FilmNation TV UK has hired a key BBC Studios drama exec as it builds out its slate. Martin Rakusen has joined Creative Director Kirstie Macdonald’s team as COO.
In the role, Rakusen will lead all business, operational and financial activity while building and maintaining strategic partnerships for the producer, which is a joint venture between FilmNation Entertainment and Viaplay Group.
He’ll work closely with Macdonald on funding, strategy and deal structures and finance plans. He also lead on international television distribution strategy, deal-making, and relationships, and lead business negotiations with IP owners, agents, commissioners, financiers, co-producers and distributors. At BBC Studios, he held a similar role, leading on strategic and commercial activities in drama and comedy.
Rakusen began his career at the BBC before moving to Rdf as Director, Commercial Development for Drama, Children’s and Branded Content. He then worked in LA for Shine International, latterly as...
In the role, Rakusen will lead all business, operational and financial activity while building and maintaining strategic partnerships for the producer, which is a joint venture between FilmNation Entertainment and Viaplay Group.
He’ll work closely with Macdonald on funding, strategy and deal structures and finance plans. He also lead on international television distribution strategy, deal-making, and relationships, and lead business negotiations with IP owners, agents, commissioners, financiers, co-producers and distributors. At BBC Studios, he held a similar role, leading on strategic and commercial activities in drama and comedy.
Rakusen began his career at the BBC before moving to Rdf as Director, Commercial Development for Drama, Children’s and Branded Content. He then worked in LA for Shine International, latterly as...
- 9/13/2022
- by Jesse Whittock
- Deadline Film + TV
FilmNation TV UK has signed a two-year development deal with Reggie Yates, the British broadcaster and director whose debut feature film Pirates was halted mid-shoot by the pandemic.
Launched last year as partnership between U.S. outfit FilmNation and Scandi major Nordic Entertainment Group, FilmNation TV UK is being headed up by Creative Director Kirstie Macdonald and is developing a slate of premium scripted TV projects.
Those now include Patriarch, a four-part series written by Yates inspired by his short film of the same name which was shown on Channel 4. It will tell the story of an estranged father and son who find each other at a turning point in each of their lives.
Yates made his name as a TV and radio host in the UK before he began directing docs. His debut short Shelter aired in 2017 and his second, Date Night, starred Daniel Kaluuya. Pirates follows three...
Launched last year as partnership between U.S. outfit FilmNation and Scandi major Nordic Entertainment Group, FilmNation TV UK is being headed up by Creative Director Kirstie Macdonald and is developing a slate of premium scripted TV projects.
Those now include Patriarch, a four-part series written by Yates inspired by his short film of the same name which was shown on Channel 4. It will tell the story of an estranged father and son who find each other at a turning point in each of their lives.
Yates made his name as a TV and radio host in the UK before he began directing docs. His debut short Shelter aired in 2017 and his second, Date Night, starred Daniel Kaluuya. Pirates follows three...
- 8/3/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
FilmNation CEO Glen Basner talked up what he sees as a “boom” in the independent film business, during a London Film Festival industry talk yesterday (October 2).
In a wide-ranging session with British Film Institute Deputy CEO Ben Roberts, indie biz stalwart Basner, whose blue-chip firm FilmNation has become a watchword for quality and international sales success, said of the current business, “There’s so much more opportunity today [in independent film], even if it can feel harder. There are so many ways people are consuming movies. Everyone’s talking about whether the independent business is over, but I see it as a boom right now. It’s going to grow, just maybe not in the way I expected two-three years ago.”
Basner, whose recent FilmNation slate includes Cannes hit Pain & Glory, Lff title The Personal History Of David Copperfield and upcoming Simon Kinberg action pic 355, said that streamers are increasing appetite for film.
In a wide-ranging session with British Film Institute Deputy CEO Ben Roberts, indie biz stalwart Basner, whose blue-chip firm FilmNation has become a watchword for quality and international sales success, said of the current business, “There’s so much more opportunity today [in independent film], even if it can feel harder. There are so many ways people are consuming movies. Everyone’s talking about whether the independent business is over, but I see it as a boom right now. It’s going to grow, just maybe not in the way I expected two-three years ago.”
