Banijay Taps HBO Europe Alum Steve Matthews

HBO Europe alum Steve Matthews has joined Banijay’s central scripted department as content partnerships executive.

In the newly created role, Matthews will act as a key facilitator in the group’s production development process, driving co-production opportunities across the Nordics, Spain and beyond and building out the pipeline and creative partnerships across drama.

Matthews joins from HBO Europe, where he most recently served as VP and executive producer of scripted. He partnered with local teams across Central Europe, Spain and the Nordics to spearhead the development of original series and international adaptations. He worked on projects such as Pustina, Umbre, Blinded By the Lights, Uspjeh, The Sleepers, Foodie Love, Gösta and, from Banijay’s footprint specifically, 30 Coins (Pokeepsie), Beforeigners (Rubicon) and Beartown (Filmlance).

Prior to that, Matthews was at Octagon Films in Dublin, where he produced four seasons of Love/Hate and was a consulting producer on The Borgias. He has also served as head of development at Size 9 Productions, script editor on BBC’s Silent Witness and co-creator and producer of Urban Gothic.

As content partnerships executive, a role which he will take up on February 1, Matthews will report to Christian Wikander, global head of scripted.

Marco Bassetti, CEO of Banijay, said: “Scripted very much remains an area in which we want to grow our business, and over the past few years, we have really focused on nurturing a solid premium pipeline, further building our position reputationally in the market. Through organic growth and M&A, we will continue to strengthen our capabilities in this arena, and in Steve, we have vast amounts of knowledge and hands-on experience, which will be invaluable as we continue to expand our portfolio.”

Matthews added: “Banijay has an impressive collection of scripted labels and some of the most anticipated and enjoyed titles in the world. Both locally and internationally, it has carved a name for itself as a go-to for quality and creativity. It will be great to be reunited with Christian in continuing to spur on the group’s catalog potential and support its fantastic talent in taking even more shows from development to commission worldwide.”