Exclusive: Aardman, the iconic UK animation studio behind Wallace & Gromit and Chicken Run, has rejigged its top team and brought in a BBC Studios executive to oversee an IP push.
Aardman has hired Emma Hardie, Commercial Director of Global Entertainment for BBC Studios, to the newly-created role of Executive Commercial and Brand Director.
Aardman said Hardie will oversee financing, distribution, licensing, marketing, and planning of the studio’s animated intellectual property. She takes up the role, which includes a seat on Aardman’s executive board, on April 15.
Hardie has worked at BBC Studios for more than seven years, during which time she played a role in the company’s investments in producers Mothership TV and Mettlemouse Entertainment. She also executive produced BBC Studios’ first Snapchat commission for Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II miniseries.
Emma Hardie
Hardie’s hire comes amid a wider executive reshuffle at Aardman. Co-founder...
Aardman has hired Emma Hardie, Commercial Director of Global Entertainment for BBC Studios, to the newly-created role of Executive Commercial and Brand Director.
Aardman said Hardie will oversee financing, distribution, licensing, marketing, and planning of the studio’s animated intellectual property. She takes up the role, which includes a seat on Aardman’s executive board, on April 15.
Hardie has worked at BBC Studios for more than seven years, during which time she played a role in the company’s investments in producers Mothership TV and Mettlemouse Entertainment. She also executive produced BBC Studios’ first Snapchat commission for Planet Earth II and Blue Planet II miniseries.
Emma Hardie
Hardie’s hire comes amid a wider executive reshuffle at Aardman. Co-founder...
- 3/1/2024
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Rebranding
Germany’s Leonine Studios has rebranded its television subsidiary Odeon Entertainment as Madame Zheng Production to reflect its primary focus of “equality and diversity in every aspect of the production business, both in front of and behind the camera.” Tina Wagner, previously producer and executive producer at RedSeven Entertainment, and Nina Etspüler, co-head of entertainment at Leonine Studios, are joining the management team and will lead the company under Wagner’s direction along with Martin Schneider, Odeon Entertainment’s long-standing managing director.
Fred Kogel, CEO and co-head of entertainment at Leonine Studios, said: “Ever since Nina Etspüler joined Leonine in Jan. 2021, we have jointly pursued the goal of establishing a production brand that advocates for equality and diversity in front of and behind the camera, in order to firmly anchor these themes, which are essential for Leonine Studios, in the production market. The entertainment sector in Germany, in particular,...
Germany’s Leonine Studios has rebranded its television subsidiary Odeon Entertainment as Madame Zheng Production to reflect its primary focus of “equality and diversity in every aspect of the production business, both in front of and behind the camera.” Tina Wagner, previously producer and executive producer at RedSeven Entertainment, and Nina Etspüler, co-head of entertainment at Leonine Studios, are joining the management team and will lead the company under Wagner’s direction along with Martin Schneider, Odeon Entertainment’s long-standing managing director.
Fred Kogel, CEO and co-head of entertainment at Leonine Studios, said: “Ever since Nina Etspüler joined Leonine in Jan. 2021, we have jointly pursued the goal of establishing a production brand that advocates for equality and diversity in front of and behind the camera, in order to firmly anchor these themes, which are essential for Leonine Studios, in the production market. The entertainment sector in Germany, in particular,...
- 3/15/2022
- by Naman Ramachandran
- Variety Film + TV
The founders of animation studio Aardman are transferring the ownership of their multi-award-winning company to its employees. Peter Lord and David Sproxton said they are transferring ownership to staff to ensure that the company retains its independence. A majority of Aardman shares will be transferred to a trust. Senior management will remain in their positions and form an executive board.
Sproxton will stay on as managing director but look for a replacement and move into a consultancy role. Lord will stay on as creative director, focusing on film, including the upcoming “Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” and “Chicken Run 2.”
“We’re not quitting yet, but we are preparing for our future,” Lord and Sproxton said in a statement. “This approach, the creation of an employee trust, is the best solution we have found for keeping Aardman doing what it does best, keeping the teams in place and providing continuity for our highly creative culture.
Sproxton will stay on as managing director but look for a replacement and move into a consultancy role. Lord will stay on as creative director, focusing on film, including the upcoming “Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon” and “Chicken Run 2.”
“We’re not quitting yet, but we are preparing for our future,” Lord and Sproxton said in a statement. “This approach, the creation of an employee trust, is the best solution we have found for keeping Aardman doing what it does best, keeping the teams in place and providing continuity for our highly creative culture.
- 11/12/2018
- by Stewart Clarke
- Variety Film + TV
Aardman, the animation company which makes the Oscar-winning cartoon duo, saw its profits fall from £1,061,408 to £469,243 ($747,826) in 2009. But at least it made a profit, Aardman stresses. It was reported here over the weekend that the company had made a whopping £2.5 million loss. That’s because we journos looked in the wrong column of Aardman’s profit-and-loss account, finance director Kerry Lock tells me. Aardman has been dragged down by its TV commercials division reporting its lowest income for 5 years plus an expensive move into its new Bristol headquarters. Because of the way the 20% UK film tax credit works, it makes reporting year-end accounts much more complicated, Lock says. Aardman is owed £2.9 million in tax credits, which will convert the £2.5 million loss reported in one column into the £469,243 profit reported in another. The animator’s in the middle of production on two new Sony movies: Arthur Christmas and Pirates. It’s...
- 10/11/2010
- by TIM ADLER
- Deadline London
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