Here Comes Pod

Send us Fan Mail My guest this week is Wonderhood Studios chairman and former C4 CEO David Abraham. David's career straddles the advertising and broadcast industries and he has been in the vanguard of changes in both businesses, from his early days at Chiat/Day and then St Luke's advertising agencies; his move to Discovery and then TLC in the US; his role as CEO at UKTV; his tenure runni...

Send us Fan Mail Ali vs Frazier; Barca vs Real; the Red Sox vs the Yankees. When heavyweights in sport come up against each other, something magical happens. And on this week's episode of Here Comes Sports Pod is one of the sports rights industry's big hitters, David Kogan.  Currently a board member of C4, David has had a stellar career as a journalist, TV and radio producer and author,...

Send us Fan Mail This week's guest on Here Comes Pod is Lionsgate President of Worldwide TV and Digital Distribution Jim Packer. Jim and I chatted about his early days at Disney; learning new skills and gaining new experience  at MGM,  including navigating the transition of the company's sales into Sony Pictures and out again; rebuilding the sales team at MGM; and finding his entrepreneu...

Send us Fan Mail The Premier League launched as The Premiership in 1992 and football in England was transformed. But as we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the start of this global phenomenon, we shouldn't forget that football did exist PPL - Pre Premier League. In the decade prior to the formation of the league, the 1980s, football's fortunes ebbed and flowed, but it left an indelible...

Send us Fan Mail If you are interested in the evolution of Pay TV in the UK, the dynamics of high end sports rights negotiations, and the challenges of leading a large media organisation during a period of intense regulatory and legal scrutiny, then this week's episode of Here Comes Sports Pod will be perfect.  Mike Darcey spent 15 years at Sky overseeing strategy for the group and then movin...

Send us Fan Mail My guest on this episode of Here Comes Pod is Joanna Reesby, founder of the leading creative industry executive search firm Mission Bay. Whilst Joanna is probably more used to discussing other people's careers, in this episode she talks about her start as a lawyer in New Zealand, moving into a commercial role at Hasbro, the joy of working with the two Simons,  Fuller and Cowe...

Send us Fan Mail This week's guest on Here Comes Pod is one of the UK's most experienced TV executives, Dawn Airey. We covered a lot of ground - her start in the business at ITV, her move to C4, Greg Dyke's cunning plan to entice her over to C5 and the joy of launching the channel, life at Sky under Tony Ball and James Murdoch, and returning to C4 as a board member and interim chair...

Send us Fan Mail Here Comes Sports Pod is back with another legend of English football from the 1980s. Keith Burkinshaw was a trailblazer when he signed Argentinian World Cup winners Osvaldo Ardiles and Ricky Villa to Tottenham Hotspur just weeks after the 1978 tournament. He took a relegated team to domestic and European cup success before leaving the club with a prescient warning about the growi...

Send us Fan Mail My guest this week on Here Comes Pod is Wall Street Journal writer Ben Fritz, author of the  best selling book The Big Picture. Ben talks about his days coming through the entertainment journalism ranks at Variety and the LA Times, before he joined the Wall Street Journal where he is currently West Coast Bureau Chief for US News. But our main focus is The Big Picture, Ben's f...

Send us Fan Mail Rio Ferdinand, Frank Lampard, Joe Cole, Michael Carrick - all products of the West Ham youth development system. My guest this week, Tony Carr, spent 43 years at West Ham working with these and many other players to help turn them into the greats of the modern game. His autobiography is out now, and Tony sat down with me to talk about training and technique, running in Epping Fore...

Send us Fan Mail This week's guest on Here Comes Sports Pod is a sporting icon from a previous generation. Steve Perryman won multiple domestic and European trophies during his 19 year career at Tottenham Hotspur and became the club's record appearance holder. He shares his experiences as a young apprentice professional coming into the game, the arrival of Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa t...

Send us Fan Mail Mip TV is back, and as a special treat Here Comes Pod is celebrating the market with a special guest - Armando Nunez. Armando talks about his early days in the business, the constant evolution of ViacomCBS during his 20 years running the international distribution there, the golden age of US TV series, and why a business built on relationships needs a market like Mip TV. Enjoy.  Y...

