Ex-NBCU exec joins Dudesons company

Former NBCUniversal International Studios format sales director Jonathan Tuonvinen has resurfaced at Rabbit Films, the producer behind extreme prank series The Dudesons.

Tuovinen will return to his native Finland to become head of international and oversee global sales of shows such as King, Ultimate Expedition, Posse and Haggle Battle, after ten years working for TV companies abroad.

He will work alongside Rabbit’s US-based director of international sales, Jukka Hildén, in his newly-created role, whose creation represents a major push into the global market for Rabbit.

Tuovinen left NBCU’s global division earlier this year, as TBI revealed at the time. He had been with the Comcast-owned company since 2012, selling formats including Hollywood Game Night and Top Chef, and scripted formats such as Law & Order and Monk.

Before that, he had worked at Nordisk TV World, which became part of Banijay International following an October 2009 acquisition.

Rabbit was formed in 2000 by the foursome behind Finnish series The Dudesons: Jarno Leppaia, Hannu-Pekka Parviainen, Jarno Laasala and US sales chief Hildén. The series began on Finnish cable channel MoonTV before becoming an international break-out hit, rating well in the US on Spike.

The company also produces formats such as Who Wants to Be a Millionaire for Nelonen and Saturday Night Live for MTV3.

“We are excited to have someone of Jonathan’s calibre join our team at Rabbit Films,” said Rabbit CEO Olli Suominen. “His experience from the international industry is unparalleled and will be a great asset in reaching people about the fantastic content we already have.

“Finland is quickly becoming a hub of creativity and we can’t wait to start properly sharing our original ideas with the rest of the world.”