NOW TV Hires Former Universal Exec
NOW TV has hired former Universal Pictures International and TWC exec Jamie Schwartz as Director of Brand, Marketing and Merchandising. He will report into Marina Storti, Managing Director of NOW TV, and will be responsible for core brand development and guardianship, marketing strategy and campaigns, media planning, as well as PR, social, editorial and in-product merchandising. Schwartz was most recently EVP of Marketing for Focus Features and before that worked at TWC and Momentum.
Cast Set For Netflix & DR’s Borgen
In April Netflix and DR, the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, announced that the hit series Borgen was returning, reuniting creator Adam Price with lead actresses Sidse Babett Knudsen (Birgitte Nyborg) and Birgitte Hjort Sørensen (Katrine Fønsmark). Today, additional cast was announced, including Mikkel Boe Følsgaard and Lucas Lynggaard Tønnesen, along with Özlem Saglanmak, Simon Bennebjerg, Johanne Louise Schmidt and Magnus Millang. Returning from the original cast are also Søren Malling (Torben Friis), Signe Egholm Olsen (Anne Sophie Lindenkrone), Mikael Birkkjær (Philip Christensen), Lisbeth Wulff (Pia Munk), Lars Mikkelsen (Søren Ravn), Laura Allen Müller Smith (Nadia Barazani), Jens Albinus (Jon Berthelsen), Lars Knutzon (Bent Sejrø), Peter Mygind (Michael Laugesen), Morten Kirkskov (Niels Erik Lund), Gitte Siem Christensen (Kirsten Sejrø), Angunnguaq Larsen (Jens Enok Berthelsen), Freja Riemann (Laura Nyborg Christensen) and Kasper Lange (Dan Vestergaard). Also in the cast will be Peter Zandersen, Youssef Hvidtfeldt, Charlotte Fich, Pegah Booyash, Karin Bang Heinemeier, Sussie Nøhr, Niklas Herskind, Michael Moritzen and Viola Martinsen. The new season will again follow Birgitte Nyborg (Sidse Babett Knudsen), her staff and the media tasked with covering her, this time in her role as Foreign Minister. The show will also follow Katrine Fønsmark’s (Birgitte Hjort Sørensen) journey. After being Birgitte’s head of press for a while, in the new season she is back in journalism where she has landed a job as head of the news department for a large TV station.
UK TV Survey Reveals Alarming Bullying Stats
UK union Bectu, Bournemouth University and TV campaign group Viva La PD have today published an interim report on management and recruitment practises in unscripted TV. Nearly 1,200 people responded to the State of Play survey, which found that 68% of respondents have considered leaving for an alternative career in the last year. More than 93% of respondents said they have experienced bullying or harassment in the TV industry, with only 11% who reported incidents considering that the matter was satisfactorily resolved. 70% of respondents with management responsibilities said they had not received adequate training in the practical and legal aspects of managing people and 73% of respondents said they felt that recruitment practices in TV are unfair. Looking at how to make improvements, 80% of respondents said they would like to see an agreement in place that set out minimum standards on overtime rates, hours, pay, health and safety conditions and welfare for freelancers working in unscripted TV.
DAZN Names New Leaders
Sports streamer DAZN Group has announced the appointment of two co-CEOs. Shay Segev is joining the company in the coming months from Entain, the betting company that owns Ladbrokes, while chief revenue officer James Rushton has been elevated after acting up as CEO since last June. “This is an important moment for DAZN Group as we deepen our leadership team and ready the organization for its next phase of growth,” said John Skipper, DAZN group executive chairman.