EXCLUSIVE: Betty TV and Triple Brew Media are no more – Objective Entertainment is the new banner for Objective Media Group’s unscripted operations, Deadline has learned. Neale Simpson joins as Managing Director and will run Objective Entertainment with Helen Cooke, who will be Creative Director, having been joint CD at Betty.
Creative Directors David Harrison, Ed de Burgh and Becca Walker have left Objective amid job losses as the labels were consolidated.
As Joint Creative Director of Betty TV, Harrison was responsible for hit Discovery format Wheeler Dealers as well as E4’s Fred’s Last Resort. Under de Burgh and Walker, Triple Brew produced Lingo for ITV and CBS, and BBC One’s Picture Slam.
Deadline broke the news that the indies were being folded into a new label in May. The closure of Betty, long considered a fixture of the UK indie scene, caused particular angst among its many former employees who took to social media to share stories of their time at the indie. Objective’s parent company All3Media acquired Betty from its then co-parent, Discovery, in 2017.
Objective Entertainment will house Betty and Triple Brew programming including The Cube, Lingo and Wheeler Dealers.
Incoming MD, Simpson, was at RDF for over a decade and most recently Creative Director of Thames’ Upstream label. While there he created shows including E4’s Big Celebrity Detox and reality format Battle Camp for Netflix.
“The creation of Objective Entertainment is an ambitious statement of intent to develop and produce the next generation of channel-defining formats in the UK and internationally,” he said. “I’m so excited to join with the brilliantly talented team at OMG and can’t wait to get started.”
Layla Smith, CEO of Objective Media Group added: “I have long been an admirer of Neale’s creative energy and consider OMG lucky to welcome him to the business, we are so excited to begin a new chapter with Neale and Helen at the helm of Objective Entertainment. I would like to thank Becca, Ed and Dave for their fantastic contribution to the company, we wish them every success in the future.”
