Tinopolis poaches Wall to Wall boss

Wales-based Tinopolis Group has poached Wall to Wall veteran Jonathan Hewes to become CEO of its subsidiaries Mentorn Media and Pioneer Productions.

Hewes (pictured) was most recently head of international at Warner Bros. International Television Production-owned Wall to Wall, having worked at the Who Do You Think You Are produce for two decades.

He has developed factual programming for most of the major US cable channels, and also oversaw the prodco’s move into theatrical documentaries with the Oscar-winning Man On Wire. He began his career at the BBC and later produced British rock series The Tube.

At Tinopolis, Hewes will report to group CEO Arwel Rees and John Willis, Tinopolis’s creative director and Mentorn chairman.

Pioneer managing director Kirstie McLure will now report to Hewes. Pioneer founder Stuart Carter is stepping down from his post as chairman.

He is joining a production group of UK and US companies such as Mentorn, Pioneer, A. Smith and Co., Firecracker Films, Magical Elves, Passion Distribution, Sunset + Vine and Tinopolis Wales.

“Jonathan brings with him a wealth of industry knowledge and award winning programming experience on the international stage, so we are delighted to welcome him to the Tinopolis Group,” said Rees.

“Both companies are renowned for producing great content for broadcasters around the world, and Jonathan has all the skills to guide them to the exciting next stage of their development.”

Hewes said it would “take something special” for him to leave Wall to Wall, “but the opportunity at Mentorn Media and Pioneer Productions, two more great names in UK factual production, is just that”.

Mentorn is known for factual and current affairs shows such as BBC One’s Question Time, Channel 4’s Fried Chicken Shop and Sky1’s An Idiot Abroad. Pioneer is a quick-turnaround doc specialist, and known for shows such as Nova and KBS coproduction Treasures of the Earth, Channel 4’s How the Earth Works, Discovery Science’s How the Universe Works and Investigation Discovery’s Mail Order Murder.

Hewes takes up his post on August 24.