Endemol Shine Australia Announces Executive Management Restructure

PRESS RELEASE | Sydney Australia, 21 January, 2021

Endemol Shine Australia, a Banijay company, has today announced a restructure within its executive management team, effective immediately.

Award-winning Executive Producer, Amelia Fisk, will take on the position of Director of Content, Sydney. 

MasterChef Australia Executive Producer, Marty Benson, will become Director of Content, Melbourne.

Current Commercial Director, Scott Howard, has been promoted to Chief Operating Officer. 

Jane Macaulay, currently Director of Production, has been promoted to Director of Production and Post Production. 

Elliot Spencer, Director of Development and Creative Services has been promoted to Creative Director. A newly-created position which will see him working on the creative architecture of Endemol Shine Australia’s programs and its branding added to his current development duties. 

Megan Rees joined the business last year and will continue to bring her extensive media, TV production and corporate finance expertise to Endemol Shine’s finance function in her current role as Chief Finance Officer.

All executives will report to Endemol Shine Australia CEO, Peter Newman, in their new roles. 

Peter Newman said: "These are richly-deserved promotions and I am deeply proud of the incredible executive management team we have at ESA. This restructure ensures our business is well positioned for continued growth while enhancing our ability to deliver world class content to our broadcast partners." 

The restructure follows Banijay’s recent acquisition of Endemol Shine Group.

Mark and Carl Fennessy to Step Down from Endemol Shine Australia - Peter Newman Named CEO -

Banijay today announces Co-CEOs, Mark and Carl Fennessy, will step down from their roles at Endemol Shine Australia, with Peter Newman set to run the business as Chief Executive Officer. The brothers leave behind an incredibly healthy business, which they have led for over ten years.

Mark and Carl Fennessy will depart Endemol Shine Australia. During their tenure, they oversaw the merger of the Endemol and Shine businesses in Australia and have subsequently led the team’s development and production of many major global entertainment franchises. Industry leaders, they have spent the last decade entertaining the nation and audiences across the globe, leaving behind a healthy pipeline and back catalogue.

Having been with Shine/Endemol Shine Australia for eight years, most recently as Chief Content Officer, Newman will now strategically lead the business’ content pipeline and overarching operations. He joined Shine back in 2012 as Creative Director, before taking up the CCO post in 2018. Overseeing one of the biggest unscripted production slates in the world, he has been significantly involved in hits including MasterChef Australia, Big Brother, Australian Survivor, Married at First Sight and LEGO Masters.

Prior to his appointment at Shine, he was Head of Production and Development at Australian broadcaster, SBS. Having begun his career in his native city of London, he has also held a number of roles across the UK’s independent production sector, most notably at the BBC. Throughout his career to date, he has developed, commissioned and produced a host of award-winning programmes, receiving an International Emmy and Best of Rose at the Rose D’or for Go Back to Where You Came From, AACTA awards for MasterChef Australia, Australian Ninja Warrior and Australian Survivor, and Logie awards for Gogglebox amongst others.

Marco Bassetti Chief Executive Officer, Banijay comments: “The Fennessy brothers have long-served as commendable businessmen at the forefront of the country’s creative industry and we wish them all the best with where their artistic journey takes them next. We now welcome Peter who is a commercially sound producer and entrepreneur and has all the attributes we look for in our leaders. Having been close to the business’ creative core and key in driving the success of the label’s most recent hits, he is an incredible asset to Banijay as we continue to evolve our creative vision and set our strategy in Australia.”

Peter Newman comments: “It's been amazing to work with Mark and Carl over the last eight years and it's an honour to take up the reins of this impressive newly-combined company. Endemol Shine Australia has always been about supporting and empowering the great people behind the world-class production of our shows. I'm incredibly proud of our workplace culture, our focus on creative excellence and will ensure we continue to do what we do best; working with our broadcast partners to deliver their audiences outstanding content. Banijay generates some of the world’s best TV formats and I can’t wait to bring them to life here in Australia.”

Mark and Carl Fennessy comment: “Ten years ago we commenced a journey with Elisabeth Murdoch to ‘Inspire, Create and Shine’. The period since has been like one long day filled with rewarding experiences and great success but the time has come for the next adventure. We’re grateful to the broadcasters for their support and we salute our incredible team of talented executives with whom we’ve had the privilege to lead. We look forward to a much-needed break and extend our best wishes to Banijay.”

