Simon Nye and Sophie Clarke-Jervoise have teamed together to launch Genial Productions, a new independent production company focusing on launching returnable comedy and drama TV series. ITV Studios is backing the nascent company with minority investment.
Between them, Nye and Clarke-Jervoise have created, written and produced hundreds of hours of shows across numerous platforms, all with broad appeal. Simon Nye is an award-winning writer whose list of credits include The Durrells and Men Behaving Badly; while Sophie Clarke-Jervoise is the former Head of BBC Comedy and Managing Director of Tiger Aspect Productions.
With their minority investment, ITV Studios will take a seat on the board of directors, which will be filled by Finance Director Maxine Gardner. Their international distribution division ITV Studios Global Entertainment will handle global sales for all of Genial’s original series/formats. ITV Studio’s investment is part of the company’s push to meet the global growing demand for high quality scripted entertainment across all platforms.
“Simon and Sophie have an enviable record of creating, writing and producing some of the best loved, most famous comedy and comedy drama of the past twenty years”, said Julian Bellamy, Managing Director of ITV Studios. “They are fantastic creative talents and we look forward to working with them and watching Genial Productions thrive”.
“This is a huge thrill. I’ve been writing TV for 30 years and am looking forward to expanding my horizons into production”, commented Simon Nye. “Sophie is better than anyone at creating popular shows and getting them onto the air, and I have experienced ITV’s great expertise first hand on The Durrells. What can possibly go wrong?!”
While Sophie Clarke-Jervoise added: “Having enjoyed working with Simon over the past 20 years, now feels the right time to consolidate our shared experience and we’re excited at the prospect of new joint endeavours. ITV Studios are a perfect fit for us so we’re delighted to have their support and experience.”
