday night commissions for Just the Two of Us and Last Choir Standing. They also created the pitch that sold Strictly Come Dancing into the US, where it has become a long-running hit for the ABC as Dancing with the Stars.

His BBC role included the acquisition of international quiz show formats Identity and Dirty Rotten Cheaters for BBC Daytime, as well as the Japanese format Train of Thought, remade as Copycats by BBC Children’s.

While at the BBC, Morgenstern was the broadcaster’s representative on the EBU Format Group and co-hosted the EBU Creative Forum in Berlin. He was also on the European jury for the entertainment category of the International Emmy Awards.

He currently runs training and consultancy courses for Chinese broadcasters at the University of Westminster’s China Media Centre, and teaches degree-level television students at Ravensbourne University.

Brodie started in the business at BBC Enterprises many years ago before spending time in the indie sector with Global TV and Portman Entertainment, before joining TVNZ on the acquisitions side. For the last 20 years Brodie has been with Seven Network Australia on the programme acquisitions which has involved travelling throughout Europe looking at various formats, productions, finished shows, Royal docs and paper ideas.

Sanan is an international content expert specialising in developing, buying and selling content in the international marketplace, across multiple territories and platforms.

Sanan has a strong track record in the acquisition and sale of IP, having held posts at production and distribution groups including Banijay International, IMG, DRG and Content Media. As The Story Lab’s SVP acquisitions & business development, Luci is responsible for the company’s investment in rights, including distribution, development and investment deals, and overseeing their relationships with production companies in the UK.

With over 25 offices across the world, The Story Lab offers unique bespoke services as investor, partner, co-producer, develop and distributor. Working with innovative and passionate production, media and entertainment companies to create, fund, produce, distribute and monetise premium content that travels globally, The Story Lab’s content is scalable, flexible, fresh, relevant, accessible to all and experiential. The Story Lab is part of Dentsu Aegis Network.

Van Diepen started out her career in the entertainment television industry at Endemol International, where her role was that of director of acquisitions and her responsibilities included the identifying and acquiring of third party IP in scripted and non-scripted genres for single or multiple territory production for any or all of the affiliated companies of this global content production company, with operating companies in 26 territories worldwide. After fifteen years at Endemol, van Diepen joined Sony Pictures Television’s international production unit to set up its acquisitions department, acquiring third party IP for in-house production by any of the Sony affiliated companies worldwide or distribution to outside producers and or channels globally. Has been involved in acquisitions of some of the key brands worldwide for local production: Who Wants to be a Millionnaire, Masterchef, Expedition Robinson. End of 2016 she launched her own consultancy company and has been working as content specialist/business development exec for key international media companies since then. Her current focus is to acquire content for her international client. For Talpa Network, she runs the Fastest Way to Screen Project – allowing creators to launch their IP on one of the Dutch four linear Talpa channels.

Edwards has a wealth of unscripted knowledge both internationally and in the UK. Keeping ahead of the trends to spot and acquire the next big format hit for Sony as part of her role, heading up the Future Formats Team. She also works extremely closely with all of our indies including Electric Ray and Stellify to develop new unscripted formats (SPT formats include Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, The Dating Game, Dragons Den/Shark Tank, Can’t Touch This, Raid The Cage). Prior to joining Sony, Edwards was the head of development at Talkback Thames, the BBC and ITV Studios-owned 12 Yard. Edwards helped develop a number of key international hits including The Weakest Link, Hole In The Wall and Take Me Out.

Sonnleitner studied political science at Passau University and at Muskingum University (Ohio, USA). He joined ProSiebenSat.1 in 1998 as a footage researcher. From 2000 to 2002 he worked for the sports division at Sat.1. In 2003 he took over the position of a program scout in the department format development. Since then he is in charge for identifying new formats and trends in the international TV landscape that have relevance for the ProSiebenSat.1 group. Since 2010 he is heading the department international scouting and trends. Twice a year he is hosting ProSiebenSat.1’s European Pitch where international production and distribution companies present new formats.

Blakeson is an executive producer and creative head who specialises in quiz and game show formats. He was involved in the creation, development, sale and production of formats such as Pointless, The Million Pound Drop, Ready or Not, The Bank Job and Golden Balls. He has 25 years’ experience in the industry and his previous roles include: chief creative officer, Remedy Productions (2012-2017); head of entertainment, Remarkable TV (2011-2012); development executive, Endemol UK (2006-2011).

Pye joined Objective Media Group in July 2018, as the company’s first commercial director.
Prior to joining OMG, Holly spent seven years at London talent agency James Grant Media, where she was entertainment board director working across the strategy and management of a wide variety of high-profile clients.

Previously, Pye worked as the company’s head of television. Pye’s CV also boasts William Morris (WMA) and William Morris Endeavor (WME) where she ran the TV department in the UK representing UK and US production companies and talent.

Ross is a Format Specialist with over 20 years experience in the industry. She recently joined The Fugitive, to set up an unscripted division. Previously VP of Formats at NENT Group she worked closely with UK-based and international content producers and distributors to accelerate the sourcing of original formats at the development stage for NENT’s portfolio of off- and online entertainment channels across Europe.

Samantha Glynne is Global SeniorVice President of Branded Entertainment at Fremantle. She is based in London but drives branded entertainment activities for Fremantle around the world, working with regional commercial and digital teams to deliver brand strategy, lead key relationships with brands and agencies, and maximise advertiser engagement on TV and digital platforms.

Over the past decade, Fremantle has already established itself as key partner for brands, having developed iconic and long running partnerships with advertisers such as Coca Cola, Pepsi, Ford, Samsung and more, across some of its key television properties like Idols, Got Talent and The X Factor. Branded content is a key growth area for the company for its existing TV brands and its growing original digital content output.

