History
In January 1997, Mentorn Films merged with fellow independent specialist factual production outfit Barraclough Carey Productions; a company that was founded by former documentary filmmaker and former BBC editor George Carey and film and television producer and former head of BBC documentaries Jenny Barraclough, thereby forming the largest entertainment and production company, Mentorn Barraclough Carey. Mentorn Films founder Tom Gutteridge became chief executive and majority owner of the merged production company, co-founder George Carey became creative director, and Jenny Barraclough became a director. [1]
In September 1999, it was announced that The Television Corporation (TVC) had struck a deal to acquire Mentorn Group. including its production division Mentorn Barraclough Carey, its international distribution arm Mentorn International, and fellow production company TV21, the company behind Robot Wars.
On 28 January 2000, Mentorn Group closed its Manchester-based production division, MBC North. [2] Six months later, in July of that same year, Mentorn's parent holding company Television Corporation acquired independent sports production company Vemmer TV, known for producing UK coverage of the annual Tour de France cycling-race. [3]
In December 2001, a year following the acquisition of Mentorn Group by Television Corporation (TVC), Mentorn Media, which had produced its programming from Scotland, boosted its Scottish production operations by opening a new production office in Glasgow and launched a Scottish production division entitled Mentorn Scotland. This division would produce programmed out from its Scottish production offic, while Mentorn's production subsidiary Folio became a unit within Mentorn Scotland, with managing director and Folio founder Charles Thompson and head of programming Jane Rogerson continuing in their roles. [4]
In January 2002, Mentorn Media's parent company Television Corporation (TVC) merged Mentorn's international distribution arm, Mentorn International, with Sunset+Vine's distribution, thereby creating a new mega international distribution unit entitled Television Corporation Distribution, with Mentorn International managing director Mark Roland heading this new division. [5]
Acquisition by Tinopolis
In October 2005, three months after former BBC director of sport Peter Salmon joined Mentorn's parent company Television Corporation as chief executive, Welsh independent TV production group Tinopolis announced a potential takeover approach to acquire London-based television production company Mentorn Media, including its Scottish production office Mentorn Scotland and its international distribution arm Mentorn International, alongside its parent production group Television Corporation (including its production offices in both Oxford and Glasgow) and its fellow production subsidiaries Folio Productions, Sunset+Vine, and Redback Films, in a deal that would expand Tinopolis' sports production activities and boost its operations in London. [6]
In December 2006, Mentorn Media, alongside its Welsh production parent Tinopolis, announced that it had restructured its Mentorn Media subsidiary and exited from scripted production operations by placing Mentorn's drama production output into a new independent drama production company under Mentorn Group entitled 'Daybreak Pictures', which would produce Mentorn's future drama productions. Former Channel 4 and Mentorn head of drama David Aukin became Daybreak Pictures' creative director, whilst former Mentorn executive producer Hal Vogel and Mentorn's CEO John Willis were appointed as directors of Mentorn Group's new drama production subsidiary Daybreak Pictures, and Arwel Rees, managing director of Mentorn's parent Tinopolis, become chairman of Daybreak Pictures. [7]
By December 2012, seven years following Tinopolis' acquisition of London-based production company Mentorn Medi, along with its Scottish production office Mentorn Scotland, its international distribution arm Mentorn International, and its programming library, the former international division of Mentorn Media and Tinopolis' distribution subsidiary had been merged into Tinopolis' London-based global media distribution company Passion Distribution, after Mentorn Media's parent Tinopolis acquired the latter distribution company as Passion Distribution became the latter's new distribution unit and Mentorn's new distributor with Passion started distributing Mentorn's future programmes worldwide. [8] [9] [10]
