Ringside Media’s investment division expands with Steve November’s Further South Productions.
Ringside Media, the investment arm of Newen-backed indie Ringside Studios, has announced its third major investment by acquiring a stake in Further South Productions from Lionsgate. Further South, founded by experienced TV executive Steve November, was previously part of the Lionsgate group and was born out of Steve’s tenure as Creative Director of its TV division. Sarah Conroy will continue alongside Steve in her role as Executive Producer. Prior to joining Lionsgate, Steve was the Director of Drama across all ITV channels with credits including “Marcella”, “Cold Feet”, “Innocent”, “Unforgotten”, “The Durrells”, “Grantchester”, “The Lost Honour of Christopher Jeffries”, “Victoria”; and was the Executive Producer on “Coronation Street” and “Emmerdale” for many years.
The company comes with an exciting and advanced slate of developments and plans to focus on contemporary character drama and intelligent genre.
November said: “To be joining Ringside in the early days of their development is a fantastic opportunity. They have all the knowledge and experience to help Further South grow and we are really looking forward to working with the group to help realise our shared ambitions for English language drama.”
Both Ringside Media and Ringside Studios were founded by leading British producer and former commissioner Gub Neal (The Fall, Queer as Folk) and European media company and distributor Newen
Neal said: “We are delighted to be welcoming Steve and Sarah into the Ringside group. Steve brings with him a wide range of production experience as well as a highly successful background in commissioning, and we are really looking forward to collaborating with their considerable talents across the group”.
Philippe Levasseur, Newen’s Head of International, said “Steve has a wealth of experience developing drama for domestic and international markets. He has a rare combination of talents, having overseen some of the most commercially successful UK shows, and then producing high-end series. We are delighted to welcome him in the Newen team, as part of our plan to expand the network of British talents we are building around Ringside Studios.”
Ringside Media was established in 2020 as part of parent company Newen’s strategy to expand into the English-speaking scripted market and to strengthen its ties to the world class production activity currently being generated out of the UK. The boutique investment fund, aims to make bespoke investments and partnerships with companies looking for the benefits of a larger supportive international and domestic network. The companies will all work closely with Newen Connect, Newen’s distribution arm. Ringside Media announced investments into Fictionhouse and Slate Entertainment earlier this year.
* Newen, a subsidiary of the TF1 group, is a major player in audiovisual production and distribution in Europe. The group has a multi-genre catalogue that fits diversified client demands from all around the world. Since 2017, Newen has grown internationally with the acquisition of companies such as Tuvalu and Pupkin (Netherlands), Nimbus (Denmark), De Mensen (Belgium), Reel One (Canada, United States and United Kingdom), Ringside, Fictionhouse, Slate Entertainment (United Kingdom) and iZen (Spain). With its international distribution arm, Newen Connect, and the integration of TF1 Studio in 2020, the Newen group has a catalog of 6,000 hours and more than 1,000 films.