Juliet Blake

Last updated

Juliet Blake is a British-American film, television and web producer. She is Head of Television for TED Talks. [1] Blake executive produced the TED Talks Live TV series for PBS and produces TED Talks India Nayi Soch a TV series on Star Plus in India produced in Hindi, hosted by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan. (https://blog.ted.com/announced-at-ted2018-teds-hindi-language-star-plus-tv-series-ted-talks-india-nayi-soch-renewed-for-three-seasons/) In June 2018 she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Savannah College of Art & Design. (https://www.scad.edu/blog/luminous-send-scad-class-2018)

Contents

Career

Blake began her career developing successful TV franchises for a variety of networks and production companies in the US and the UK, including the BBC1 series Beast. [2]

In 2000, Blake was promoted to executive vice-president and co-head of Jim Henson Television, where she was responsible for all aspects of the company's worldwide television operations, [3] including global oversight of the Muppet franchise. She developed and produced the Muppets' first TV-movie It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. [4]

While working for Henson, Blake oversaw the science-fiction series Farscape, a top-rated show [5] which ran from 1999 to 2003 [6] on the Sci Fi network, joining the show as executive producer in season 3 and working on its final 33 episodes. [7] [8]

Blake became senior vice-president of production at the National Geographic Channel in 2006, overseeing the development and production of National Geographic Television, the channel's in-house production company. [9] During her tenure at National Geographic, she oversaw a budget of over $40 million [10] and was responsible for the production of numerous series, including the NGC's multi-Emmy award winning program Explorer, the longest-running documentary series on cable TV, [11] and Border Wars, a critically acclaimed series on illegal immigration that ran for five seasons. [8]

Blake produced TED Talks Education (hosted by John Legend) for TED and PBS. [1] She produced The Hundred Foot Journey, a film starring Helen Mirren and Om Puri, shot in France and India, and directed by Lasse Hallstrom with producing partners Steven Spielberg and Oprah Winfrey. [12] [13]

Blake also developed feature films for Arnie Messer and Mike Medavoy's Phoenix Pictures, [14] including the thriller Blood Relatives. [15]

Personal life

Blake is married to Mark Shepherd. They live in Brooklyn and have two daughters: Sophie, a web designer for GitHub in Austin, Texas, and Lily, the CEO of The Double Wild Plant Company. [10]

Related Research Articles

Jim Henson 20th-century American puppeteer

James Maury Henson was an American puppeteer, animator, cartoonist, actor, inventor, filmmaker, and screenwriter who achieved worldwide notice as the creator of The Muppets (1955–present) and Fraggle Rock (1983–1987); and as the director of The Dark Crystal (1982) and Labyrinth (1986). He was born in Greenville, Mississippi, and raised in Leland, Mississippi, and University Park, Maryland.

Kermit the Frog Muppet character

Kermit the Frog is a Muppet character and Jim Henson's best-known creation. Introduced in 1955, Kermit serves as the straight man protagonist of numerous Muppet productions, most notably Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, as well as in other television series, films, specials, and public service announcements through the years. Henson performed Kermit until his death in 1990; Steve Whitmire performed Kermit from that time until his dismissal in 2016. Kermit is currently performed by Matt Vogel. He was also voiced by Frank Welker in Muppet Babies and occasionally in other animation projects, and is voiced by Matt Danner in the 2018 reboot of Muppet Babies.

The Muppets are an ensemble cast of puppet characters known for their absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim and Jane Henson in 1955, they are the namesakes of the Disney-owned media franchise that encompasses television, music, film, and other media associated with the characters.

<i>Farscape</i> Australian/American television science fiction series

Farscape is an Australian-American science fiction television series, produced originally for the Nine Network. It premiered in the US on SCI-FI Channel's SciFi Friday, March 19, 1999 at 8:00pm EST as their anchor series. The series was conceived by Rockne S. O'Bannon and produced by The Jim Henson Company and Hallmark Entertainment. The Jim Henson Company was responsible for the various alien make-up and prosthetics, and two regular characters are entirely Creature Shop creations.

<i>Fraggle Rock</i> Childrens television series

Fraggle Rock is a Canadian-British-American children's puppet television series about interconnected societies of Muppet creatures, created by Jim Henson.

Puppeteer person who manipulates a puppet in real time to create the illusion of life

A puppeteer is a person who manipulates an inanimate object, called a puppet, to create the illusion that the puppet is alive. The puppet is often shaped like a human, animal, or legendary creature. The puppeteer may be visible to or hidden from the audience. A puppeteer can operate a puppet indirectly by the use of strings, rods, wires, electronics or directly by his or her own hands placed inside the puppet or holding it externally or any other part of the body- such as the legs. Some puppet styles require two or more puppeteers to work together to create a single puppet character.

