Sixteen South bolsters management with Brown Bag, ex-Planet 24 execs

Kids outfit Sixteen South has appointed three members to its senior management team including Emma Fernando as head of production.

Fernando joins from Brown Bag Films and has overseen several high-profile shows across Nickelodeon, Disney, Cartoon Network and CBeebies.

Joining Fernando will be Andrew Rajan, a former executive at The Word and Big Breakfast producer Planet 24, as commercial director and Darin McKeown as financial controller.

Sixteen will also be looking for two non-executive directors as additional help for studio growth.

The move arrives after Sixteen’s recent opening of a new £1 million (US$1.39m) studio in Belfast, a one-stop shop where entire shows can be produced in one place.

The producer will also be opening a new studio in Dublin, which adds to recently launched Sixteen South Rights, its new distribution arm. The form hopes the move will allow continuous trade with Europe post-Brexit.

Colin Williams, creative director of Sixteen South, said: “These are exciting times for Sixteen South and I’m delighted to welcome Emma, Andrew and Darin to our talented and passionate management team.

“While we are committed to creating, developing and producing our own original IP, we’re also very much open for business for high-quality partnerships and service work and our new management team puts us in a great position to maximise all our activities. We’re focused on growth!”

Sixteen’s recent activity includes Claude (pictured), which launches on Disney Junior across all territories in EMEA later this year.