Nutopia Promotes Key Development Executives

Nutopia has elevated Samantha Fernandes to head of development and Rob MacAndrew to VP of science development.

Fernandes will now oversee the day-to-day running of the development division across all genres. MacAndrew, filling a newly created role, will lead the development of the company’s new premium science, natural history and adventure content.

Both executives will report to Simon Willgoss, executive VP and executive producer.

Fernandes was previously the deputy head of development. She joined Nutopia as a development researcher in 2015 and has worked on Netflix’s Babies, The World According to Jeff Goldblum and the upcoming Disney+ series Limitless. Prior to joining Nutopia, she was a broadcast writer for Canada’s CTV News Channel.

MacAndrew rejoined the company in 2020 as a development executive, in which he led the development of Welcome to Earth (w/t) with Will Smith for Disney+. He was also a member of the original creative team behind One Strange Rock for National Geographic and How We Got to Now for PBS.

“Sam and Rob are both best-in-class development execs, and we’re delighted to secure them in these new roles,” said Willgoss. “Sam has been integral to our growth these past years and is already proving herself to be a top development head. We’re excited to welcome back Rob, whose expertise will help us build on our recent successes in celebrity-led, premium science and natural history.”