Send us Fan Mail Here Comes Pod now has a sibling - Here Comes Sports Pod, with interviews from the world of sports in general and football in particular. And there is no better place to start than with a look back at the tumultuous events of April 2021, and the short lived European Super League, with football consultant Alex Fynn. Alex picks out the three games that changed European football, his...

Send us Fan Mail My guest this week is Kelly Williams, Managing Director of Commercial at ITV. Kelly talks about his early days at Thames Television and UKTV, his move to Channel 5, and his current role at the UK's biggest commercial broadcaster.  Along the way he shares thoughts on the difference between selling and negotiating, how Nick Milligan helped to re-shape the way advertising was tr...

Send us Fan Mail Marion Edwards joined me on Here Comes Pod this week, and what an entertaining and fascinating chat it turned out to be. There was so much good stuff in there that this episode is a two-parter! So in part 1 Marion talks about her start in the international film and TV business at Universal Studios, her move to MGM, and then her long and prestigious career at Twentieth Century Fox,...

Send us Fan Mail Welcome back to the second part of Here Comes Pod with Marion Edwards. In this episode, Marion talks about the challenges she faced as a female executive in the male dominated studio system, the Disney takeover of Fox, and some of her favourite Fox TV shows. Enjoy!  You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this ep...

Send us Fan Mail Here Comes Pod is back, and this week's guest is former Sony Pictures Television President of International Television Michael Grindon. Michael talks about his early career at HBO and the excitement of establishing the TV distribution team at Legendary Entertainment, but it is his time at Sony Pictures that we discussed in most detail - building an international team, launchi...

Send us Fan Mail If you love movies and movie-making, this week's guest on Here Comes Pod is the man for you. Harald Kloser is both a composer and movie producer, and his long term collaboration with director Roland Emmerich has produced success after success, from The Day After Tomorrow to Midway. Harald talks about the role music plays in our appreciation of movies, the process of putting a...

Send us Fan Mail Here Comes Pod welcomes James Baker this week to talk about TV past, present and future. From his early days at TV-am to rolling out Nickelodeon, then heading up programming at Sky One, his 10 year stint at Red Arrow Studios and now exploring future TV business models with Silberhorn Media Capital, James has an unrivalled perspective on the evolution of TV. He also gives us the in...

Send us Fan Mail Josephus, Amos Oz and Milk and Honey...Israeli cultural exports had been quite limited since the global breakout success of The Bible. But in recent years Israel has been a hotbed of creative influence in the international TV business. Broadcaster and producer Keshet has led the way, and in this week's episode of Here Comes Pod, Keshet International CEO Alon Shtruzman gives h...

Send us Fan Mail This week's guest on Here Comes Pod is Stephen Mowbray, currently Head of Programme Acquisitions at Swedish public broadcaster SVT, and soon to join NENT as head of series and kids for Viaplay. Stephen tells us about his early days at C4 in the UK, the move to Sweden, the changing landscape in Nordic media, and the importance of relationships in the acquisitions market. (Here...

Send us Fan Mail My guest on this episode of Here Comes Pod is international TV distribution guru Gary Marenzi. With stints at Columbia Pictures, UIP, Paramount, MGM and Endeavour Content, Gary has overseen some of the world's biggest entertainment properties, and helped create a couple as well. Whether it was the Bond franchise, Stargate, Teen Wolf or more lately The Night Manager and Killin...

Send us Fan Mail This week's guest on Here Comes Pod is Andy Kaplan, former COO of Sony Pictures Television, President of Sony Pictures Television Worldwide Networks and now Chairman of KC Global Media Entertainment. Andy shares stories of his time working with legendary TV producer Norman Lear, building the international channels business at Sony Pictures TV, and how securing the first every...

Send us Fan Mail Mipcom 2021 is around the corner, so what better time to talk to Paul Heaney, CEO of UK distributor Bossa Nova and UK TV icon. Paul talks about his career to date, the challenges of the independent factual distribution business, and some interesting neighbours in the Palais. Enjoy!  You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If yo...

Send us Fan Mail On the next episode of Here Comes Pod, Bossa Nova founder Paul Heaney shares his career highlights and experiences in the TV distribution business. Coming soon! You can find Here Comes Pod on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon or most other podcast outlets. If you enjoyed this episode of Here Comes Pod please do leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen to your...