Crew biographies/production companies

25 September 2012

Robert Popper - Writer / Producer

Robert Popper is a multi-award winning writer, producer, performer, and best-selling author.

From 2000-2003, Robert worked as a Commissioning Editor for Comedy at Channel 4. He commissioned Bo' Selecta, and worked on shows such as Spaced, Black Books, Comedy Labs, and developed Graham Linehan's The IT Crowd.

With Peter Serafinowicz he co-created and co-starred in BBC Two's Look Around You, winning the Rose D'or for Best Comedy in 2006. He also produced Peep Show for Channel 4, winning a British Comedy Award for Series 3 and 4, and a BAFTA for Series 4.

In addition to his writing and producing, Robert has script-edited some of the UK's most exciting comedy shows, including The Inbetweeners, The IT Crowd, and Him & Her. He also wrote on The Peter Serafinowicz Show, Harry & Paul, and performed on Paul Whitehouse and Charlie Higson's Radio 4 series, Down The Line, as well as their BBC Two show, Bellamy's People.

Under his pseudonym, Robin Cooper, Robert wrote The Timewaster Letters books, which have sold almost 400,000 copies.

In 2009, Robert set up his own production company, Popper Pictures, to make comedy TV shows.

In 2010, Robert wrote on series 13 of South Park in LA,  and he recently co-starred opposite Steve Coogan in Sky's 'Open Books with Alan Partridge'.

 

Martin Dennis - Director

Martin Dennis was born in Toronto and grew up in Canada and the US before moving to the U.K. He studied Drama and Theatre Arts at Birmingham University before becoming a stage manager with the M6 Theatre Company.

He joined the BBC in 1980 as a floor assistant, progressing to production manager on ‘Allo, 'Allo!, Don't Wait Up, Hi-De-Hi! and The Kenny Everett Show. In 1987 Martin started directing on 'Allo, 'Allo! After leaving the BBC he directed three series of the highly successful The Upper Hand for Central, adapting it from the American sitcom Who's The Boss?  In 1991 he directed the first series of Men Behaving Badly for Hartswood Films, and went on to direct all the subsequent series and specials.

Other directing credits include three series of Simon Nye's Is It Legal? for Hartswood Films, The Grimleys for Granada, Hippies for the BBC, Beast, all four series of Coupling for BBC2, Carrie and Barry, Life Begins, City Lights, Simon Nye's The Savages for BBC1, Christmas Specials of The Smoking Room and The Vicar of Dibley, Black Books for Channel 4, and How Not to Live Your Life for BBC Three.

 

Kenton Allen  - Executive Producer

Kenton Allen became Chief Executive of Big Talk Productions in September 2008. He is a multi award-winning programme-maker with credits including the BAFTA-winning sitcoms The Royle Family and Rev. and the Oscar-winning film Six Shooter. 

He was Creative Head of BBC Comedy and BBC Comedy North between 2003 and 2008, producing and executive-producing a diverse range of comedy programming including the BAFTA-winning sketch show That Mitchell and Webb Look (BBC2), the BAFTA-nominated drama series Funland (BBC Three), The Omid Djalili Show (BBC1), After You've Gone (BBC1), Freezing (BBC2), The Visit (BBC1) and BBC3), Massive (BBC3) and four series of Ideal (BBC2 and BBC3).

Prior to this he was the Creative Director of Elizabeth Murdoch's Shine Ltd and Head of Entertainment Development at Granada TV. He began his television career when Jonathan Ross invited him to leave the world of BBC Radio 4 and join Channel X Productions where he produced over 200 live editions of the comedy chat show Tonight with Jonathan Ross for Channel 4.

At Big Talk Kenton has produced two six-part comedies which were broadcast to record audiences and huge critical acclaim; the BAFTA-winning Rev. created by James Wood and Tom Hollander for BBC2 scooped four titles at this year's Broadcasting Press Guild Awards and was nominated again at this year's BAFTA's for Best Situation Comedy. Him & Her- the most successful sitcom launch in the history of BBC3 - written by Stefan Golaszewski, starring Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani, picked up Best Comedy Performance for the two stars at this year's Royal Television Society Awards. Having acknowledged the loyal audience of Him & Her during its first and second series, a third series has been commissioned.

