Greenbird, the production company incubator, investor and business accelerator, has announced its second business investment in Crackit Productions, to attract the very best creative team in the business, it has been announced.
Established by Elaine Hackett in 2008, Crackit Productions, is a highly successful indie delivering factual, features and factual entertainment programming; and Greenbird’s involvement will see Jamie Munro and Stuart Mullin work with Elaine to expand the editorial team to attract the very best creative team in the business and develop the commercial side of the business.
Crackit has recently enjoyed considerable successes, including the 40-part series You Deserve This House last year for Channel 4; The Fat Fighters for Channel 4, Kym Marsh: Teen Mums and Me for Five, Teen Dad for MTV; as well as recently being confirmed as one of the BBC-chosen production companies in their newly created Accelerator scheme. BBC has identified twelve independent producers as being among the most ‘promising’ emerging producers in the UK. Each producer will be assigned a commissioning and business mentor as well as a ring-fenced £150,000 development fund to help broaden the relationship with the BBC.
In addition, Elaine has appointed a new Executive Producer, Fintan Macguire, to work on developing a range of new formats to add to Crackit’s already substantial slate. He joins from his position as Head of Productions at TV3 where he spent three years creating some of Ireland’s top rating shows.
Greenbird Joint Managing Director, Stuart Mullin, said: “We are delighted that Greenbird’s role as an accelerator is realised in this relationship with Crackit. We founded Greenbird as both an incubator for new companies and an accelerator for exciting existing indies, and we look forward to taking a sizeable company like Crackit to the next stage of its development.
“We will continue to seek to work with existing indies as well as aspiring or new creative start-ups.”
With more than 30 years’ experience in television production, Jamie Munro and Stuart Mullin provide producers access to innovative funding models, offer expertise in the commercial exploitation of intellectual property and licensing deals; give strategic and operational support and offer back-office administration systems.
Elaine said: “The brilliance for me of working with Greenbird, which would be the same for any medium to small-sized independent, is that they take away the weight of the business aspects; leaving me to work on the creative side of the business, focus on the bigger picture in terms of the team and develop more programmes.
“It’s an enormous privilege to be working with such a talented team at Greenbird. Their support in so many areas will help us thrive and attract the very best people to join Crackit.”
Greenbird Joint Managing Director, Jamie Munro, said: “Elaine is a formidable creative talent as her raft of programming demonstrates. We are delighted to be working with her and give her the freedom to do what she does best.
“Between us we have all been in the business a long time and we believe it’s invaluable to work with creatives like Elaine who share the same core values, have the same integrity, and who understand the realities of the industry.”
Notes to Editors
Greenbird
Greenbird was founded by Jamie Munro and Stuart Mullin in October 2012. Their first investment was in Tuesday’s Child, a production company created by Karen Smith, specialises in making entertainment and factual entertainment formats.
Crackit Productions
Creates intelligent TV that balances integrity with compelling content, delivering value content across Factual, Features and Factual Entertainment series, singles and live event programming across all broadcasters.
Recent credits include The Fat Fighters for Channel 4, Kym Marsh: Teen Mums and Me for Five, Teen Dad for MTV, Angela & Friends on Sky 1 HD, The Ugly Face of Beauty for Channel 4, Alexander Armstrong’s Very British Holiday for BBC1, The Man Who Shot The 60s for BBC4 and The Dark Side of Fame With Piers Morgan for BBC1.
Fintan Macguire
Fintan has a breath of experience in production, creative services, and commissioning, having worked for both Ireland’s largest commercial channel (TV3), as well as the public service broadcaster (RTE).
Most recently Fintan was Commissioning Editor in TV3 for three years followed by Head of TV3 Productions for three years where he started and built TV3′s internal production unit.
Fintan has over 200 hours of Executive Production experience working on over 20 series mainly in Factual and Factual Entertainment. Under Fintan TV3 Productions created some of Ireland’s top ratings shows which have also sold internationally and aired all over the world.
For further information please contact Plank PR on 020 8995 3936 or lou@plankpr.com or visit www.greenbird.tv