Mark Fennessy launches Helium prodco

Former Endemol Shine Australia CEO Mark Fennessy has launched a new production company, Helium, encompassing premium scripted and factual content

Helium will create and produce original content for all platforms, networks and mediums with an initial slate including Last King of The Cross currently in early pre-production for Paramount+, feature film 6 Festivals also for Paramount+, and in advanced development is crime thriller series Sex and Thugs and Rock n Roll (a joint venture with Richard Lowenstein and his company Ghost).

Founder and Chief Creative Officer Mark Fennessy said: “In Helium I’m building something truly unique – an aggressive, yet lean and nimble disruptor, powered by originality through partnering with brave outliers, artists, curators and storytellers.

“There is a voracious appetite out there for compelling content – presenting enormous potential for a new player with vast experience. Helium is a contemporary label for this new landscape.”

Helium consists of Helium Studios, Helium Pictures and Helium Records, to specialise in innovative, authentic and compelling content, redefining the boundaries between music and pictures.

Having steered independent production label Crackerjack before forming FremantleMedia in Australia, to launching the powerhouse Shine with brother Carl and Elisabeth Murdoch, through to overseeing the merger with Endemol to create the juggernaut Endemol Shine Australia, Mark is synonymous with the production pillars of the Australian television industry

With a global vision coupled with his accomplished business acumen, Mark has overseen an extraordinary portfolio of television franchises and super brands which cross genres – from blockbuster unscripted hits to critically acclaimed (and wildly popular) scripted content – which has seen him ranked no 1 in the Australian Financial Review’s Cultural List.