BANIJAY ZODIAK NORDIC GROUP ANNOUNCES SENIOR EXECUTIVES IN FINLAND

Following the merger of Banijay Zodiak, a number of senior executive positions at Banijay Finland have been announced today. Tatu Ferchen has become CEO/EP, with Martti Sivonen taking the role of VP/EP and Alex Laszlo becoming CCO/EP.

Banijay Zodiak Finland's combined businesses are now among the top three players in the Finnish market, with revenues in 2015 of around 15m .

Going forward the combined Banijay Zodiak non-scripted activities will work under the Banijay Finland brand, with scripted activities led separately in Zodiak Finland under the continued leadership of Teea Hyyti .

Newcomers Tatu Ferchen and Alex Laszlo have most recently worked at Endemol Shine Finland as a strong team as both Creative Directors and EP's working on such productions as Married At First Sight, Masterchef, Minute To Win It, Gogglebox and The Biggest Loser as well as in-house devised shows such as Worst Chef, Love Diet and F####### Telemarketers.

Tatu Ferchen was previously a Commissioning Editor/Executive Producer at Nelonen working on shows including Best Singers, The Voice of Finland, and MasterChef and before that as a host, developer and producer with companies such as Story of, Moskito and Zodiak. Tatu has studied music at Sibelius Academy/University of the Arts Helsinki.

Alex Laszlo has worked in Shine Endemol for the past five years and previously worked at both Banijay and Zodiak in Finland as well as in Sweden as a producer and a host. Alex holds a BA in Media Arts from London College of Music & Media.

Martti Sivonen has been working in Banijay Finland for the past three years as CCO and Executive Producer of hit shows such as The Voice of Finland, Temptation Island and I Can Do That. Before that he was at Solar Television and Solar Films for 15 years having had multiple roles. He has studied in the University of Technology and is known as the guy with the highest IQ in Finnish television'.

Teea Hyyti has successfully been running the Zodiak Finland brand for the past 15 years having among many other tasks produced more than 200 hours of TV drama as well as three feature films. Her heart lies with fiction based stories, and since that area is a big priority in the new group, it was natural that she will continue running the scripted business, with current titles such as feature film sequel series Jill & Joy, YLE dramas including The President among others. Teea holds a Master of Arts from University of Helsinki.

Jacob Houlind, Banijay Zodiak Nordic Group CEO, comments, We are happy to be able to announce a powerful trio to lead all our non-scripted activities. To secure the highest level of creativity and fulfill the potential within both non-scripted as well as scripted content we have decided to split the activities in two. We are just as ambitious on both sides of the business and Teea is right now looking to recruit new people to join her team in the journey going forward in the scripted space. In my mind Tatu, Martti and Alex are the leading talents of Finnish entertainment television. They all know the business inside out and have experience as hands on producers on both small as well as some of the biggest shows of the nation.

Tatu Ferchen, Banijay Finland CEO, adds, Our joint entertainment activities will enable us to work on some of the biggest and most loved entertainment shows on television at the moment, but also to offer a wide range of fresh new shows from the numerous catalogues now under one roof. The new team has many years of experience in not only producing hit shows but also developing new ideas tailor made for our clients. I'm thrilled to be a part of this fantastic new team, both locally as well as globally.

Martti Sivonen, Banijay Finland VP/EP, adds, The addition of these two talented and much respected professionals to our new combined company will ensure the continuing success of our productions, from the big ones to the small and all between. We have close personal relations with all the clients as well as with the talent in front and behind the camera. And it doesn't hurt that the three of us have been close friends for years.

Alex Laszlo, Banijay Finland CCO/EP, adds, Our joint creative output will enable us to build on a strong, innovative and inspiring organization that can react very quickly to the needs of our clients. I am extremely excited and can't wait to get my hands on the amazing catalogues as well as to start developing new original content together with some of the most creative people in the field .

The merger of the non-scripted activities will take effect as of May 1st when Tatu Ferchen and Alex Laszlo will also start and move into the Zodiak Finland premises together with the Banijay Finland team. Further appointments and the final organisational lay-out at the two companies will be announced shortly.

LINK:	http://www.banijay.com/banijay-zodiak-nordic-group-announces-senior-ex...
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