Upcoming is a second series for both Threesome (Comedy Central UK), a sitcom by Tom MacRae, starring Amy Huberman, Emun Elliot and Stephen Wight, and Friday Night Dinner (Channel 4), written and produced by Robert Popper and starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird and Tom Rosenthal  - both are currently in post-production.

Following their successful pilots; Chickens (Sky 1) written by and starring Simon Bird, Joe Thomas and Jonny Sweet and The Job Lot - a series for ITV written by Claire Downes, Ian Jarvis and Stuart Lane, are both underway for a full series. 

Currently shooting is the third series of Him & Her and Big Talk's first three-part contemporary drama The Town (ITV), written by Laurence Olivier award-winning playwright Mike Bartlett. In addition, miniseries A Young Doctor's Notebook, which Big Talk is producing for Sky Arts, and stars Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe - has just finished shooting.

Kenton was the Advisory Chair of the 2012 Media Guardian Edinburgh International Television Festival.

He is married to the writer Imogen Edwards-Jones and lives in London.

 

Caroline Leddy - Executive Producer

A graduate of BBC Radio's production trainee scheme, CL joined Talkback Productions in 1986 to produce Brass Eye with Chris Morris, as well as the pilot of Big Train and a series of They Think It's All Over. She then became a Commissioning Editor for Comedy at Channel 4 in 1987 and two years later became Head of Comedy at the channel. Her many commissions include Smack The Pony, Trigger Happy TV, Greenwing, Brass Eye Paedophilia Special, The IT Crowd, Free Agents and The Inbetweeners, as well as the script and pilot of Friday Night Dinner.

She also commissioned and executive produced Annie Griffin's Festival for Film Four, and was an Executive Producer on Chris Morris's Four Lions and The Inbetweeners Movie.

Caroline is currently Executive Producer on Friday Night Dinner, and series two of Comedy Central's Threesome.

 

Nira Park - Executive Producer

Nira Park founded Big Talk in 1995, through which she produced both series of Simon Pegg and Jessica Hynes' award-winning comedy series ‘Spaced', directed by Edgar Wright, all three series of double BAFTA award-winning sitcom ‘Black Books', and the comedy drama series ‘Free Agents'. Following the success of ‘Spaced', Nira went on to develop and produce the hit movie ‘Shaun of the Dead', for which she received a Carl Foreman Award nomination at the 2005 BAFTA Awards. Nira was also selected as one of Variety Magazine's Top Ten Producers to Watch.

In 2006, she produced Ringan Ledwidge's debut feature ‘Gone' for Working Title/Universal and she collaborated again with Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright on their follow up movie, ‘Hot Fuzz'. As Edgar Wright's producing partner, they teamed up again with ‘Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World', starring Michael Cera, which was released internationally in August 2010 to outstanding critical acclaim. She also Executive Produced both series of BBC Three's hit sitcom ‘Him & Her', and Channel 4′s ‘Friday Night Dinner', written and produced by Robert Popper.

In December 2010, Nira was the recipient of ‘Producer of the Year' at the UK Women in Film and TV Awards.

2011 saw the release of ‘Paul', penned by and starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and directed by Greg Mottola for Working Title/Universal. Also ‘Attack the Block' - Joe Cornish's debut feature. The film has won several awards including all four Audience Awards at Sitges, SXSW, LAFF and Fantasia International Film Festival.

Upcoming films include ‘Sightseers', directed by Ben Wheatley. The film had its world premiere at Cannes with a Special Screening in the Director's Fortnight section, and StudioCanal will release in the UK in November.

