Ambassadors Circle
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Larry Bass
Chief Executive Officer, Screentime ShinAwil
MoreLarry Bass
In 1999 Larry Bass established ShinAwiL Productions Ltd with director Simon Gibney, where he acted as Managing Director for 3 years, before merging with Screentime Australia in 2003, and forming Screentime ShinAwiL, now one of the largest independent production companies in Ireland. Most recently he has executive produced 5 series of the top rated music talent search show «You're A Star» for RTE ONE. Previous credits include «Charity You're A Star», «Popstars» and The Irish Film & Television Awards. Bass was the Irish member of CEPI (European Coordination of Independent Producers) from 2003 to 2006, and is currently a member of the Broadcasting Sub-committee of SPI (Screen Producers Ireland).
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Julie Bristow
Executive Director of Studio and Unscripted Programming for CBC
MoreJulie Bristow
In her position at CBC Julie Bristow is responsible for Factual Entertainment, Sports, Unscripted Comedy and Specials. She launched the Factual Entertainment division for Canada’s public broadcaster in May 2006, and over the course of five years oversaw the development, production and commissioning of talk shows, game shows, lifestyle and reality programming, variety arts and music as well as the acquisition and adaptation of international formats for CBC. Under her stewardship the network saw significant audience growth with prime time hits such as «Dragons’ Den», «The Week The Women Went» , the live event sports reality programme «Battle of the Blades», as well as daytime shows «Steven and Chris», «Best Recipes Ever», and late night talk-show «George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight». «Canada’s Next Great Prime Minister» and «Make the Politician Work» were both home-grown successes and hot-selling international formats. Bristow started in broadcast journalism at CBC in 1993 as a programme researcher. By 1996 she was Executive Producing Midday, a daily afternoon news and current affairs magazine programme and in 2002 she was made Head of Current affairs, overseeing the network’s flagship investigative programmes, «The 5th Estate», «Marketplace» and «Venture». Bristow’s work in television has garnered her numerous awards, including three Geminis and the CBC President’s Award for Leadership. She holds a B.A. from the University of Toronto and a Master’s Degree from the University of Chicago, where she was also selected as one of twelve international recipients of the William Benton Fellowship in Broadcast Journalism. In addition to speaking frequently on panels at the LATV Festival, the Banff World Television Festival, Real Screen and MIPCOM/MIPDOC, Julie Bristow serves as an active board member for Entertainment Master Class, is member of the Ambassador Circle at the Rose d’Or Festival, and is a member of The International Academy of Television Arts and Science.
Executive Director of Studio and Unscripted Programming for CBC
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Christoph Gebel
Head of Entertainment at the Swiss Radio and Television
MoreChristoph Gebel
Christoph Gebel was Head of Programming at DRS 1 and DRS Musikwelle from 2001 to 2010. DRS 1 was developed under his direction and now reaches 1.9 million listeners daily. He was also responsible for the first major SRF project – the tri-media childrens programme Zambo. Before his work at Swiss Radio & Television SRF, Christoph Gebel was Director and General Manager of Gassmann Media AG, where he was responsible for the operation of the newspapers Bieler Tagblatt and Journal du Jura and built the Internet Service Provider Redmouse. Perfectly bilingual, he was Director of Radio Canal 3 from 1996 to 1999 and built the bilingual local television channel Telebielingue.
