Britain’s Royal Television Society, which represents major television execs, has appointed Virgin Media CEO Tom Mockridge as its new board of trustees. He’ll succeed ITN CEO John Hardie, who has reached the end of his term. RTS has also appointed Simon Pitts as its new vice chair. He’s managing director of online, pay TV and interactive & technology at ITV and will take over from Tim Davie, CEO of BBC Worldwide and Director, Global. Davie will remain on the board of trustees alongside Mike Green, David Lowen, Lynn Barlow, Graham McWilliam, Jane Turton and Rob Woodward. In addition to his role at Virgin Media, Mockridge is a member of the executive leadership team of parent company Liberty Global and joined the company in June 2013 following its acquisition of Virgin. He’s also had roles at News Corporation, BskyB and Sky Deutschland. RTS is currently searching for a new President to replace Peter Bazalgette, who is stepping down after six years at the helm.
Dutch producer Leontine Petit, who co-produced Yorgos Lanthimos’ critical hit The Lobster, has been awarded the European Co-Production Award – Prix Eurimages, which will be presented at the European Film Awards on December 10 in Wroclaw, Poland. Petit is CEO and producer at Lemming Film in the Netherlands and Hamster Film in Germany and her credits include Spoon by Willem van de Sande Bakhuyzen; Eep! by Ellen Smit; Tony 10 by Mischa Kamp; Taking Chances and The Day My Father Became a Bush, both by Nicole van Kilsdonk as well as Full Contact by David Verbeek. In addition to these and The Lobster, Petit has also produced EFA winner Oxygen by Hans van Nuffel and Sergei Loznitsa’s In the Fog, winner of the FIPRESCI Award in Cannes 2012. She’s had stints at the Cinekid Film and Television Festival in Amsterdam, the Netherlands Film Fund and Dutch MEDIA Desk. In 2014, she was part of the founding team of ‘Bridging the Dragon,” an association connecting European and Chinese film professionals.
Orphan Black maker Temple Street has entered an overall exclusive development and production deal with Killjoys and Flashpoint writer/producer Adam Barken. As part of the arrangement, Barken will create, develop and produce new TV properties for the Toronto- and LA-based studio. Barken is currently a co-exec producer of Temple Street’s Killjoys for Space in Canada and Syfy in the U.S., and recently wrote the YTV movie adaptation of Gordon Korman’s Bruno & Boots Go Jump In The Pool. He will also co-script and produce the sequel. Barken has also written and produced for Temple Street’s X Company, CTV’s Flashpoint and ABC’s Rookie Blue. He’s repped by the Alpern Group.