Unbeweavable receives story development funding from Screen Australia

Unbeweavable: An eight-part television series that follows the unlikely friendship between Anna, a Christian who is questioning her faith in God, and Josie, a hairdresser who is haunted by visions of her late grandmother. When the pair meet, they discover that they share electrifying, psychic visions in the form of choreographed musical numbers. While they can’t agree on what these visions mean, both Anna and Josie understand the potential of their newfound power. This musical dramedy sees writers Maria Angelico and Lucy Durack who performed together in Sisters, team up with Sisters co-creator Imogen Banks who will produce. Also attached are director Corrie Chen (Homecoming Queens) and composers Kate Miller-Heidke and Keir Nuttall (Muriel’s Wedding: The Musical). The series will also provide a mentorship opportunity for associate producer, Emelyne Palmer.  

Real-life stories of the Royal Flying Doctor Service fuel this action-packed and emotive contemporary Australian drama

Channel Seven, Screen Australia and Endemol Shine Australia today announced the commission of RFDS (working title), a gripping new action-drama on a grand scale, based in Australia’s red heart, where the modern-day heroes of the Royal Flying Doctor Service navigate private lives as turbulent and profound as the heart stopping emergencies they attend.

Leading the cast will be acclaimed actress and award-winning singer Justine Clarke (Tangle, Rake, The Time Of Our Lives), Logie Award-winning star of stage and screen, Rob Collins (The Wrong Girl, Glitch, Cleverman) and Logie Award-winning actor Stephen Peacocke (Home and Away, Wanted).

RFDS opens with a doctor escaping her past, joining the Royal Flying Doctor Service on a day in which a catastrophic emergency retrieval hits the team personally. Together they will deal with the fallout, all while continuing their highly skilled work, fighting the clock and the elements to save people having the worst day of their lives. The question is, at what cost?

Based on remarkable real-life stories and filmed on location in and around Broken Hill, this series will capture the beauty and brutality of Australia’s vast centre where the doctors, nurses, pilots and support staff of the RFDS negotiate the unique challenges of emergency retrievals across some of the most inhospitable places in the country.

It’s also a story about community and people coming together to laugh, to cry and to triumph, in spite of the huge obstacles they face.

Angus Ross, Channel Seven’s Director of Network Programming, said: “We’re thrilled to bring the extraordinary stories of the Flying Doctor to our viewers. This is compelling Australian storytelling on an epic scale, rich with heart, humour and adrenaline-pumping action drawn from the real-life emergencies these medical heroes face every day.”

Mark Fennessy, Endemol Shine Australia CEO, said: “The RFDS is a truly unique part of our vast Australian outback heritage. We’re delighted to be crafting a contemporary and cinematic drama showcasing the incredible work of the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the gripping stories of regional Australia”.

Sally Caplan, Head of Content at Screen Australia, said: “There’s a whole lot to like about this series. It has a distinctive and well-crafted story from a writing team including Ian Meadows, Adrian Wills, Claire Phillips, Magda Wozniak and Jon Bell. It will showcase remote and regional Australian landscapes not often seen on our screens, and has an exciting cast on board to bring to life the diverse characters. Not to mention the creative team led by producer Imogen Banks and executive producers Mark and Carl Fennessy who have an impressive track record of creating iconic Australian series that audiences really connect with.”

RFDS is an Endemol Shine Banks production for the Seven Network. Major production investment from Seven Network in association with Screen Australia. Financed with support from Screen NSW through the Made In NSW Fund and the Regional Filming Fund.

Production on RFDS will commence in 2020. Written by Ian Meadows, Produced by Imogen Banks for Endemol Shine Banks, Executive Produced by Mark and Carl Fennessy for Endemol Shine Australia and Julie McGauran for Seven.

MasterChef Australia Adds Three New Judges To Its Winning Recipe.

Jock Zonfrillo, Melissa Leong And Andy Allen Enter The Kitchen.

The iconic cooking program that rewrote the recipe for must-see TV, is delighted to announce the addition of three new judges in 2020.

Jock Zonfrillo, Melissa Leong and Andy Allen will take the helm of the show that celebrates food and the love of food.