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Jacob Houlind
President & Group CEO Nordisk Film TV
MoreJacob Houlind
Jacob Houlind, born in 1971, joined the television industry as a legal advisor to the VP of acquisition at SBS Broadcasting, acquiring TV programmes for the SBS broadcasters across Europe. In early 2000 he moved to International programme production/distribution, MTV Produktion AB (later Zodiak Television) and was promoted to Managing Director within a year. As a result of the merger between MTV Produktion, Mastiff Media and the later acquisition of Jarowskij, Houlind was appointed Managing Director of Zodiak Television World and joined the Zodiak Television Board of Directors. In early 2006 he became the Group CEO of Nordisk Film TV. During his 5 year tenure Houlind and his team made a complete turnaround by almost tripling the company turnover through organic growth only. In late 2009 Nordisk Film TV was acquired by Banijay Group. Today Nordisk Film TV is one of the 3 biggest independent TV production companies in the Nordic region, with offices in Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki and Stockholm, with a turnover of €60M and producing around 1500 hours of Entertainment, Factual and Drama programming every year. Houlind holds a Master of Law from the University of Copenhagen and an Executive MBA from Copenhagen Business School (CBS). He is an active member of the international TV industry and formats community and has been a tutor, speaker and jury member at several conferences, seminars and festivals throughout the past years. Furthermore he is a member of the International Academy of Television Arts and Sciences in New York (International Emmy Awards) and he is an Advisory Board Member of the Entertainment Master Class (EMC). Houlind is Chairman of the Board in Respirator Media & Development Aps and is a board member and co-investor of online businesses Mymusic.com and Wexer.com.
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Colman Hutchinson
Creative Director, Prime Suspects
MoreColman Hutchinson
Colman Hutchinson began his TV career with Irish National Broadcaster RTE. In the Early nineties he produced some of the decade’s most popular shows including, «You Bet», «Surprise Surprise» and «Blind Date». In 1998 he became Head of Entertainment at Celador Productions Executive Producing many hit shows including «Who Wants To Be A Millionaire», «Winning Lines», «The People Versus» and «Brainiest». In 2010 he set up «Boxatricks» a format creation and production company with David Briggs (Creator of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire) and Steve Springford (Ex Head of Production at Celador) John Gough is also on the board. In 2011 Hutchinson Executive Produced «High Stakes», a new primetime game show for ITV 1 in the UK.
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Paul Johnson
Chief Executive Officer Tuvalu Entertainment Ltd.
MorePaul Johnson
Paul Johnson has over 25 years experience in the entertainment industry with a degree in Mass Communication and Film from the University of California, Berkeley. In 2010 he set up Tuvalu Entertainment Ltd, having previously served as board members of BAFTA, The International Emmys and the Endemol Group. At the Endemol Group, he was the Global Head of Marketing and Brand Partnerships. Before joining Endemol, he was Reed Midem’s Director of MIPTV and MIPCOM in Paris.
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Dick de Rijk
Creative/Commercial Director, Dick de Rijk Productions BV
MoreDick de Rijk
After working as a creative executive in the advertising and gaming industries, Dick de Rijk partnered in 1999 with Joop van den Ende, creating some instant TV successes in Holland. A year later he formed a creative team with John de Mol specialising in global TV-formats, resulting in a series of shows that travelled around the world. In 2004, de Rijk signed an exclusive first-look partnership with Endemol International which resulted in numerous worldwide format successes. In 2007, three of Endemol’s top-5 format properties were created by de Rijk, including their number one blockbuster - on air in some 150 countries - «Deal Or No Deal». Under his new alliance with ProSiebenSat.1 (since September 2009) de Rijk is based out of his offices in Hilversum, Netherlands. His latest development «You Deserve It» was picked up by ABC as first territory - and is currently in pre-production. This show is his 4th big prime-time show sold to the «big four» (ABC, NBC, CBS, FOX) in the USA.
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Stefano Torrisi
Senior General Manager and International Area Director at Europroducciones TV
MoreStefano Torrisi
Stefano Torrisi began his career as a freelance producer and director for various television programmes. In 1991 he went on to found Ette Produzione, a company specialising in external consulting and the creation and adaptation of TV formats, and produced over 1000 programmes from 1993 to '97. In 1998 Torrisi was appointed Programmes and International Area Director at Europroducciones TV. During his time at Europroducciones TV Torrisi has supervised the start up and expansion of three affiliates in Poland, Italy and Portugal, created several new formats in the Spanish TV Markets and contributed significantly to the development of the company's programmes field. StefanoTorrisi became Senior General Manager in 2007.
Senior General Manager and International Area Director at Europroducciones TV
