Argonon launches prodcos with NBCU & All3 execs

UK-based Argonon Group has established a pair of joint venture production entities, with execs from NBCUniversal and All3Media behind them.

Barefaced TV will focus on factual entertainment formats for the UK and international markets, while Bandicoot is billed as a multi-genre production house.

Lucy Golding and Rosie Bray (pictured right, l-r), who were joint heads of factual entertainment at NBCUniversal International Studios’ unscripted development arm, Tellycopter, will lead Barefaced.

Tellycopter shuttered last year, as TBI exclusively reported at the time. Another former NBCU exec, Daniel Nettleton, will lead Bandicoot along with Derek McLean, who has exited his post as executive VP and head of non-scripted for All3-owned prodco Lime Pictures to launch the new venture.

Bray and Golding met working on then-BBC Three format Snog, Marry, Avoid while at Endemol, where they also secured the commission of Remarkable-produced Working Girls for the same channel.

Later, while working at Spun Gold, which Argonon came close to acquiring in 2012 before the deal collapsed, the pair established a micro-indie called Brassy, which produced Restaurant Wars for BBC Two.

At Tellycopter, they secured international format deals for Wedlocked and Meet Me Halfway.

Daniel Nettleton & Derek McLean

Bandicoot will focus on reality, factual, formats and comedy.

Co-founder McLean was creative director of BBC Entertainment before joining Lime, where he oversaw ITV2’sThe Only Way is Essex and MTV UK’s Geordie Shore and worked in the US on series such Bravo’s Workout New York and the upcoming Relative Success with Tabatha Coffey.

He is also counts as creator of BBC One’s John Bishop’s Britain and E4 comedy reality series, and has worked on formats such as Big Brother, 8 Our of 10 Cats and Charlie Brooker’s Screenwipe.

Nettleton began his career in development at the BBC before joining RDF Media, and then setting up the first development team at Gallowgate, the prodco British presenting duo Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly (Ant and Dec) own.

He later became a producer on ITV Studios’ I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here and Big Brother, before joining NBCU six years ago, working for various labels as head of development and head of entertainment, including Chocolate Media.

Barefaced and Bandicoot are the third and fourth JV prodcos London-based Argonon has created, coming after Nick Godwin’s BriteSpark Films and drama-focused Blacklisted Films. The six-year-old group also comprises Leopard Drama, Leopard Films, Leopard USA, Remedy Productions, Remedy Canada, Windfall Films and Transparent Television, and sales arm Argonon International.

Windfall this week said goodbye to co-founder Kristina Obradovich, with ITN Productions’ Allison Todd coming in to replace her.