Sky Studios eyes US growth

Sky Studios has appointed Jupiter Entertainment execs Stephen Land and Patrick Reardon to newly-created positions to expand its US production operations.

Jupiter Entertainment chief exec Land and president Reardon will respectively serve as chairman and president of Jupiter Holdings, the umbrella company of Sky Studios’ indies Jupiter Entertainment and Catalina Content and production services group, The Hive.

The move is designed to “turbocharge” Sky Studios’ production and commercial operations in the US, which currently consists of 15 series and specials totalling 225 hours of programming this year.

As president, Reardon will oversee the strategic direction, business-related operations and high-level recruitment of the three business’ including Catalina – which is led by Dance Moms producer Jeff Collins. One of his first responsibilities will be setting the leadership of 250-strong The Hive, following the departure of Robert Twilley in December.

Reardon joined the firm in 2019 from Roc Nation and has overseen its true crime slate, while diversifying into genres including lifestyle format 10 Things You Don’t Know for E! and premium feature documentary Heval for factual SVoD CuriosityStream. He will remain president of Jupiter Entertainment.

He will report to chief operating officer Caroline Cooper, who oversees Sky Studios’ entire portfolio of production companies including Blast Films and True North Productions in the UK.

Cooper said Land is a “true industry veteran”.

“He has created countless hit factual series over the years and built a strong and creative leadership team at Jupiter Entertainment,” she added. “There is no-one better placed to lead the future ambition of Sky Studios’ factual slate and production capability in the US.”

Meanwhile Land has been made a senior adviser to spearhead partnerships and identify strategic growth initiatives across its production portfolio.

“Thanks to Stephen’s leadership and the incredibly hard-working and talented team, Jupiter has become synonymous with delivering quality content,” said Reardon. “I believe that Jupiter, Catalina and The Hive are poised for further creative success in the years to come.”