Jodie Whittaker Short Film Fund Value Upped (Exclusive); ITV Studios Rejigs Distribution Team; Dare Pictures Signs MD – Global Briefs

Max Goldbart and Jesse Whittock
·4 min read

Jodie Whittaker Short Film Fund Raises Value To $50,000

EXCLUSIVE: The Empower Fund, an initiative that champions female and non-binary filmmakers, has seen its value rise to ￡40,000 ($50,000) after post-production house Picture Shop came onboard to support the Empower Fund with in-kind post services up to a value of ￡15k. Film equipment company HAWK London had already provided access to a camera kit shooting package worth ￡15,000 on top of a minimum ￡10,000 for the winning team, who will see former Doctor Who lead Jodie Whittaker attached to their project. Founded by actress Victoria Emslie’s Primetime, a global platform for women and non-binary people working behind the camera, in partnership with Funding Futures, the fun launched at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023 and has received almost 100 submissions from around the world. A jury of consisting of Whittaker, another former Doctor Who star, Mandip Gill; Emslie; director Ella Glendining; producer Ameenah Ayub Allen; Curtis Brown agent Cynthia Oyoke; and Funding Futures executive producer Will Shutt has been reading through the projects, with a final round of interviews taking place last week. Among those shortlisted are Juliet Kirby, sister of Vanessa Kirby, who is a co-producer on the Zia Holloway-written Divine; and BIFA-nominated filmmaker Jessi Gutch for The Last Train Home. Writer-actor is part of the team for Truckload, with Emma Moffat in the same capacity on Scope. The final project comes from writer-director Ashleigh Ashley.

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ITV Studios Rejigs Distribution Team With Tom Clark Promoted

Love Island seller ITV Studios has rejigged its sales team by promoting Tom Clark to EVP Global Sales & Commercial Strategy. Clark, who joined from Airbnb six months ago, will oversee three regional sales EVPs: Gisela Aismus Minnbergh for EMEA, Augustus Dulgaro for APAC, and the current vacancy formerly held by Greg Johnson for the Americas; as well as Jurian van der Meer, EVP Brand Licensing. Deadline revealed Johnson was heading to Cineflix Rights earlier this year. ITV Studios said Clark will be “responsible for optimising the ITV Studios sales efforts across all regions as well as the planning and execution of commercial strategy and insights.” Meanwhile, Jemma Harvey, who was appointed SVP Global Content in July 2022, has expanded her responsibilities to become SVP Scripted Global Content and Co-Productions, continuing to report to EVP Global Content, Julie Meldal-Johnsen, and working alongside Kate Barnes who continues to lead the scripted team as SVP Scripted. “I’m delighted to announce these expanded responsibilities for Tom and Jemma as the business continues to evolve its structure in line with the needs of our partners,” said Ruth Berry, who runs the distribution arm. “Tom has a huge amount of invaluable industry experience and is already driving the business further forward. Jemma is a brilliant and highly regarded executive with both producers and broadcasters around the world and is already out securing and nurturing co-productions.” Berry was promoted recently to lead both ITV Studios distribution’s scripted and non-scripted divisions. ITV Studios sells the likes of Love Island, The Voice and Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Last week it posted a decrease in Q1 revenues, putting this in the main down to the Hollywood strikes.

UK’s Dare Pictures Signs MD

Nascent UK outfit Dare Pictures has signed an MD. Production vet Dee Hendry, who joins from Honey Bee Films, will work closely with Dare Founder & CEO Derren Lawford, and newly-promoted Executive Chair, Michelle Morgan, to drive operation strategies relating to production, finance, personnel, and business affairs, as the indie bolsters its international and domestic activities. Dare launched two years ago and has since made the likes of Channel 4’s Crypto Queen and the BBC’s Dalton’s Dream. Hendry founded natural history indie Honey Bee and used to work at David Olusaga’s indie Uplands. Past employers include Viacom, ITV, BBC and Fremantle. Elsewhere, Morgan has expanded her role to Executive Chair, taking a more active role in the company’s business strategy and development, while Fatima Shafiq, who joined, last year as Head of Development, has been promoted to Creative Director. “We’re lucky to have someone of Dee’s considerable expertise and acumen to help lay the foundations and create a robust infrastructure for us to execute and deliver on Dare’s mission,” said Lawford. “Key to our creative success to date has been Fatima, whose promotion is a true reflection of the entrepreneurialism she has for finding unique and bold stories from around the world.”

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