BAFTA is due to present screenwriter and producer Jeff Pope with its Special Award at the BAFTA TV Awards on May 10. Last presented in honor of Alan Clarke in 2009, this Special Award, whose previous recipients include Paul Greengrass and Adam Curtis, honors Pope for his creative contribution to television. He began as a researcher on factual programs at LWT and ultimately became head of factual drama at ITV Studios. His writing credits include Fool’s Gold with Sean Bean; Mrs Biggs, Appropriate Adult and this year’s BAFTA-nominated biopic Cilla. Pope also has been nominated for nine BAFTAs, winning for TV drama See No Evil: The Moors Murders and for his Adapted Screenplay of Philomena, shared with Steve Coogan, which also received an Oscar nomination.
Lionsgate UK has named Nicola Pearcey to the role of President of Distribution. The exec, who has been with the studio for nine years, previously was Managing Director of Home Entertainment and New Media. The appointment follows the recent news that CEO Zygi Kamasa had entered a long-term agreement to continue in the job and take on the added position of CEO of Lionsgate’s European Office. Lionsgate last year relocated its international sales and distribution headquarters to London, moving international sales executives closer to key European markets.
FremantleMedia International has completed further sales on Paul Abbott’s police procedural No Offence. Australia’s ABC TV and Danish broadcaster DR. have acquired the series, which debuts on Channel4 in the UK on May 5. It revolves around a crack team of no-nonsense cops who clamp down on crime in an attempt to keep the streets clean. Joanna Scanlon stars with Elaine Cassidy, Alexandra Roach, Will Mellor, Paul Ritter, and Colin Salmon.
The Tinopolis Group has hired Chris Brogden as its first Creative Director of Entertainment. The former Sky Entertainment Commissioner will be responsible for working with Tinopolis’ 17 UK and U.S. companies to develop new entertainment formats that can be made across the group. During his time at Sky, Brogden’s entertainment commissions included Wild Things, Quiz Nights and Relatively Clever. His exec producer credits include I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! (ITV and NBC), Celebrity Big Brother (Channel 4) and The Angel (Sky One). Tinopolis’ portfolio of entertainment formats includes Mentorn Media’s Paradise Hotel, World’s Worst Driver, Hotel Of Mum & Dad and Divorce Hotel, as well as A. Smith & Co’s Hell’s Kitchen, American Ninja Warriors, Top Chef, and Firecracker’s Big Fat Gypsy Wedding.
The Cannes Classics section of the film festival has set its slate for next month with Costa-Gavras as guest of honor and a double celebration of Ingrid Bergman and Orson Welles on deck. Among the film highlights are a restored version of Costa-Gavras’ 1968 Z and new documentaries on Alfred Hitchcock and François Truffaut, Gérard Depardieu, Steve McQueen, Harold and Lillian Michelson and the Palme d’Or. Restored classics include Welles’ The Third Man, Luchino Visconti’s Rocco And His Brothers, Louis Malle’s Ascenseur Pour L’Echafaud and Akira Kurosawa’s Ran. Screenings on the beach will include Jurassic Park 3D, The Terminator, The Usual Suspects and Hotel Du Nord. Also included are tributes to recently deceased Manoel de Oliveira and to the Lumière brothers 120 years after they invented cinema.
Tim Hincks has been set to deliver the BAFTA Television Lecture on June 30 in London. The President of Endemol Shine Group will share his personal view on creative excellence in television and his vision for the future. Hincks is responsible for developing and growing the creative and strategic direction of Endemol Shine Group. He became Creative Director of Endemol UK in 2002 and CEO in 2008. He was appointed President of Endemol Group in 2012 and became President of the new joint venture Endemol Shine last year. Programs in which he’s had a hand include Broadchurch, Big Brother, One Born Every Minute, The Million Pound Drop Live, Peaky Blinders and MasterChef.
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