New Duke Of Edinburgh Opens Sky Studios Sound Stage
Prince Edward, the new Duke of Edinburgh, has opened a sound stage at Sky Studios Elstree. The former Earl of Wessex, who is a Patron of the Production Guild of Great Britain, headed to the Hertfordshire film and TV studio the day before he took on his father Prince Philip’s former title. Last Thursday, he toured the site, meeting local charity partners and young talent, before unveiling a plaque on Stage 5 to commemorate the significant moment for the UK’s film and TV sector as it marks the largest brand-new studio facility to open in the UK for decades. Sky Studios Elstree will house 13 sound stages and Sky has said it will generate an additional £3B ($3.6B) of production investment in the UK creative sector during its first five years. Buckingham Palace announced Prince Edward would be given the Duke of Edinburgh title late last week, which was held by Prince Philip for more than 70 years until his death in 2021. King Charles handed Edward the title. The pair’s other brother Prince Andrew is no longer a working royal after a string of controversies surrounding the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
ABC Hires Netflix Australia Production Boss
Australian network ABC has hired Netflix Australia/New Zealand’s production boss as Chief Content Officer. Chris Oliver-Taylor joins in the newly-created role following a restructure that saw the Entertainment & Specialist and Regional & Local divisions brought under one roof. Reporting to ABC MD David Anderson, Oliver-Taylor will be responsible for content coming out of both divisions. He joins from his Director of Production Netflix role and has previously worked for ABC, the BBC and NBCUniversal label Matchbox Pictures. He was also previously CEO of Fremantle Asia Pacific. “Chris is one of the most experienced, both locally and internationally, content leaders in the industry with a well-honed sense of audience expectations and creative trends across platforms and technologies,” said Anderson.
SkyShowtime Debuts Juan José Campanella Series ‘The Envoys’
SkyShowtime is preparing to launch action thriller The Envoys from Oscar winner Juan José Campanella. The show will drop on the Comcast/Paramount streamer later this month. Starring Miguel Ángel Silvestre (Narcos, Sense8), Luis Gerardo Méndez (Narcos: Mexico, Charlie’s Angels), Irene Azuela (Sense8) and Miguel Rodarte (Narcos: Mexico), The Envoys is an action thriller that follows the mission of two priests from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the Vatican agency in charge of verifying and studying miracles of potential saints, who are sent to Mexico to verify alleged miraculous healings of another clergyman known to perform them in a psychiatric hospital. Campanella, who won an Oscar for 2009’sThe Secret In Their Eyes, will showrun, produce and direct. SkyShowtime is now live in multiple European territories in which Peacock and Paramount+ haven’t rolled out.
