Hollywood heavyweights form Critical board

Mark Itkin, Lauren Zalaznick and Frank Biondi are among the big name Hollywood execs that form fledgling prodco Critical Content’s new board.

LA-based Critical launched at the start of the year after Anchorage, a senior secured lender of Relativity Media, bought the assets of Relativity Television.

Having secured a series of deals in its first year of business, Critical has now formed a board. This comprises ex-HBO, Universal Studios and Viacom CEO and chairman Biondi, ex-NBCUniversal executive VP Zalaznick, former William Morris Endeavor co-head of television and board member Itkin (pictured), president of iHeartMedia Entertainment Enteprises and former network development president at MTV John Sykes, Machinima chief executive Chad Gutstein and Critical CEO Tom Forman.

Al Aguirre, who sits on the board of various public and private companies, will chair the board, which will work closely with the Critical management team – Forman, president Andrew Marcus and CFO Christoph Pachler – as part of a plan to make the company “a full-fledged international studio”.

Foman said the new board included “some of the brightest minds and most respected names in the media business”.

“They agreed to join us at Critical, I believe, because they see what we see: a well-financed, fully independent entrepreneurial content company that’s focused on growth,” he added.

Critical’s deals include picking up Lineup Industries formats Radio Gaga and What the..?! for the States, and German drama Weinberg (The Valley), which was for TNT Series, into the US, as TBI first reported last month.