Written By
Pinewood Group
18 October 2016
| Pinewood Pictures has teamed up with Avanti, the dynamic London and Cardiff-based independent TV production company, specialising in high volume returning series, single documentaries and format creation. The new deal will see Avanti create a raft of new light entertainment formats, which will be distributed globally by Sky Vision, with development funding and investment provided by Pinewood Pictures.
Highlights in Avanti’s long list of credits include, Bear Grylls Songs of Praise Special for BBC1, which was nominated for a Broadcast Award in 2014 and Jamie Baulch: Looking For My Birth Mum, which was broadcast on BBC1 and received a BAFTA for Best Factual Documentary 2015. Most recently, Avanti received the National Reality Award in the Best Docu-Soap category for its Channel 4 documentary Britain’s Billionaire Immigrants. Avanti have also just announced the hiring of the BAFTA Award-winning executive producer Neil Grant, who will start as a Creative Director in January 2017. Currently, Avanti is producing Model Mechanic a format searching for the next face of the motoring industry, for SONY Pictures/S4C. The company is currently working on a new 8pm pilot for ITV fronted by Alesha Dixon; as well as a second format commission for Sony Pictures/S4C features a new baking format. Commenting on the new deal with Pinewood Pictures, Avanti’s co-founder, Emyr Afan said: “Avanti has long admired the Pinewood brand and the fact that they have chosen to partner with us on the creation of returnable worldwide formats means a great deal to our creative team.” Pinewood Pictures SVP, Robert Norris added: “We are very excited by this new relationship and are thrilled to be working with the successful, vibrant and dynamic creative team at Avanti.” Pinewood Pictures is part of the Pinewood Studios Group, funding TV and film productions, as well as games, on behalf of the Isle of Man Media Development Fund and The Welsh Government’s Media Investment Budget. It also invests Pinewood’s own funds in projects and distributes films in the UK. Projects include Spooks: The Greater Good and Pressure, which it distributed in the UK, Belle, Dom Hemingway, Genius and upcoming action comedy Mindhorn, horror Don’t Knock Twice, Amazon TV series, The Collection and the eagerly anticipated Their Finest. The Pinewood Studios Group is a leading provider of studio and related services to the global film and television industry. Pinewood Pictures has a range of funding options available to UK Film and TV productions, including equity finance investment, gap finance and discounting of the UK tax credit and pre-sales of a project. In 2017 Avanti celebrates its 20th Anniversary and was co-founded by Emyr and Mair Afan. With offices in London and Cardiff, the company employ 35 staff with a team of technical specialists running their extensive in house production and outside broadcast facilities. The core of Avanti’s work stems from successful returnable shows and formats. Avanti are also currently in production with a slate of UK and international programmes. |