Nira is currently in post-production on psychological horror ‘In Fear', directed by Jeremy Lovering for StudioCanal/Film4, and ‘Cuban Fury', a dance comedy starring Nick Frost, directed by James Griffiths.

Next up is ‘World's End', the third film in Edgar Wright's trilogy of comedies with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. Nira is producing with Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan of Working Title, and will begin shooting in the UK in October.

 

Popper Pictures

Set up in 2009 by Robert Popper, Popper Pictures specialises in comedy for TV.

Friday Night Dinner was Popper Pictures' first commission, which was co-produced with Big Talk for Channel 4.

In 2011, Popper Pictures co-produced Watson & Oliver - a sketch show for BBC Two starring double-act Lorna Watson and Ingrid Oliver. Popper Pictures are also co-producing series 2 with the BBC.

 

Big Talk Productions

Big Talk Productions is one of the UK's leading film and television production companies. It has a fantastic slate of original TV comedy and drama, and an impeccable track record in developing talent such as Simon Pegg, Nick Frost and Edgar Wright whose cult television Series Spaced paved the way for Big Talk's hit films Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and Paul. In recent years Big Talk has gone from strength to strength with a string of award winning Productions. In 2010 two new six-part comedies were broadcast to record audiences. The BAFTA-winning Rev. (BBC Two) was described as "an unmitigated joy" by The Times, "remarkable" by The Telegraph and "comic genius" by The Guardian. The 38th Broadcasting Press Guild Awards saw Rev. scoop four titles; Best Comedy/Entertainment Show, Best Writer (Tom Hollander and James Wood) and for her role in the show, Olivia Colman landed Best Actress and Breakthrough Award. While Him & Her was BBC3's most successful sitcom launch ever, garnering rave reviews including Heat's 5 star write-up, which called it "a funny, brilliantly observed triumph". The Royal Television Society Awards (2012) awarded Him & Her stars Russell Tovey and Sarah Solemani Best Comedy Performance.

In 2011 both Rev. and Him & Her were recommissioned which led to highly acclaimed second series. It was a year that also saw Channel 4 broadcast Big Talk's first co production with Popper Pictures, Friday Night Dinner, starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird & Tom Rosenthal. The Guardian called Friday Night Dinner "superb", the Daily Mirror "delightfully daft" and Radio Times wrote, "there'd better be a second series". There will be, filming has already started.

Also broadcast in 2011 were Chickens (Channel 4), written by and starring Simon Bird, Joe Thomas & Jonny Sweet and Threesome (Comedy Central), a sitcom by Tom MacRae, starring Amy Huberman, Emun Elliot and Stephen Wight. Chickens has since been picked up for a full six-part series by Sky1 HD, shooting later this year, while Threesome was a hit and is returning for a second series this Autumn.

Big Talk has made a flying start to 2012. The Job Lot - a sitcom pilot shot in February this year, written by Claire Downes, Ian Jarvis & Stuart Lane, and starring Sarah Hadland and Russell Tovey - has been commissioned for series with ITV. The third series of Him & Her starts shooting imminently, as does miniseries A Young Doctor's Notebook, which Big Talk is producing for Sky Arts, and stars Jon Hamm and Daniel Radcliffe.

And that's just television. In film, Big Talk has made 21st century classics Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. Also directed by Edgar Wright, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, starring Michael Cera, was hailed as a ‘modern masterpiece' and Paul, written by and starring Simon Pegg & Nick Frost and directed by Greg Mottola has been a worldwide hit, while Joe Cornish's directorial debut Attack the Block was released in the UK and US to fantastic reviews and multiple awards.

Big Talk recently shot its next two films: Sightseers directed by Ben Wheatley (Kill List), written by and starring Alice Lowe and Steve Oram premiered at Cannes this year as part of Directors Fortnight and In Fear, written and directed by Jeremy Lovering. Both are distributed via BTP's relationship with Studio Canal. Next up is Cuban Fury - a Latin American ballroom dancing rom-com starring Nick Frost that shoots in June.

www.bigtalkproductions.com