12 Mar 2009 07:00
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 £1.3 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