13-16 April 2015, Cannes, France
ELECTUS, FREMANTLEMEDIA, GLOBO AND DOGAN TV HEADS TO RECEIVE MIPTV 2015 MÉDAILLES D’HONNEUR
Ben Silverman Cécile Frot-Coutaz Ricardo Scalamandré Irfan Sahin
Paris, 13 March 2015 – Reed MIDEM today announces four recipients of the 2015 MIPTV Médaille d’Honneur Award: Ben Silverman, Chairman and CEO of Electus; Cécile Frot-Coutaz, Chief Executive Officer of FremantleMedia; Ricardo Scalamandré, Head Of International Business at Globo and Irfan Sahin, Chief Executive Officer, Doğan TV Holding.
The prestigious Médaille d’Honneur is awarded to senior international executives who have, through their talent, leadership, and passion, made a significant contribution to the world of television and to the development of the international TV community. The MIPTV 2015 Médaille d’Honneur awards will be presented by Reed MIDEM CEO Paul Zilk at a gala dinner on Wednesday 15 April at the Carlton Hotel in Cannes.
The honourees to receive the accolade are:
Ben Silverman, Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning show creator, Founder and Chairman and CEO of Electus, a next-generation studio. Pioneering content for the entertainment industry, Silverman has executive produced recent major hits including “Jane the Virgin” at The CW, NBC’s transformative TV commerce show “Fashion Star”, “Marco Polo” for Netflix, and “Running Wild” with Bear Grylls on NBC. Additionally, Silverman is currently in production on several new series including “Casanova” directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet for Amazon, “Fameless” with executive producer David Spade for TruTV, and the feature film “Hands of Stone” starring Robert De Niro, Usher and Edgar Ramirez. Prior to launching Electus, Silverman served as Co-Chairman of NBC Entertainment and Universal Media Studios from June 2007 to 2009. As Founder and former CEO of Reveille, Silverman executive produced the Emmy Award-winning NBC comedy "The Office" and the Golden Globe-winning comedy "Ugly Betty", and was co-creator and executive producer of the critically acclaimed "The Tudors" for Showtime.
Cecile Frot-Coutaz, Chief Executive Officer of FremantleMedia. As the leader of one of the world’s largest international creators, producers and distributors of prime-time entertainment, drama, and factual entertainment television programming, Frot-Coutaz oversees a group with a turnover of over €1bn and produces more than 10,000 hours of programming a year across its companies in 28 countries. The company also specialises in the extension of television entertainment brands through international distribution, licensing, sponsorship, gaming and branded entertainment. Born and raised in France, Frot-Coutaz was previously CEO of FremantleMedia North America, during which time she also served as Executive Producer on some of the most innovative and successful event entertainment on US television, including American Idol and America’s Got Talent. She began her career at the Pearson Group London in 1994, where she rose to become Corporate Strategy Executive and oversaw the successful acquisition and integration of a number of companies into the business which helped transform FremantleMedia into the industry leader it is today.
Ricardo Scalamandré, Head of International Business at Globo, started his career in Globo’s sales department at the age of 19, where he has worked in various capacities at the Brazilian broadcast group. After working in other Brazilian networks and founded an independent television production company, in 1997, he returned to Globo to run the international business. Since then, Scalamandré is responsible for Globo’s international business strategy, development and operations, which include licensing, international channels, co-productions and new business opportunities evaluation. Nowadays, Globo has more than 130 telenovelas, series and documentaries broadcasted in more than 170 countries; six international channels, which are the first Brazilian channels to be transmitted to the Portuguese-speaking audience living abroad, in digital quality, 24 hours a day, reaching over 2.2 million subscribers around the world. Globo also co-produced some telenovelas together with US channel Telemundo, Mexican channel Azteca, Portuguese channel SIC, among others.
Irfan Sahin, Chief Executive Officer, Doğan TV Holding. After a five-year spell as general manager of Cine5, Turkey’s first pay-TV channel, in 2004 Sahin went into production. His first series, “Noor - Gumus”, opened the Turkish drama industry to the world, selling to 78 countries. In 2006, he was named Editor-in-Chief of Kanal D, which has since become the most successful Turkish commercial TV channel. In 2010, he was appointed CEO of Doğan TV Holding, which owns Kanal D, as well as other free-to-air channels including CNN Türk and TV2, digital platforms, and production companies. He has overseen Turkish adaptations of US formats like “Revenge”, “Desperate Housewives”, and “Monk”, and developed successful Turkish formats. A total of 10 million people follow Doğan TV on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
“It is a great honour to recognise these four exceptional industry figures, who have each, in their own way, made major contributions to the international entertainment content sector, and whose vision and leadership have set the standards in their respective fields,” said Laurine Garaude, Director of Reed MIDEM’s Television Division.
About MIPTV - MIPTV is the world’s biggest TV and digital content market powering the unlimited potential of extraordinary stories. In April, professionals from across the TV and digital entertainment ecosystem gather in Cannes, France, to forge partnerships, seal distribution deals, network with their international executive peers, and attend high-level conferences and keynotes. MIPTV is also a key venue for early-stage development and financing deals, content acquisitions and programme sales. And with the MIP Digital Fronts - the premier global digital content market - empowering the new digital content era and bringing together the new online video ecosystem with the TV industry, MIPTV anticipates and shapes the future of entertainment.
REED MIDEM PRESS CONTACTS Jane GARTON, Entertainment PR Director: +33 1 79 71 94 39 > [email protected] Philippe LE GALL, PR Manager: +33 1 79 71 96 48 > [email protected] Yassia FEKIR, PR Manager: +33 1 79 71 95 82 > [email protected]