TIDMDCD
RNS Number : 6981O
DCD Media PLC
12 March 2009
Embargoed: 0700hrs, 12 March 2009
DCD Media plc
("DCD" or the "Company)
DCD Establishes New Scottish JV Production Company
DCD Media, the independent TV production and distribution group, has joined a
group of six of Scotland's leading programme makers to establish Matchlight, a
major new 50/50 joint venture production subsidiary in Scotland.
Matchlight has been established to take advantage of the commitment from
broadcasters to increase programming supply from outside of London with
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland earmarked in particular. The new
subsidiary's first commission is a prime time documentary for Channel 4, going
into production next week
The creative team behind Matchlight will be led by Ross Wilson, an exceptionally
experienced, award-winning documentary film maker whose CV includes production
credits as Executive Producer and Producer/ Director for every major British
documentary strand. He is joined by fellow creatives Iain Scollay, Russell Leven
and Andrew Abbott, each of whom are multi award winning or nominated
producers/directors with outstanding reputations in the TV industry.
The team behind Matchlight also includes David Smith and Jacqui Hayden, who both
played key roles in growing IWC Media into Scotland's largest independent
programme producer.
David Green, Chief Creative Officer and Acting CEO of DCD said:
"We are delighted to be going into business with this uniquely talented team
brought together as Matchlight and to welcome Ross and his colleagues to the DCD
group of production companies. This is a strategic move for DCD to capture
additional and lucrative opportunities arising from the inevitable expansion of
the commissioning pool."
Ross Wilson, Creative Director of Matchlight said:
"Matchlight's express purpose is to develop and produce projects of scale and
ambition from the outset; it is a fantastic opportunity to play to the strengths
and interests of a team of network programme makers who all try to make TV
that's popular but also clever, tackling difficult subjects in interesting and
engaging ways. Working together with DCD means that we can achieve this to
greater effect than we could individually."
Enquiries:
David Green
Chief Creative Office and Acting CEO DCD Media plc
Tel. 020 7297 8000
Ben Simons
M: Communications
Tel. 020 7153 1540
Tom Price or Jeremy Ellis
Evolution Securities
Tel. 020 7071 4300
Notes to Editors:
The Matchlight team
Its creative team is drawn from a uniquely broad range for an indigenous
Scottish start-up - Wilson and Scollay come to Matchlight from the BBC, Leven
and Abbott have spent the last ten years successfully running Nobles Gate, a
boutique network focused indie, while Hayden and Smith have both played key
roles in the success of IWC Media, Scotland's only cross genre independent
network supplier.
Matchlight's Creative Director, Ross Wilson, is an exceptionally experienced,
award-winning documentary film maker. His CV includes production credits as
Executive Producer and Producer/ Director for every major British documentary
strand - from BBC's One Life; ITV's Network First and Real Lives and Channel 4's
Cutting Edge, Dispatches, Equinox and Secret History.
In 2007 Ross Wilson's film Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive
won the International Emmy for Best Documentary as well as the Broadcast Press
Guild Award for Best Documentary. His follow up film, Stephen Fry: HIV and Me
won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Documentary in 2008. In 1999 he
received British Television's most prestigious award, the UK BAFTA for Best
Documentary, for his film, "After Lockerbie" for ITV. The year before he had
been nominated for a UK BAFTA, this time for a series of two documentaries that
saw him film exclusively behind the scenes with Gordon Brown in the lead-up to
the 1997 election and through his first six months in the Treasury. Other prizes
have included RTS awards, Gierson awards and awards at most major international
TV film festivals.
Iain Scollay's films include programmes for high-profile strands and formats
like One Life, Cutting Edge, Equinox, Bodyshock and Faking It. He has worked
with wide range of British and American broadcasters - the BBC, Channel 4, ITV,
Five, Discovery USA, Discovery Health, TLC and Sky - and with a number of
independent production companies in both London and Glasgow (including Endemol,
RDF, Mentorn, Granada and IWC Media).
Iain recently won a Scottish BAFTA and Prix Circom awards for Best Documentary
for his film Black Watch: A Soldier's Story and he was one of four producers on
the recent BBC One series Mountain with Griff Rhys Jones which won a Scottish
BAFTA as Best Factual Entertainment Programme. In 2001 Iain was one of four
directors on the second series of Faking It which won a BAFTA as well as RTS and
Broadcast awards. He is currently producing and directing a two-part documentary
for BBC 2 which follows Harvard Professor and former British diplomat Rory
Stewart as he retraces T.E. Lawrence's journey through Arabia.
Andrew Abbott and Russell Leven (who each have over 12 years of network
broadcast credits) joined independent production company Nobles Gate in 2000 as
co-owners and company directors. Based in Edinburgh they turned Nobles Gate into
one of Scotland's most prolific independent production companies. Over the past
eight years, Nobles Gate has produced over 100 hours of network programming for
the BBC, Channel 4, Five and others, building turnover year on year to its
current level of GBP1.3 million for 2007/08.
Almost uniquely in Scotland, Nobles Gate successfully evolved into a 'boutique'
production company with direct access to London commissioners and a track record
in prime-time factual commissions - from factual entertainment to science,
history and documentary.
As Head of Development for IWC Media Jacqui Hayden developed an incredibly
diverse range of successful documentary series and individual films including
the Scottish BAFTA winning Mountain, Lost Kingdoms of Africa, Britain's Last
Wilderness and Stephen Fry: The Secret Life of a Manic Depressive for the BBC
which won a prestigious International Emmy in 2008; B-Road Britain with Robbie
Coltrane for ITV; The Genius of Charles Darwin (Winner, Best Documentary Series,
Broadcast Awards 2009): and Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe for Channel
4; Robson Greene's Extreme Fishing and Paddy & Rory's Great British Adventure
for Five and Detonators for Discovery. Single films included Ten Days that
Shaped the Queen; Beauty Queens and Bloodshed; Mississippi Burning; The Queen
Mother in Love; Key Witness: Joanne Lees and A Mothers Journey.
Matchlight's Managing Director, David Smith was formerly Head of Legal &
Business Affairs for IWC Media. As Head of Business Affairs for Wark Clements &
Company he helped steer that company's merger with Ideal World to form IWC
Media, Scotland's largest and most successful independent television production
company. He then advised the IWC board during the company's acquisition by RDF
Media plc and has remained with IWC/RDF as part of the indie's managing
executive where he was responsible for IWC's commercial and corporate affairs -
including co-production relationships. David is a qualified solicitor, he
trained with highly respected Edinburgh law firm Tods Murray where he
specialized in media law.
About DCD Media plc
DCD Media plc is one of the UK's 'super-indies', a large group of production and
distribution companies specialising in factual, entertainment, drama, music and
arts programming for TV, DVD and new media markets. DCD Media comprises a number
of high profile content producers - Box TV, a drama specialist; arts and
entertainment producer Iambic Productions; music and staged event specialist
Done and Dusted.
In 2007 DCD acquired a further trio of high profile production companies
including factual and lifestyle producer Prospect Pictures; primetime factual
entertainment, reality, formats and documentaries producer September Films;
documentary specialist West Park Pictures.
The group also comprises its wholly owned international distributor DCD Rights,
the international video download site and DVD label Digital Classics, and
publishing division DCD Publishing.
For further details see www.dcdmedia.co.uk
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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