Formerly Managing Partner and Director of Channels at Publicis Entertainment in London and Paris, Glynne launched Renault TV in the UK and France; and before that she was she launched the Audi Channel on Sky. She’s also overseen channel launches around the world.

Glynne was a judge for the Entertainment Jury, Cannes Lions 2017, and with her fellow jurors co-wrote the book The Art of Branded Entertainment. She has also been a judge and speaker for numerous content and advertising festivals around the world, including Festival of Media, DMexco, Dubai Lynx, Edinburgh TV Festival, Drum Content Awards, M&M Global Awards and Advertising Week Europe.

She was Chair of the Advisory Board for Ravensbourne University and currently sits on the Board of the Women’s Prize for Fiction and on the Advisory Board for Advertising Week.

Hutchinson began his TV career with Irish national broadcaster RTE before spending 7 years as senior researcher for the Late Late Show, hosted and produced by legendary Irish broadcaster Gay Byrne. In the late 1980s Hutchinson moved to England and worked as a freelance researcher and associate producer on a wide range of entertainment programmes with TVS, Granada, Tyne Tees and Thames Television. Three years later he moved to London Weekend Television and produced some of the most successful shows from the 1990s, including Blind Date and Surprise Surprise hosted by Cilla Black, You Bet and Schofields Quest.

As head of entertainment at Hat Trick Productions, he went on to develop and executive produce Confessions hosted by Simon Mayo and Gaby Roslin’s Whatever You Want (winner of the Silver Rose at Montreux), both Prime Time entertainment shows for BBC1. Three years later he arrived as head of entertainment at Celador Productions. As well as executive producing Who Wants To Be A Millionaire (Winning awards at Bafta, Royal Television Society, Comedy Awards, Silver Rose at Montreux and 7 consecutive National Television Awards). He was responsible for all of Celador’s Entertainment output and developed with the team, Winning Lines, the National Lottery show for BBC1, hosted by Philip Schofield, 6 series. Commercial Breakdown, hosted by Jim Davidson, Jo Brand and John Culshaw, 3 series for BBC1. The People Versus, hosted by Kaye Adams, 100 episodes for ITV1. Comedy panel game Back in The Day for Channel 4 hosted by Clive Anderson and Passport To Paradise, live Saturday night entertainment show for BBC1 hosted by Johnny Vaughan and Denise Van Outen. Hutchinson also co-created ‘Brainiest’, hosted by Carol Vorderman and Tess Daly a hit format in the UK for ITV1 and licensed around the world.

In 2013 Colman set up ‘Boxatricks’, a format creation/consultancy company with David Briggs and Mike Whitehill (Co creators of ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’) The other board member is Steve Springford, former head of production at Celador Productions. Colman executive produced a major new Primetime game show series ‘High Stakes’ for ITV1 hosted by Jeremy Kyle, and an American Pilot for NBC with Mark McGrath as host. In 2013 he worked as executive producer on a major ITV 90 minute special celebrating Cilla Black’s 50 years in Showbusiness, ‘The One And Only Cilla Black’.

In 2014 Hutchinson and Boxatricks signed a distribution and development deal with Nordic World in Scandanavia. In August 2015 Boxatricks produced a major pilot of their new quiz show ‘The Shortest Straw’ which was unveiled at MIPCOM in Cannes in October 2015. In 2015 following the death of Cilla Black, Hutchinson executive produced Cilla’s obituary show for ITV.

Hutchinson and the team at ‘Boxatricks’ have continued to create a and develop their own and third party formats and work as consultants on Various projects in the UK and Ireland. In 2018 Colman has also worked as a consultant on various projects including ‘Late Night With Twan Huys’ on RTL4 for Fremantle in Amsterdam. He has also worked with ITV Global, helping to update some of their Production Bibles. In 2019 ‘TWINKling Through The Years’ was produced by Colman and the team. It is a one hour special celebrating the life of Ireland’s first lady of Entertainment Adele King aka Twink. The show will be transmitted on RTE 1 on Saturday 6th July 2019 at 8.30pm. In October 2019 Colman Joined Sony Pictures Television as a production consultant. Hutchinson is on the Advisory Board of The Entertainment Masterclass.

Parnes signed a co-pro deal with Objective Productions in 2009 and created/exec’ed various Fact Ent formats, including The Undercover Princes/Princesses (BBC), Eye Spy (Channel 4), Make Me A Millionaire Inventor (Sky), among others. He has been consultant executive producer on UK versions of Impractical Jokers and Off Their Rockers, and helmed the pilot for Kayvan Novak’s Britain Today Tonight. In 2016, Kalel Productions signed an investment deal with Greenbird, and Parnes has since created innovative formats like Stupid Man, Smart Phone (BBC), Phone Swap (BBC3), Prison Life: Raw and Real, and more recently Rich Kids Go Skint and its various spin-off series for Channel 5, plus Getting Ready With… for Channel 4.

One of the most experienced international content production, acquisitions, formats and programming executives, and an award-winning producer; skilled in conception, acquisition, development, strategic partnerships, and physical production of scripted and unscripted originals and formats, in the U.S., the U.K., Canada, Australia; as well as Russia, Eastern Europe, the Middle East and Africa, encompassing the CIS, CEE and MENA regions, amongst the 20+ non-English speaking countries Marc has lived and/or worked in.

Lionsgate Television has retained Marc’s services for the past 6 years, and now as their SVP International Coproductions & Acquisitions, tasks him with overseeing acquisitions (such as BBC’s returning hit comedy, MOTHERLAND, and their upcoming THE GOES WRONG SHOW; plus Viaplay’s new drama COLD COURAGE); working with its networks Starz and Pop, on their acquisitions; sourcing investment opportunities (such as Kindle Entertainment and Potboiler Films); coproduction/development activities, and partnering with established UK prodco’s such as Drama Republic, Merman Films, and New Pictures among others; and creatively licensing their formats like BOSS to the UK (currently in ITV development), and NURSE JACKIE to SVT Sweden; while also acquiring multiple formats the studio has set up at US networks, like FEED THE BEAST, originally from Denmark, a 10 episode series which premiered on AMC in 2016, with Marc as its creative consultant.

