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APPOINTMENT
Lifted Entertainment, the ITV Studios label behind “I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!,” “Dancing on Ice and “Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway,” has promoted Richard Cowles to managing director, following the appointment of previous MD Angela Jain as ITV Studios’ first director of unscripted in the U.K.
Cowles joined Lifted in 2012 as creative director, overseeing I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!,” led on the relaunch of “Ant & Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway” after a five-year hiatus and also led on the development of global hit “Love Island.” He was elevated to director of unscripted in 2019, during which time the label secured a commission with ITV for Simon Cowell’s “Walk The Line.”
Applications are now open for the new season of “Love Island,” which will be filmed in a villa in Mallorca.
Meanwhile, “The Emily Atack Show,” produced by Universal International Studios’ Monkey, is six more episodes on ITV2. Attack will feature her trademark impressions, mischievous sketches and comedic skits. Another Monkey-produced show, music entertainment program “Celebrity Karaoke Club” is returning to ITV2 and will follow a group of celebrities hoping to become the ultimate karaoke star. Other shows returning to ITV2 include “Celebrity Juice” and “Shopping With Keith Lemon,” both produced by Fremantle’s Talkback; and “Secret Crush,” produced by Fremantle’s “Naked Television.”
APPRENTICESHIPS/PLACEMENTS
Amazon has expanded its apprenticeship program with the addition of 1,500 full-time positions across the U.K. in 2022 including over 200 degree-level apprenticeships. These include roles across the creative industries including Prime Video, with some 30 roles across content producers, broadcast assistants and marketing, in Amazon publishing and Amazon Books, Amazon Music and other tech/software development opportunities.
The roles pay a minimum of £10.00 ($13.50) or £11.10 per hour depending on location, and up to £32,000 a year for degree-level apprenticeships. Apprentices also receive a benefits package that includes private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, and an employee discount — which combined are worth more than £700 annually — as well as a company pension plan. Amazon now has more than 70,000 employees in the U.K.
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Streamer Roku has opened a Manchester, U.K. office in the heart of a new tech epicentre, off Oxford Road. Roku’s Manchester team will now be recruiting for 50 engineering roles before the end of 2022, as well as offering three-month paid internships to the region’s budding software engineers. The engineers will work with Roku TV brand partners on developing Roku TV models, powered by the Roku OS. Manchester is Roku’s fourth U.K. office, following London, Cambridge and Cardiff.
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COVID testing firm Cignpost Diagnostics have launched a work placement program called Pathfinders that offers five people the opportunity to undertake a six-month paid placement on a TV production site.
BAN
“Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of A Serial Killer”
KK Films
Abu Aleeha‘s film “Javed Iqbal: The Untold Story of a Serial Killer,” meant for theatrical release across Pakistan last week, has been stalled after the Punjab government and the Central Bureau of Film Censors issued an order to halt the film’s release with immediate effect despite initial censor board approval. Starring Yasir Hussain, the film is based on the investigation into Javed Iqbal, a serial murderer who sexually abused and murdered 100 children in Lahore and sent in evidence of his crimes to the authorities and media in 1999. He was arrested and was sentenced to death, but two years into his sentence, he committed suicide in his prison cell, after revealing that his motivation for murdering young boys was to make their mothers grieve for them, just like his mother was forced to do.
A range of celebrities across Pakistan have slammed the move to ban the film.
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