EXCLUSIVE: The pair behind international content analysis company Tape Consultancy are turning their hands to production.
John Peek and Paul Youngbluth, who together ran Tape for nearly four decades, have teamed with LA-based producer Hugh Wright and business development exec Ben Philpott to launch Excitable Media.
Peek and Youngbluth are regulars at festivals and markets around the world, and previously worked with broadcasters, producers and distributors to analyse, develop and sell content for specific audiences, and are known as international experts in U.S. programs. They sold a majority stake Tape to French TV analyst firm Mediametrie/Glance in 2016 and later exited the business.
Wright is a producer on Fremantle’s U.S. game show Family Feud, as well as being a format consultant and the co-founder of Pop Monkey Productions, while Philpott is an experienced TV production and business development consultant.
The four will work together to build Excitable as co-founders. They plan to develop and produce scripted and unscripted shows through partnerships with creatives, distributors and third-party producers, using their decades of collective experience in the international content biz.
Peek told Deadline they hoped this would gain them access to key decision makers and land business. “I’ve lost count on the amount of LA Screenings I’ve been to over the years, and the number of scripts I’ve read and consulted on,” he added.
The company is currently self-funded, though talks with potential investors have taken place, as Excitable debuts with an unscripted and scripted debut slate of around six projects. Early-stage talks with several content buyers are underway.
“Paul and I did 40 years at Tape, which I struggle to believe,” said Peek. “We’ve watched the industry transform from linear broadcasters to the explosion of commercial TV around the world, on to the global format business and now the streaming revolution. We’ve always thought about it from the view of the audience, and it’s been fascinating to observe and help clients around the world make decisions. What we’ve not been able to do over those years is create our own stuff, but it’s something we’ve been itching to do – we’re putting our money where our mouth is.”
