Former Shine Exec Debuts New Zodiak-Backed Indie

LONDON, February 28: John
Silver, previously with Shine, has launched Red House, a new independent
British production outfit backed by Zodiak Television Group, which is taking a
minority shareholding in the new start-up.

Red House will focus on
creating popular features and factual-entertainment formats, and will work with
established presenters and experts as well as bringing on new talent.

Red House will be based in
Zodiak’s offices in West Kensington in the U.K. with a development team headed
by Simon Bisset, who served as series producer of Paradise or Bust (BBC Two) and Build a New Life in the Country (Five); he was also the BAFTA-nominated director
of Grand Designs (Channel 4).
Further senior appointments for Red House will be announced shortly.

At the end of 2007, Silver
left his position as creative director of features at Shine after four years
with the company. He was responsible for creating formats such as MasterChef
Goes Large for BBC One and Two and
Build a New Life in the Country
for Five. Prior to that, he was the head of factual at Talkback, where he was
responsible for creating Channel 4 hits such as Grand Designs, Property Ladder and Jamie’s Kitchen.

“I want Red House to be
the first port of call for talent who are passionate about features and
factual-entertainment programming, whether they work on-screen or off-screen,”
said Silver.

Paul Sowerbutts, the VP of
Zodiak West, added, “John is one of the most experienced executives in British
television with an established track record in creating ground-breaking
formats. We’re delighted to be part of his company’s development. The continued
and exciting growth of the Zodiak Television Group is very much talent driven
and it is exciting for us that Red House joins Diverse, Lucky Day, Bullseye and
Zodiak International as part of the growing Zodiak presence in the U.K.
market.”

—By Irene Lew