Jock, Melissa and Andy will be joined in the MasterChef Australia kitchen by a delicious assortment of the world’s best chefs, including Gordon Ramsay, Heston Blumenthal and Curtis Stone, to serve up the 12th helping of MasterChef Australia.

And in 2020, the traditional MasterChef Australia recipe will boast some new ingredients when the best of the best from the past 11 seasons return to the kitchen in MasterChef Australia – Back To Win.

Network 10 Chief Content Officer, Beverley McGarvey, said: “In a nation obsessed with food, we are thrilled to welcome Jock, Melissa and Andy as judges to MasterChef Australia.

“Their combined culinary credentials coupled with their passion and sheer joy for food, and their relentless enthusiasm to explore ingredients, preparation and cooking methods ensures we are in for a real treat.”

Endemol Shine Australia CEO, Carl Fennessy, said: “We are thrilled to welcome Jock, Melissa and Andy to the MasterChef Australia family. Jock’s culinary resume across Australia and the United Kingdom puts him in the very elite of contemporary chefs. Melissa’s diverse palate and incredible food knowledge will test our contestants in every way, and Andy brings with him a wealth of experience as a MasterChef Australia winner who’s become one of Australia’s hottest chefs.

“We’re excited to welcome this new generation of judges to the MasterChef kitchen.”

MEET THE JUDGES

Jock Zonfrillo is the owner and chef of three-hatted Restaurant Orana, and Bistro Blackwood in Adelaide. Jock was named Australia’s Hottest Chef in 2018 and has hosted television shows including Nomad Chef, Restaurant Revolution and Chef Exchange, as well as appearing in the MasterChef Australia kitchen as a guest chef across three seasons.

Jock said: “When I think of MasterChef Australia, I think of discovering new talented cooks with fresh ideas and creativity.

“There hasn’t been a season yet where I haven’t been surprised by just how talented some of the undiscovered cooks are, so much so, that many of them have worked in my kitchen over the years. I can’t wait to get in that kitchen.”

Few in Australia can boast the culinary credentials of Melissa Leong. An accomplished food and travel writer, food media consultant, radio broadcaster, television presenter, MC and cookbook editor, this first- generation Singaporean Australian isn’t afraid to consume anything at least once.

On being chosen as a judge, Melissa said: “It goes without saying, that it is an honour to be passed the baton and asked to help bring the next chapter to life on a show like MasterChef Australia.

“It came as a huge surprise for me, and is, without a doubt the opportunity of a lifetime. I am really looking forward to getting stuck in!”

MasterChef Australia alumni and season four winner Andy Allen is the epitome of what television’s greatest cooking show is all about.

Since winning MasterChef Australia Andy has travelled Australia and the world pursuing his culinary curiosity. He’s also become co-owner of the Three Blue Ducks, taking on the role of head chef at their Rosebery restaurant, which went on to be awarded a Chef’s Hat - making Andy the first MasterChef Australia contestant to be awarded the highly sought after honour. Andy and the Ducks have since opened a restaurant in Brisbane and are soon to launch another in Melbourne.

Andy said: “I entered this competition as a contestant in 2012, somehow I won it and then I went out into the big, bad wide world of hospitality. To be asked to be a judge – and to come full circle back to MasterChef Australia – is really flattering and really special.

“I’m stoked because it means that I’ve done the hard work to be here. You don’t ask Joe Blow to be a judge on MasterChef Australia.”

On MasterChef Australia – Back To Win, Jock said: “Having watched this group create their own restaurants, their own businesses and become great chefs in their own right has been amazing.

“But now to see them back, pitting their knowledge against each other in the MasterChef kitchen, sets the stage for the most exciting season yet.”

Melissa added: “Back To Win – it says it all, right? This is the who’s who of MasterChef Australia’s favourites from seasons past. This season, they have an opportunity to show everyone what they’ve been up to and where they are at, in their food evolution.

“They know how this game works, so they should be prepared to waste no time in showing us what they’ve got.”

Jock, Melissa and Andy will commence filming MasterChef Australia – Back To Win in Melbourne in early 2020. It will air on 10 and WIN Network in 2020.

Stay tuned to see who will return to the kitchen for MasterChef Australia – Back To Win.