Marc also recently Executive Produced the first seasons of two new series for Quest Arabiya, a channel co-owned by Discovery and Image Nation Abu Dhabi; the formats of BBC’s NO KITCHEN REQUIRED and Discovery’s TOP FISHER, both shot in Arabic on location in multiple countries across the Middle East and Europe. The former premiered in October 2018 and the latter will in 2020.

Ferron launched her successful Canadian-based Format agency, Media Ranch, in 2008 to develop, produce and distribute original and existing television formats around the world, specializing in factual, reality tv, docu-reality and lifestyle. The company portfolio includes internationally renowned companies such as Danish Radio (DR), Endemol Shine Group, among others. Media Ranch won a prestigious Rose d’Or Award in 2015 for Best Reality/Factual Series.

Ferron launched and oversaw a 2018-19 Format incubator project called Horsepower, in association with Quebecor Content to create and distribute original Canadian Format IP. She wants Media Ranch to be known for developing and welcoming fresh Format ideas as well as helping creators to develop IP for the global marketplace.

Her career began as a producer with Ferron International in 1987. In 1997, Ferron was named director of production at Radiomutuel – Astral Media. Next she went to Technicolor as Vice President of Distribution Services and, before launching Media Ranch, held the title of COO at broadcaster TQS.

Active in the international television industry, Ferron is currently a FRAPA member; and has been a business and government affairs consultant concerning the Canadian media landscape. She is a former Board Member of SODEC, Quebec’s public film and television funding agency; was on the French Advisory Board of the Banff World Media Festival and served as President of the Quebec Dubbing Studios Association where she negotiated the collective agreement with the actors’ guild, Union des Artistes

Waller is a media journalist working out of London, England. He is editorial director for C21 Media, which publishes the leading international TV trade website C21Media.net and print magazines Channel 21 International, DQ and C21 Kids. He also regularly contributes to UK national newspapers including The Guardian, The Independent and The Sunday Times. Waller previously worked at trade magazines Televisual Magazine and Asia-Pacific Satellite.

Thompson is non-executive director of the UK’s leading TV consultancy K7 Media, regularly writing and presenting on global content trends for clients ranging from Fox, Sony, Fremantle and Warner Brothers, to SVT (Sweden) and NRK (Norway), and at TV Festivals from Copenhagen to Tel Aviv.

Alongside this she runs development and pitching workshops, team training sessions and channel/ commissioning strategy projects for clients including the BBC, Channel 4, ITV Studios (UK & US), EndemolShine, All3Media, MTV, RTL/ UFA (Germany), Lagadere Sports and several Chinese broadcasters including CCTV and Shanghai Media Group. She also consults on the development slates of several indies in France, Ireland, Scotland and London.

Thompson’s background is in entertainment and factual entertainment development: in-house at ITV from 2000 – 2008, she headed up their Entertainment Development team, steering work on international formats including Saturday Night Takeaway, Gameshow Marathon and Celebrities Under Pressure for ITV, Brainiac for Sky and American Princess for NBC in the US.

In the last couple of years she has also worked for US company Core Media on their company acquisitions strategy, and exec produced documentaries including Girls With Autism (ITV) and Trafficked in Suburbia (YouTube’s Real Stories channel).

Holcman joined A+E Networks in 2012 as senior director, non-fiction and alternative programming. In this role, Holcman oversees the development and production of many of U.S. channel A&E’s unscripted critically acclaimed projects “60 Days In,” “Intervention (Emmy Nominee – 2014, 2015, 2016), “Undercover High” and the recently announced series “Employable Me” and “The Accused”. He has also overseen some of A&E’s past hits including “Duck Dynasty,” “Behind Bars: Rookie Year,” “Gangland Undercover,” and “Panic 9-1-1” to name a few. His passion is to build relationships with the world’s producers and broadcasters to develop and produce for A&E. Holcman came to A&E from fox21 where he served as Director of Creative Affairs, and was responsible for overseeing the development of all reality and alternative programming including “Countdown,” “Beauty and the Geek,” “Saved,” “Untitled Jamie Kennedy Project” and “Game Show in My Head,” as well as numerous pilots for broadcast and cable networks.  He also assisted with fox21’s slate of scripted projects, including “Homeland”, “Sons of Anarchy” and “Brickleberry.” Prior to fox21, Holcman worked in Drama Development at 20th Century Fox Television.  Brad received his Bachelor’s degree in Sports Management and Communication from the University of Michigan.

Andrew Jackson is joint Creative Director at Raise the Roof Productions and works alongside Sarah Walmsley in leading the creative team.

Andrew executive produces much of RTRP’s output as well as pitching ideas to Commissioners and Controllers. Since joining the company Andrew has executive produced 2 runs of the RTS Scotland winning series Fill Your House for Free and 4 series of Bafta Scotland nominated series Kirstie and Phil’s Love it or List it. He’s also exec produced Kirstie’s Vintage Home, Best of Both Worlds, as well as the RTS Scotland winning Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman for BBC One. In the last 12 months Andrew exec’ed Britain in 100 Homes for More4, Flour Power for BBC Scotland/BBC One, Kirstie’s All Star Stitch Up for Channel 4 and Kate Humble’s Twice the Life for Half for Price for Channel 5.

