Former BBC Studios, Beyond Prods exec joins UK-based Ricochet

Damon Pattison (Source: Ricochet)

Warner Bros. Discovery-owned Ricochet has appointed a former Beyond Productions exec as its new creative director.

Damon Pattison will be responsible for developing, pitching and securing new commissions across all genres, building on Ricochet’s slate that includes The Repair Shop (BBC), Food Unwrapped (Channel 4) and Woodland Workshop (Discovery).

Pattison, who was creative director of Beyond Productions, reports into MD Joanna Ball and will work across Ricochet’s bases in Brighton and Glasgow. The company is part of Warner Bros. International Production.

Pattison most recently set up Beyond Productions in the UK, which was created when his former company, Seven Studios UK, was acquired by Beyond.

Before that he was creative director of development at BBC Studios and helped to retain series including Holby City, Bargain Hunt and Question Of Sport when they were put out to tender.

He also had a spell at KEO Films and set up Lucky Day Productions in 2007, which was sold to Zodiak Media Group (now Banijay).

News of the appointment comes less than a week since Mikael Borglund, the founder of Australia- and LA-based Beyond, re-acquired the production entities of Beyond International from Banijay.

Borglund sold Beyond International to Banijay for just over $32m in October 2022, with the deal closing in January 2023.

A month later, TBI revealed that the Beyond Rights team had been disbanded with its shows subsumed into Banijay Rights. Banijay subsequently shuttered Beyond Productions UK and trimmed the workforce at Beyond Production’s bases in Australia and LA.