Victory founder Ashbourne launches new indie

Victoria Ashbourne has resurfaced at the helm of a new indie producer in the UK.

The founder of Victory Television will lead Hello Dolly along with another ex-Victory exec, Stuart Shawcross, with the aim of making entertainment formats.

Ashbourne and Shawcross worked together to create shows such as The National Lottery: Win Your Wishlist, 5 Minutes to a Fortune and Benchmark.

Ashbourne, who will be CEO of Hello Dolly, was previously in charge of Sony-backed prodco Victory, but left the operation shortly before it closed.

Shawcross had been Victory’s creative director, but was more recently director of entertainment at Youngest Media. He will be Hello Dolly’s chief creative officer.

Ashbourne, said: “After taking time out to have a baby, the time is right to jump back in and create new, exhilarating entertainment formats. Stuart and I make a brilliant team and we are hugely enjoying the creative freedom of being totally independent.

“The response I’ve received from commissioners has been overwhelming. It’s an incredibly exciting time to be coming back into the world of entertainment, it’s having a real resurgence and the global market has increased with so many SVOD platforms embracing non-scripted formats. We’ve already had interest from investors and distributors, but we’re in no immediate rush to partner up.”

Shawcross added: “Victoria and I have a strong track record of creating and producing first class entertainment formats and we’ll continue to do that, both for the UK and international market.”