Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford’s Merman is to launch a digitally focused arm named Mermade. Mermade will specialise in the creation of non-broadcast content of all shapes and sizes, funded by and for social and streaming platforms, brands and publishers. It will have a particular focus on short-form episodic content. The development of Mermade follows […]
UKTV has partnered with RTÉ to bring Sharon Horgan (Catastrophe) drama Women on the Verge to UKTV’s premium entertainment channel W. The six part series will be co-produced by Horgan’s Merman and House Productions. Women on the Verge is based on the best-selling book Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, by Lorna Martin, […]
Recent years have shown that TV programmes focused on female experiences can be as lucrative as they are timely, and a focus on this notion must be maintained if movements such as #TimesUp are to make a long-lasting change in the business, as Kaltrina Bylykbashi reports. Recent events have seemingy led to a wave of […]
Merman, the production company founded by Catastrophe’s Sharon Horgan and Clelia Mountford, has appointed FremantleMedia UK’s Rebecca Parkinson (pictured) as its head of production. Parkinson joins Merman from Fremantle’s scripted comedy label Retort and will oversee the production of all Merman projects in the newly created role. She will work closely with Mountford. The appointment […]
Amazon Studios has closed an exclusive two-year deal with Catastrophe creator Sharon Horgan. Catastrophe is an Amazon original series that earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding writing for a comedy series. Horgan is also co-writer and co-star in the show alongside Rob Delaney. In addition to her personal deal, Horgan and co-founder Clelia Mountford’s entertainment […]
US writer and performer David Cross is penning a comedy starring Stephen Mangan and Heather Graham for the Sky Atlantic pay TV channel in the UK. Bliss will follow Mangan (Episodes) as a travel writer, who leads a double life with families on both sides of the English city of Bristol. Graham (Boogie Nights, The […]
US network NBC is developing a US version of cult BBC Three comedy Pulling. Original series creator Sharon Horgan (pictured) is attached to the new show as executive producer, alongside co-creator and writer Dennis Kelly. The 2006-2009 BBC series, from Silver River Productions, centred around three thirty-something women with unstable dating lives and living arrangements, […]
Amazon Prime Video in the US will have the next two seasons of British relationship comedy Catastrophe. UK broadcaster Channel 4 this week ordered seasons three and four of the show, which comes from Avalon Television, Merman and Birdbath Productions. Amazon had invested in the first two seasons in exchange for exclusive on-demand rights in […]
UK-based distributor Sky Vision has signed an exclusive three-script development deal with Merman, the transatlantic producer behind Channel 4 comedy Catastrophe. Sky Vision will get a first look at a selection of scripted projects from Merman, with the option to distribute them internationally. The sales arm of European satcaster Sky already sells scripted shows such […]
Irish comedy star Sharon Horgan on the quirks she and production partner Clelia Mountford found working in US TV after launching their UK-based production firm, Merman, in the States The difference between working in the UK and US can be summed up in two words: craft services. Affectionately known as ‘crafty’, this service provides sets with […]
