Ollie Madden, presently director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama, is leaving Channel 4 in October after eight years to become director of UK film a
Ollie Madden, presently director of Film4 and Channel 4 Drama, is leaving Channel 4 in October after eight years to become director of UK film at Netflix.
He takes over from Teresa Moneo who headed UK original film at Netflix from July 2024 before she left the streamer earlier this year to set up her own consultancy, Netflix confirmed today.
Reporting to Anne Mensah, Netflix’s vice president of content, Madden will develop UK original films and oversee the UK elements of Netflix’s global film slate run by Los Angeles-based Dan Lin, “where the intellectual property, talent, and production are based in the UK,” according to Netflix’s spokesperson.
Madden will also develop what Netflix described as a “select portfolio of filmmaker-led series”, citing Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen as an example.
Channel 4
Farhana Bhula, presently head of inventive and deputy director, will become interim director of Film4 from July 1, and Gwawr Lloyd, commissioning editor, drama, will become interim head of drama, reporting to Ian Katz, chief content officer at Channel 4.
Channel 4 confirmed Madden will continue to oversee the film and drama slate which includes Molly Manning Walker’s TV series Major Players until he leaves in October.
A spokesperson for the broadcaster said it had not yet been decided if Channel 4 will recruit for a joint head of film and TV drama – Madden added TV to his film remit in February 2024 – or if it will return to two separate roles.
As a member of the executive board, Madden reported directly to Channel 4 CEO Alex Mahon, who is leaving Channel 4 this summer. Chief operating officer Jonathan Allan will be interim chief executive until the board appoints a successor to Mahon.
“I’ve been incredibly proud to spend the past eight years with Film4 and, more recently, Channel 4 Drama, and it’s very hard to say goodbye to all my wonderful colleagues and projects,” said Madden in a message to Channel 4 staff today.
“The independence, distinctiveness and mark of quality that Film4 and Channel 4 represent is a precious thing, and I’m confident it will continue to thrive long after my departure. I’d like to extend a huge thank you to Alex Mahon and Ian Katz for their unwavering belief and support.”
Netflix
Madden’s surprise move to Netflix signals a renewed commitment to UK film by Netflix after a relatively peaceful two-year period following the departure of Fiona Lamptey as the streamer’s director of UK features in May 2023.
A rising independent producer, Lamptey had joined Netflix in October 2020 as the first UK-based executive greenlighting UK features.
Her tenure yielded films including Babak Anvari’s thriller I Came By starring George MacKay and Hugh Bonneville, Nathaniel Martello-White’s The Strays with Ashley Madekwe and Bukky Bakray, Sebastian Lelio’s The Wonder starring Florence Pugh, Kibwe Tavares’ sci-fi The Kitchen, Philip Martin’s Scoop, and Nour Wazzi’s thriller Locked In.
Lamptey’s departure was followed by Netflix’s decision to end Breakout, the initiative for rising filmmakers it ran with Creative UK, without funding any of the features in development.
Bradley Quirk took over the UK film role as manager, Netflix UK, in August 2023, overseeing UK original productions across both film and TV as part of Mensah’s team with Mona Quereshi.
The UK film team changed again a year later following the arrival of Lin as chairman of Netflix Film, taking over from Scott Stuber. Moneo was promoted to director of UK film, and Mona Qureshi became director, UK series.
Moneo’s slate of Netflix- backed UK films included Ben Taylor’s Joy, starring James Norton, Bill Nighy and Thomasin McKenzie, Edward Berger’s The Ballad Of A Small Player, starring Colin Farrell and Tilda Swinton, and Tom Harper’s untitled Peaky Blinders film starring Cillian Murphy. Netflix said Moneo is continuing to work on the latter.
Madden is the second Film4 director to join Netflix following David Kosse who headed Film4 from 2014-2016 and joined the US streamer as vice president of international film in 2019 from STX International. Kosse left Netflix in September 2022.
“I’m very excited to work with Anne and Dan to build Netflix’s film business in the UK,” said Madden today.
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