Asylum Entertainment Group Buys Stake In UK Producer Moon&Back Media

EXCLUSIVE: Asylum Entertainment Group, the Endeavor-backed production group run by Steve Michaels, has invested in British producer Moon&Back Media, founded by veteran UK execs Dawn Airey, Nigel Hall and Russ Lindsay.

It marks the company’s first investment in an international production company and comes after Endeavor invested in Asylum earlier this year, as revealed by Deadline.

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Airey has worked for British broadcasters including ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and Sky. She is best known as the inaugural director of programmes for Channel 5, where she coined the term ‘films, football and f*cking’ to describe its content strategy, before becoming CEO of the network, which is now owned by Paramount. She subsequently ran channels at Sky before becoming Director of Global Content at ITV. She has also held senior roles at RTL,  Yahoo and Getty Images.

Hall is best known as Global Head of TV for Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment, where he was behind The X Factor and the Got Talent franchises. Before that he was head of light entertainment at ITV, where he was responsible for classic series such as Celebrity Stars in their Eyes, You’ve Been Framed and Saturday Night Takeaway.

Lindsay was co-founder of UK-based talent agency James Grant, where he managed the likes of Cowell and Ant & Dec. He also co-founded Talent Bank and ran production company Infinity Creative Media.

“This past year, we’ve been focused on aligning with inspired storytellers, including producers, artists and brands, to carve new opportunities that will entertain and inform our audiences,” said Steve Michaels, Chief Executive Officer of Asylum. “Nigel, Dawn and Russ offer a wealth of diverse experience; they’re incredibly esteemed visionaries who are committed to excellence in their craft.”

“We share the same values, business acumen and ambition as the team at Asylum, and we’re confident that our combined imaginations will empower us to create the very best unscripted content to entertain, surprise and delight audiences around the world,” added Airey.

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