Awesome Media Brings on Peter Sussman, Expands Focus

LONDON: Jeff Norton’s Awesome Media & Entertainment has appointed Peter Sussman as board director and is planning to move into prime-time dramas, in addition to kids’ and family projects.

Sussman was co-controlling voting shareholder of Alliance Atlantis and CEO of its entertainment group. Subsequently, he was co-founder and executive chairman of Aver Media and today holds investments in a number of entertainment companies. Sussman will work with Norton to help drive Awesome’s growth.

Additionally, Awesome is now moving into the drama space, developing a slate of original, prime-time series, including Woodland, about the search for the missing grandson of a Tolkien-like literary icon; Cortex, a high-tech police procedural about human memory hacking; and Blue Birds, based on the upcoming novel by Sidonie A. Kingsmill.

Norton said: “With Peter joining Awesome, we’re ready to super-charge our creative appetite, creating big, ambitious shows for global audiences. Peter’s experience will help us to grow both creatively—particularly in the drama space—and geographically as we also give more focus to our Toronto and Los Angeles activities.”

He added: “Our vision for Awesome is to create content that lives at the intersection of book and screen. We tell stories steeped in character and wrapped in big ideas.”