Jonathan Ford


Former Kew Media exec Ford launches distribution firm Abacus

Jonathan Ford, former EVP of sales at Kew Media Distribution, has launched Abacus Media Rights (AMR) in partnership with Amcomri Media Group. Ford will act as MD for the new distribution company and will be joined on the AMR board by Amcomri’s chairman Paul McGowan, its director Larry Howard and 101 Films MD Andy Lyon. […]

Kew Media Distribution: Beyond ‘Neverland’

Tim Dams explores the rise of documentary powerhouse Kew Media Distribution Halfway through 2019, there’s little doubt about the most impactful documentary of the year – Dan Reed’s explosive and revelatory Michael Jackson film, Leaving Neverland. The documentary, which prompted a rethink about the legacy of the late pop icon as well as furious backlash […]

What Friends tells us about rights ownership in 2019

Media giants building SVODs to rival Netflix are talking the talk, but who will walk the walk? Manori Ravindran investigates the knock-on effects of consolidation and the bigger picture around windowing and rights ownership. If 2018’s media disruption taught us anything, it was to expect the unexpected in the laser-focused drive for scale. As potential […]

Returning miniseries

Distributors will tell you that if they could have one drama production in their portfolio it would be an evergreen returning franchise that rakes in the cash year after year. But this doesn’t alter the fact that TV movies, minis and limited runs are also regarded as valuable assets and are increasingly getting recommissioned as […]

Factual Hot Picks

Following the Sunny Side of the Doc event in La Rochelle, France, TBI profiles five hot factual projects currently making an impression from Grayson Perry’s Divided Britain to France 2’s Age of the Builders – Notre Dame.   Grayson Perry: Divided Britain Transvestite artist Grayson Perry first came to attention in 2003 when he won the prestigious Turner […]

Content hires London-based sales VP

Content Media has brought in Tom Bairstow as vice president, sales and distribution. The new recruit, who was most recently at Sony Pictures Television, will be based in London and cover sales across all platforms to French-speaking Europe and Africa, Japan, Asia, Israel and Middle East. Content recently brought together its film and TV sales […]

Ford to head sales as Content unifies TV and film

Line of Duty distributor Content Media Corporation is bring TV and film sales together, with Jonathan Ford running the new combined operation. Content, which has backing from China’s Seven Stars Entertainment, said the way the TV and film industries are evolving has driven the decision to unify sales across both. London and LA-based Content’s key […]

Windows shopping

The advent of international OTT services has created unheralded demand for first-run drama. One result has been the traditional system of windowing, holdbacks and stacking rights for scripted programming changing. Stewart Clarke speaks to buyers, sellers and market experts The process of windowing drama programming was stable for years. However, with the SVOD players competing […]

Joy for Content as UK sales boss arrives

Content Television has hired a former Entertainment One executive as director of UK and SVOD sales. Stephen Joy (pictured), who was previously director of TV and digital for Koch Media UK, takes on the new post at Content Media Corp’s television unit tasked with selling the firm’s portfolio titles to broadcasters, SVOD platforms and home […]