Kudos Co-Founder Stephen Garrett to Leave Shine Group

LONDON: Stephen Garrett, co-founder and chairman of Kudos and executive chairman of Shine Pictures, is planning to exit Shine Group later this year.

Garrett became chairman of Kudos in 2011 after co-founding the company. In this capacity, he was responsible for bringing to the screen such shows as Life on Mars and Spooks. Productions under his stewardship at Shine Pictures included Eastern Promises and Salmon Fishing in The Yemen. Recently announced projects include the crime thriller Blowback and the adaptation of Tom Rob Smith's best seller The Farm.

These and future projects will be led by Ollie Madden, the head of film at Shine Pictures. Garrett continues as producer on the upcoming Spooks: The Greater Good, co-produced by Shine Pictures and Kudos, working alongside Madden and Jane Featherstone, the CEO of Kudos.

Garrett said: “I'm leaving behind, in Kudos and Shine Pictures, two vibrant creative businesses that have never been in better shape. It's been an inspiring ride with Jane and the exceptional team at Kudos and more recently with Ollie at Shine Pictures. I will miss their passionate intelligence, so too that of all at the wider Shine Group—which has been like a family you marry into only to discover that, wherever you turn on the planet, you've acquired some unexpectedly stimulating and entertaining new relatives. As for my own plans, I'm excited by the blurring of boundaries and the fusion of forms. It's not really about film or TV or even theater anymore. It's just about telling great stories, stories that electrify audiences that unfold on screens which might be the size of a stamp or a six-story building. Addictive hours that are binged in a weekend or drip-fed in tantalizing nuggets over months. Scripted content is what I love. It's endlessly reinventing itself. This feels like a great time to reinvent myself in the scripted space.”
 
Alex Mahon, Shine Group's CEO, said: “Stephen is an exceptional producer, a passionate intellectual and thoughtful collaborator. He leaves a great base to build on in our film team; he has been an enduring influence on our scripted business and we wish him the best for the future. After 20 years as part of the wider group we will miss him.”