Lingo Pictures looks to new hires after ITV deal

Lingo Pictures will look to expand its team after ITV Studios acquired a majority stake in the company founded by Helen Bowden (pictured left) and Jason Stephens (right).

“We started the business 7 and a half years ago and we didn’t know each other,” Stephens tells TV Tonight.

“We said, ‘Let’s build a business with an overseas focus’. So a lot of our shows like Upright, The Secret She Keeps, Lambs of God to some extent have sold really well overseas.

“But it was always our plan to do this. We either keep going the way we are, probably doing less shows because we’re flat chat, or turbocharge the business.

“It’s business as usual. But I guess it allows Helen and I to work towards new ideas, new shows and have more support around us to do the sort of the back of house stuff, really.

The ITV deal also means Lingo can focus on one distributor, instead of multiple, for their shows.

“We’ve dealt with them on a few of our shows. We’re doing a show in New Zealand they’re distributing, we’re doing a show for SBS called Erotic Stories. We really like the way they do business. They’re a big studio that has 60 different labels around the world. We’re just one of them.”

As Lingo now looks to more projects Stephens also confirmed, “We’re looking to hire some people next year in production, EPs and peope to oversee the shows, put out spot fires.”

The deal also means Lingo will forge closer ties with ITV Studios Australia led by David Mott.

“They’re like our ‘sister’ company, Motty will be there if we need him. ITV said ‘We love what you’re doing, keep doing it.’

“We’ll continue to choose the shows we want to develop and pitch the shows we want to pitch.”

Upright is currently screening Tuesdays on FOX Showcase.