The founders of Lord of the Flies producer Eleven Film have left the company, six years since its acquisition by Sony Pictures Television.
Creative directors Jamie Campbell and Joel Wilson, who founded the indie in 2006, mutually agreed with SPT to end the partnership, with Eleven remaining part of the company alongside fellow UK producers including Bad Wolf, Stellify Media and Eleventh Hour Films.
Eleven is best known for its Netflix series Sex Education, which began in 2017 when the company was supported by Channel 4’s Indie Growth Fund, with its final two series produced under SPT ownership.
“Our collaboration began with Sex Education and ends with Lord of the Flies, which feels like a fitting moment to move on,” the pair said in a statement.
“We’ve achieved what we set out to do with Eleven, and we find ourselves still in our forties, energised by what’s next and optimistic about the future. The industry has changed dramatically, and we intend to change with it.”
BBC1’s Lord of the Flies is Eleven’s third collaboration with writer Jack Thorne, following Channel 4’s Cast-Offs and E4’s Glue. The company’s other dramas include Sky’s The Enfield Haunting, BBC3’s Red Rose, BBC1’s Ten Pound Poms and Paramount+ series Stag.
According to Broadcast, which broke the news, SPT is in discussion to find roles within the UK group for Eleven production manager Tom Thorpe-Moran and development editor Scarlett Attlesey.
Matthew Justice, SPT executive vice-president, head of UK & Europe, said: “Jamie and Joel founded a company that caught the wave of the streaming era, and they enjoyed global success with Sex Education – one of the benchmark dramas of its generation.
“Having worked with them to bring the brilliant Lord Of The Flies to audiences around the world, we support them in their decision to embrace new opportunities and wish them all the very best for their next chapter.”
Further exits
The move comes as Grace Wilson, chief operating officer at fellow Sony-backed drama producer Left Bank Pictures, exits after 19 years to take a career break.
“It has been an extraordinary privilege to play a pivotal role in building the company, under Andy [Harries]’s entrepreneurial and creative vision into the successful business it is today,” she said.
“I am immensely proud of all that we have achieved together ... “I leave knowing that the company is in exceptionally capable hands under Charlotte Moore’s leadership and with the continued dedication of the wider team, and that it is well positioned for its next phase of growth and success."
Meanwhile, two executive producers have recently left Bad Wolf: Emily Russell and Lachlan MacKinnon.
The latter, who has worked on Industry, Red Eye and A Discovery of Witches during his eight years at the SPT label, wrote on LinkedIn that it had been a “privilege” to have been part of the comany “from its fledgling beginnings to the behemoth it is now”.
