Sidney Avenue Employees Exit As Karen Ross Strikes To Showrunner Position – Deadline

EXCLUSIVE: Employees at British unscripted producer Sidney Avenue have exited, as firm founder Karen Ross strikes to a contract showrunner position inside Banijay UK.

Ross, who has led Sidney Avenue since founding it in 2017, will step down from her Managing Director position following a restructure that sees 4 everlasting roles closing. Amongst those that have exited are Head of Manufacturing Martin Buckett.

We perceive the choice was Ross’s personal, and going forwards she is going to accomplice with different labels within the Banijay steady as a contract showrunner to supply programming beneath Sidney Avenue, which is able to stay a inventive label inside Banijay UK. She may even work with exterior corporations on different tasks.

Sidney Avenue is understood for BBC One returner The Farmers’ Nation Showdown and applications fronted by former Bake Off host Mary Berry comparable to Like to Cook dinner, Mary Berry Cook dinner & Share and Mary Berry’s Easy Comforts. Firm chief Ross is understood for helming BBC cooking juggernaut MasterChef UK for 12 years whereas at Shine TV.

A rep for Banijay UK confirmed the information.

Sidney Avenue shouldn’t be the primary Banijay UK label within the information this week. Yesterday, UK TV commerce Broadcast reported that RDF, the indie behind Solely Join, The Crystal Maze and Spouse Swap, is shutting down after 30 years. This has put its 18-strong workers susceptible to redundancy. Returning reveals comparable to quirky BBC Two quiz Solely Join and ITV’s day by day sport present Tipping Level will transfer to new indies within the Banijay UK steady, with manufacturing workers remaining the identical. A rep confirmed the story.

RDF was launched by late indie manufacturing nice David Frank, who, in 2010 bought the corporate to Zodiak, which was in flip merged with Banijay in 2015 to create an early model of the group that exists in the present day. Banijay acquired one other super-indie large, Endemol Shine Group, in 2020.

Banijay UK’s unscripted labels embrace Dragonfly, DSP, Preliminary, Exceptional and Shine TV. It has been making modifications to its group for greater than 18 months, in mild of financial pressures, the continuing TV promoting market disaster and UK networks’ strikes in direction of digital-first commissioning, whereas concurrently buying a number of scripted indies and hanging offers with expertise.

Talking at an RTS occasion earlier this week, Holland mentioned mid-range factual reveals costing £150,000 ($190,000) to £250,000 ($317,000) per hour have nearly “disappeared from the market,” however Banijay labels making premium unscripted are “smashing it out the park.”