Before joining RTRP, Andrew spent over 6 years at Channel 4, latterly as Deputy Head of Features managing a team of 4 Commissioning Editors and some of the Channel’s biggest brands an talent. He commissioned hundreds of hours ranging from the BAFTA award winning documentary series Hugh’s Fish Fight and RTS award winning series Bank of Dave to returning series including The Restoration Man, George Clarke’s Amazing Spaces, Secret Eaters, Obsessive Compulsive Cleaners and Mary’s Bottom Line.

Caroline is an award-winning television producer and teacher. She established her career at the BBC in Birmingham and then joined Peter Bazalgette’s team at Bazal Productions to series produce Ready, Steady Cook. She launched Endemol Midlands in 1997, producing over 1000 hours of television content, during this time she was also Head of Live Events adapting successful television formats into live shows. In 2006 she joined the Birmingham School of Media and led both the BA and MA Television Production courses and successfully gained Creative Skillset accreditation for 11 courses. Earlier this year, she left the School of Media to work as a freelance educator and producer.

An award-winning, inspirational, and creative leader with extensive senior leadership experience within television and digital content production and a proven ability to devise, market and deliver ambitious, ground-breaking ideas with broad appeal. Highlights include: Founding Director and CEO of Independent Production Company Hotbed Media Ltd, establishing company with VC funding and doubling turnover year-on-year in first 4 years with programme formats sold to over 40 territories; Runner-up – Businesswoman of the Year 2006; Winner – 2 RTS Awards and a children’s BAFTA; Non-executive director/Chair of several creative industry NGO’s delivering education and learning within the creative sector.

The founder of the independent production company Evolution Media (acquired by MGM in 2017), Douglas Ross heads up the company’s varied slate of reality programs.  Currently, Ross is Executive Producer of MTV’s reboot of THE HILLS, E!’s BOTCHED and Bravo’s THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS and its spinoff VANDERPUMP RULES, as well as the franchise that started it all, THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ORANGE COUNTY.

Under Ross, Evolution has produced 60+ series, including ABC Family’s BEVERLY HILLS NANNIES, WE’s critically acclaimed HIGH SCHOOL CONFIDENTIAL, Disney’s hidden camera comedy, CODE: 9, MTV’s comedy YO MOMMA, truTV’s action drama OCEAN FORCE and TLC’s long-running CLEAN SWEEP and 10 YEARS YOUNGER.

Ross is considered an innovator in the “reality” television genre having created TV’s first teen docu-drama, Disney’s BUG JUICE, and launching the first season of NBC’s alternative series FEAR FACTOR, and the first season of CBS’s BIG BROTHER.  Ross is also known for challenging convention with Bravo’s controversial gay dating series BOY MEETS BOY and the network’s docu-series GAY WEDDINGS.

Ben is a multi award-winning creative and entrepreneur who has worked on some of Britain’s most iconic TV shows. He trained at the BBC, initially as a video engineer and trainee editor and then as a Producer/Director and went on to work on CBBC shows including Blue Peter.

Following several years at the BBC, Ben began freelancing and he directed numerous and varied shows including The National Lottery Show (BBC1), Challenge Anneka (BBC1) and many more including Earl E. Bird (Channel 4 Daily). He was appointed MD of MBC’s Midlands office (Mentorn Barraclough Carey) in Birmingham and moved to the region to develop award-winning programming for the BBC and ITV as well as being Executive Producer on the regional content for Channel 4 News for two years.

In 2000 Ben launched his own independent production company, Zebra Digital and has created dozens of formats and series for ITV, five, Discovery, UKTV and others. He has filmed across the world from Africa to the Arctic Circle.

Ben oversees the output and business strategy of Zebra Digital and has been at the forefront of developing and evolving the company in line with new technologies and opportunities. The company was the first to successfully pitch and negotiate an Advertiser Funded series for Discovery Networks – a model that is now being more widely used. He combines a practical hands-on approach to producing creative content while still keeping an entrepreneurial overview of the creative industries.

Since his move to Birmingham, Ben has been actively involved in a number of initiatives to mentor young people and to support the work of film, TV and education in the city and further afield. He was Chair of the Midlands Media Training Consortium, The Birmingham Film Festival and a company director of the Children TV Workshop (the BAFTA winning innovative training ground for young people). Ben has worked with diverse communities in the city, helping to raise awareness of community projects and upskilling young people.

These included being the voluntary Chairman of The Young Disciples (an inner city youth organisation) helping the organisation transition through changes in their funding structure, to making a series of films for The Media Trust for a range of organisations including Youth Support Services (YSS) and The Coventry Refugee Centre.

Ben has also been a lead contributor in the £5m My Place lottery bid to create The Lighthouse Youth People’s Centre – a multi-purpose building to provide leisure and work facilities for young people in the Newtown area of Birmingham.

Ben is often called upon to participate as a panellist at festivals and conferences. He has produced and/or Chaired panel sessions on diversity in TV – at the prestigious Edinburgh TV Festival and the Salford Nations and Regions Conference.

Ben is also a visiting University lecturer at several universities including Birmingham City University, Derby and Birmingham University and regularly speaks at events and on panels including the Cambridge TV Festival.

In 2015 he co-launched a new disruptive initiative, FormatZone with funding from Finance Birmingham and Midven, with a strategic partnership with BCU and other investors. FormatZone is currently developing innovative new ways to deliver media content to a wide international audience from its base in the West Midlands.

In 2017 Ben became a co-founder of new Coventry and Solihull based media and theatre company STAMP. The company disseminates primary academic research through innovative digital content and live action installations. In this way, cutting edge research findings are taken to a broader and more diverse audience.

Mark Rowland is an experienced executive producer and media entrepreneur, who’s specialised in international formats. Mark launched the global TV brands Supernanny, Robot Wars and Paradise Hotel.