Basner, whose recent FilmNation slate includes Cannes hit Pain & Glory, Lff title The Personal History Of David Copperfield and upcoming Simon Kinberg action pic 355, said that streamers are increasing appetite for film.
- 10/4/2019
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
FilmNation Entertainment and Nordic Entertainment Group (Nent Group) have appointed Kirstie Macdonald as head of the companies’ new UK-based TV joint venture.
Operating under the FilmNation brand, the company will develop, produce and finance premium scripted television content. Macdonald will act as creative director and will take up her position in November, when she will begin to assemble a team.
Macdonald joins from her role as Creative Director, Drama at Peter Fincham and Tim Hincks’ production company Expectation, where she will continue to oversee the launch of BBC series Guilt ahead of her move. Macdonald was previously at ITV Studios-owned World Productions where she worked on BBC series Line Of Duty and the Bafta-winning Channel 4 series The Fear.
The joint-venture between FilmNation and Nent Group was announced in January this year. The companies plan to leverage existing talent relationships to build a slate of TV. Nent Group will...
Operating under the FilmNation brand, the company will develop, produce and finance premium scripted television content. Macdonald will act as creative director and will take up her position in November, when she will begin to assemble a team.
Macdonald joins from her role as Creative Director, Drama at Peter Fincham and Tim Hincks’ production company Expectation, where she will continue to oversee the launch of BBC series Guilt ahead of her move. Macdonald was previously at ITV Studios-owned World Productions where she worked on BBC series Line Of Duty and the Bafta-winning Channel 4 series The Fear.
The joint-venture between FilmNation and Nent Group was announced in January this year. The companies plan to leverage existing talent relationships to build a slate of TV. Nent Group will...
- 9/25/2019
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
FilmNation's newly launched U.K. television joint venture with the Nordic Entertainment Group has found its head.
Kirstie Macdonald has been named creative director of the outfit, first announced in January, joining from Peter Fincham and Tim Hincks' production company Expectation, where she was creative director, drama.
Prior to Expectation, Macdonald worked the ITV Studios-owned World Productions (makers of hit drama Bodyguard) on shows including Line of Duty, Save Me, Outlaws and The Fear.
In her new role, Macdonald will lead the joint venture’s U.K. team and be responsible for building the company’s production slate. She will ...
Kirstie Macdonald has been named creative director of the outfit, first announced in January, joining from Peter Fincham and Tim Hincks' production company Expectation, where she was creative director, drama.
Prior to Expectation, Macdonald worked the ITV Studios-owned World Productions (makers of hit drama Bodyguard) on shows including Line of Duty, Save Me, Outlaws and The Fear.
In her new role, Macdonald will lead the joint venture’s U.K. team and be responsible for building the company’s production slate. She will ...
- 9/25/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
Exclusive: Leo Tolstoy’s Anna Karenina is set for another small-screen remake with The Girl writer Gwyneth Hughes developing an adaptation with British producer Expectation.
Deadline understands that the BBC Studios-backed producer, which is run by former Endemol Shine chief Tim Hincks and ex-ITV content boss Peter Fincham, is in the early stages of developing the project.
Hughes is best known for the 2012 HBO/BBC movie The Girl, which starred Sienna Miller as Tippi Hedren and explored Alfred Hitchcock’s obsession with the actress. She also recently adapted William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair into a seven-part Olivia Cooke-fronted series for ITV and Amazon, and is currently working on two-part drama Honour starring Keeley Hawes for ITV.
Anna Karenina, first published in 1878, is a complex story with dozens of major characters. It tells the story of the eponymous lead, who has an affair with a dashing cavalry...
Deadline understands that the BBC Studios-backed producer, which is run by former Endemol Shine chief Tim Hincks and ex-ITV content boss Peter Fincham, is in the early stages of developing the project.
Hughes is best known for the 2012 HBO/BBC movie The Girl, which starred Sienna Miller as Tippi Hedren and explored Alfred Hitchcock’s obsession with the actress. She also recently adapted William Makepeace Thackeray’s Vanity Fair into a seven-part Olivia Cooke-fronted series for ITV and Amazon, and is currently working on two-part drama Honour starring Keeley Hawes for ITV.
Anna Karenina, first published in 1878, is a complex story with dozens of major characters. It tells the story of the eponymous lead, who has an affair with a dashing cavalry...
