10 People to meet at the market

Mark Fennessy
Joint CEO, Shine Australia

Poaching Mark Fennessy and his brother Carl, who won’t be at MIPCOM, was clearly a smart move by Elisabeth Murdoch.

Having left FremantleMedia to start up Shine Australia, Mark Fennessy is the hottest producer in the country. Having set up indie Crackerjack and sold it to FremantleMedia – which ultimately merged it with Grundy and created FremantleMedia Australia – Mark and his brother have an impeccable track record. They have worked on Australian Idol, Australia’s Got Talent and the local version of weight-loss competition The Biggest Loser.

The future looks bright as after season three next year, Shine will win back the rights to Masterchef, the most popular show ever in Australia (aside from sport).

Fennessy has already worked on the format while at FremantleMedia and Shine Australia already makes spin-off series Junior Masterchef.

Under the Fennessy’s control, Shine Australia has also set up a 50-50 with John de Mol’s Talpa andwill distribute and produce its formats in the country. Shine has inked a similar deal with RDF.

Where to find him? At the Shine International stand LR5.01