Endemol Isrl and Endemol Nor America Begin Scripted Partnership with Appointment of Leading Executive Gal Zaid

10 April 2014

ENDEMOL ISRAEL AND ENDEMOL NORTH AMERICA BEGIN SCRIPTED PARTNERSHIP WITH APPOINTMENT OF LEADING EXECUTIVE GAL ZAID Endemol, a world leader in multiplatform entertainment, today announced the appointment of Gal Zaid as Director of Comedy and Drama in Israel. Endemol, a world leader in multiplatform entertainment, today announced the appointment of Gal Zaid as Director of Comedy and Drama in Israel.

Zaid is recognised as one of Israel's leading scripted executives with a career that also spans drama creation and screenwriting, as well as theatre and film acting.

In his new role as Director of Comedy and Drama, Zaid will oversee all Endemol Israel's scripted output. His remit will include working in partnership with the Los Angeles-based Endemol Studios team, Endemol North Americas scripted TV studio operation, to develop original scripted TV formats with adaptation potential in the U.S. market.

Zaid most recently served as Director of Drama at Channel 10 and before that was Director of Drama at Keshet. His credits include co-developing Channel 10's hit series Hostages, which was sold to CBS in the USA. He also Script Edited and starred in a leading role in world renowned series Prisoners of War on Keshet, which was remade for Showtime in the U.S. as the Emmy Award winning international hit Homeland.

Zaid's other credits include co-creating a slate of dramas, comedies and soap operas for Israeli cable broadcaster HOT as well as Script Editing all seasons of Traffic Light, Endemol Israel's international hit comedy for Keshet, which was sold to Fox in the USA. More recently, he has worked with Endemol Israel as Script Editor on the forthcoming hospital drama, The Hallway for HOT.

CEO of Endemol Israel Elad Kuperman said: Gal is responsible for some of the most successful and exciting scripted series to come out of Israel and we are thrilled to have him join us in this key role. His appointment at Endemol Israel and his collaboration with our colleagues in the U.S will strongly position us to deliver outstanding scripted content for audiences here and around the world.

Philippe Maigret, CEO, Endemol Studios said: Israel is a hotbed of creativity for scripted output with great potential for adaptation in the U.S. and beyond. Gal is recognised in the Israeli market as being a creative entrepreneur with a capacity to deliver great storytelling that translates across all territories. As we continue to expand our growing scripted development slate, we look forward to collaborating with him to find new ideas based on scripted Israeli formats that we can adapt into content for the U.S. market that will have a strong emotional resonance.

Gal Zaid said: This is an extremely exciting new challenge for me. Elad Kuperman and Endemol Israel combine vision with creative freedom and I'm enormously looking forward to working with them and the U.S. team on a new line up of world class scripted content to join Endemol's rich international repertoire. This new role will allow me to build on what I love doing most and to do it on a larger scale than ever before.

Zaid's appointment is part of the ongoing expansion of Endemol's scripted programming business, which has grown by 75% in the last five years. It follows the announcement last week that Endemol has acquired international drama producer Artists Studio, producers of record breaking hit The Fall starring Gillian Anderson ( The X-Files , The Last King of Scotland ) and Jamie Dornan ( Fifty Shades of Grey , Once Upon a Time ).

Endemols scripted productions around the world include Hell on Wheels (Endemol Studios and AMC Studios for AMC), Peaky Blinders (Tiger Aspect and Caryn Mandabach for BBC Two), Ripper Street (Tiger Aspect and Lookout Point for BBC One and Amazon Studios) and Black Mirror (Zeppotron for Channel 4). Forthcoming series include Gallipoli (Endemol Australia for Nine Network and TV3 New Zealand), Fortitude (Tiger Aspect/Fifty Fathoms for Sky Atlantic), starring Michael Gambon, Stanley Tucci, Christopher Eccleston and Sofie Gr b l; and Navy St. (Endemol Studios for DIRECTV), starring Frank Grillo, Joanna Going, Nick Jonas, Matt Lauria, Kiele Sanchez and Jonathan Tucker.

Endemol Israel launched in April last year following Endemol's acquisition of a controlling share in leading independent producer Kuperman TV. The multi-award winning company, led by CEO and founder Elad Kuperman, is now building on a track record of international hits including Israels most popular sitcom Traffic Light, reality series The Successor and Royal Chef; and the Israeli version of Big Brother, which has become Israel's most successful ever TV show.

Endemol Israel's forthcoming series include Fundastic, the worlds first live, multiplatform crowd funding format, which is soon to launch in a primetime slot on Israeli commercial broadcaster Reshet; and will be one of Endemol's headline formats at MipTV 2014 this week.

Fundastic is the first international format developed under the strategic partnership between Endemol and Reshet, which was announced in December 2013. The deal includes Endemols acquisition of a 33% stake in Reshet. The two companies also signed a co-operation agreement to focus on the creation, production and distribution of new multiplatform content for the international market.

LINK:	http://www.endemol.com/news/endemol-israel-and-endemol-north-america-b...
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