Endemol Shine Group, which combines Endemol, Shine and CORE Media, has unveiled its first round of senior appointments, including tapping Cathy Payne to run its merged international distribution business.
Payne, who is currently CEO of Endemol Worldwide Distribution, will serve as CEO of the newly integrated sales and distribution business. Nadine Nohr, Shine International’s CEO, will work with Payne on bringing the two distribution operations together before stepping down.
Boudewijn Beusmans, formerly chief legal and business affairs officer at Endemol, will serve as Endemol Shine Group’s group commercial officer. He will be responsible for overseeing distribution and legal affairs, among other areas.
Gary Carter, Shine’s chairman for Northern Europe and Shine 360, and Martha Brass, Endemol’s chief operating officer, are to serve as the new joint venture’s co-CEOs of international operations. Carter will oversee operations in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Nordics, the Netherlands, Belgium, Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, the MENA region, Turkey and South Africa. Brass’s remit will cover France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Australia, India, China, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Israel.
Patrick Keegan, Shine’s director of communications, and Charlie Gardner, Endemol’s global head of public relations, have been appointed as co-directors of marketing and communications, overseeing both areas for the new joint venture. Keegan will be based in London and Gardner will be relocating to Los Angeles in early 2015.
Edwin van Es, Endemol’s chief financial officer, will take up the same role within the new group. Tom Fussell, Shine’s finance director, will work with van Es on transitioning Endemol’s and Shine’s finance functions before stepping down during the course of 2015.
It was previously announced that Sophie Turner Laing, Sky’s managing director of content, will be serving as CEO, and Endemol’s Tim Hincks as president.
The new joint venture will begin formally operating as Endemol Shine Group on 1st January, 2015.
Over the course of this period, Endemol’s and Shine’s London-based sales, distribution and group teams will be brought together into one location upon further space becoming available in the Shepherds Building where Endemol is currently based. Endemol Shine Group will be headquartered in Amsterdam.
“Shine International and Endemol Worldwide Distribution are both world-class operations and by uniting them we bring together two outstanding teams, an exceptional and diverse catalogue of programming across multiple genres, and a broader network of sales professionals embedded in markets around the world,” said Turner Laing.
The new group is in the process of determining the best way to bring together the operations in markets where both Endemol and Shine currently operate. The first markets to have completed this process are France and Germany.
In Germany, Marcus Wolter, Endemol Germany’s managing director, will lead the combined businesses as CEO of Endemol Shine Germany. The senior management team will also include Holger Rettler, Shine Germany’s deputy CEO, who will become director of Show, a new label within Endemol Shine Germany that will produce some of the new company’s biggest entertainment series. Axel Kuehn, CEO of Shine Germany, will leave the business after a period of transition in early 2015.
In France, the operations will remain independently operated and run as separate entities, led by Endemol’s Nicolas Coppermann and Shine’s Thierry Lachkar, who will each continue in their role as CEO of their respective businesses.
It was previous announced that Endemol’s Charlie Corwin and Cris Abrego will serve as co-chairmen and co-CEOs of the new joint venture’s North American operations. Peter Hurwitz will serve as president of CORE Media and Scott Frosch will serve as chief financial officer of CORE Media. CORE Media’s TV development team continues to be led by Jen O’Connell.
“We are proud to be launching Endemol Shine Group with an exceptional lineup of talent in place from the outset,” said Turner Laing. “We can’t wait to hit the ground running in 2015 with a new group that will be home to some of the very best people and hit programming in the business; and which will deliver world class content to platforms across the globe.”
“By bringing together these businesses and launching Endemol Shine Group we’re assembling a bigger, broader pool of creative minds from all corners of the world,” commented Hincks. “We have a phenomenal roster of shows to build on and to have brilliant people in so many markets developing a new generation of hits is incredibly exciting.”
“For the group and distribution teams of Endemol and Shine to be united they need to be able to work under the same roof as one, which we hope to be by the spring of 2015,” added Turner Laing. “The rationale for the name is equally simple. By combining Endemol and Shine in alphabetical order we’re launching with a strong identity that says who we are and which will be recognized across the industry. We will review this as we work together and the group evolves over the first year.”
