Chris Sussman Signs First-Look Deal with Banijay UK

Banijay UK has inked an exclusive first-look deal with Chris Sussman, former director of U.K. scripted at Netflix.

Prior to working at Netflix, Sussman served as head of scripted comedy at BBC Studios. He has been involved with many of the U.K.’s most successful scripted comedy series, including Fleabag, This Country, Catastrophe, Charlie Brooker’s Wipe, Man Vs Bee, Good Omens, Mum, People Just Do Nothing, Bad Education and more.

The new deal will see Sussman partner with appropriate labels within the group to produce new original scripted projects. It forms part of the recently announced £50 million ($59 million) Banijay UK Growth Fund, which enables the group to partner with high-profile talent.

Sussman worked at Netflix from 2019 to 2022 and at BBC Studios from 2016 to 2019. Before that, he was commissioning executive for BBC Comedy from 2011 to 2016. He has also written on a number of sketch shows, including The Peter Serafinowicz Show, Monkey Dust, World’s Craziest Fools and Man Stroke Woman.

“Chris is an extraordinary creative with fantastic talent relationships so I can’t wait to work with him,” said Patrick Holland, CEO of Banijay UK. “The UK Growth Fund was set up to enable us to attract exciting names like Chris to business, so I’m delighted to be able to announce this deal.”

“I loved working with Patrick when he was controller of BBC Two and am excited to see what else we can develop together,” Sussman said. “Nobody seems to be returning my phone calls now I’m not commissioning anymore, but I’m sure that’s just a problem with my mobile network and it will all be sorted soon…”