Mark is currently Chair of C21Media and co-founder of Formatzone, a new venture using airtime across the UK City Stations to launch original formats for the international market. Formatzone’s first series, Laurence of Suburbia is distributed by Sky Vision and on air in multiple territories. Mark is also an Non-Exec director of top UK Indie, Zig Zag Productions and of Sassy Films, a leading digital communications agency.

Mark started as a producer in BBC News and BBC Features, then became a Director of ground-breaking UK Indie, Mentorn. He launched and ran the distribution arm, Mentorn International. Mark went on to combine US deal-making for the next wave of top Indies – Ricochet, Twenty Twenty, Optomen – with launching a media investment company which took US social media co, Digital Playspace, from start-up to successful sale.

Justin is a BAFTA-award-winning global content specialist, format creator and trainer with 30 years’ experience in the industry, known internationally as The Format Doctor.

With partner Michel Rodrigue, Justin co-founded The Format People in 2009, a consultancy of top industry professionals. Justin works with broadcasters and production companies globally to improve the creation, development and delivery of formats in genres from gameshow, reality, talent, chat, factual entertainment, to lifestyle, make-over, and animation.

These include medical game “Doctors vs. Internet” (NRK), 4 seasons to date, licensed to 12 territories, Best Studio-based Gameshow winner at the International Formats Awards 2017; and the BBC’s “Pablo”, the first animation series centred on a character on the autism spectrum, launched in 2017, S2 commissioned.

Justin creates TV formats including cookery competition “Chef In Your Ear”, launched 2015 (Food Network Canada), distributed by Warner Bros and adapted in Quebec (Radio-Canada), France (France 2), Germany (ZDF), Holland (NPO3), Belgium (Vier), S Korea (2017, 2 seasons), and Mongolia (NTV, S2 in 2018), Mexico (Imagen/Discovery) and Brazil (GNT).

He also co-created song-writing competition “Sing My Song” (China/CCTV), 3 seasons to date, averaging 252 million per season, renewed for S2 in Vietnam.

Other formats he has consulted on include SABC’s music game shows “Fanbase”, 6 seasons to date, and “Beter Assie Bure”, launched in 2017 with S2 commissioned; reality food competition “Kokkedoor” (KykNET), 4 seasons to date; CBC’s “Canada’s Smartest Person”, 3 seasons to date, and lifestyle series “The Goods”; Discovery’s “Know It All”, adapted in Sweden as “Genikampen”, 3 seasons to date; and international family game show “Splatalot!” (CAN/AUS/UK).

In 2017-18 Justin consulted on the Finnish-based SpaceNation, the first app where you can train to be an astronaut, designed in partnership with NASA.

Justin is consultant on game-shows for Dick de Rijk Productions, Visiting Tutor at UK’s National Film & TV School, and a trainer for government agency Northern Ireland Screen. In 2018 Justin and The Format People are running format workshops for broadcasters around the world, including JTBC (S. Korea) and MNET (S. Africa).

In 2018 Justin has been a keynote speaker at the Copenhagen TV Festival and Kiev Media week. In 2018m he was a judge at the International Emmys and a speaker at MIPFormats.

Justin co-devised and produced history gameshow “Codex” at London’s British Museum, and reality shows “Shock Treatment” (Sky One) and BAFTA-winning “Starfinder” (ITV). Previous credits include cult game-shows “Treasure Hunt” and “Crystal Maze”. He is the author of 11 books for children and adults.

The pioneer of the Israeli formats industry internationally, and the Founder and CEO of Armoza Formats, Avi Armoza is one of Israel’s leading film and television producers.

Avi has been working in television and film business for more than 20 years. He began his tenure when he founded JCS Productions, which has grown to be Israel largest independent production house. Prior to Armoza, Avi was the VP of Content and Business Development at Israel’s leading Media Company, the Jerusalem Capital Studios.

In 2005, he founded Armoza Formats, and under his leadership it has become a key player in the international formats market, successfully establishing it as a leading independent format development and distribution company that aims to innovate in distribution methods and format creation. In addition to driving the company forward, Avi has served as Executive Producer on several of Armoza’s hit shows, including prime-time entertainment show I Can Do That!, which has become a well-known brand aired in over 85 territories, including in the US on NBC and the recently-launched prime time singing competition The Four, which has now had two hit seasons on FOX.

I have worked with creative strategies and programme development both locally and internationally since 1995. Since 2006 I have moved on to work with more general strategic projects relating both to issues within the field of Communication, HR and Audience research as well as continuing with the national and international creative work. I find these new fields exciting and giving me a new type of energy.
“Change Management” is a term often used for what I do, and to improve my skills I did an Executive Management Programme at IFL/Stockholm School of Economics.

Danny Fenton is CEO and Executive Chairman of Zig Zag Productions.

He founded Zig Zag in 1999 and has established the company as an innovative transatlantic television production company, respected for its eclectic approach to over 700 hours of programme making. The company is one of the largest remaining truly independent UK production companies.

Prior to Zig Zag Danny began his career at the BBC and spent a brief time working with a number of UK production companies.

Danny is renowned in the international TV industry not only as a pioneer of audacious ideas, but he has a strong track record of unearthing new TV talent. Recent discoveries include magicians Dynamo and Troy and adventurer Richard Parks, whom he has taken to international audiences.

Danny is executive producer on all Zig Zag productions. Recent shows he has created include ‘I Wanna Marry Harry’ for Fox, ‘Scam City’ and ‘Apocalypse 101’ for National Geographic, ‘Troy’ for Channel 4 and ‘Xtreme Endurance: Race to the Pole’ for Channel 5. Other recent hit productions include ‘Body Bizarre’ for Discovery, ‘Split Second’ for Nickleodeon and ‘Ultimate Brain’ for CBBC.

Danny is a regular speaker at a major industry conferences, judge for several industry awards and a commentator in the international trade media. 