Statler and Waldorf pair of Muppet characters

Statler and Waldorf are a pair of Muppet characters known for their cantankerous opinions and shared penchant for heckling. The two elderly men first appeared in The Muppet Show in 1975, where they consistently jeered the entirety of the cast and their performances from their balcony seats.

The Jim Henson Hour is a television series that aired on NBC in 1989. It was developed as a showcase for The Jim Henson Company's various puppet creations, including the Muppet characters.

Brian Henson is an American puppeteer, director, producer, technician, and the chairman of The Jim Henson Company. He is the son of puppeteers Jim and Jane Henson.

<i>Muppet Babies</i> (1984 TV series) television series

Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, commonly known by the shortened title Muppet Babies, is an American animated television series that aired from September 15, 1984, to November 2, 1991, on CBS. The show portrays childhood versions of the Muppets living together in a nursery under the care of a human woman identified only as Nanny, who appears in almost every episode, but her face is never visible; only the babies' view of her pink skirt, purple sweater, and distinctive green and white striped socks is shown. The idea of presenting the Muppets as children first appeared in a dream sequence in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), released two months before Muppet Babies debuted, in which Miss Piggy imagined what it would be like if she and Kermit the Frog had grown up together.

<i>Muppets Tonight</i> 1990s sequel to the Muppet Show

Muppets Tonight was an American live-action/puppet family-oriented television series created by Jim Henson Productions and featuring The Muppets. Much like the "MuppeTelevision" segment of The Jim Henson Hour, the show was a continuation of The Muppet Show, set in a television studio rather than a theater.

The Jim Henson Company American entertainment company

The Jim Henson Company is an American entertainment company located in Los Angeles, California. The company is known for its innovations in the field of puppetry, particularly through the creation of the renowned Muppets characters.

Jim Henson Television is the television production arm of The Jim Henson Company. Jim Henson Television has developed many creative shows over the span of four decades.

The Muppets Studio Subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company

The Muppets Studio, LLC, formerly The Muppets Holding Company, LLC, is a wholly owned entertainment subsidiary of Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, formed in 2004 through The Walt Disney Company's acquisition of The Muppets and Bear in the Big Blue House intellectual properties from The Jim Henson Company.

Star India Indian media conglomerate; subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company

Star India Private Limited is an Indian media conglomerate and a wholly owned subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company India. It is headquartered in Mumbai, Maharashtra. It has a network of 60 channels in eight different languages, reaching out to 9 out of 10 cable and satellite TV homes in India. The network reaches approximately 790 million viewers a month across India and more than 100 countries. Star India generates more than 30,000 hours of content every year.

Kirk Thatcher American writer, producer, and television and film director

Kirk R. Thatcher is an American writer, producer, television and film director, an internet video director, and a production designer.

<i>TED Talks India Nayi Soch</i>

TED Talks India Nayi Soch/TED Talks India Nayi Baat is an Indian talk show hosted by Shah Rukh Khan, that premiered on Star Plus. The slogan of the show is "Don't kill ideas".

References

  1. 1 2 {{cite https://www.ted.com/profiles/1142585 news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/06/business/media/ted-partners-with-pbs-for-education-program.html?_r=1& |title=TED Teams Up With PBS on Ideas for Education |newspaper=The New York Times |accessdate=2014-08-10}}
  2. ↑ "Beast - Production Details & Cast and Crew - British Comedy Guide". Comedy.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  3. ↑ "Fletcher and Blake promoted at Jim Henson | News | Broadcast". Broadcastnow.co.uk. 2000-07-13. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  4. ↑ "It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie - TV Movie - Cast & Credits - Listings". NYTimes.com. 2007-01-18. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  5. ↑ "US Ratings Rundown". Farscape World. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  6. ↑ John Dempsey (2002-09-09). "Sci Fi nixes 'Farscape' skein". Variety. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  7. ↑ "BBC Online - Cult - Farscape - Interview - Juliet Blake - Season of death". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  8. 1 2 Juliet Blake (2014-08-05). "Juliet Blake - IMDbPro". Pro-labs.imdb.com. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  9. ↑ "Juliet Blake becomes SVP of production for National Geographic Channel". Media Life Magazine. 2006-08-17. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  10. 1 2 "Juliet Blake | Profile". TED.com. 2013-06-28. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  11. ↑ "Explorer | National Geographic Channel". Channel.nationalgeographic.com. 2012-06-11. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  12. ↑ "Partha Pratim in Spielberg produced film". Newagebd.net. 2014-05-05. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  13. ↑ "Helen Mirren to Star in DreamWorks Drama 'The Hundred-Foot Journey'". Hollywoodreporter.com. 2013-07-01. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  14. ↑ "About Us-Phoenix Pictures Inc". Phoenixpictures.com. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  15. ↑ "Hollywood Spec Sales (Updated On A Daily Basis)". Hollywoodlitsales.com. Archived from the original on 2014-05-29. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.