Manchester’s Red Production Company, home to hits like Russell T Davies’ It’s a Sin and Queer as Folk (Channel 4), Happy Valley and Years and Years (BBC One) and Harlen Coben’s Stay Close (Netflix) has had its operations halted by parent Studiocanal, according to a report in Broadcast.
The Ancoats-based production house was not answering the phone this morning, while the “contact” section of its website simply carried a message saying: “We’ve enjoyed reading your work over the last twenty years, but are no longer able to accept unsolicited ideas for scripted or non-scripted shows.”
Broadcast reports that chief executive Patrick Schweitzer exited the business last week, with other London and Manchester-based staff being let go at the same time, and all 10+ staff informed of the firm’s demise simultaneously.
Schweitzer, who had been in position since September 2023, left last week and his departure coincided with the UK business effectively halting operations. The company has 12 staff listed on its website, including Schweitzer. It is understood that all staff were informed of the decision simultaneously.
Red was founded by Nicola Shindler in 1998 and is behind some of the biggest British dramas of recent years. Shindler herself was appointed CEO of the French media giant’s UK arm in 2018, before a sideways promotion saw her move to chief creative officer in 2020.
What effect that may have had on Shindler’s next move we may never know, but later the same year she parted ways with her progeny and set up Quay Street Productions in collaboration with ITV Studios.
Shindler took many of her collaborators with her to the new venture, perhaps most notably including Coben and Davies, both of whom Quay Street still frequently works with.
A Companies House filing made on June 3 shows that Studiocanal’s UK TV boss M K Kennedy has been appointed director of Red, suggesting its current slate, which includes Amazon’s in development adaption of Neil Gaiman’s fantasy Anansi Boys, could pass over to the parent.