Ian is a senior agent at ICM Partners working in the international scripted and unscripted television businesses.

Prior to joining ICM, Ian was most recently the head of original programming for Yahoo. He previously ran the digital studio at Berman/Braun and also served as head of development at Machinima. He also worked at BBC Worldwide Productions, where he was responsible for the development of UK scripted formats in the U.S. market

Steph Harris is a multi-award winning executive producer with over 20 years experience in the industry. She specialises in developing, selling and executing factual entertainment formats, series and single docs.

For the last 6 years she has headed up the Popular Factual department at the start-up indie Tuesday’s Child Television, where she has overseen LEGO Masters, the Lego building competition which is now in 6 territories, including Channel 4 in the UK, Nine in Australia and coming soon to Fox in the USA. Other recent formats include ITV2’s horror gameshow, Killer Camp and the Channel 4 rig format the Cannabis Cafe.

Prior to Tuesday’s Child, Harris held senior positions at Dragonfly, Maverick Television -where she oversaw the cross platform health brand, Embarrassing Bodies and Talkback where she was responsible for unleashing Kim Woodburn on the unsuspecting public in How Clean Is Your House and putting the first rig in the bedroom in the C4 format The Sex Inspectors.

Jan Salling started his TV-career almost 30 years ago as a Production- & Floor Manager on the classic game-show “Wheel of Fortune” at Nordisk Film in Copenhagen. After 5 years on this and many other TV-productions he was in 1993 hired to be the Assistant Producer on the first Norwegian and Danish series of “Fort Boyard“.

He spent 1994 & 1995 in Oslo, Norway starting up the production company Rubicon (now part of Shine Group) as a Producer and Executive Producer. In 1996 he returned to Copenhagen to join MTV Produktion who was starting up as a true and very expansive pan-Scandinavian production group, later renamed Zodiak Television.

After working as Producer, Executive Producer and Head of Production for some years he ended up taking the position as Managing Director from 1998 – 2001. He then joined the distribution arm Zodiak Television World as Vice President where he helped build up a very successful global distribution-business. After more than 10 years in the Zodiak Group he left to join Nordisk Film TV World as Head of Sales in early 2007.

Nordisk Film TV World was acquired by the French group Banijay in December 2009 and renamed Banijay International at MIPTV 2010. Jan Salling left Banijay International in May 2010 and became COO and Sales Director of Nordic World, a TV2 Norway and TV4 Sweden owned distribution-company.

In June 2015 he left his role as COO to start up his own format company called Missing Link Media – with the simple business model to be “the missing link” between IP owners and international distributors.

With his extensive know-how of producing and distributing everything from primetime game-shows, reality shows, events, docs and musicals – Jan Salling now use his broad TV-background within Missing Link Media to shape TV-ideas coming from independent producers and right holders to better suit the international TV-market and to broker the best possible deals with international distributors on behalf of the owners.

Jan Salling has been on the board of Frapa since September 2012 and now serve as Co-chairman of Frapa.

Rob Clark is Director of Global Entertainment at Fremantle. He is responsible for Fremantle’s entertainment format pipeline, which includes the development of new entertainment shows across the Fremantle Group, as well as the acquisition of new titles from third parties. Rob also oversees the global rollout of these shows through the business’ extensive international network of production offices.

Rob was previously Director of Global Entertainment Development and prior to that, President of Worldwide Entertainment at Fremantle, having joined the business in 2003. He has managed the successful global roll out of a number of Fremantle’s most popular entertainment titles including Idols, Got Talent, The X Factor, The Farmer Wants a Wife, The Apprentice, Take Me Out, Project Runways, The Apprentice, Hole in the Wall, Let’s Dance and Thank God You’re Here. Rob also helped in the re-launch of a number of popular game shows including Family Feud, Password and Price is Right.

He is a highly experienced executive producer, programme creator and writer across the primetime, entertainment, reality and comedy genres, with extensive experience in the UK television industry. He has been Head of Entertainment for Scottish Media Group (SMG) and Princess Productions and Executive and Senior Producer for London Weekend Television (LWT), Carlton, HatTrick and Celador, with roles at Granada, Ginger and Central TV, too. In addition to the global hits cited above, Rob has worked on many iconic and leading series during his career, which include Don’t Try This At Home; Surprise, Surprise; Popstars; Man O Man; The Likely Lads; Wheel of Fortune; Big Talent Show; Supermarket Sweep; Blind Date and Beadles About. He also co-wrote and created the sitcom Barbara.

David is K7’s communications manager and has been with the company since 2013, providing additional support to clients with updates on developments across the video landscape and supporting the K7 team on client research tasks.

David regularly travels to various territory markets to liaise with K7’s international network of clients and stringers in broadcast, production and distribution, presenting on tv and video trends with a focus on unscripted formats and digital platforms.

Claudia Rosencrantz is an award-winning producer who has held many senior positions in TV, including Controller of Entertainment for 10 years at ITV, Director of Television for Virgin Media and CEO of Jamie Oliver Media Group.

She is responsible for commissioning and originating some of the world’s most successful entertainment formats, including Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Pop Idol, Britain’s Got Talent, Hell’s Kitchen, X-Factor and I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!.

Her production credits include executive production of Don’t Forget Your Toothbrush! And several series working with Dame Edna Everage.

As Chief Executive of the Twofour Group Melanie oversees five labels producing and distributing award winning factual, entertainment, comedy and drama; delivering more than 300 hours of programming a year to all major networks. Prior to being appointed as CEO in 2015, Melanie was MD of Twofour Broadcast, during which time the company was named Indie of the Year at the 2010 and 2014 Broadcast Awards.

Hits from the group include the Emmy Award-winning Educating… brand (C4), Rose D’Or Winner, The Real Marigold Hotel (BBC1), The Jump (C4); Unforgotten (ITV1); Motherland (BBC2); What Would Your Kid Do? (ITV), and the world’s fastest selling new format in the world in 2016, This Time Next Year (ITV1).