- 7/3/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Something to Live For, Richard Roper’s forthcoming book about loneliness in a big city, is being adapted into a TV drama after Expectation optioned the novel.
Expectation, which is run by former Endemol boss Tim Hincks and ex-ITV content chief Peter Fincham, is now in the process of developing the adaptation via Creative Director of Drama Kirstie Macdonald.
It is the company’s latest scripted move and comes after it scored a David Schwimmer-fronted comedy, Intelligence, with Sky, and BBC drama Guilt starring Mark Bonnar.
The book is set to be published in the UK by Orion in June, while Putnam’s has acquired the book rights for the U.S. The deal was struck by Jonathan Sissons at Peters Fraser & Dunlop (Pfd) on behalf of Laura Williams at Greene & Heaton.
Something to Live For is a heart-warming and bittersweet story that explores the particular...
Expectation, which is run by former Endemol boss Tim Hincks and ex-ITV content chief Peter Fincham, is now in the process of developing the adaptation via Creative Director of Drama Kirstie Macdonald.
It is the company’s latest scripted move and comes after it scored a David Schwimmer-fronted comedy, Intelligence, with Sky, and BBC drama Guilt starring Mark Bonnar.
The book is set to be published in the UK by Orion in June, while Putnam’s has acquired the book rights for the U.S. The deal was struck by Jonathan Sissons at Peters Fraser & Dunlop (Pfd) on behalf of Laura Williams at Greene & Heaton.
Something to Live For is a heart-warming and bittersweet story that explores the particular...
- 5/15/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Game of Thrones star Jamie Sives and Catastrophe star Mark Bonnar are to front a four-part dark crime caper for the BBC.
Guilt, written by Eric, Ernie And Me writer Neil Forsyth, will be the first drama for BBC Scotland’s new digital channel and will then air on BBC Two.
Sives, who starred as Jory Cassel in the HBO drama, and Bonnar play two disparate Scottish brothers Max and Jake who, while driving home from a wedding together one night, accidentally run over and kill an old man on a darkened street. After making the panicked decision to cover their tracks, the brothers seem to get away with their crime. However, as neighbours and relatives of the dead man begin to suspect his death wasn’t as innocent as it initially seemed, the brothers find their lives rapidly falling apart, as their actions begin to catch up with them.
Guilt, written by Eric, Ernie And Me writer Neil Forsyth, will be the first drama for BBC Scotland’s new digital channel and will then air on BBC Two.
Sives, who starred as Jory Cassel in the HBO drama, and Bonnar play two disparate Scottish brothers Max and Jake who, while driving home from a wedding together one night, accidentally run over and kill an old man on a darkened street. After making the panicked decision to cover their tracks, the brothers seem to get away with their crime. However, as neighbours and relatives of the dead man begin to suspect his death wasn’t as innocent as it initially seemed, the brothers find their lives rapidly falling apart, as their actions begin to catch up with them.
- 1/22/2019
- by Peter White
- Deadline Film + TV
Expectation has appointed Kirstie Macdonald as Creative Director, Drama. She joins from World Productions where she script edited the first series of hit show Line of Duty and she's worked on a number of programs as script executive including BAFTA-nominated series Outlaws and The Fear as well as a new Sky Atlantic show Save Me, written by Lennie James and starring Suranne Jones. Macdonald was also an exec producer on Dark Angel, with Joanne Frogatt and In Plain Sight…...
- 5/24/2017
- Deadline TV
Expectation has appointed Kirstie Macdonald as Creative Director, Drama. She joins from World Productions where she script edited the first series of hit show Line of Duty and she's worked on a number of programs as script executive including BAFTA-nominated series Outlaws and The Fear as well as a new Sky Atlantic show Save Me, written by Lennie James and starring Suranne Jones. Macdonald was also an exec producer on Dark Angel, with Joanne Frogatt and In Plain Sight…...
- 5/24/2017
- Deadline
IMDb.com, Inc. takes no responsibility for the content or accuracy of the above news articles, Tweets, or blog posts. This content is published for the entertainment of our users only. The news articles, Tweets, and blog posts do not represent IMDb's opinions nor can we guarantee that the reporting therein is completely factual. Please visit the source responsible for the item in question to report any concerns you may have regarding content or accuracy.