Melanie began her career in production and continues to executive produce some of Twofour’s most popular shows, including This Time Next Year and Channel 5’s longest running series, The Hotel Inspector.

As Chief Creative Officer of The Twofour Group, Andrew is responsible for a diverse range of award-winning content in the UK and US – from the award winning BBC series The Real Marigold Hotel and the international format hit This Time Next Year to the BAFTA and Emmy award-winning Educating Yorkshire and controversial entertainment format The Jump.

Prior to being appointed as Chief Creative Officer, Andrew was Creative Director of Twofour. Doubling the company’s size in four years. Twofour was named Indie of the Year at the 2014 Broadcast Awards.

He joined Twofour from Channel 4, where he was Head of Factual Entertainment and responsible for commissions including My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, Boys and Girls Alone, the award-winning feature documentary Thriller in Manila. Before joining Channel 4 he was an award-winning freelance producer and director.

Andy started his career at BBC Manchester’s Youth Entertainment & Features department, working with Dennis Pennis and setting the tone for what has been a fun-packed career. Seminal shows he worked on include Eurotrash, Banzai, and the 11 O’Clock Show, producing material for Iain Lee, Ricky Gervais, and Sacha Baron Cohen.

After spells with Objective Productions, as the showrunner of first series of long-running hit The Real Hustle, and global science/magic format Breaking Magic for Discovery, and Cineflix, creating hit series Urban Legends for SyFychannel, Andy joined ITV Studios. There he created Tricked which was a global hidden camera/magic prank format, sold all over the world.

Andy oversees entertainment production and development.

David is a highly experienced Producer and developer has over 20 years experience of developing and producing non-scripted formats, in recent years as a Format Consultant he is bought in by producers and broadcasters to launch pilot seasons, and advise on the development of future shows. In the last eight years David has had a guiding hand on over 50 successful Title launches in over 20 different markets. He has an uncanny knack for localisation, and his success rate in bringing launch seasons to return in all markets is over the 90% mark.

Formerly the Director of Global Format Development and Production at ITV, he is currently the managing director of Global Creatives who provide specialist development and production consultancy and training all over the world. An expert in the Chinese market in particular, he has a string of hits to his credit list including this years hits: Dragon TVs Chinese Dating and Smarter Than Human for CCTV1. the Chinese Dating.  Global Creatives currently runs development workshops and advises on global content trends and strategy for clients around the world including Hunan TV, ITV, SMG, OPG, FOX, CCTV, PACT, The Brazilian DTI and more.

Los-Angeles-based Michel Rodrigue has played a key role in driving the format industry to worldwide prominence. Michel offers a comprehensive consultancy on all aspects of the business, from building TV networks to executive-mentoring, global market analysis to bespoke format purchase and distribution, keynote lectures to international workshops and seminars.

Over the past 8 years, as well as helming The Format People, Michel’s broad-ranging work has included substantial mandates with major broadcasters and production companies including Warner Bros, Fremantle China and Star China, executive-mentoring of leading figures in the TV business, and major infrastructure projects such as building Mongol TV from the ground-up into one of the country’s leading broadcasters.

Michel was the founder of Distraction Formats, the first independent format distribution company. Distraction represented formats from producers worldwide, and sold formats to 60+ countries.

Recognized as the instigator of the first TV Format Market at the Monte Carlo TV Festival in 1999, Michel was dubbed by the press as ‘The Father of Formats’ for his in-depth knowledge of the format business. He is also a founding member of FRAPA (Format Recognition and Protection Association).

In 1986 Tony joined Humphrey Barclay Productions where he was company director and involved with all of the company’s output, including the long running DESMOND’S for Channel Four and SURGICAL SPIRIT for ITV.

In 1997 Tony joined Talent Television, becoming Managing Director in 1999. Early successes included primetime entertainment shows like THE VILLA, which ran for four series on Sky One and pioneered reality TV.

Talent was also known for large scale entertainment programmes/formats TEST THE NATION which became a hugely popular part of BBC1’s output for five years. Talent also had a Kid’s division, producing format and live-action series for Disney, BBC and ITV.

Tony has strong ties with Japanese broadcasters and, in addition to producing a number of co-productions with NHK and TV Asahi, was responsible for taking the TEST THE NATION to Japan. His connection with the Far East extended to China in 2014 when he became Executive Consultant for Hunan TV on the development and production of their first original celebrity reality format, WONDERFUL FRIENDS.

In 2016 Tony accepted a consultancy role as Screen Specialist, Creative Content, for the UK Department of International Trade.

Ed Waller is a media journalist working out of London, England. He is editorial director for C21 Media, which publishes the leading international TV trade website C21Media.net and print magazines Channel 21 International, DQ and C21 Kids. He also regularly contributes to UK national newspapers including The Guardian, The Independent and The Sunday Times. Ed previously worked at trade magazines Televisual Magazine and Asia-Pacific Satellite.

Formerly a Producer, with over 20 years’ experience in a variety of genres, Bill Hobbins is now a Commissioning Editor in the Entertainment Department at Sky, where he oversees many non-scripted series, including Landscape & Portrait Artist of the Year for Sky Arts and Revolution and the upcoming Faster: Race The World for SKY 1.

He joined SKY in 2015 from Lion Television where he was Entertainment Executive, co-executively producing Sexy Beasts for BBC3 and an Emmy winning new series of Horrible Histories specials for CBBC.
Prior to that, as Creative Director at CBBC, he ran the in-house development team, creating the BAFTA award-winning Absolute Genius with Dick and Dom. Hobbins also held roles at Mentorn, producing Robot Wars for BBC 2, and at RDF where he looked after several series of Scrapheap Challenge for Channel 4.

Damon Pattison is Head of BBC Studios Entertainment, North where he looks after long running, heritage brands such as ‘Mastermind’ and ‘Question of Sport’ and also creates and produces new formats that will work both in the UK and Internationally. He began his career in 1991, as a runner, and has worked for major Independent companies such as Hat Trick Productions and CPL as well as running his own company ‘Lucky Day Productions’ which was part of  Zodiak Media. His passion and expertise lies in creating returning formats with global appeal.  He has a genuine interest in developing series across all genres, subject areas and tariffs. Examples include Art (Show Me The Monet for BBC Two), Property (Secret Location for Channel 4), Politics (Vote For Me for CBBC), Dating (Love Shaft for E4), Quiz (The Boss for BBC One), Health (You Are What You Eat for Channel 4) and Cookery (Food Chain for La7, Italy).  He is equally happy working on high budget, multi-camera prime time Studio shows (Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, ITV) to lower budget, single camera shows such as Top of The Box for Channel Five as well as many daytime series.

Elliot started his career working for legendary director, Michel Gondry, on some of the most exciting pop videos of the 90’s – Bjork, Massive Attack and Smashing Pumpkins. His first producer gig in telly began at BBC music entertainment, on Top of The Pops, Glastonbury and Bowie at the Beeb. He then joined Fremantle Media developing ideas for Thames and Syco, creating and producing the Jack Osbourne show for Channel 4 as well as contributing to the development of X Factor. From there he joined Avalon’s new format division, Tinderbox, where he met Amanda. Success came in the form of the ITV series Tough Gig, and the panel show TV Now and then for UKTV. ITV Studios head hunted Amanda and Elliot to run Development and during their time there, they devised Four Weddings, The Chase and Who Dares Sings.
Elliot creates and executive produces all Sharp Jack shows.

Kieran Doherty is a Northern Irish writer, TV format creator and Executive Producer. He is also the Joint Managing Director of Stellify Media, alongside his creative and business partner, Matthew Worthy[1]. Doherty & Worthy have co-created multiple entertainment formats – including the international formats Secret Fortune and Take The Money and Run – while working for UK independent production company Wild Rover Productions[2]. In 2014 Doherty & Worthy launched the production company Stellify Media as a joint venture with Sony Pictures Television[3]. Stellify Media is best known for successfully rebooting Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? with Jeremy Clarkson for ITV, and Blind Date with Paul O’Grady for Channel 5[4].

Doherty currently serves as PACT director for Northern Ireland and Chair of the Royal Television Society Northern Ireland[5]. He is on the steering committee for The Belfast Media Festival and is also a founding member of the Media Therapy Group, the largest media networking group in Ireland. ‘

Prior to founding Primal Media, Mat previously set up Rose Bay, Gogglebox Entertainment and was Creative Director of Lion TV. He has devised and executive produced a large range of formats and series, most of which have been remade in multiple territories and been the recipients of awards including from the Royal Television Society, the Rose D’Or and an Emmy. Credits include Release the Hounds,  Bigheads,  Cash Cab, Who’s Who, Carnage, Man V Fly, Castaway, The Unseen Eric Morecambe, The Ideas Exchange, Gerry’s Big Decision, Breakaway, Mums on Strike, The Code, Plain Jane, The Untold Tommy Cooper, Move Like Michael Jackson, The Big Day, Let Me Entertain You, The Exit List, Trust Me I’m A Dealer, Impossible?, Bangers & Cash and Singing in The Rainforest. He is also executive producing A Brief History of Tim – a sitcom for BB3 – now in production. As well as being a father, husband and decidedly mediocre drummer, he is immensely proud of his great, great uncle Franz Kafka with whom he too often feels an affinity first thing in the morning.

Jonny joined Twofour as Senior Development Producer in 2011, developing a range of shows including hit entertainment series, The Jump (Channel 4), before rising to become Head of Development in 2014 and Director of Development in 2018.

He oversees Twofour’s entire development slate across all genres, with commissions that range from multi award-winning, The Real Marigold Hotel (BBC One) and One Night With My Ex (Channel 5), to Take The Tower (ITV4). He was also instrumental in initially developing and then rolling out hit global format, This Time Next Year (ITV).

Amanda was previously Creative Head of Entertainment Development at ITV Studios where she devised The Chase, Who Dares Sings and Four Weddings. Before that she set up and ran Tinderbox Television for the Avalon Group and also headed up the BBC team who developed and formatted Strictly Come Dancing. Amanda has worked widely in entertainment producing Saturday night game shows for Hat Trick Productions including The Waiting Game which she also devised. She began her career working on Challenge Anneka and Changing Rooms so if you need something building and rag rolling in a hurry, get in touch. Amanda creates and executive produces all Sharp Jack shows.

Amanda and Elliot run Sharp Jack TV which is part of the EndemolShine group.

Adam is MD of Primal Media. He has devised and executive produced formats including the Emmy Award winning Cash Cab (over 5000 episodes worldwide), Release The Hounds (ITV2), Playing It Straight (Channel 4), Carnage (Sky One), Bigheads (ITV), The Code (BBC1), Plain Jane (MTV), Singing In The Rainforest (Watch), Move Like Michael Jackson (BBC3), Man V Fly (GSN), The Exit List (ITV), Gerry’s Big Decision (Channel 4) and To Catch A Thief (BBC1).

Previous jobs include founder and MD of Gogglebox Entertainment, Head of Entertainment at Lion Television, Head of Entertainment at Endemol UK and Head of Development at Planet 24 where he led the team that created Survivor, one of the most successful international formats of all time.

Before that, Adam was the co-creator and launch producer of the long-running series Gamesmaster, and the object of Terry Christian’s scorn as a producer on the very first series of The Word.